LASCIVIOUSNESS
Introduction:
1. Our topic is one of tremendous importance: The Sin of
Lasciviousness.
2. Thus, two aspects of the subject:
(1) We are discussing that which is SIN, and Paul says that
the wages of sin is death, Rom. 6:23. Also, Ezek. 18:4,
"the soul that sinneth, it shall die."
(2) There can be no doubt to the serious Bible Student that
Lasciviousness is SIN.
(3) Therefore, when we determine what Lasciviousness is and
what it involves, there will be no difficulty in showing
the end results thereof.
3. We shall be concerned in these lesson of identifying and
defining what is involved in LASCIVIOUSNESS.
I. DEFINING THE WORD FROM THE SCRIPTURES:
1. The word appears at least ten (10) times in the New
Testament; with related words and similar expressions found
in many other passages.
2. Galatians 5:19-21. Paul lists the Works of the Flesh, with
their just condemnation. Note the first three: fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness:
(1) fornication--indicates sin within a specific area of
life, the area of illicit sexual relationships.
(2) uncleanness--indicates a general defilement of the whole
personality, tainting every sphere of life.
(3) lasciviousness--indicates a love of sin so reckless and
so audacious that a man has ceased to care what God or
man thinks of his actions.
3. Note the different definitions from various scholars and
authorities:
(1) ASELGEIA--denotes excess licentiousness, absence of
restraint, indecency, wantonness; "lasciviousness" in
Mark 7:22, one of the evils that proceed from the heart;
in 2 Cor. 12:21, one of the evils of which some in the
church at Corinth had been guilty; in Gal. 5:18, classed
among the works of the flesh; in Eph. 4:19, among the
sins of the unregenerate who are "past feeling"; so in 1
Pet. 4:3; in Jude 4, of that into which the grace of God
had been turned by ungodly men; it is translated
"wantonness" in Rom. 13:13, one of the sins against
which believers are warned; in 2 Pet. 2:2, according to
the best mss., "lascivious (doings)," R.V. (the A.V.
"pernicious ways" follows those texts which have
apoleiais); in verse 7, R.V., "lascivious (life)," A.V.,
"filthy (conversation)," of the people of Sodom and
Gomorrah; in 2:18, R.V., "lasciviousness" (A.V.,
"wantonness"), practised by the same persons as
mentioned in Jude. The prominent idea is shameless
conduct. Some have derived the word from a, negative,
and Selge, a city in Pisidia. Others, with similar
improbability, trace it to a, negative and selgo, or
thelgo, to charm. See Wantonness.
(Expository Dictionary of N.T. Words, W. E. Vine)
(2) "Lasciviousness -- (Latin--wantonness, French--wanton,
more at lust): lewd, lustful."
"Wanton" (deficient, wrong, mis-train or discipline)
(1) hard to control; undisciplined, unruly; (2) (a)
lewd, bawdy (b) causing sexual excitement; lustful,
sensual; (4) being without check or limitation."
"Lewd" (vulgar) (1) evil, wicked; (2) sexually unchaste
or licentious; lascivious."
"Lustful -- (1) pleasure, delight (2) unusually intense
sexual desire; lasciviousness."
(Webster New Collegiate Dictionary, 1973 edition)
(3) "Licentiousness,"-- "Wantonness," "unbridled lust,"
"shamelessness," "outrageousness." (ISBE)
(4) "Unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness,
wantonness, shamelessness, insolence....of carnality....
as filthy words, indecent bodily movements, unchaste
handling of males and females......" (Thayer)
(5) The prominent idea in 'aselgeia' (lasciviousness) in the
New Testament is flagrant, shameless, sensuality. In the
heathen world sexual vice was no longer counted vice. It
was provided for by public law; it was incorporated into
the worship of the gods. It was cultivated in every
luxurious and monstrous excess. It was eating out the
manhood of the Greek and Latin races. From the imperial
Caesar down to the hords of slaves, it seemed as though
every class of society had abandoned itself to the horrid
practice of lust."
(James Hastings, Dictionary of the Apostolic Church)
(6) ".....it denotes sin so open and so blatant that it has
ceased to have any regard for what anyone may think or
feel or say. So then we may distinguish three
characteristics of 'aselgeia.'
(1) It is wanton and undisciplined action. It is the
action of a man who is at the mercy of his passions
and his impulses and his emotions, and in whom the
voice of calm reason has been silenced by the storms
of self will.
(2) It has respect neither for the persons nor the rights
of anyone else. It is violent, insolvent, abusive,
audacious. Any thought and sympathy for the feelings
of others has ceased to exist.
(3) It is completely indifferent to public opinion and to
public decency. A man may well begin to do a wrong
thing in secret; at the beginning his one aim and
desire may be to hide it from the eyes of men. He may
love the wrong thing, and he may even be mastered by
it, but he is still ashamed of it. But it is
perfectly possible for him to come to the stage when
he does openly and blatantly that which he did
secretly and in concealment. He may come to a stage
of sin when he is so lost to shame that he no longer
cares what others see, and what they may say, or what
they may think.
(4) The terrible thing about Lasciviousness is that it is
the act of a character which has lost that which
ought to be its greatest defense--its self-respect,
and its sense of shame."
"Flesh and Spirit," by William Barclay, page 31)
4. Jer. 6:15 -- "They were not ashamed, neither could they
blush."
5. Gal. 5:19-21 -- Notice the end result of those who "PRACTICE
such things"; THEY SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
Thus, Lasciviousness is SIN, and will keep one away from the
Father above.
II. SOME SPECIFIC SINS OF LASCIVIOUSNESS:
1. It isn't enough to know that lasciviousness is SIN, unless
we are able to identify what lasciviousness is.
2. Perhaps the most descriptive definition among those we
noticed is: THAYER'S -- "Unbridled lust, shamelessness,
indecent bodily movement, unchaste handling of males and
females."
3. Can you think of actions, or conduct that would include
"INDECENT BODILY MOVEMENTS, or UNCHASTE HANDLING OF MALES
AND FEMALES"??
4. The following material will not exhaust the list of the SINS
OF LASCIVIOUSNESS, but surely LASCIVIOUSNESS is a part of:
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