Editing Religion and sexuality (section)

====New Testament====
{{see also|The Bible and homosexuality}}

[[Paul the Apostle]] stated in [[First Epistle to the Corinthians|1 Corinthians]] "To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. But if they are not practising self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion."<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|7:8–9|NRSV}}</ref> Importantly, Paul's view of sex is also that it is actually unnecessary for those with certain gifts<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%207&version=NIV|title=Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 7 – New International Version|website=Bible Gateway}}</ref> (presumably [[Celibacy#Christianity|"celibacy"]]). [[Jennifer Wright Knust]] says Paul framed desire a force Christians gained control over whereas non-Christians were "enslaved" by it.<ref name="Knust2005">{{cite book|author=Jennifer Wright Knust|author-link=Jennifer Knust|title=Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AUEAmdWwuUC&pg=PA1|date=9 November 2005|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-51004-2|pages=51, 67, 78}}</ref> Further, Paul says the bodies of Christians were members of [[Body of Christ|Christ's body]] and thus sexual desire must be eschewed.<ref name="Knust2005" />

New Testament scholar [[N. T. Wright]] asserts that Paul absolutely forbade fornication, irrespective of a new Christian's former cultural practices. Wright notes "If a Corinthian were to say, 'Because I'm a Corinthian, I have always had a string of girl-friends I sleep with, that's part of our culture,' Paul would respond, 'Not now you're a Christian you don't.'... When someone disagreed with Paul's clear rules on immorality or angry disputes, the matters he deals with in Colossians 3.5–10, he is... firm, as we see dramatically in 1 Corinthians 5 and 6. There is no place in the Christian fellowship for such practices and for such a person."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Communion_Koinonia.htm |title=Communion and Koinonia: Pauline Reflections on Tolerance and Boundaries |website=Ntwrightpage.com |date=12 July 2016 |access-date=2017-06-30}}</ref>

Some have suggested that Paul's treatment of sex was influenced by his conviction that the [[Christian eschatology|end of the world]] was imminent. Under this view, Paul, believing that the world would soon end, took it as a corollary that all earthly concerns,<ref name="biblegateway1">{{cite web|url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%207 |title=1 Corinthians 7 – Concerning Married Life – Now for the |publisher=Bible Gateway |access-date=2017-06-30}}</ref> including sex, should hold little interest for Christians.<ref>{{harvp|Brundage|1987|pp=59–61}}</ref> [[Pauline epistles|Paul's letters]] show far greater concern with sexual issues than the gospel writers attributed to Jesus, since Paul was building Christian communities over decades and responding to various issues that arose.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Church at Corinth |url=https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/places/related-articles/church-at-corinth |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=bibleodyssey.org |archive-date=2022-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220725181324/https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/places/related-articles/church-at-corinth |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The theologian Lee Gatiss states that "the word 'fornication' has gone out of fashion and is not in common use to describe non-marital sex. However, it is an excellent translation for [the Biblical term] {{Lang|grc-Latn|porneíā}}, which basically referred to any kind of sex outside of marriage... This has been contested... but the overwhelming weight of scholarship and all the available evidence from the ancient world points firmly in this direction. 'Flee sexual immorality ({{Lang|grc-Latn|porneíā}}) and pursue self-control' (cf. 1 Thess 4:1–8) was the straightforward message to Christians in a sex-crazed world."<ref name="theologian.org.uk">{{cite web |title=The Issue of Pre-Marital Sex |author=Lee Gatiss |publisher=The Theologian |year=2005 |url=http://www.theologian.org.uk/pastoralia/premartialsex.html}}</ref>