Hebrews 13:4

Hebrews 13:4

Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

1.    Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled…”

a. marriage [1062 * gamos][Thayer: a wedding or marriage festival, a wedding banquet, a wedding feast, marriage, matrimony.]

1). The same Greek word is used in John to describe the wedding in Cana.

a). John 2:1, 2 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:

And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

2). A derivative of the Greek word for marriage was used in the text

a). Matthew 19:3-10 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?

He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.

b). marry [1060 * gameo][Thayer: to lead in marriage, take to wife, to get married, to marry, to give one's self in marriage, to give a daughter in marriage.]

3). In this verse the meaning for “marriage” is clearly the traditional Jewish example, one male and one female.

2. “…but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

a. The Greek word for “whoremonger” is ‘pornos’. It is #4205 in the Strong’s numbering system. I consulted 4 different Greek dictionaries and found the following: Strong’s: male prostitute; Thayer: male prostitute; Zodiates: male prostitute; Bullinger: sodomite. So there is no question of whether or not this is referring to homosexual behavior.

b. adulterers [3432 * moichos][Thayer: an adulterer, metaphorically one who is faithless toward God, ungodly.] [Vine: denotes one "who has unlawful intercourse with the spouse of another, in the spiritual sense, As in Israel the breach of their relationship with God through their idolatry, was described as "adultery" or "harlotry" (e.g., Ezekiel 16:15; Ezekiel 23:43), so believers who cultivate friendship with the world, thus breaking their spiritual union with Christ, are spiritual "adulteresses," having been spiritually united to Him as wife to husband, Romans 7:4. It is used adjectivally to describe the Jewish people in transferring their affections from God.]

a.    One line of thought that can be inserted here is these behaviors are being contrasted with a husband and wife relationship that is a marriage. Perhaps the homosexuals and the adulterers are claiming some sort of “marriage”. The Scripture says in this verse . Marriage is marriage, homosexuality and adultery are not marriage, their beds are defiled.