Matthew 19:9, mng of PORNEIA

Steven Craig Miller scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Sat Oct 16 12:07:26 EDT 1999


To: Paul Dixon,

SCM: << I think the primary referent for  PORNEIA  at Mt 19:9 should be 
seen to be prostitution, and it is  being used as such by the Matthean 
Jesus as an abusive metaphor.  Thus I've suggested the following 
translation: "I say to you: whoever divorces his woman (except for 
divorcing  whores) and marries another lives in adultery." >>

PD: << While PORNEIA can mean or include prostitution, its meaning here can 
hardly be that. >>

You seem to have misunderstood what I have written, perhaps I wasn't as 
clear as I should have been. My suggestion is that PORNEIA is being used 
here as an ABUSIVE METAPHOR. Like all metaphors, it does NOT MEAN its 
primary referent, but rather it MEANS something else! When you write: << 
While PORNEIA can mean or include prostitution, its meaning here can hardly 
be that >> I concur with you completely! The translation: << I say to you: 
whoever divorces his woman (except for divorcing  whores) and marries 
another lives in adultery >> does not mean to suggest that the "whore" 
actually received money for sex, merely that her infidelity was viewed as 
making her a "whore."

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller at www.plantnet.com



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