Is Masturbation a Sin? | What does the Old Testament say?

Sexual Sins in the Bible

There are a number of sexual sins mentioned in the Bible. We will examine various sexual sins in the Bible today, focusing on the Old Testament to see whether masturbation is considered a sexual sin there.

Fornication is the most common sexual sin mentioned in the Bible. Illegal sex is commonly referred to as fornication.

A married woman cheats on her husband. Adultery is usually used to distinguish these cases from fornication, but adultery also encompasses formication. Incest, or sexual relations with prostitutes, was also considered fornication.

Another term used for illegal sex with another person’s spouse is ‘adultery’ or ‘adulterer’.

As a generic term, adultery may include the concept of adultery, but it is usually referred to separately.

‘Male cult prostitute‘ clearly refers to a male same-sex lover, which was also condemned in Romans 1:27. Homosexuality is also a sin committed by women.

In 1 Corinthians 6:9, the word ‘effeminate’ has a slightly different meaning from the word ‘male cult prostitute’. The term effeminate refers to a male cult prostitute’s opposite boy, who is exploited by the relationship.

The King James Version of the English Bible translated this word as “abusers of themselves,” which is similar to “self-abuse,” which refers to masturbation, which was misinterpreted as masturbation by Christians.

2 Corinthians 12:21 originally refers to ceremonial uncleanness but gradually became a metaphor for immorality, especially sexual immorality.

A word translated as ‘lewdness’ or ‘sensuality’ refers to excessive sexual debauchery or indulgence.

Finally, the word ‘sexual immorality’ in Romans 13:13 is completely different from the word ‘fornication’ described earlier.

The word ‘sexual immorality’ in Romans 13:13 is literally ‘bed’ and is a euphemism for ‘unfair sex’.

Another English Bible translated it as ‘Marriage bed’ in Hebrews 13:4.

By looking at the sins recorded in the New Testament and the words related to sexual sin, we have examined the sinfulness of masturbation.

All of those terms except “impurity” presuppose sexual activity between the two, so there is no problem with fornication, adultery, male cult prostitution, impurity, and lewdness.

We then converge on the following questions. Isn’t masturbation a dirty act?”

Obviously, “no”. Understanding this requires understanding the current work.

After proving masturbation is a sin, we are not already investigating whether it can be supported in other Bible passages.

Rather than deciding whether masturbation is a sin, they look for passages in the Bible that explicitly condemn it.

Masturbation deserves the Not guilty

Accordingly, masturbation deserves the Not guilty verdict as long as it has not already been identified as a sin in other parts of the Bible.

Accordingly, “impurity” refers only to sexual sins such as inbreeding, hooker contact, adultery, pornography, homosexuality, and lewdness.

Through the contextual analysis of passages in which the definition of sin appears and the review of parts listing the contents of sin, we have examined the guilt of self-defense.

From now on, I will examine the passages that have been commonly cited to support the guilt of masturbation in the past.

Let’s review Old Testament passages one by one.

Genesis 38:8-10 is the first verse.

Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.

To view Onan’s story as revealing the sin of masturbation is inappropriate in two ways. Onan’s act is not the masturbation we commonly associate with today, but the act of coitus interruptis. It has been suggested that masturbation is Onanism and that this passage provides a biblical basis, but in strict terms, there is no connection between the two.

The second sin is betraying God’s command because of selfishness, not coitus interruptis. Hence, God’s order to give birth to Onan through sex with his sister-in-law reflects the custom of levirate marriage.

In order to avoid cutting off the name of the deceased brother from the family, the eldest son born from this union was considered the son of the elder brother. The law of Moses established Levirate marriage as a common custom in the Near East. Onan’s son would become the legal son of his dead brother if he was born in his sister-in-law’s relationship and succeeded the eldest son through him. The judgment of God came about because Onan tried extravaginal cumshot knowing that his sperm could not contribute to his generation. Therefore, Onan’s sinful actions have no ethical connection to masturbation.

Here is Leviticus 15: 16-17.

“‘When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening.

Masturbation is also not proven in this passage. It is difficult to conclude that ’emission’ is the release of semen during masturbation. There are at least two other possibilities: marital relations and wet dreams.

When considering other parts of the Bible, the latter possibility is quite high even when one excludes the first possibility because Leviticus 15:18 refers to the release of semen from the male and female sex.

In addition, Leviticus 15:16 does not prove the guilt of masturbation, even if ’emission’ is a release of semen during masturbation.

This passage addresses a conscious problem, not an ethical one.

Throughout the Old Testament, conscious uncleanness was associated with ethical uncleanness, but in the New Testament, conscious uncleanness had no influence on ethical uncleanness.

Through Jesus Christ’s teaching, Peter’s fantasy, and Paul’s teaching, the Old Testament consciousness is no longer directly binding in the New Testament.

We in the New Testament do not feel guilty about Leviticus 15:16’s ’emission’ of masturbation.

Conclusion

Accordingly, certain provisions, which violated God’s will in the Old Testament and were considered barriers to serving and dating God, are not considered sins in the New Testament.

As we have seen, no Old Testament passage has proven the guilt of masturbation so far. What about passages referring to sexual sins in the New Testament? As we will see in the next video, masturbation plays a significant role in the passage referring to sexual sin in the New Testament.