Incest
Summary
Sexual relations between persons within the degrees of kinship forbidden by Mosaic law, regarded as a serious sin deserving punishment.
☩Biblical Prohibitions
The Levitical law explicitly prohibits sexual relations between close relatives, including parents and children, siblings, step-relatives, and in-laws. These prohibitions appear in Leviticus 18 and 20, with specified penalties including death and being 'cut off' from the people. The law reflects both moral and practical concerns for family purity and the avoidance of confusion in family relationships.
☩Biblical Examples
Scripture records several instances of incestuous relationships: Lot's daughters with their father after the destruction of Sodom; Reuben's sin with his father's concubine Bilhah; Amnon's violation of his half-sister Tamar; Absalom's public taking of his father's concubines; and Herod Antipas's marriage to his brother's wife Herodias, for which John the Baptist rebuked him.
☩New Testament Teaching
The apostle Paul dealt severely with a case of incest in the Corinthian church, where a man had taken his father's wife—a sin Paul described as being of such a nature 'as is not even named among the Gentiles.' He commanded the church to excommunicate the offender, delivering him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit might be saved.
Related Verses22 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Incest," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IV (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.Richard Watson, "Incest," in A Biblical and Theological Dictionary (John Mason, 1831).