A Biblical Examination of Pornography

The Bible does not use the modern word pornography, but it speaks extensively about sexual immorality, lust, and the thought-life — which directly apply to pornography and its effects.

1. What is Pornography in Biblical Terms?

Pornography is the visual or written depiction of sexual activity or nudity intended to arouse lust. In biblical terms, this falls under:

  • Lust (inward desire for someone sexually outside of God’s design)
  • Uncleanness (impurity of thought or deed)
  • Fornication (sexual immorality)

Jesus makes it clear that lust is a sin even without physical contact.

Matthew 5:28 – “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

This means that watching pornography, which is created for lust, already brings the sin of adultery in the heart before God.

2. God’s Design for Sexual Desire

The Bible teaches that sexual intimacy is a gift from God, created for marriage between a man and a woman.

Genesis 2:24 – “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
Hebrews 13:4 – “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

Pornography distorts God’s design, replacing real covenant love with self-centered fantasy.

3. Lust and the Mind

Porn directly feeds sinful imagination and desire. The Bible commands us to control our thought life.

Job 31:1 – “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?”
2 Corinthians 10:5 – “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

Porn encourages the opposite — feeding the mind with images that fuel sinful imaginations.

4. Uncleanness and Impurity

Paul often warns against “uncleanness,” which includes sexual impurity of mind and body.

Ephesians 5:3 – “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints.”
Colossians 3:5 – “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

Pornography falls under uncleanness and evil concupiscence (lustful desire).

5. Masturbation — Direct or Indirect Biblical Teaching

The Bible does not name masturbation directly. The only passage some use is Genesis 38:9-10, where Onan “spilled it on the ground,” but this was about refusing to fulfill Levirate marriage duty — not solitary sexual activity itself.

However, masturbation tied to porn or lust is still condemned by the principle of heart adultery in Matthew 5:28. The problem is not only the physical act but the thoughts and images driving it.

6. The Spiritual Danger of Pornography

  • It enslaves the mind – Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
  • It replaces God with idols – Sexual lust becomes an idol when it rules the heart (Romans 1:24-25).
  • It corrupts the conscience – Titus 1:15 “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”

7. God’s Call to Holiness

The believer’s body and mind are for God’s glory.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 – “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost… ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Watching porn or lusting in thought uses the body and mind against their God-given purpose.

8. Victory Over Lust and Porn

The Bible gives practical commands for overcoming:

  • Avoid sources of temptation – Romans 13:14 “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
  • Renew the mind – Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
  • Pursue purity actively – Philippians 4:8 “…whatsoever things are pure… think on these things.”

Final Summary

From the KJV’s teaching:

  • Pornography is lust in visual form → condemned in Matthew 5:28.
  • It is part of uncleanness and fornication to be avoided (Ephesians 5:3).
  • Masturbation tied to lust falls under heart adultery and impurity.
  • God calls believers to flee sexual immorality, not entertain it.
  • The battle is first in the mind and eyes — Job’s covenant with his eyes is the model.

Porn is not just “bad for you” — it is a sin before God because it breaks His holy standard for thought and sexuality, defiles the conscience, and robs Him of the glory due in our bodies and minds.


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