philologos wrote: Fornication was usually defined as pre-marital sexual intercourse, and adultery as post-marital sexual intercourse.
When philologos wrote the above quote, he was referring to the limitations of a dictionary definition, no matter how old, and not endorsing them at all, as adequate sources for biblical theology. Later in the thread, he gently disputed an oversimplification of the definition of adultery, saying
While there is a case for arguing that 'fornication' (as used biblically) may include all sexual immorality inside or outside of marriage, 'adultery' would always mean the betraying of the marriage bond and hence really only applicable to someone within a marriage. So 'adultery' would be a sin 'within' marriage but 'fornication' could well include sin 'within and outside' of a marriage union.
thanks for the clarification, linn.I guess Ive become a stickler for detail....a conditioned response due to too many evenings spent in discussion with overzealous legalists...