How does Exodus 22:17 connect with New Testament teachings on purity? Text under study “ If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay an amount equal to the bride-price for virgins.” – Exodus 22:17 Why This Detail Matters • The young woman’s purity was not a throw-away commodity; it carried covenant weight. • The man’s payment acknowledged that weight, even if marriage never followed. • The father, as covenant guardian, protected his daughter’s honor and future. • The law signals: sexual intimacy is never casual; it creates obligations that cannot be ducked. New Testament Echoes of the Same Values • 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 – “Flee from sexual immorality… you are not your own; you were bought with a price.” • 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 – “This is the will of God: your sanctification; that you abstain from sexual immorality… God has not called us to impurity but to holiness.” • Hebrews 13:4 – “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept undefiled.” • Ephesians 5:3 – “Among you, as is proper for saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality.” • 1 Timothy 5:2 – Treat “younger women as sisters, in all purity.” • 2 Corinthians 11:2 – Paul longs to present believers to Christ “as a chaste virgin,” echoing the father’s protective role. Connecting the Dots • Exodus 22:17 puts a price on violated purity; the New Testament puts a cross on it. • The Old Testament father defends his daughter’s honor; the Father in heaven defends His children’s holiness. • Financial restitution in Exodus foreshadows the fuller restitution Christ secures—restoring what sin damages and calling believers to live it out. Practical Takeaways • Treat every person’s purity as priceless, never disposable. • Recognize sexual sin always carries consequences—relational, spiritual, even communal. • Honor parental (and ultimately divine) authority that seeks to safeguard holiness. • Let Christ’s costly payment motivate a lifestyle that, in Paul’s words, offers our bodies as “living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1). |
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