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Matthew 5:32 says: “But I say to you that everyone
who divorces his wife, except for the cause of
unchastity (porneia) , makes her commit adultery
(moixaw) .” 1 Corinthians 5:1 says, “It is actually
reported that there is immorality among you, and
immorality (porneia) of such a kind as does not
exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has
his father’s wife.” There is the figurative usage of
the word as spiritual prostitution or harlotry
represented where Scripture says, “Fallen is
Babylon the great, she who has made all the
nations drink of the wine of the passion of her
immorality (porneia) ” ( Rev. 14:8 ). Finally, the New
Testament clearly uses the word as a warning
against pre-marital sex in 1 Corinthians 7:1-2
when Paul writes “it is good for a man not to touch
a woman. But because of immoralities (porneias) ,
let each man have his own wife, and let each
woman have her own husband.” What we see then
is that porneia speaks of more than a sexual
encounter only within marriage or only outside of
marriage.
Without using the word porneia the Bible still
teaches sexual abstinence before marriage.
Genesis 2:24 says that a man shall be joined to his
wife, and they shall become one flesh. There is a
unity implied in the sexual act which is more than
just metaphorical. Oneness is physical and spiritual.
Israel clearly understood this, since prospective
wives were to be virgins. Paul addressed this issue
in the New Testament in his warning against temple
prostitution—one of the organized religions of the
day. “Do you not know that your bodies are
members of Christ? Shall I then take away the
members of Christ and make them members of a
harlot? May it never be! Or do you not know that the
one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with
her? For He says, ‘the two will become one flesh.’
But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one
spirit with Him. Flee immorality (porniean) . Every
other sin that a man commits is outside the body,
but the immoral man (porneuon) sins against his
own body. Or do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you
have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1
Cor 6:15-19 ) If a man or woman, single or married,
has sex, there is a oneness union implied. Clearly,
this oneness is physically and spiritually reserved
for marriage in God’s perfect design.
Somehow you have linked various translations of
the Bible with the idea that Christianity is making up
meanings. The word legitimately has all the
variations you mention. The germane issue is the
immediate context in which the word is used in the
Bible. However, the Bible in whole, written by God,
clearly teaches the legitimacy of all meaning of the
word. You do not need to become a Greek linguist to
understand the Bible. Read it from cover to cover
and it is a clear unity. There are many helpful
resources (books, classes, software) available that
allow a person to go as deep into word study as
they want to go.
No translation of the Bible is perfect in English.
There are always some choices that the translators
have had to make. Some of the choices are colored
by the culture of the day. For example, during the
early 1600’s there was a theological disagreement
as to whether baptism was to be accomplished
through sprinkling or full immersion. So, the King
James translators just avoided the issue by simply
transliterating the Greek work baptidzo as “baptize”
everywhere it appeared. The real meaning of the
word comes from the dyers trade where a white
cloth was “baptized” into the color. The word was
used outside the Bible in a reference to a sunken
boat in the Mediterranean being “baptized.” Using
“baptize” instead of “immerse” did not alter the
Bible. However, a more modern illustration, that of
the recent gender-neutral translation, is arguably
bowing to cultural political-correctness and may
alter the Bible’s literal intent.
There are very good translations that one can read
with confidence—New American Standard; New
International; New King James. These are faithful
attempts by the translators to clearly communicate
in English the original languages as God recorded
them. If you read them with a desire to understand
what they say, any slight differences in word usage
fade in their effect.