LASCIVIOUSNESS (ἀσέλγεια, G816). This term, which is descriptive of wantonness or excess, does not occur frequently in Biblical Gr. In the LXX it is found in two places only (Wisd Sol 14:26; 3 Macc 2:26), in the NT it occurred only eight times. Plato and some Attic authors used the term to denote licentiousness or wanton violence, although the adjectival form generally meant “outrageous.” In Josephus it was used occasionally of lewd women (cf. Jos. War I. xxii. 3). The Eng. word is derived from the Lat., which conveyed the general sense of wantonness, lewdness, or inclination to lust.

The history of the Gr. form is uncertain at best, and its etymological origins have been sought in the verb θέλγω, which was used by both early and late writers of enchanting, spellbinding, cheating and entrapping. Significantly enough, asélgeia (Gal 5:19) was followed by warnings against witchcraft, although elsewhere (e.g. Mark 7:22; Rom 13:13; 2 Cor 12:21; Eph 4:19; 1 Pet 4:3; 2 Pet 2:2, 7, 18; Jude 4; cf. KJV, RSV) and perhaps in Galatians 5:19 the reference was to sensuality, particularly that which outraged public decency. There could be no place for such behavior in the Christian life, as the NT references made clear. Asélgeia also implied insolence or violence toward another in NT times, and a 4th cent. a.d. papyrus complained of a man using “many abusive terms” (ἀσελγήματα).