Masturbation - Is It a Sin According to the Bible?
1) Direct answer
Yes. Even if the Bible does not name the act by that word, masturbation springs from lust and uncleanness, and that is sin.
2) Scriptural explanation
- Jesus traced adultery to the heart: “Whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Masturbation feeds on lustful thoughts; that’s where it lives.
- The works of the flesh include “uncleanness” and “lasciviousness” (Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5). Self-gratification driven by lust falls right there.
- “Flee fornication… your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost… glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20). You can’t glorify God by indulging lust.
- God’s provision for sexual desire is honorable marriage, not self-pleasure: “To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife… defraud ye not one the other…” (1 Corinthians 7:2-5; see also Hebrews 13:4). If desire burns, the Bible says marry (1 Corinthians 7:9), not turn inward to lust.
- We’re commanded to “abstain from fleshly lusts” (1 Peter 2:11), “make a covenant with our eyes” (Job 31:1), “walk in the Spirit” so we “shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16), and “mortify… fornication, uncleanness” (Colossians 3:5).
- A simple test: “Whatever you do… do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” and “to the glory of God” (Colossians 3:17; 1 Corinthians 10:31). Can this be done unto the Lord? If not, it’s sin (James 4:17).
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Now notice: God made sexual union for covenant, love, and life within marriage. Masturbation turns it inward, feeds fantasy, and strengthens the rule of the flesh—not the Spirit.
- Some say it’s harmless or “normal.” But the Bible doesn’t measure by culture; it measures by holiness, self-control, and a clean heart. Lust in the heart is where God looks, and that’s exactly what this act requires.
- It’s not three standards—one for mind, one for body, one for spirit. It’s one life. If the thought is sinful, the act it fuels is unclean.
4) Hope and victory
- There is cleansing: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us…and to cleanse us” (1 John 1:9).
- Walk it out:
- Repent—turn from lust and renounce it in Jesus’ Name.
- Cut off the feeders: pornography, suggestive media, idle scrolling (Matthew 5:29-30).
- Fill your heart with the Word and prayer; walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16).
- Discipline the body: fasting, honest accountability, purposeful work (1 Corinthians 9:27).
- Pursue God’s order: purity in singleness; fidelity and mutual care in marriage (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5; 1 Corinthians 7:3-5).
- If you stumble, don’t hide—run to the Lord, rise again, and keep walking.
You see, God calls us to holiness—not bondage to the flesh. Jesus cleanses, the Holy Spirit empowers, and the Word renews the mind. Live clean; live filled; live free.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 5:E-91
Since we have discovered who Ninus was, it is now necessary to discover who his father was. According to history it was Bel, the founder of Babylon. (Now it is to be noted here that Bel founded it in the sense that he started this whole move, but it was the son, Ninus, that established it and was the first king etc.) But according to the Scripture, the father of Nimrod was Cush: "And Cush begat Nimrod." Not only is this so but we find that Ham begat Cush. Now, in the Egyptian culture Bel was called Hermes, and Herm...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 9:E-44
...n the midst of the Church. As He stands there revealing Who He is in this last age, He calls Himself the "Author of the creation of God". This is ANOTHER CREATION. This has to do with the church. This is a special designation of Himself. He is the CREATOR of that church. The heavenly Bridegroom created his own bride. As the Spirit of God, He came down and created in the virgin Mary the cells from which His body was born. I want to repeat that. He created the very cells in the womb of Mary for that body. It was not...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 3:E-35
There He is with the seven stars in His right hand. The right hand or arm signifies the power and authority of God. Psalms 44:3, "For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou hadst a favour unto them." In that right hand of power are seven stars, who, according to Revelation 1:20, are the seven church messengers. This signifies that the very power and authority of God are behind His...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 4:E-129
But to go on. These elect were not only the eternal thoughts of God which were to be expressed in flesh in their due season, but these same elect are called by another name. Romans 4:16. "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all." Romans 9:7-13, "Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, in Isaac shall...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 9:E-81
"Buy of Me, gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich." Now these people had plenty of gold, but it was the wrong kind. It was that gold that bought men's lives and destroyed them. It was the gold that warped and twisted human character, for its love was the root of all evil. Revelation 18:1-14, "And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen...