What Does the Bible Say About Masturbation?
The Bible never names masturbation. See what Genesis 38, Leviticus 15 and Matthew 5 say, and how Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant sources read them.
General education, not medical advice. If something here worries you, talk with a clinician.
Table of Contents
The Bible does not mention masturbation by name. Most scholars hold that it contains no explicit rule about the practice. That silence is why believers, scholars and churches have read the same few passages in very different ways. This article sets out what those passages say, then reports how Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical, Protestant and Jewish sources interpret them, without taking a side.
Does the Bible mention masturbation?
No passage in the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament names masturbation. Most scholars cited here agree on that point. GotQuestions, an evangelical site, says the Bible is silent on the subject and so does not state that it is or is not a sin. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod likewise says the Bible does not address it directly.
Silence does not end the discussion, though. Some writers treat it as leaving the question open. Others hold that general principles about sex, marriage and the body settle it. The Gospel Coalition, a conservative Protestant network, argues that a missing word does not make an act acceptable. The rest of the article shows where those principles are drawn from.
The passages people connect to it
Genesis 38: the story of Onan
The best-known link is the story of Onan. It is also where the old word “onanism” comes from. In Genesis 38:8, Judah tells Onan to join with his dead brother’s widow and give his brother offspring. Genesis 38:9 says Onan knew the child would not count as his. So he let the semen go to waste whenever he joined with her. Genesis 38:10 says this displeased God, who took his life.
The text describes sex with the widow, not solitary acts. Many scholars read the act as coitus interruptus and see the death as a penalty for refusing the duty of levirate marriage. GotQuestions says Onan was condemned for failing a family obligation. The traditional Jewish reading, by contrast, applies the story to emitting semen outside the vagina.
Leviticus 15: ritual impurity
Leviticus 15:16 says a man who has an emission of semen bathes and stays ritually impure until evening. Leviticus 15:18 applies the same rule to a man and a woman who have intercourse. The passage names no moral offense and no penalty beyond the impurity.
Matthew 5:27-30 and 1 Corinthians 6
In Matthew 5:27-28, Jesus says that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:30 then speaks of cutting off a right hand that causes stumbling. Neither verse names masturbation. Catholic Answers notes that some biblical scholars connect the hand language to it, while GotQuestions thinks that unlikely.
First Corinthians 6:18 urges readers to flee sexual immorality, and 6:19-20 calls the body a temple of the Holy Spirit. The passage does not name masturbation. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, for one, cites 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 against it, which is its own application of the verses.
How traditions read the Bible on this
Catholic teaching
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2352, defines masturbation as the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs to derive sexual pleasure. It calls the act intrinsically and gravely disordered. The same paragraph says that immaturity, habit, anxiety and other factors can lessen a person’s responsibility. Catholic Answers adds a scriptural argument from Matthew 5:27-30 and treats the cutting-off language as hyperbole.
Orthodox and Evangelical positions
The Orthodox Church in America calls masturbation a distortion of sexuality because it is self-directed and cannot express love for another person. For that reason it considers the act sinful, especially when it becomes an addiction. Some Evangelical writers reach a similar verdict by a different route. The Gospel Coalition builds its case on creation and marriage texts such as Genesis 2:24-25 and 1 Corinthians 7:4-5. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod cites 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 and 1 Corinthians 6:12-20.
Jewish and more permissive Protestant views
Wikipedia, a tertiary source, reports that Maimonides is said to have held that the Tanakh does not explicitly prohibit masturbation. It adds that traditional Judaism condemns male masturbation through the Onan story. Scholars dispute whether that ban is biblical or rabbinic. On the Christian side, some denominations see it as a healthy expression of God-given sexuality. Many Protestant churches in Northern and Western Europe, and some elsewhere, do not call it a sin.
Why the same verses lead to different conclusions
This article groups the disagreement under three choices. The first is how to treat silence: as neutral, or as something general principles about marriage and self-control can fill. GotQuestions and the Gospel Coalition both begin from the same silence and handle it differently.
The second is whether the Onan story is about the act at all. A reading that centers on levirate duty, as Wikipedia reports many scholars do, removes the main Old Testament text from the debate.
The third is history. Wikipedia reports that scholars such as Cappelli, Brundage and Keenan find the early church writers, apart from Clement of Alexandria, had little to say. Cappelli cautioned against reading that silence as approval. Wikipedia notes that denominations have held varying positions since the mid-twentieth century.
Frequently asked questions
Is masturbation a sin according to the Bible?
The Bible does not name it, so the answer depends on interpretation. Catholic and Orthodox sources, and some Evangelical sources such as the Gospel Coalition, say yes, citing broader principles. Other writers say the text does not decide the question.
Was Onan punished for masturbating?
The text of Genesis 38:9-10 describes Onan letting semen go to waste during intercourse with his brother’s widow, not solitary activity. Many scholars read it as a story about refusing a family duty.
Does Matthew 5:28 refer to masturbation?
Matthew 5:28 speaks of lustful looking and does not name the practice. Some commentators link nearby verses to it, while others say the passage is not about masturbation.
Do all Christians agree?
No. Catholic, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christians and some Protestants consider it a sin, while many Protestant churches in Northern and Western Europe do not. Denominations have held varying positions since the mid-twentieth century.
The short version
The Bible does not mention masturbation directly. What it does contain are a few passages, about Onan, ritual impurity, lust and the body, that readers connect to the subject in different ways. Catholic and Orthodox sources call the act sinful on the basis of principle. So do some Evangelical sources, such as the Gospel Coalition. Others hold that Scripture does not decide the matter. This is general educational information, not medical or spiritual advice.
Related reading
Sources
- Religious views on masturbation - Wikipedia
- Masturbation - is it a sin according to the Bible? - GotQuestions.org
- Masturbation - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS)
- Debunking 4 Justifications for Masturbation - The Gospel Coalition
- Genesis 38:6-10 (Revised JPS, 2023) - Sefaria / Jewish Publication Society
- Leviticus 15:16-18 (Revised JPS, 2023) - Sefaria / Jewish Publication Society
- Matthew 5:27-30 (World English Bible) - bible-api.com (World English Bible, public domain)
- Why the Church Condemns Masturbation - Catholic Answers
- 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 18-20 (World English Bible) - bible-api.com (World English Bible, public domain)
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, Article 6 The Sixth Commandment - Vatican (Libreria Editrice Vaticana)
- Church’s view of masturbation - Orthodox Church in America
- Christian views on masturbation - Wikipedia