What Is Revenge Porn? (A Biblical Perspective)
Revenge porn, more precisely called nonconsensual distribution of intimate images, refers to the act of sharing sexually explicit photos or videos of someone without their permission, often by former intimate partners who seek to shame, humiliate, or harm them. The images might have been shared privately in trust, but the perpetrator distributes them publicly for vengeance, control, or sexual gratification.
From a biblical standpoint, revenge porn is deeply immoral. It violates dignity, consent, truth, and justice. It’s a modern form of sexual assault, weaponizing someone’s body and privacy for harm. In light of God’s character – His justice, holiness, and love for image-bearers — Christians must reckon with both the severity of the sin and the possibility of restoration for victims and perpetrators.
To see how Scripture understands patterns of sexual exploitation and compulsion, one can look at how the Bible treats pornography and addiction generally, which provides relevant insight into how image-based abuse also functions.
1. The Nature of the Violation: Consent, Trust, and Dignity
At its core, revenge porn is a betrayal of trust and a violation of consent. The subject shared images in a private, relational context. To distribute them publicly is to weaponize intimacy. Scripture honors the dignity of human beings made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27).
When that dignity is denigrated, insulted, or exposed, it is a moral wrong. To treat another person’s body as a commodity or source of shame is antithetical to the biblical ethic of loving and honoring neighbor (Matthew 22:39).
2. Sexual Sin, Shame, and Exploitation
Revenge porn is not just a technological wrongdoing — it is a sexual sin. It involves exposing sexual content not for mutual intimacy, but for harm. It leverages shame, humiliation, power, and the illicit gaze.
In the biblical narrative, sexual sins often carry strong language of defilement, violence, and judgment. While the Scriptures do not name “revenge porn,” the underlying dynamics—exploitation of sexual images without consent—fall under the broader biblical warnings about sexual immorality, lust, and harm (1 Corinthians 6:18–20; Ephesians 5:3–5).
3. The Justice of God: Vengeance Belongs to Him
One of the strongest biblical teachings is that vengeance belongs to God (Romans 12:19). Rather than taking matters into one’s own hands by shaming or retaliating, Scripture calls believers to entrust justice to God.
Revenge porn seeks private justice via public humiliation — it inverts God’s justice by letting personal anger mete out punishment. The Christian must resist the temptation to retaliate in kind, even when deeply hurt, and instead call upon God’s righteous judgment.
4. Community, Accountability & Church Response
The church must respond redemptively and justly.
Protect victims: Provide pastoral care, confidentiality, and counsel.
Discipline: Where the offender is a believer, church discipline may be appropriate (Matthew 18; 1 Corinthians 5).
Support laws and policies: Christians should advocate for legal protections against image-based abuse.
Restore dignity: A Christian community must work toward healing, reconciliation if possible, and restoration of trust.
Such practices reflect the justice and mercy of God among His people.
5. Addiction, Compulsion & Image-Based Sin
Often, the sharing of abusive images is connected to deeper compulsive patterns: pornography use, desire for control, or addictive behaviors. The Bible warns that sin can enslave, drawing people into habits that are hard to break (John 8:34). The reflection on addiction helps us understand how sexual sins often flow from spiritual bondage. Revenge porn may not only be an act of anger, but part of a destructive cycle that needs gospel healing.
The same principles that apply to overcoming pornography addiction—confession, repentance, accountability, the Spirit’s power—apply here too.
6. The Gospel: Mercy, Transformation & Hope
Even in the face of grievous harm, the Gospel speaks hope. Victims are not alone; Christ came to bind up the brokenhearted (Isaiah 61:1). The church must surround victims with love, protection, and dignity. For perpetrators, the Gospel offers forgiveness, repentance, and life change (1 John 1:9).
Sin must be confronted, but not without compassion. In Christ, those who have fallen into shameful sins can be redeemed, restored, and empowered to pursue righteousness.
Conclusion
Revenge porn is not just a new technological crime — it is a moral atrocity. It violates consent, dignity, trust, and justice. From a biblical perspective, it stands as a serious sin, combining sexual exploitation, humiliation, vengeance, and betrayal.
Yet the Gospel provides a remedy. There is forgiveness for perpetrators who repent, healing for victims, and a community called to walk the hard road of justice and mercy together. Because God is just and loving, His people must respond not merely with condemnation, but with hands extended to heal, protect, and restore in His name.
Bible Verses on Justice, Sexual Sin & Restoration
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
“You shall not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14)
“Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18)
“Do not let your hearts be troubled... I will come again.” (John 14:1)
“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.” (Malachi 4:2)
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)
“Let the oppressed go free... share your bread with the hungry.” (Isaiah 58:6–7)
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
