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You are right Actually. in point of fact both the Hebrew (zero)and Greek (sperma) terms used have multiple meanings, not limited to "semen." But in the verse in question, he doesn't make sense as "semen" but only as "offspring." Otherwise, in v. 8 Onan is told to raise up "semen" for his brother, and in v. 9, neither the Hebrew nor the Greek uses zera/sperma or any other to say what Onan spilled. So v. 9 says, "But because Onan knew that the offspring (zera/sperma) would not be his, it would come about that he would pour out upon the ground when he would go in to his brother's wife so that he would not give offspring (zero/sperma) to his brother." Neither occurrences of zera/spermain v. My bad9 refer to semen. --[[User:Fr Lev|Fr Lev]] ([[User talk:Fr Lev|talk]]) 1421:1202, June 26, 2018 (UTC)
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:Septuagint: “γνοὺς δὲ Aυναν ὅτι οὐκ αὐτῷ ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα ἐγίνετο ὅταν εἰσήρχετο πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐξέχεεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τοῦ μὴ δοῦναι σπέρμα τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ”
:I fail to see St. Jerome’s translational error. In any case, what else would Onan have been fundebat/ἐξέχεεν/spilling when he introiens/εἰσήρχετο/went in unto Tamar in order to not give σπέρμα for his brother?
:I’m not sure what you mean by “Greek” views on marriage? Please elaborate. Also, how is approval of contraception any less unbiblical than its condemnation (by Jerome or whomever)? No verse either directly approves of or condemns its use. Is everything that isn’t forbidden in the bible moral, or edifying for the Christian? It should also be noted that “for the procreation of children” does not necessarily mean that its enjoyment it to be precluded, just that it is naturally oriented towards this (i.e. procreation is at least one of its teloi), and that actively preventing sex from leading to procreation would be unnatural. This, I argue, is very Orthodox, and very Patristic.
I had in mind Stoicism, and Clement's unbiblical view that "the law intended husbands to cohabit with their wives with self-control and only for the purpose of begetting children" (Stromateis 3.11.71).
