What is an appropriate age of consent?

There is a reason why the theological establishment has not yet voted out "biblical spanking". Most churches do not go on the pure context like I do on parenting issue, but by the pure text, as understood by the eyes of men today, not of God. The reason is the age of consent - most pastors and theologians are convinced that the answer isn't so clear about that in the Bible, when it is. The age of majority meant a lot then, meaning sex could not occur at all until, at minimum, a child became an adult.

It says in Colossians 3:5-7 KJV:

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil conscupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye walked some time, when ye lived in some time.

The Greek root word translated "inordinate affection" is επιθυμέω (Latin: epithumeo) and refers in this context to adult sexual entitlement, meaning wanting sexual relations with a child to the point of seeking to impose said want on a child, leading to fornication. Any romantic passions are inordinate affections under Divine Law, meaning romantic affections must be channeled into proper use, such as finding a wife. Any sexual desire imposed on a child is adult sexual entitlement. Masturbation, even to fantasies of children, is not the moral crime of adult sexual entitlement, unless it leads to coarse jesting and filthy talk afterwards (Eph. 5:4). The moment you have formed the intent to commit sexual sin against a child, the moment you are guilty of that sin, in so many words, so restrain that intent, and possibly channel it to a more solitary venue, for health reasons and not planning reasons. The sin of the Lord is not merely thinking of it, but planning it as a realistic possibility, which sex with children never is a possibility, even when it is opportunity-wise.

The Greek root word translated "fornication" is πορνεία (Latin: porneia) and refers to all of the sex crime statutes under the Law enumerated into one word as a cross-references, with the general rule being sex outside any legally recognized marriage. This also refers to the age of consent/marriage under Jewish law, which in the Early Church and the Old Testament alike was 12 for females and 13 for males, with the average age of marriage for a young woman in the Early Christian church communities was 14. Jewish age-of-consent law was very conservative compared to neighboring cultures. In most cultures then, a wife was betrothed from the time she was a child and then married to a man upon adulthood. This wasn't the case in Hebraic cultures, meaning the spirit of this Greek root word is a high age of consent, alongside the age of majority, meaning children cannot even be touched by an adult until they are one. Most marriages under Jewish law were same-age marriage, or else to an older woman, in which a man marrying a much younger woman was not not acceptable under the Law, and the Greek root word πορνεία. 

In ancient Israel and surrounding cultures, young men and women met in courtship situations. A young woman who came of age was first advertised by the father in a public forum, and then young men came over, taking the virgin for a walk, hand in hand, in an innocent courtship experience before committing to get married, with the marriage contract/betrothal finalized by sexual intercourse. Once sex was completed, the marriage contract was signed on the dotted line. Most young people in ancient Israel and the Early Church waited to marry, and just enjoyed their young adult status, shaking their parents off. The advice then was "Stay young. Don't rush it". Marriage was a sign of exiting the status of young adulthood, and was a sign of maturity in any adult. Thus, because anyone who would legally have sex would have been an adult, we come to an age of consent of 18.

The given age of consent in an ancient culture is equivalent only roughly to the modern concept of the age of consent, and that is because we don't project today's standards onto an ancient culture, or vice versa unless clearly implied in a biblical command, and the commandment against fornication, due to age equivalency, commands a higher age of consent, not a lower one. Any time before a child is 18, all adults that come into contact with that child other than their parents are parents in loco parentis, meaning "in place of the parent", thus sex with a child is a conflict of interest which God hates with a fury, meaning all those that partake, and all those that come into contact with the partaker, are defiled, meaning unclean until the even.

It's about time. Raise the age of consent to 18, on par with the age of majority in most states, alongside the age of marriage. Children should not be having sex, and children should not be getting married. Let the fornicators BURN! Fornication is SIN!