God's Laws and Views Concerning...
Human Sexuality
Navigation
Introduction |
Most every week Bible Bell receives two or three questions concerning human sexuality. So we decided it was time to do a round-up of God's guidelines on this sensitive topic. The Bible has a LOT to say about it, as you shall see. |
God does not blush |
||
Human sexuality does not embarrass God. After all, God invented the act of sex
between husband and wife. Neither does the human body make God blush, for He also invented that. God does not merely tolerate sexual relations between husband and wife. Rather, God COMMANDS husbands and wives to "be fruitful and multiply." |
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He
created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it...'' (Gen 1.27-28a) Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Gen 2.24-25) Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and always be enraptured with her love. (Prov 5.18-19) Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed (is) undefiled... (Heb 13.4a) |
Abuse and perversion of the human sexual nature |
Sad to say, any time God makes something that is pure and beautiful, Satan sets out to twist it and make it ugly.
The bottom line is that the world, our flesh, and the devil have so totally twisted our sexual impulses that God had to make "laws" so we can know the difference between "good sex" and "bad sex." |
Why does God make rules about sex? |
||
Flee sexual immorality... (1 Cor 6.18a) | Here's an interesting question - WHY is God so particular
about our sexual activities? The Bible doesn't directly answer that question, but it does tell us some of God's GOALS for human sexuality. Looking at God's goals just might help us understand God's rules about sex. So -- read on! |
Goal #1 - to bear fruit |
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply... (Gen 1.28a) |
Genesis 1.28 shows that one purpose of sex is to make babies. Well and good.
But God had additional goals in mind... |
Goal #2 - to cleave |
||
Now we must ask ourselves - did God design us in such a way that sex involves a lot more than just our physical bodies?
So human sex as God designed it is much much more than a mere physical joining together of two bodies. Rather it is also a fusing together of two individual souls and spirits. When a person has sex, ALL of that person has sex, not just his or her body. |
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined
to his wife, and they shall become
one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his
wife, and were not ashamed. (Gen 2.24-25) ...may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thes 5.23b) |
|
But happily married couples don't have to read the Bible to know that great marital sex is much more than physical. In fact, the yearning of wife and husband to become one may be so intense during sex that their bodies actually get in the way! I won't dwell on this. I hope you understand what I mean. |
Goal #3 - to portray |
||
Therefore, my brethren, you (Christians)
also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married
to another, even to Him (Jesus Christ) who was raised
from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. (Rom 7.4) For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Eph 5.31-32) And He (God) put all things under His (Christ's) feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Eph 1.22-23a) |
A third goal of the husband-wife relationship - in all its aspects - is to paint a picture of Christ's husbandly relationship with His bride, the church (Rom 7.4).
Thus, the human marital relation was designed by God to be an expression of total and unconditional love...
|
Three possible reasons for God's laws |
||
Let's see what God's goals for sex tell us about the reasons for God's restrictions on sex... |
||
#1 To God, children are much more than a physical result of sex. Children are God's reward and heritage. Thus, God desires that each and every child be conceived as the joyous fruit of complete love and trust and commitment between husband and wife, not as an unwanted by-product of fornication. Thus, God detests adultery and fornication. |
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is His reward. (Ps 127.3) | |
#2 As shown previously, a goal of sex is to consummate the joining
of wife and husband into "one flesh." By fornicating, a person is indeed joined, not with a loving and committed spouse, but with a harlot. Anyone who joins to a harlot IS a harlot - the price paid may not always be money, but there is ALWAYS a price to be paid. And again thus -- God dislikes fornication. |
Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "The two,'' He says, "shall become one flesh.'' (1 Cor 6.16) | |
#3 As shown previously, marital relations picture the joining together of Christ with His bride, the church.
Thus God utterly detests adultery, fornication, and divorce. |
...Now the
body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord,
and the Lord for the body. (1 Cor 6.13b) Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! (1 Cor 6.15) Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Cor 6.19-20) |
A fourth possible reason |
A final deduction concerning the possible reasons for God's laws has no Bible reference but is, instead, based on genetics. Namely, God forbids incest - sexual relations between persons who are closely related - because such relationships often produce children who are physically handicapped or mentally impaired. |
The laws of God concerning sexual relations |
Now that we have deduced some possible reasons for God's laws about sex, let's have a look at those laws... |
Laws forbidding incest Do not marry or have sexual relations with...
|
Laws forbidding perversion of the sanctity of marriage and of the parent-child relationship
|
Laws forbidding betrayal of the essential trust of marriage Do not have sexual relations with...
|
Laws forbidding betrayal of the sanctity of blood relationships Do not have sexual relations with...
|
Laws forbidding homosexuality, lesbianism, or beastiality Do not have sexual relations with...
|
Law forbidding concealment of gender identity
|
Laws forbidding lust
|
Laws forbidding adultery and fornication
|
Law for purposes of hygiene
|
Laws for strengthening marriage and resisting temptation
|
Laws governing the varieties of sexual activity
|
A Biblical celebration of marital relations The Song of Solomon is many things. Most importantly it is an allegorical portrayal of the loving, intimate relationship between Christ and His bride, the church. But the Song also has a LITERAL meaning. Namely, it celebrates human marital relations both in the physical and spiritual realms. From this standpoint the Song reassures every husband and wife that God not only is unembarrassed by their sexual pleasures, but designed them to be such. In a way, the Song says to husbands and wives, "Enjoy, enjoy." If you want to study Song of Solomon further, we recommend you buy & read "Biblical Lovemaking" by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Press. It's only 70 pages and inexpensive, but it is a superb study of God's lovely Song. Click here to visit Ariel's website. May our dear God and Father bless you as you relish the gift He gave unto you -- the joy and wonder of sexual union within the bounds of Holy Matrimony. |