What The Bible Says About Sex, And How To Obey It

What the Bible Says about Sex

1. THE ORIGIN of SEX

God’s first commandment to human beings was “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”-a commandment to Adam and Eve to have sexual relations and make lots of kids who, in turn, are to have lots of kids. This is stated by God even before we are introduced to Adam and Eve, in Genesis 1:27. The Bible is not at all prudish or skittish about sex. It presents sex as the fulfillment God’s plan and design for humanity.

2. What behavior is restricted

Law number 7 “You shall not commit adultery. Exodus 20:14

Leviticus 18

Galatians 5:16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Immorality- porne “πόρνη, from πέρνημι,”to sell,“ esp. of slaves, means lit. “harlot for hire,” “prostitute”; Gk. harlots were usually bought slaves” TDNT

Impurity-(a-catharsis), uncleanness which refers to anything which makes you ceremonially unclean. Much of what is called uncleanness has to do with what we do with our bodies-touching the unclean thing. But Jesus said it is not what goes into your mouth that makes you unclean, it’s what comes out of the heart through the mouth. We’ll see more about this later.

Sensuality/Lasciviousness/debauchery/lewdness “which is from aselgeia, which originally referred to any excess or shameless lack of restraint but came to be associated primarily with sexual excess.”

Orgies-(komoi) literally feastings-had to do with worship feasts to gods in which drunkenness and sexual excess were common.

In this list, four of the fifteen on the list have something to do with sex

Someone said, “Everything good in life is illegal, immoral or fattening”

3. THE JUDGEMENT of SEXUAL SIN –is NOT allowed for us, Judgment is reserved for God. Luke 7:47-50; Matthew 7:1-2; Matthew 21:31; John 8:1-11

4. THE ISSUE OF SEX IN THE ANCIENT WORLD AND IN THE WORLD TODAY

[C]ultic prostitution . . . was a national custom in Persia which even daughters of prominent families followed and to which no shame [was] attached. [It] was practiced (sic) by the class of hierodules whose payment accrued to the goddess. This type of prostitution was widespread in Asia Minor in cults of mother deities; it [was also practiced] in Syria and Egypt. Through the Canaanite cults (Baal, Astarte) it penetrated into the religion of Israel. On Gk. soil sacral prostitution was generally rejected. It found an entry only in Corinth and Athens, probably through the trading connections of these cities with the Orient. In Corinth esp. the temple of Aphrodite with . . . 1000 hierodules was famous . . .

the Greek view of life . . . regard[ed] sexual intercourse as just as natural, necessary and justifiable as eating and drinking. Only civil marriage was protected by law and custom, . . . Even the married man was permitted extra-marital intercourse as he pleased so long as he did not violate a civil marriage. On the other hand, all extra-marital intercourse was forbidden to the wife. . . . . [Among the Spartans] and the Doric . . . homosexuality developed and this then spread over the whole of Greece and was practiced rather than censured even by notable figures.21 Lesbianism was much less common. . . . TDNT

Huge societal changes have taken place in my lifetime. In 1965, when I was born, in the US there about 500,000 adults marriageable age cohabitated remaining unmarried. In 2005 there were about 7 million (more than 10 times as many) and about 500,000 same-sex partners cohabitating. In 1965, more than 90% of children were born to households with two parents in a committed marriage. Today it is less than 25%. Add to these trends the ubiquity of the Internet. According to a study by Daneback et al. (2005) . . . of the 1828 participants they surveyed, one third of them reported engaging in cybersex and of that one third, 46% said they were in a committed relationship with someone else. (Wikipedia-Infidelity)

We live in a society of rapidly changing mores.

I think we could say that the world enjoyed a period of relative fidelity in the family the past few hundred years, but it is reverting back to the habits of more barbaric times.