THE THEOLOGY BEHIND SEXUAL SIN (OF ALL KINDS)
Why does the God of the whole earth care who you sleep with when He has a universe to run? Why would He give a hoot about your body and what you do with it?
However, the Bible as a whole gives a reason behind this beginning from the book of Genesis,
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
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; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
(Genesis 1:26–28)
God created man in His image and made man male and female. The concept of male and female is an integral and important part of the image of God within the human race He created.
Further, the mandate for mankind to “be fruitful and multiply” is only possible within the context of the above.
Subsequently God creates a partner for Adam. This is the state of affairs this was supposed to rectify,
“And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
(Genesis 2:18)
In the original Hebrew, the word “comparable” carries the notion of “opposite but corresponding to”. In effect, God did not create the same thing twice but created two pieces of a puzzle that are meant to be different but complement each other.
Embedded within this, was the model framework for marriage which Adam states under inspiration of God’s spirit,
“ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
(Genesis 2:24)
And before people get ideas and say, “This is Adam’s word, not God’s”, Jesus affirmed that model as the word of God Himself,
“ And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?”
(Matthew 19:4–5)
This model of marriage between a man and a woman now becomes an allegory for God and His people. Hence in various books of the Bible (Jeremiah 3:1–2, Ezekiel 16 & 23, Hosea 1–3) Israel is portrayed as an unfaithful wife and God as a faithful husband. This motif is also used as a promise for God restoring His people to Himself, for example,
“For as a young man marries a virgin,
So shall your sons marry you;
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So shall your God rejoice over you.”
(Isaiah 62:5)
And again,
““And it shall be, in that day,”
Says the Lord,
“That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’
And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’
For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
In that day I will make a covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth,
To make them lie down safely.
“I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the Lord.”
(Hosea 2:16–20)
The New Testament carries on with the same marriage analogy.
First, John the Baptist, the “Voice crying in the wilderness to make plain the way of the Lord”, says,
“ You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.”
(John 3:28–29)
Jesus Christ also draws on this motif as He called Himself the bridegroom when in response to the Pharisees asking why His disciples do not fast, He says,
“ And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
(Matthew 9:15)
Further, Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a wedding feast in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1–13, Matthew 22:1–14 for instance).
Paul in His epistles also likens the redemption and salvation of Christ to a marriage relationship and his teachings on marriage are around this very idea. He writes,
“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.”
(Ephesians 5:31–32)
As if this is not enough, the book of Revelation closes with a wedding imagery as well,
“Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
(Revelation 19:9)
“ Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
(Revelation 21:2–3)
“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
(Revelation 21:9)
Given the sanctity of marriage which was designed as a life long commitment of one man and one woman to the exclusion of others from the book of Genesis and the fact the book of Revelation closes with a marriage feast, it does make sense that God would take this seriously. It makes sense that any union other than that of the original design would be sinful because it would:
(i) First and foremost go against the original purpose of man to image God through male and female marriage relationships
(ii) represent rebellion against the original design of God in a marriage
(iii) render God’s instruction to mankind to be fruitful and multiply null and void as any other combination is inherently unable to, pun intended, bring this into fruition and
(iv) Not reflect the imagery of Christ and the church (which is an extension of marriage being a form of imaging God).
Again, this would apply to all abuses of sexuality. Hence in the New Testament, the word “Pornea” is used by Jesus and the other writers to describe and condemn sexual sins. The word is an all embracing term which covers all sexual activity outside the confines of marriage between a man and a woman. The word would cover incest, adultery, fornication, bestiality and rape. Engaging in any of the above would also be sinful for one or more of the above reasons.
Why does God care about what you do with your body? Because He created it? Because Jesus Christ, His Son, Had His body broken, bruised and battered as a purchase/redemption price for our bodies. Hence Paul writes,
“Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 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 Corinthians 6:18–20)
Our body is now the temple of God in Christ hence it is not unreasonable for Him to care what we do with our body.
Times are consistently changing but the word of God does not,
“ Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”
(Matthew 24:35)
The church cannot allow culture to influence doctrine, the word of God has to be stood upon. Remember it is a message that Jesus Christ and all His disciples (save John) died for. It is a message we have no right to change.
