Good, evil, and sex

As we think about our major existential preoccupations, sex is not far from our thoughts. If you’re just zeroing in on this blog without the context of what I have written already on a more general note, it would be well if you looked back on those earlier posts. 

Those who read the one about distinguishing good from evil, will have noted that in the biblical lists of sins, “sexual immorality” holds a predominant place. Now, God is not against sex: let us be clear – he invented it, after all. He it is who has endowed us with this most powerful – and pleasurable – of instincts; God is not against sex per se. In fact, our wise and holy Creator made us as sexual beings – indeed, from the moment of the creation of our human species, he ordered humans to have sex: “Be fruitful and multiply” were his words. 

So right from the start, our intelligent Creator had in mind the ordering of this precious gift of human sexuality. Not only did he encourage sexual intimacy, he set in place guidelines that lead those who follow them into the fullest enjoyment of sexual pleasure. So when Jesus and the New Testament include “sexual immorality” in a list of sins, the reference is to the misuse of this wonderful gift that God has given us. 

The original Greek word used by Jesus was porneia which basically covers all sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage. According to much-loved biblical scholar William Barclay, it is “quite a general word for unlawful sexual intercourse and relationships”. He refers (in “Flesh and Spirit”, a book published in 1962) to the “unnatural vice” of incest, such as that of Caligula and his sister Drusilla. Furthermore, “From the highest to the lowest, society was riddled with homosexuality”, Barclay informs us, “which was a vice which Rome learned from Greece”. Furthermore, “evidence… for the unspeakable sexual immorality of the world contemporary with the New Testament”, Barclay tells us, comes “not from Christian writers, but from pagans who were disgusted with themselves”.

But let’s be positive. The marriage union between one man and one woman is God’s prescription for blessing, deep satisfaction, and joy in bringing into the world little humans made in the image of their parents. Every engineer who creates some technology or machinery has in mind its functioning, and writes instructions for its proper use. So it is with our Creator whose very clear instructions channel the human sexual impulse for the good of the couple and of society. Jesus quotes Genesis chapter 2 to teach that God instituted marriage in which “a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh”. They are a couple whom “God has joined together” and therefore, he adds, “let not man separate” (Matthew 19.5-6).

This ideal remains the best way to use and enjoy the wondrous gift of sexual instinct that God has given us. Obviously, there is a lot more that could be said. But let me close with something important: since this is an area where many are tempted to launch out into ways not prescribed by God, and consequently may feel – and try to repress – a deep and serious burden of guilt, we should know that our gracious and wise God has made a way for our sins – yes, even our sexual sins – to be wiped away, totally forgiven, and a new start to be offered to those who turn to the Saviour whose sacrificial death makes forgiveness possible.

Clive Every-Clayton