Sex and Sin: The Context of Scripture
There are so many people that will butt heads over whether or not sin before marriage or outside marriage is Biblical or even sinful. Let me be rather blunt, as to wake any sleepers, the sheer fact that this has to be a discussion shows how weak Christians are these days. There is a reason why Paul says to make slave your body, we will see.
The Bible never says “Do not have sex outside of marriage” but it gives us enough context to make a safe bet and that’s what we should be doing. What seems holy is probably holy. So before we even dive into Scripture, ask your spirit, does it seem holy to sleep with everyone I date or anyone I want?
Practically, do you think the conversations you have about all the people you’ve had sex with, with your futures spouse or even someone you’re dating seriously is enjoyable or easy or fruitful?
If you’re still unsure if it’s holy or even practical to practice this as a Christian, let’s dive into what Scripture can lay out for us.
Paul argued that the only proper outlet for sexual desire is within marriage: “because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2). Again, if unmarried people can’t control their sexual desires, Paul doesn’t tell them to head to the brothel, or to their boyfriend, or their betrothed loved one. Rather, “they should marry” since “it is better to marry than to burn with passion” (1 Corinthians 7:9). Simply put, we should not satisfy our sexual passion with someone other than a spouse.
Paul could have easily sent them elsewhere to fulfill their bodily desires, but he knew what? He knew what was holy, marriage is holy and sex is sacred. This thankfully is not my opinion; we see in Ancient Hebrew context that marriage wasn’t solidified or legal until they slept together. If sex wasn’t significant why did it mold two people together?
The Route of Sex
Sex all throughout Scripture is used to manipulate, destroy, and persuade good into evil. We see this countless times in the Old Testament: Joseph (Genesis 40-43); Sodom and Gomorrah’s sin was sexual immorality and when people deny that it consummates a marriage you abort Scripture…God created the sex act to be a consummation of a covenant relationship—a covenant in which God has participated (Malachi 2:14; Matthew 19:6; Mark 10:9)
Speaking of abortion, in what we did the sin of murdering babies come to be? Was it controlled sex within a marriage? or was it rampant sex outside marriage? God’s design for human life was to flourish and sex was part of his wonderful design, but when we abuse something sin always follows.
Sex when abused always travels with sin, they go hand in hand into temptation, and from temptation into our lives. This is why porn is such an issue, this is why sexual disease is an issue, this is why so many issues arise over time, over a populous of people denying God’s truth and guidance.
Scripture and Ourselves
This short blurb does not even go into soul ties, the issues of sexual sin, temptation and addiction. This little article only scratches the surface using simple Biblical texts to show what God’s guidance is for sex. Truthfully, if you’re like me and often look for loopholes to God’s design (I’m sinful too) you’re better off going with the safe bet, the logical bet, which we first asked in the opening paragraph: what is holy?
I wish I had more time and room to discuss the other matters of sexual sin outside of marriage and all the destruction that it has led to in our world. Sexual sin can be traced to the destruction of so many grave issues and sins. I’ll finish with this… the purpose of sex is biological yet it holds spiritual significance. If you’re not looking to reproduce with said person and you’re not married (spiritually tied in a vow with God) then you should abstain from using the one thing that God chose to design for reproduction and spiritually tying two people together.