What the Bible Really Says About Sex
Read Time:6 Minute, 56 Second
Sex is a selfish act, a conquest of personal fulfillment.
That’s the mindset of most people in our culture regarding sex—even if it’s only subconscious. For the most part, our society celebrates the process of hook up, shack up, and break up.
All you have to do is take a moment to observe the way sex is communicated in our culture.
Thousands of articles are churned out on how to cope with a past of multiple partners and how to find the next one.
Porn is a massive industry, generating $10 to $14 billion annually in revenues.
Ed: What’s the problem?
Nearly every sitcom on the air seems to make light of sleeping around, and films like “No Strings Attached” and “Friends with Benefits” lure young eyes to the theater, while a sex-crazed Tucker Max boasts about his conquests and skyrockets to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, becoming a cult hero for young slackers everywhere.
It also explains why sex trafficking is a $32 billion global industry, 45,000 to 50,000 young girls are trafficked in the United States every year, and why one in 12 youths experience sexual victimization, including sexual assault and attempted or completed rape.
The problem, however, is not sex.
It’s us.
In order to understand this, we must first understand the underlying cause of all the problems in this world: sin.
In the Bible, Paul says of the human condition:
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!” Amen (Romans 1:21-25).
And in case you think Paul is on some self-righteous kick to condemn sinners, he makes clear in the same letter that all of humanity is in the same boat, writing, “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things” (Romans 2:1).
And to drive the point home, he writes, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Thankfully, he also adds, “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:23-25).
The point is this: as humans, we’re all sinners and all in need of God’s grace, given freely through Jesus. And apart from Jesus, we all pervert God’s good gifts, such as sex.
Thankfully, God is also merciful and loving. This is why he sent us Jesus to save us from our sin, and it is also why he gave us the Bible to help us understand his plan for a life that honors him and as a result leads to true fulfillment.
The Bible has a lot to say about sex—including that it’s good and that it glorifies God when we enjoy sex in the context for which He created it.
So, I thought I’d share seven sex essentials from the Bible that my wife Grace and I included in our new book, “Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together”:
1. God created us male and female in His image and likeness with dignity, equality, value, and worth. Men and women are different and complement one another (Genesis 1:27-28).
2. Love is more like a song than a math equation. It requires a sense of poetry and passion to be any good at it, which is why people who are stuck in their heads struggle and are frustrated by it, and lovers prefer songs to syllogisms (Song of Solomon, all of it).
3. Marriage is for one man and one woman by God’s design. This is the consistent teaching of the Bible from the table of contents to the appendix and the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself (Genesis 2:24-25, Matthew 19:4).
4. God created sex. God made our bodies “very good” with “male and female” parts and pleasures. When our first parents consummated their covenant, God was not shocked or horrified, because He created our bodies for sex. The reason that sex is fun, pleasurable, and wonderful is because it is a reflection of the loving goodness of God who created it as a gift for us to steward and enjoy (Genesis 2:24-25).
5. Sex outside of marriage is a sin. Sinful sex includes homosexuality, erotica, bestiality, bisexuality, fornication, friends with benefits, adultery, swinging, prostitution, incest, rape, polygamy, polyandry, sinful lust, pornography, and pedophilia (I Corinthians 6:9-11,18-20, Hebrews 13:4).
6. Sex is to be done in such a way that there is no shame (Genesis 2:25; Proverbs 5:18-23). Many people experience shame in regard to sex. Sometimes shame is a gift from God in response to our sexual sin, sometimes it is the devastating feeling we bear because we have been sexually sinned against, and other times we have not sinned or been sinned against sexually but feel shame because we have wrong thinking and feelings about sex in general, or a sex act in particular.
7. Your standard of beauty is your spouse. God made one man and one woman. He did not ask them if they wanted someone tall or short, light or heavy, pale or dark skinned, with long or short hair. In short, He did not permit them to develop a standard of beauty. Instead, He gave them each a spouse as a standard of beauty (Genesis 2:23, Proverbs 6:20-35).
I understand that I’m writing to an audience that may not consist entirely of Christian believers, including some who may even be hostile to Christianity. I also understand that many of these points will either rub some of you the wrong way or even enrage you. But, I make no apologies for the Bible and what it says.
I will say this, however… I don’t write them to condemn you, nor does the Bible. Rather, I ask you to consider your motivations for sex.
Have you ever truly given yourself to someone selflessly to love them, explore them, and cherish them until death do you part? Have you spent your life pursuing pleasure instead of seeking to give pleasure to a lifelong spouse? And, are you truly happy and fulfilled with your sex life?
The problem isn’t our partners. It’s us. We’ve perverted sex and misused it. God’s way is the best way, and I encourage you to humbly pray and think about what he has to say about us and sex in his word, the Bible.
As someone who was sexually active before becoming a Christian, I don’t consider myself more holy than anyone else. But, after experiencing Jesus’ forgiveness, becoming a Christian, understanding what the Bible teaches about sex, having massive change in my thoughts and actions about sex, marrying, and today, happily and faithfully married to the same woman for what is approaching 20 years, I sincerely want you to experience the fullness of what God has for you in Jesus Christ.
This load of crap was written by Mark Driscoll writing for FOX NEWS. No surprise there. Driscoll is the founding pastor of one of America’s largest, fastest-growing and most innovative churches (Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington). He was recently named one of the “25 Most Influential Pastors of the Past 25 Years” by Preaching magazine. Wow!
ED: Nothing addressed in this article expresses the view of MadMike’sAmerica. On the contrary, most of us think the bible sucks the big patoot. Regardless we never want to be accused of being unbalanced, so this article reflects the nutty side of the balance. Now we’re being fair.
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Marriage is for one man and one woman by God’s design. This is the consistent teaching of the Bible from the table of contents to the appendix and the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself (Genesis 2:24-25, Matthew 19:4).
I guess this dude has read not his bible carefully. Has he heard of Abraham
who slept with his wife’s slave and was still honored by god.
Has he read about King David and others who had multiple wives.
There were all kinds of marriages in the bible.
God wants us to be married and happily married whether you are straight
gay or even twisted as some pastors are.
Perfect example of proof texting It is effective with ignorant people.
Reading the bible is such a joy because when you really understand it you can see how stupid some of these so called Christian pastors are.
Great comment Joe. It’s said that non-believers know more about the bible than the believers.
I don’t need a book and the fear of a non-existent god to make me know what to think of sex. I do, however (shockingly so), agree with just a few points in what this pastor dude said. For example, sex should be done without shame, experienced with those you love, and if you marry someone, stay committed and don’t go around having sex with someone who isn’t your spouse.
Anyways, when I started reading this, I was a bit shocked. I’ve read several articles written by Mr. Scott and this seemed entirely different from anything he’d write. Then I got to the end and couldn’t help but think ‘oh, now this makes sense!’.
Good job, sir.
Through my studies of criminality the early repression and denigration of sex and sexual genitalia has be one of the major causes of serial killers, rapists and crimes against women. Often we find that overly repressive parents, usually the mother toward the male child, who constant reinforce the dirtiness of sex and of the male child’s body and mind in the early formative years lead to a males who is confused and angry about sex. At a later point it has festered and the young adult matures and acts out against that anger or confusion through and inner drive to release his sexual impulses. While the early forms of this is exhibited toward the torture and killing of small animals its later form is acting out against humans, usually females.
I…I don’t know where to begin. My mind kind of shut down half way through for its own protection. However it does provide a list of things and I haven’t given something a proper mocking in quite a while, the possibilities…
If incest is a sin…why did God only create one man and one woman to procreate, knowing that their children would have to procreate in order to populate the Earth? Why don’t people think of this crap. Stupid book creates stupid followers. See Twilight for further evidence of this.
Those crazy christians are always at us about something, and the fact that this comes from the worshippers at Fox is no surprise. The bible is responsible for so much death in this world I’ll take good old sex any day.
Most excellent rant indeed Rick!!
Sex is a real hang-up! Either our dicks aren’t big enough or our boobs are too small. We’re either too fat or too skinny. We have the wrong body type to be attractive. Wrong eye color, wrong hair style etc. As humans we are seldom ever happy with ourselves. Thankfully, as an atheist I’m not worshiping someone who made me in his image. God must really hate himself. Now, evolution, on the other hand, says “Be happy with what you got fella, cause there ain’t nothin” else available for you right now.” I guess we’re lucky to have been born in the first place to be able to appreciate what we do have. Waiting to die and go to heaven so you can be a slave to the perfect sky-daddy just doesn’t cut it for me. My rant for the morning!