Yes, I am prepared to go there! Even though I am no longer sure where to pee in Target, I feel the need to explore some basic ideas of human sexuality. I agree with those who point out that "sex" is a matter of biology while "gender" is a social construct (defining "masculinity" and "femininity"). But now we've moved from sexual preference, sexual orientation and sexual self-identification to gender identity, gender expression and a gender spectrum. In the midst of all the confusion, I have one simple question: What does the Bible say? On the positive side, I've written about God's plan for human intimacy on another blog. So specifically, I want to explore what the Bible says about sexual immorality.
First of all, I need to define "moral." I see this word in the biggest sense. I mean something bigger than "ethical" or "legal." Something is "moral" if it is being, behaving and functioning according to God's original purpose in creation. Something is "moral" if it reflects "the glory of God." Something is "immoral" if it falls short of the glory of God. Of course, that means that none of us ever functions in a completely moral way. All of us have immoral elements in our being and behaving. It's also true that some expressions of "immorality" are viewed in society as more "normal" and therefore somewhat acceptable - even for Jesus followers. I'm trying to wrap my head around God's view of the whole thing, and therefore must rely on the revelation of God in Scripture to draw some conclusions about the issue of sexual immorality.
First of all, I found 75 passages of Scripture that deal with sexual immorality; 70 in a heterosexual context and 5 in a homosexual context. The root issue was the ancient view that women were owned by men, and could be used sexually without any sense of wrong doing. And that included men using women sexually who were members of their own family. Incest is a frequent example of sexual immorality (cf. Leviticus 18:6), including having sex with one's mother (Leviticus 18:7), step-mother (Leviticus 18:8; 20:11), sister or step-sister (Leviticus 18:9, 11; 20:17, 19), grand-daughter (Leviticus 18:10), aunt (Leviticus 18:12-14, 20), daughter-in-law (Leviticus 18:15, 18; 20:12), sister-in-law (Leviticus 18:16), or any female relative of your wife (Leviticus 18:17). In other words, when a male member of a family views female family members as belonging to him, justifying treating any of them as sexual objects, it is immoral. In fact, I don't think it's too much too say that the tendency of men to treat women as sexual objects is the core issue of sexual immorality.
All instances of sex outside of a committed, covenant marriage relationship are immoral (Leviticus 18:20; Numbers 5:20; 25:1).
The Old Testament also forbids humans from having sexual contact with animals (Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 18:23; 20:15-16; Deuteronomy 27:21). Which raises an interesting point. Why would anyone ever be tempted to have sexual contact with an animal? (or some kind of physical sex toy?) If the object is finding some level of pleasure sexually, it doesn't really matter how you get it? Personal pleasure is the object, not meaningful, fulfilling human interaction. And the fact that these behaviors are also addictive only complicates matters.
It's in this larger context that the Bible addresses the issue of same-sex relations. Here is a complete account of the Bible's statements about homosexuality. “Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does
with a woman; that is detestable”
(Leviticus 18:22). “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a
woman, both of them have done what is detestable” (Leviticus 20:13). The view is very simple: men having sex with men and women having sex with women is not how God designed it in the beginning. In the New Testament, Paul's sin list in Romans chapter one includes homosexuality. As is true in all of the sin lists, the core issue is idolatry. It's the worship of "other gods," and ultimately of one's self, that leads to sinful and self-centered, self-indulgent behaviors. Paul's list includes greed, envy, strife, deceit, malice, gossipers, slanderers, the insolent, boastful, arrogant, those disobedient to parents, those with no fidelity, love or mercy. In the midst of this list Paul states, "Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men” (Romans 1:26-27). There are two other passages of Scripture that mention the issue of homosexuality. In the midst of Paul's general teaching on sin in First Timothy 1:9-11 he includes "those practicing homosexuality," along with "rebels, the ungodly, liars and perjurers." And finally, Jude 1:7 refers to those who "gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion" in Sodom and Gomorrah.
It seems like there is a general issue of human sin, of our tendency to be self-centered, self-serving, and self-indulgent. If taken far enough, it leads us to exploit and victimize other human beings, treating them as objects. And our fallen human bodies and brains tend to reinforce those behaviors. Everyone struggles with these issues. And the solution is the same for everyone: Agreeing with God that we all have issues, we are all broken and fall short of God's glory, God's best plan for our lives. (This is called "confession.") Having been honest about it, the next step is to turn our hearts toward God, acknowledging that the grace of God alone has the power to forgive, heal and restore. (This is called "repentance.") While we are struggling with our personal broken tendencies and patterns, we must also recognize that everyone makes personal moral choices, and that we are responsible for those choices. It is not necessary to deny our sinful tendencies in order to make godly moral choices.
At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that "sin is sin." We may find some forms of sexual immorality more "normal" and therefore "tolerable," while we find others intolerable. That simply reflects our personal preferences and not God's view of sin. We are all broken. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. And we all need God's grace, God's love, God's salvation, equally. So while we are receiving grace from the Lord, we are also committed to being redemptive instruments of God's grace in the lives of others.
Since I used an old word let me start by saying what I mean by "sanctity." It simply refers to something that is sacred, something that has a divine element to it, that has divine and therefore eternal significance. When something is defined as sacred, it has to be viewed as coming from God and belonging to God. The way we treat something that is sacred demonstrates our view of God and even our personal relationship with God.
Because everything that has been created finds it origin in God, in that sense, all of creation is sacred. At every step in creation, God declared it to be "good" (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). In creation, something God declared to be "good" meant that it was fulfilling it's created purpose, that it was reflecting the glory of God. In that sense, all of life is sacred.
But when God made human beings, God had a very special, unique purpose in mind. “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26). Somehow human beings were to reflect God's glory - God's "image and likeness" - in unique ways. In fact, human beings were to share in God's authority in creation. "And it was very good" (Genesis 1:31).
The creation account lays the foundation for our understanding of God's purpose and design for all God had made. But even after those first humans decided to go their own way, independently from their Father-Creator, the Bible continues to describe the unique sanctity of human life.
When Pharaoh commanded the Jewish midwives to kill male babies born to Jewish women, they refused to obey the command. As a result, God blessed them (Exodus 1:15-20).
In the law, God stated that if two men were fighting and one hit a pregnant woman, resulting in serious injury to the mother or the baby, "you are to take life for life" (Exodus 2122-23).
Job testified that God has fashioned him in his mothers womb (Job 31:15).
David understood that God has designed him with purpose and had uniquely formed him in his mother's womb (Psalm 139:13-16). "Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" (v. 16). In that sense, David had existed as a special human being in the mind of God before he was conceived.
When God called Jeremiah to a prophetic ministry, he assured him by declaring, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart" (1:5).
The prophets acknowledged that the greatest act of idolatry possible was the pagan practice of sacrificing infants to their gods. "You sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags" (Isaiah 57:5)."Because you gave them your children's blood...I will bring on you the blood vengeance of my wrath" (Ezekiel 16:36, 38). "On the very day they sacrificed their children...you will...bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you know that I am the Sovereign Lord" (Ezekiel 23:39, 49).
When the angel visited Mary he announced that she would conceive a son by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:31). At what point did the baby become the Son of God? Was the miraculous conception the pre-Jesus? the potential-Jesus?
Indeed, when the unborn John heard Mary's voice, he leaped in his mother's womb. "As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy" Luke 1:44).
So all human life, every human being, is uniquely sacred. There are no throw-away human beings. There are no accidental human beings. While the circumstances of their birth may reflect the fallenness of humans more than the glory of God, they have unique value and purpose.
And that means that every human being is to be treated as sacred. Every person is to be treated with equal respect and dignity, so much so that we are required to compensate for the weaknesses of the more vulnerable members of the community. "Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord" (Leviticus 19:14). Why would God require specific treatment of the deaf or the blind unless every person was to be treated with equal worth and dignity.
The Bible is very clear in stating that the Gospel is to put an end to human prejudice and discrimination. The three ways we most naturally and frequently discriminate against people - racism, classicism, and sexism - are specifically done away with in Christ. "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). The unique sanctity of human life requires us to see everyone as an equal.
In fact, the unique sanctity of human life is the heart and the foundation of Judeo-Christian morality and ethics. In recent years there has been a new appreciation of the value of pre-born human beings. However, that has not always translated into an appreciation of the equal value of post-born human beings. If our pro-life ethic stops at birth, we are falling far short of an understanding of what the unique sanctity of human life really means, and what the implications are for all of life. A biblical perspective on peace and justice issues must be included in our moral convictions.
So while many of these issues can be controversial in our society, I am interested in asking only one question: What does the Bible say? And then as Francis Schaeffer once asked, "How should we then live?"
