Opus 22, A Second Look at a Theology of Sexuality

You were not happy with my last post.  I can see it on your face.  It wasn’t long enough?  It didn’t give enough attention to your feelings or what your learned friends said?  It did not link to any articles by Ph.D.’s? 

A lot of the scholarly writing about key issues is really nothing but an attempt to show how clever the author is or to find ways to twist the truth to justify open disobedience to the known will of God.  Some things are so clear that to avoid seeing them you need to be like my niece as an infant.  My brother demonstrated how she would not look at him.  No matter how he turned her or moved himself, she would look away.  So it is with some people and the truth of God.

ROM 1:18-20  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (NASB)

It goes on, but you can get the idea.

Sex is to be between two people, a man and a woman, who are married.  If the sex is involves one who is married and one who is not, it is called “adultery.”  Do a word search.  It is one of the ten commandments.  Most people won’t argue with this.

But what if neither party is married?  Then you get into the Biblical word “fornication.”  The KJV translates it this way consistently.  The NASB uses several words including “immorality”, “sexual immorality” and “unchastity.”  This is the Greek word “porneia” which gives us our English word pornography.  It is condemned just as much as adultery.  The Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 1, p. p. 494, has this to say “...in porneia the limits which are willed and set by God (in this case in the realm of sexual ethics) are obliterated.”

What about homosexuality?  It is condemned without exception in both the Old and New Testament.  The only way to question this is to refuse to accept the simple and clear statements because your mind is made up and you don’t want to hear any more.  I have a picture of a little child with their eyes screwed shut and their fingers in their ears.

Marriage is generally between one man and one woman.  It starts in the beginning:

(Genesis 2:24 KJV)  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

The same standard is maintained throughout the Bible.  Jesus quotes this verse in Matthew 19:5 and Paul refers to it in Ephesians 5:31. 

What exceptions do we need to acknowledge?  First, we have the concubines of the OT.  They existed.  Look at Abraham.  The only explanation I can give is that they were not casual, one night stands.  Concubines had a legal status.

Second, some men had more than one wife.  I am not aware of any that were not kings though.  It seems to have been a part of diplomacy in those days.  You want a treaty?  You marry a daughter.

Both of the exceptions tended to lead to major problems.  They were exceptions to the rules.  Some of the extreme cases such as sodomy and incest are also dealt with but at least this month no theologian is trying to make those sound acceptable.  But brace yourself, it is coming.