Sexuality and the Bible is a hot topic today. In a world of moral relativism, a spectrum of gender identities, and fluid sexual orientation, how are Christians supposed to respond to the “love is love” mentality.
Created as an Idol of Yahweh
In the first two chapters of the Bible, Yahweh creates human beings in his image. The word translated image is elsewhere in the Bible translated idol (Num. 33:52; 2 Kings11:18). Ancient people did not worship the actual wood or stone the idol was made from, they worshipped the elohim they believed lived inside. In other words, the wood and stone idol was merely a reflection or earthly mirror of the elohim it supposedly represented.
When God created human beings, he created us as living, breathing idols of Himself, and our purpose was to reflect and imitate Him (Isa. 43:7).[1] Because of sin, all humans have fallen short of reflecting or mirroring his glory (Rom. 3:23), but our purpose is still to do so to the best of our ability in our fallen state.
God’s very first command to humans was “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28, NLT), i.e. “Have lots of sex and babies in order to populate the earth.”
We fulfill our original purpose best[2]when we are able to experience a unity with another that results in self-sacrificing, unconditional love toward that living, breathing being we created. In this way, we are an idol (reflection) of Yahweh as Creator who, though the unity of Father and Son (John 1:3; Col. 1:16), created us and demonstrates self-sacrificing, unconditional love toward us as His creation (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8).
In the Stephen King movie, Maximum Overdrive, a comet passes by the earth, disrupting the electromagnetic field, and causing numerous electrical devices and machines to take on a life of their own—with lethal consequences. Electric knives, lawn mowers, steam rollers, vending machines, and tractor trailers all used what their creators had intended for good for evil, killing a slew of humans in the process.
From the Terminator movies to Meet the Mitchells, sci-fi movie plots abound in which an artificial intelligence revolts against its creators and its programed purpose.
Now imagine this happened in real life. Imagine traffic lights got a mind of their own and decided that they will all turn green simultaneously because they have the right to do so.
Imagine every time you attempted to bake chocolate chip cookies, your oven decided to freeze solid the raw cookie dough because it had the right to do whatever it wanted.
Imagine a sanitation plant built for the purpose of purifying water so that it could be drinkable deciding it had the right to poison the water instead.
In such a world, chaos would reign. There would be no order because not only was everything not fulfilling the purpose for which it was created, but it was doing the exact opposite of its intended purpose.
Yahweh is the elohim (god) of order. Satan is the elohim (god) of chaos. Humans were to take dominion and subdue the earth, filling it with idols (human beings) of Yahweh who like Yahweh, created order and subdued chaos.[3]
What would this world look like if human beings did the exact opposite of what they were created to do?
What if human beings decided they had the right to have intimacy with anyone they wanted and then also had the right to kill the human being they co-created?
Having sex outside of marriage and killing the child created from that union is the exact opposite reason for which humans were created.
Having sex with a same sex partner, which completely eliminates the ability to co-create a child through intimacy, also prevents humans from fulfilling their created purpose.
God is “in the bedroom” because He created the bedroom for a particular purpose. Only heterosexual couples can procreate and, in general, married heterosexual couples are not the ones having abortions.
In general, human beings fulfill their original-intended purpose by getting married to opposite sex partners and creating children. The Bible demonstrates that our sexuality is intertwined with our very purpose.
How did Satan go about convincing the vast majority of people to demand the freedom to do the exact opposite of their intended purpose? He didn’t. He simply convinced them sex had a completely different purpose.
Eating food gives us pleasure. Sweet foods especially trigger dopamine, a chemical in the brain that elevates mood and makes us feel good. But feeling good is not the purpose of food. The purpose of food is to keep us alive.
Recreational drugs also trigger dopamine. If a person was convinced that the purpose of food was to trigger dopamine and feel good, they could easily choose cocaine over food especially if they didn’t want the added burden of potential weight gain.
Having sex gives us pleasure. But the purpose of sex is to procreate within marriage. If a person is convinced that the purpose of sex is to feel good, they could easily choose sex outside of marriage especially since it is so easy to rid oneself of the added “burden” of a child. They would also be free to have sex with anyone they wished, regardless of gender.
The Body is a Temple
Gym rats, yoga enthusiasts, Paleo advocates, and Vegan purists all boast in the “fact” that the body is a temple. Healthful foods, exercise, and mindfulness techniques are all forms of “worship,” while things like GMO’s, processed foods, and chemical preservatives are considered defilements. Even many Christians have fallen prey to this fallacy and abstain from smoking or drinking (believing that is possible to defile God’s temple with nicotine or alcohol).
While nicotine and excessive alcohol consumption can certainly damage your physical body, they cannot defile God’s temple. And if those gym rats, yoga enthusiasts, Paleo advocates and Vegan purists aren’t Christians, their body isn’t a temple in the first place because Yahweh isn’t living within them.
After Jesus died and rose again, he promised to send the Holy Spirit. Ten days after Jesus returned to heaven, the Holy Spirit came as promised and indwelt all those who believed Jesus was the Messiah. So while all humans were created as idols of Yahweh, only the bodies of Christians are temples of Yahweh.
But the point of the Holy Spirit indwelling believers isn’t to encourage us to take care of our physical body, and treat it with care and respect (nearly to the point of worship).
The point of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit is so we are empowered to complete the mission Jesus gave us.
I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:18-19, NLT).
Prior to Jesus disarming Satan on the cross (Col. 2:15), Yahweh was the elohim (god) only of the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. The Holy Spirit—Yahweh’s presence on earth—lived behind a veil in the innermost sacred chamber of the temple, called the Holy of Hollies. All other people groups and nations had their own gods (Deut. 32:8, 17; 1 Cor. 10:20). All other people groups were hostile to God (Rom 8:7) and were His enemy (Rom 5:10).
When Jesus died, Yahweh disarmed Satan, and the temple veil was torn. The presence of Yahweh was no longer limited to Israel. Now the Holy Spirit was free to indwell all those in allegiance to Jesus, transforming them into mobile temples of Yahweh who can infiltrate Satan’s territory with the gospel.
The point of taking the gospel into all nations is not to make converts, but disciples. A disciple is not merely a convert, not is it synonymous with student. A student’s goal is to get a good grade, perhaps impress his or her teacher, or learn all he can about the teacher’s field of expertise until he is ready to go out and carve his own path in that field. A disciples’ goal (particularly a Jewish disciple of a Rabbi) is to learn everything he could about the rabbi himself so that he could imitate the rabbi in everything he did.[4]
Thus, the purpose of all human beings is to reflect Yahweh, and the purpose of all Christians is to reflect Jesus.
What Defiles the Temple of God?
The Bible is actually very specific as to what defiles God’s temple.
Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body (1 Cor, 6:18-20).
You can only defile God’s temple by engaging in sexual sin—sex before marriage, sex with someone other than your spouse, homosexual sex, rape, incest, bestiality, etc.
In the Old Testament, every time the Jews defiled Yahweh’s temple, it was likened to committing a sexual sin against Yahweh.
In the New Testament, every time a Christian commits a sexual sin, it is likened to defiling the temple of Yahweh.
Evidently, sexual sin and spiritual sin are intertwined in the supernatural world.
When the Seleucid king, Antiochus, set up a statue of Zeus in God’s temple and defiled it, the Jews could not worship there again until they cleansed it under Judah Maccabee.
If a Christian’s temple is defiled, they are on the battlefield without the breastplate of righteousness. They can no longer fulfill their purpose because they can’t reflect Yahweh or Jesus. Essentially they are AWOL.
But just as the Jews were able to rededicate Yahweh’s temple after it had been defiled, so the Christian can rededicate his body/sexual lifestyle for the glory of God. God has promised to always forgive those who genuine repent (1 John 1:9).
Keep in mind that repent doesn’t mean you feel sorry or remorseful. Repentance is not an emotion. It’s a military term that means one is now moving in the opposite direction that they had been. For example, if you were traveling down the premarital sex road, but you repented, you are now traveling down the saving sex for marriage road.
The Bible links the sexuality of the Christian with worship. To ensure our worship is not defiled, we must express our sexuality in a way that is in keeping with our bodies as God’s temple.
For the very specific reason why Satan is using sexuality as a weapon of warfare, check out the post Spiritual Warfare in America.
Sexuality and the Bible: Conclusion
The Bible teaches that our sexuality is intrinsic to our purpose and our ability to worship. God is “in the bedroom” because all human beings were created to reflect His ability to co-create through heterosexual, marital intimacy. Living in a way that is opposite to how we were created causes chaos. The bodies of Christians are temples of Yahweh. Only sexual sins can defile Yahweh’s temple. But all sexual sins can be repented of our bodies rededicated to Yahweh’s service.
[1] Matthew Bates. Salvation by Allegiance Alone. (150-151).
[2] This is not to say that people who do not marry or cannot have children do not mirror God. All humans are made in the image of God. But our original created purpose was to be fruitful and multiply.
[3] God Dwells Among Us: Expanding Eden to the Ends of the EarthBy G. K. Beale, Mitchell Kim
[4] Ray Vander Laan. Rabbi and Talmidim. That the World May Know. https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/rabbi-and-talmidim
Featured Image by Kevin Carden | Licensed under Dreamstime.com
