SEX AND THE GOSPEL

Seeing earthly entities as pictures of divine realities is readily affirmed in much of scriptures. Rom 5:14 describes Adam as a type of Christ. A type represents something other than itself. So we are saying that Adam is a shadow, or an image of Christ. Exodus 11-12 also shows us that the Passover lamb is a type. Just as the children of Israel were delivered through the blood of a lamb, so too we are spared from God’s just judgement through the blood of Christ and are delivered out of the bondage of sin into the heavenly land of promise. Sex was also created by God to serve as a living witness to the gospel.

Eph 5:24-32 describes sexual relationship within marriage as an image of the spiritual relationship between Christ and the church. The treatment between husband and wife is paralleled to the relationship of Christ with the church. Marriage is more than sex, but it’s not less than sex. The book of Revelation refers to the wedding supper of the lamb as inaugurating the dawn of the eternal age (Rev 19:7;21:2,9;22:17; Matt 25:1-13).

The question is which came first? God did not pattern the divine marriage after human marriage, but rather human marriage is a foreshadowing of the divine marriage. It’s not as though God discovered the connection between sex and the gospel the way a Pastor reads through books and journals. No, the connection was purposed before the foundation of the world. As Paul tells us in 1Cor 6:16, the sexual oneness of marriage refers to Christ and the church.

The good news of salvation is not simply that God has forgiven us but rather, that through our union with Christ we are born again into his very life- we have become shares of his nature (2 Pet 1:4). Through our union with Christ, his life becomes our own. We are born again because we have been united to the one who is life itself. This needs transformation. While we are forgiven and the slate is wiped, we need to be transformed.

So God’s major intent in creating sex was that it serves as a living witness of the spiritual oneness between Christ and the Church. Viewing sexuality from this framework not only explains how we should act but also why we should act a certain way. You can now understand why Paul argues that we must not unite ourselves sexually to a prostitute, because we have become united spiritually to Christ (1Cor 6:15-17).

But our spiritual oneness with Christ does not prevent us from having sex with our spouse (1 Cor 7:5). Sex with a prostitute is forbidden because it breaks the picture of Christ’s single-minded connection and devotion to his bride. Just as Christ reserves himself spiritually for his spouse (the church), so too we are called to reserve ourselves sexually for our husband or wife. So our sexual behaviour most conform to what God has created sex to illustrate: the life-changing nature of the gospel. Monogamy and permanency are vital aspects of this image.

Christ has purposed to become one with the church alone. Accordingly, singles must reserve their sexuality for their future spouses as an expression of Christ’s single-minded devotion to his own. So, as we study sexual purity, we must remember that every part of us, including our sexuality, has a higher purpose than merely our own pleasure, for every part of us was created primarily to image forth the glory of God. Life has a higher purpose than our autonomous satisfaction.

PHYSICAL BOUNDARIES IN DATING (1Tim 5:1-2)

Many people think the Bible does not speak clearly on the issue of physical boundaries in dating. But God has set boundaries as you can see in 1Tim 5:1-2 to encourage or rebuke younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity. God has ordained three categories of Male-female relationships.

Family Sexual relations prohibited	Neighbour Sexual relations prohibited	Marriage Sexual relations Commanded
See Lev 18:6;26-28 God did not ban it until the giving of the law. That’s why we find the relation of Abraham and his half-sister (Gen 20:11-12), Lot and the daughters (Gen 19:31-36), Jacob who married two sisters (Gen 29:23-28) and presumably Cain, Abel and Seth, as well as Noah’s sons, all married blood relations	See 1 Cor 7:7-9 Those who have a strong desire for sexual intimacy (burn with passion) should fulfil that desire within the context of a marriage relationship. No sexual relation outside of marriage	See 1 Cor 7:3-5 It is not only permissible but commanded. Marriage couples are not to abstain from sexual relations