What Does God Know About Sex?
He has a lot to say about the subject.
Google reports that its two most popular search terms are God and sex. Obviously a great many people around the globe have lots of questions about these two topics. How many of us, though, think these two words represent polar opposites, with the pure-of-heart searching one topic and the more “fleshly” looking for the other? I suggest that if we don’t see these two terms as closely connected, we don’t know very much about either of them.
It’s long been considered impolite to discuss sex in good company, which is understandable with something so intimate. But the media talk about sex all day long, spewing deception and heartache. Before we choose to stay silent, Christians must remember that sex is God’s idea — and He has much to say about it.
Worth more than whispers
Unfortunately, if Christians do speak of sex, it is typically from two perspectives. One, we tell unmarried people they shouldn’t do it because it offends God’s laws and they could end up with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection. Two, any positive talk on marital sex is nearly always of the how-to type from sex and marriage manuals.
The first attitude makes sex something to be avoided. The second makes sex merely a technique to master, like baking a difficult souffle or learning to cast for rainbow trout. God has given us a grand gift in our sexual communion, and we sell it short.
Christians rarely discuss what sex really is or why God created and encourages it. Remember the last time you heard a sermon on sexuality? Neither do I. What a shame!
Why gender matters
Christians who have a proper understanding of who God is and why He created us will have little trouble understanding the relationship between God and sex. In the first chapter of the Bible, God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). In the next breath, God tells us He did exactly that: “In the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).
There is not a more profound statement in all of literature about what it means to be a gendered being. If you are a man, you represent the image of God in a way that woman cannot. If you are a woman, you represent the image of God in a way that no man can. This is exactly why male and female need each other.
God’s nature
Notice the plural pronouns in God’s creative statement — us and our. Christians historically understand that God is describing His communal nature as one God in three persons. Jesus tells us that the love shared between the persons of the Trinity is without beginning (John 17:24).
Although we can’t speculate too far on the nature of the Triune God, the Bible clearly tells us “God is love,” and Jesus described perfect intimacy and union when He said that He and the Father were “one.” If we hope to offer a redeemed view of sexuality to a hurting world, we must begin by understanding that God is inherently loving and relational — and created us to be this way, too.
Why love matters
The apostle Paul makes a powerful link between sexuality and spirituality in Ephesians 5, which is often read at wedding services. Paul connects the love between a husband and wife to that between Christ and the church. This shouldn’t alarm us or make us blush. The intimacy expressed between spouses is but a shadow of the mysterious eternal love God has for His people. Not that God’s love for us is sexual, but it is deeper, more caring and more sacrificial than even the closest relationship two people can have.
The Gospel is the story of redemption of all the broken areas of life. As we look at the sexual brokenness all around us, wouldn’t it seem strange if our message did not include the redemption of our sexuality as well?
Rather than being something too embarrassing to mention, our sexuality — and the world’s eagerness to discuss it — gives us one of the most glorious avenues to tell others about God’s love.