If the moral system God gives us is to be found in principles instead of rules, then giving us some examples of how the principles are to be practiced would be very helpful. Upon examination, most of the Bible is just that: examples of principles being followed or forsaken.
The history of a small and infrequently important nation that existed 3000 years ago might be interesting to a few historians, but would not normally be very exciting to the general public. Yet the Bible largely consists of just such a history. Why? Because God chose and designated Israel as a nation to be His witness. In the history of Israel, we can find example after example of the good that results from putting into practice God’s principles and the evil that results from failure to practice them.
The gospels reveal the life of Jesus which was totally in harmony with divine principles. In the Acts and epistles, we find examples of the early believers striving to be obedient disciples. We are certainly not without examples of principles in practice.
The information that we need to direct our lives is in the Bible. All we need is the willingness to search it out and follow it. To prove the point, let’s consider two issues that seem to be particularly troubling in today’s world. Other problems can similarly be handled by turning to the Word of God. These two short studies will not be exhaustive, but hopefully they will be a start to a Bible-based consideration of the subjects.
Sex And Marriage
For some reason, sex is the moral issue. When someone says “immoral,” we almost always think of this subject. Of course, there are many other moral issues. But throughout history, it seems that this is the most troublesome, perhaps because it is the forbidden thing that people most want to do.
And yet, it is not altogether forbidden. In fact, God plainly intended people to have sexual relations; without them there would have been no way for Adam and Eve to follow God’s command to fill the earth (Gen. 1:28). All sex is not forbidden, nor does the Word of God treat the matter as something shameful that should never be mentioned. The intimate relationship between a husband and wife is, in fact, very important, and becoming “one flesh” is a type of the future union of Christ and his bride (Eph. 5:31-32). So what is the problem?
The difficulty is in the “husband and wife” part. Not content to allow intimacy to be shared only by a married couple, people want it available for anyone. With this attitude, human nature is revealed for what it is. I want. That sums it up. Human beings demand that their every desire be satisfied, without qualification or restriction. It matters little that the consequences of their actions turn out to be disastrous for themselves and for others; people want to be satisfied, right now. That is the great source of sin. “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death” (Jam. 1:14-15).
Sex-centered
The way the world deals with sex, its whole attitude toward it, is a corruption of something God has given us. God never intended sex to be the center of our lives, but for vast numbers of people, it is. Entertainment, advertisement, and day-to-day conversation confirm this.
Although the world is preoccupied with sex, God designed it for some specific exalted purposes and means for it to be kept in its true perspective.
The principle
What is the principle regrading sex? It is the principle of marriage. God, in His infinite wisdom, established that the best way for children to grow up is in a family. It takes two adults — a mother and a father -properly to raise children, and so it makes sense that the means of reproducing be confined to the parents. The very serious problems caused in our culture by the breakdown of the family unit make this point painfully clear. With all the babies being born outside of marriage, and with all the divorces, there are a lot of emotionally handicapped people growing up who will inevitably only worsen the world situation when they become adults. Children should be conceived and raised in a marriage and in no other situation.
But raising children wasn’t God’s only purpose for instituting marriage. God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” And so He created a companion for Adam. God loves His creation, and He truly desires that we should be happy. He has shown us the way to happiness in our present situation and part of this is the companionship of marriage. When marriage was instituted, Adam and Eve had not yet sinned; their marriage was part of what God called “very good.”
A distinction
Does this mean that marriage and sex are synonymous? Not at all! A marriage that consists only of a physical relationship will not lead to the happiness that is possible when the principle of marriage is fully applied. This is done when all aspects of life are shared, including the emotional bond, the communication of minds and the sharing of spiritual things. The physical act of sex brings much pleasure and it is this that is exploited and abused by the world we live in. But it is only one aspect of the deep and permanent bond between two people committed to the principle of marriage.
A type
There is another reason for the restrictions placed on sexual relationships. As we mentioned earlier, marriage has a spiritual meaning in addition to being the best way to happiness in this life. Husband and wife are patterned after Christ and the church, united forever in the kingdom of God. This does not mean that sex is an act of worship. Many pagan peoples have considered it to be so, but that again is to take it out of its intended context. For a Christian, physical union can be an honorable and pure expression of love and communion of thought, and it can be instructive as a type of the supreme joy of at last being united with Christ, but it is not itself part of our worship. Since, however, it is a type, it can be seen that corruption or perversion of sex violates the principle that the physical union is part of a parable foreshadowing the oneness of Christ and the ecclesia-bride. Would Christ join himself to any other than his one bride? Never! Could the bride be joined to another lord? She would be dismissed in shame.
Extremes
Because sex is so often polluted by misuse and abuse, there have been violent reactions against all sex by people who thought they were serving God. For a longtime, the Catholic church taught (and may still teach in some places) that even in marriage it is a mortal sin to enjoy sex. You must do it to have children, they said, but you must not enjoy it, and you must not do it for any other reason than to have children.
People are intended to mate to have children; but there is not to be any shame or guilt associated with the union. God has given us the physical and emotional needs to have sexual relations, and the pleasure derived from satisfying these needs is also from Him. Shame is only attached when one goes outside the divine intent. The Bible is tastefully open about these things: “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does. Do not refuse one another except perhaps by agreement for a season, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, lest Satan tempt you through lack of self-control” (I Cor. 7:3-5).
This passage and others (there are many expressions of intimacy in the Song of Solomon) show that God has provided that married couples may have union more often than just for the conception of children, and indeed should, or there is danger of losing one’s self-control. Sex, then, serves two purposes: procreation, and the satisfying expression of love which fulfills both a physical and emotional need and binds a couple together.
Conclusions
There are right and wrong ways to have sexual relations, right and wrong ways to think of sex, and to talk about it. But it is not as though an arbitrary rule has been imposed on us just to torment us. There is a principle involved, and by keeping in harmony with the principle in thought and action, we can stay in tune with God and attain greater happiness. On the other hand, to ignore or try to get around this principle to satisfy our own immediate desires reflects an attitude that is in conflict with God, and no one who defies God will prosper. The only result will be emotional agony, confusion and instability now, and, if the wrong way is pursued, condemnation and death. “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for God will judge the immoral and adulterous” (Heb. 13:4 RSV).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One