I thought it might be helpful to follow up on my recent articles that have picked up on current controversies within Evangelicalism concerning same-sex attraction. A good starting point in our thinking is to see what the Bible actually has to say, positively about sex and relationships.
The starting point for our understanding of gender, sex, sexuality and relationships is found in Genesis 1-2. Genesis 1:26-28 says:
“26 Then God said, “Let us make man[a] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Chapter 2 will flesh out this summary but the first thing we notice is that humanity echoes the creation of other creatures. Just as they were made in male and female pairs, blessed and commissioned to multiply, so too is humankind. The word sometimes translated “man”,is one used to refer to humanity in general with other words used to distinguish male and female. Whereas animals are made “after their kind”, humanity is made “in God’s image”. I believe that the adjustment is intentional. The other crucial difference is that humans as well as filling the earth are to subdue it or rule over it.
Genesis 1:26-28 points to the fact that humanity is a single race and species created equally in God’s image but also to the distinction of the sexes. We should not seek to over-separate. The language of “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” found in some popular or populist psychologies in unhelpful. However, we should not downplay the distinction between the sexes. God made us as male and female, this distinction is part of his good creation and is not interchangeable.
In Genesis 2:5-9, we are told how God first makes man as a solitary creature and then places him in a garden to work, he is to both till or care for the garden and to guard it (v15). God provides food for the man and sets boundaries and rules. The man may not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (v16-17). It is in this context that God decrees that it is “not good for the man to be alone.” This is his first evaluation of something not good. This is not about moral evil. Rather, God’s evaluation of goodness comes at the end of each stage of creation. If something is not (yet) good about the man, then this means that this stage of creation is not yet good. This also signals that we remain in the sixth day of creation.
God takes time to complete this stage of creation in order to help us understand his purpose for humanity. He brings the animals to Adam to be named but no, suitable helper is to be found from amongst them. Animals will serve their human master but they are not his equal partner. Adam needs his own partner, his own pairing. God makes a helper for Adam who is suitable for him, like him but opposite to him, equal in nature but distinct from him. Adam celebrates his wife in song, names her as “woman” and becomes “one flesh” with him. The author notes that there is a leaving behind of parents to be united in this way. The creation of woman separates her out from man, marriage reunites them together into a single entity (v18-25).
This all takes place against the backdrop of three things. First, God’s blessing, humans, together as male and female are to multiply, fill and rule over creation. Second, the nature of man’s work in caring for and guarding creation. Third, man’s duty to worship. Worship may be described as glorifying and enjoying God. Humans are to glorify and enjoy God in their enjoyment of his provision, obeying him in the restrictions set. Eve is a partner in worship, obedience and enjoyment.
We should not downplay or downgrade the significance of reproduction therefore. This means that marriage is not simply the place where sex is to be enjoyed. This is to miss the purpose of sex. Rather, marriage is for procreation, for bringing offspring into the world and raising them to love, obey and serve God, playing their part in the creation mandate. Sex is the means to that within marriage, not the goal of marriage.
This reinforces that marriage must, by definition be between one man and one woman. If sex is the means by which children are brought into the world and bringing children into the world is about more than reproduction but about their nurturing and instruction, then this cannot happen outside of the marriage covenant. This explains why sex outside of marriage is not permitted. We might even suggest that, true sex is not possible unless between a man and a woman in marriage. Everything else should be seen as an attempt to mimic, to imitate the real thing.
Faithroots 