Sexual Purity

“Some Pharisees came to him to test him [Jesus]. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ ? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

(Matthew 19:3-12)

From these words of Jesus we gain an understanding God created man and woman to be in partnership and that sex is to be between a man and his wife, therefore following marriage. In addition, it allows for divorce only in the case of sexual immorality, which we take to be adultery – engaging in sexual relations with another person outside of the marriage.

For Christians sexual relations outside of marriage are therefore forbidden, according to the words of Jesus. The word “fornication” is one which is not in common use these days, but basically it refers to sexual relations outside of marriage. In the Bible we are told to

"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).

Those who honour God’s precepts will be blessed.

We live in a time where many different kinds of relationships are sanctioned, even by people who attend churches, yet those who ignore God’s rules can’t expect to be in right relationship with Him.

Sadly, I’ve seen Christian friends who know God’s principles turn away from them for the sake of human relationships. There’s often a falling away from church life that follows because we cannot walk with God and follow popular culture at the same time when it encourages us to shift from His principles. We’re here to serve and obey Him and we’re fooling ourselves if we think He sanctions sin.

We live in a culture which has turned sex into an idol of enormous proportions, and the internet has made pornography available on an unprecedented scale. Sexual “freedom” has resulted in a rocketing divorce rate, broken lives and scarred children.  It’s also a great stumbling block in witnessing to non-Christians if conversion to Christianity is going to challenge their living arrangements with partners outside of marriage.

Chastity and celibacy are two more words which are seldom used these days, but maybe it’s time to remind our young people, and older singles too, that they are viable options. Jesus affirms this in the above passage from Matthew. Whenever we make a choice of sacrifice for the sake of obedience to His word, we are blessed in our walk with Him and often blessed in the area of our lives that we have been willing to give up.

May God bless those to whom these words have given a new direction in thought.