|
In these days of widespread
debauchery,
concupiscence and
uncleanness,
married Christian couples are being bombarded with (often titillating)
messages about sex from the church pulpit and various forms of Christian and
secular media.
Amidst these messages is the constant reassurance that the marriage bed
is (without qualification) undefiled. Hebrews 13:4 is usually cited to "prove" the marriage bed is automatically and unconditionally
undefiled in the
sight of God:
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and
adulterers God will judge.
Hebrews 13:4 does not make the case that the
marriage bed is incapable of ever becoming defiled. Rather, it contrasts the
purity of the marriage bed with the impure behavior of debauched individuals--whoremongers and
adulterers.
Could it be that only the marriage bed as God
intended it is undefiled? Has God placed any restrictions regarding sexual
expression in marriage? Does God have a
specific plan for the practical physical outworking of the marriage bed? Let us
examine some scriptures that address the matter of God's design for man
and woman to come together physically.
The Natural Use Vs That Which is Against
Nature
Romans 1:18-32 is addressed to people who knew
God but refused to glorify him as God. Consequently they were unthankful and
became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkened. They actually changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped the creature more than the
Creator. In response to their wicked idolatry, God "gave them up to uncleanness
through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between
themselves."
These verses should be instructive to the
Christian. Those who hold the truth that is revealed in the Holy Bible while
continuing to engage in unrighteous behavior are in danger of the judgment of
God. God judges idolatry by giving idolaters over to uncleanness through the
lusts of their own hearts. If you are committed to certain forms of sexual
pleasure over and above your commitment to the revealed will of God then you are
setting yourself up to be given up to uncleanness as well.
Who changed the truth of God
into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator,
who is blessed for ever. Amen. Romans 1:25
Do you serve the creature (including yourself)
more than the Creator? If so, you are also in danger of being given over to vile
affections (degrading, shameful passions).
Romans 1:26 reveals that God makes a clear cut
distinction between natural sexual union and that which
is against nature. God places intimate coupling that is against nature in the
category of vile affections. Male and female homosexuals reject the God-designed
natural use of the woman and dishonor their own bodies between themselves.
Women who are physically intimate with other
women change "the natural use of the woman" because they reject God-ordained
male with female coupling:
For this cause God gave them up unto vile
affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which
is against nature: Romans 1:26
In like manner, men who reject the natural use
of the woman work that which is unseemly in the sight of God:
And likewise also the men, leaving the
natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with
men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that
recompence of their error which was meet. Romans 1:27
Here again we see God's division between the
"natural use" and that which is not natural (unseemly). Like the women who
rejected the natural use, the men also left
the natural use of the woman because they rejected God's natural order of
things. In Romans 1:26 the
women changed the natural use into that which is against nature and in this
verse the men left the "natural use" of the woman and burned in their lust
toward one another.
The Bible is clear that God has determined
the sexual use of the woman. It is the natural use.
Adulterers and whoremongers often have
relations confined to the natural use of the woman but that does not sanctify
their actions in the sight of God:
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and
adulterers God will judge. Hebrews 13:4
God ordained one place for the "natural use"
of the woman: the marriage bed. The marriage
bed in which "the natural use of the woman" is not changed or abandoned
is undefiled. What about Christian married couples who engage in not only
"natural use" coupling as God intended but also engage in
the anal and/or oral sex practices inspired by those who reject the natural use
of the woman? Does God condemn those of the same sex who go "against nature" while sanctioning the same
anal and oral sex practices in
the marriage bed? Did God ordain the marriage bed for both "natural use" and
"against nature" sexual union?
Is the marriage bed a license for
sodomy?
To be continued
|