What's the Big Deal...

Is there something especially troubling about sexual sin?

Does God single out certain sins as more heinous than others?

Why do churches/preachers rail against such things as pre or extra-martial sex, pornography, homosexuality, transgender-ism...

Before We Begin…Caution

All sin is reprehensible to God

Any sin condemns without the grace of God, given through Jesus Christ

We must be careful in how we deal with people caught in any sin…not just sexual sin

Let’s Start Here

We must begin with a Biblical statement—not a cultural one

Genesis 1:27 (ESV)

So God created man (humankind) in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

There is the Biblical standard of sexual identity—TWO genders

By some standards of today there are at least 47 different sexual identities; some self-declared experts would say a limitless number of them

The creator of the image is fully right to declare the truth concerning the bearer of the image

From, ironically, PBS: This scriptural passage does not mean that God is in human form, but rather, that humans are in the image of God in their moral, spiritual, and intellectual nature

Though it may not go far enough, it’s on the right track, in that it include the morality of God in its definition

Another source: The image of God in Genesis is not about “what makes us human,” such as one’s soul. It is about the lofty role God has given humankind to be his representative rulers. That is what image means: nothing more—but nothing less. (biologos.org)

One of the best summaries comes from Gotquestions.org.

Having the “image” or “likeness” of God means, in the simplest terms, that we were made to resemble God. … Adam’s body did mirror the life of God insofar as it was created in perfect health and was not subject to death.

The image of God (Latin, imago dei) refers to the immaterial part of humanity. It sets human beings apart from the animal world … It is a likeness mentally, morally, and socially.

Mentally, humanity was created as a rational, volitional agent. … Anytime someone invents a machine, writes a book, paints a landscape, enjoys a symphony, calculates a sum, or names a pet, he or she is proclaiming the fact that we are made in God’s image

Morally, humanity was created in righteousness and perfect innocence, a reflection of God’s holiness. … Whenever someone writes a law, recoils from evil, praises good behavior, or feels guilty, he or she is confirming the fact that we are made in God’s own image.

Socially, humanity was created for fellowship. This reflects God’s triune nature and His love. … Every time someone marries, makes a friend, hugs a child, or attends church, he or she is demonstrating the fact that we are made in the likeness of God.

Part of being made in God’s image is that Adam had the capacity to make free choices. Although they were given a righteous nature, Adam and Eve made an evil choice to rebel against their Creator. In so doing, they marred the image of God within themselves, and passed that damaged likeness on to all their descendants (Romans 5:12). Today, we still bear the image of God (James 3:9), but we also bear the scars of sin. Mentally, morally, socially, and physically, we show the effects of sin.

This is

A Foundational Truth

Psalm 11:3 ESV

if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

This ties well to our recent message we saw Psalm 82:5, the results of wicked rulers

“They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.”

God Created Marriage

Genesis 2:18 ESV

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Genesis 2:22 (ESV)

And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Genesis 2:23–24 (ESV)

Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Interestingly, we’re hard-pressed to find an OT illustration that fits that

What Makes a Marriage?

We have no clear picture in the OT of a wedding

What we have makes us scratch our heads a bit Gen 24 67

Genesis 24:67 ESV

Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

In the NT, we have the wedding at Cana of Galilee

Within all these we have methodologies of selections of mates by parents…we have polygamy…we have laws of how to treat wives/husbands/widows…laws about unfaithfulness, divorce and remarriage...

We have husbands and wives, but no clear understanding of how they came to be

What we have may be well summed up by

(Biblical) Marriage is the situation in which men and women can live together in sexual relationship with the approval of their social group. Adultery and fornication are sexual relationships that society does not recognize as constituting marriage (New Bible Dictionary)

I would add that marriage is relationship, accepted by the culture and giving a level of legal protection to both parties

Dave Ramsey, roughly paraphrased…don’t buy a house with a person you’re not married to. That’s a partnership, not a marriage

Biology or Intimacy?

There are bio-chemical and bio-mechanical processes involved in sexual conduct, also an emotional component

Genesis 4:1 (ESV)

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”

…had relations with; made love to; was intimate with

The OT word ya-da and the NT ginosko both carry the thought of full knowledge

Luke 1:34 “And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”” literally, I know not a man

Matthew 1:18 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains (23.61 γινώσκω)

In almost all languages there are euphemistic ways of speaking about sexual intercourse, and the use of γινώσκω and συνέρχομαι is illustrative of this in the Greek NT. It is possible to translate γινώσκω in Lk 1:34 as simply ‘for I am not married to a man,’ and likewise, συνέρχομαι in Mt 1:18 may be rendered as ‘before they were married.’ In some languages one may use such expressions as ‘before they were joined’ or ‘before they slept together’ or ‘before they discovered one another.’

Since God created the entire animal kingdom as male and female, we conclude that an act of copulation was intended

Simply put, the mating of a cow and bull doesn’t start with physical attraction, touching and a kiss—only between humans

Our current cultural direction is making sex just one more bio-mechanical or bio-chemical process

That is not the intent of mankind being in the image of God

Therefore our current cultural objective of taking the intimacy from sex is an offence against the image of God