Connecting the Dots

A Key Passage Left Uncovered

1 Corinthians 6:18–19 ESV

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

The temple is where worship—assigning value to God—occurs (in the OT context it was THE place of worship!)

Sexual immorality—in a pictorial way—profanes the temple

Review

Image of God

Creation of genders/sexuality

God’s ideal plan for marriage

Design for intimacy

Aberrations from the ideal…sexual sin…abominations

Even the not-so-clear topics of perceived gender inequities, polygamy and concubinage

Purity issues

…and…we mentioned that the entire topic relates to the idea of holiness

…and reinforced the call for holiness in all aspects of life…not just sexual purity

Now we’ve drawn in the matter of profaning the temple

We did not address the matter of transgenderism, that may be another leftover for another lesson

The Linkage

Between all this and sexual sin

NOTE: Bob D’s question to the congregation

This has been in the back of my mind since 1985!

There is a long history of imagery in the OT that links God’s relationship with His Chosen People as a marriage

The most descriptive is God’s illustration in Ezekiel 16:2 ““Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations,”

The entirely of the text is quite graphic, the writer, speaking the Words of the Holy, Holy, Holy God, expresses indignity, even outrage at the offenses of his chosen people, Israel

God had taken a wondering people, saved it from among the chaos of the earth

“You became mine!” v.8

He was good to her, loved her…and she strayed into adultery and idolatry (almost always linked

The tirade continues through the chapter

The same sentiment is expressed Jeremiah 3:20 “Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the Lord.’ ””

Isaiah 1:21 “How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.”

Interesting that God uses the metaphor of martial unfaithfulness to describe the people He had chosen for himself

In case it had been overlooked, God instructed the prophet Hosea to take an unfaithful wife…and then recounts the saga of that relationship…all as a picture of a Israels lack of faithfulness…and God’s enduring, unending love

…and in the New Testament

We have the image of Christ and His bride…the Church

Jesus is pictured as the bridegroom, having chosen the church

Ephesians 5:25–27 “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

Some similar imagery there to the washing in Ezekiel

We also see Paul’s desire to present the Corinthian Church (part of the Church at Large) to Christ as “pure Virgin in 2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.”

Purity matters to God

Wrapping this Up

We go back to creation; why did God chose to create us?

Why would an all-complete—perfect…lacking nothing…God create man

Colossians 1:16 (ESV)

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Also, Rev 4 11

Revelation 4:11 ESV

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Though some may try, we cannot stretch any of this—the KJV renders this “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created”—into anything that resembles or relates to sexual pleasure—we were created to be in relationship with Him...

Relationship—as was between Adam and Eve with God—relates to intimacy between the creator and the creation

Before the fall, God walked with Adam and Eve…in close communication…fellowship…and I would argue intimacy with God

God created the intimacy of human sexual response to give us a picture of the desire He has to be in an intimate relationship with us

When culture attempts to pressure us into anything other than that, it is an offence against the image of God

As believers, our sexual purity is to be a picture of the pure and boundless love God has for His people, His Bride, the Church

Why Is this Important?

The world’s understanding or MIS-understanding of sexuality is pushing the limits of anything that resembles sanity…at least that should be the understanding from a Christian Worldview

We suggest that the world today is near the point of when God chose to flood the earth

Worse, churches are not holding fast to the authority of Scripture on sexual matters—even evangelical/conservative churches are waffling

These admittedly sketchy outlines should help us flesh out the arguments of why

It really Is a Big Deal

Leftovers

The Nephilim and related issues

Other un-run rabbit trails from this series

Rabbit trails from Acts series