Love has many types of expressions, designed by God to be wonderful, to create bonds, and to be outward demonstrations about the depth of His love. Even romantic love is a mechanism for the world to get a vision of the relationship between God and the church. One of the ways that romantic love is expressed between men and women is sex. It is a part of God’s design for the world. It is how people show love and engage in the act of creating new life, according to the Lord’s purpose.
Because it is a pleasurable experience, it is good to indulge within the boundaries ordained by the Creator, but the Bible is clear about what healthy, Biblical sexual relationships look like, their benefits, and the dangers of straying outside those boundaries.
The Bible addresses several topics related to sex including:
Healthy Sexuality
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
“Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love” (Proverbs 5:18-19).
“My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies. Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains” (Song of Solomon 2:16-17).
“I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases” (Song of Solomon 8:4).
Marriage
“And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 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’” (Genesis 2:22-23).
“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord” (Proverbs 18:22).
“The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.….” (1 Corinthians 7:3-5).
“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Hebrews 13:4).
Sinful Sexuality
“He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself” (Proverbs 6:32).
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body…You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality” (Galatians 5:9).
When God creates boundaries for people, He doesn't do it because He is a cruel tyrant who wants to deny people things that will bring them happiness and satisfaction. He does it for these good reasons:
What Does the Bible Actually Teach about Sex?
Is Concupiscence, a Strong Sexual Desire, a Sin?
What Is God’s Purpose for Marriage?
Many Christians understand that indulging in sex outside of marriage is wrong, but once they fall in love, it can be tempting to begin indulging in sexual behavior. If they’re engaged and are struggling with the temptation to be physically intimate, it can be easy to justify the indulgence: “we’re going to be married,” “we’re engaged, that’s practically married,” or “we need to start experimenting now so our sex life is good once we’re married.” However, there is a great example in the Bible that demonstrates God’s expectation that sex is not for the period of engagement.
1. A Hebrew to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham to bless all the nations through Him (Genesis 22:18)
2. A descendent of King David to fulfill the promise that his kingdom would last forever (2 Samuel 7:11b-16)
3. A virgin to fulfill God’s declaration promising a miracle to prove His power to the doubting King Ahaz (Isaiah 7:10-14)
4. A righteous woman who loved God, pursued His will, and would submit to Him (Luke 1:26-38)
There are some who believe that the act of sex is the thing that marries two people. Even some Christians will engage in sex outside of marriage and say that makes them married in God’s eyes. Jesus contradicted this idea when he spoke to the Samaritan woman.
Malachi 2:14Matthew 19:61 Corinthians 7
Some people engaged in sexual relationships outside of marriage before they were believers, or someone has a mistake or a slip-up. People cave into lust because they are weak and sinful. Even Christians can succumb to temptation because until they are with Christ forever, they will be subject to the weakness of the flesh.
In both the Old and New Testaments, God promised that He is faithful to forgive for those who repent and have faith in Him. Through the prophet Isaiah, He declared, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18). Scripture also promises, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). God can and does forgive those who have sex outside of marriage, if they repent of their sin and turn to Jesus for salvation and forgiveness.
Holy Father,
I thank You that You invited men and women to be a part of creation through the gift of sexuality and sex within marriage. Thank you for blessing humanity with Your love, Your grace, and the blood of Jesus Christ, which paid the price for my sins. Lord, please be with me as I pursue Your will for my life, whether that is through singleness or marriage. Either way, Lord, please strengthen me through the Holy Spirit to resist the desire to look lustfully, to meditate on sexual things, or to engage in sexual activity outside the healthy boundaries You set. Help me to focus on what is pure, good, and noble like it says in Your Word, and give me the strength to wait.
In the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, I pray,
Amen.
Sources
Driscoll, Mark and Grace. Real Romance Sex in the Song of Songs. XO Publishing, eBook, 2023.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Old Testament and New Testament
Wilmington’s Guide to the Bible
He is a cross pendant.
He is engraved with a unique Number.
He will mail it out from Jerusalem.
He will be sent to your Side.
Emmanuel
Bible Verses About Welcoming ImmigrantsEmbracing the StrangerAs we journey through life, we often encounter individuals who are not of our nationality......
Who We AreWhat We EelieveWhat We Do
2025 by lntellectual Reserve,Inc All rights reserved.
