The Theology of Sex

“The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body… he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality.” – 1 Corinthians 6:13, 17-18

It is nearly impossible not to internalize some views of sex from the world around us. In our culture, sex is consumeristic: it is about self-gratification, feeling good physically or emotionally, or being used as a tool to get what we want. In our culture, sex is solely physical; it is an appetite to be met, and can be divorced from the mental, emotional, spiritual and relational. Pornography has made it even more about performance and objectification. Lastly, sex in our culture is idolatrous; it is portrayed as the ultimate source of fulfillment in and of itself.

But the Bible tells an altogether different story. God invented sex, as a good thing without shame. Have you thought much about why? Paul says that our body is meant for the Lord. Sex is a signpost that points us to God. J. I. Packer writes, “A signpost only helps those who will head the way it directs, and if you insisted on camping for life beside a lovely signpost, you would be daft; you would never get anywhere.” Sex points to the triune nature of a God who exists in a state of mutual, self-giving love and joy, a kind of constant union of which sex perhaps gives us a glimpse. It points to the wholeness of union we will have with God one day in eternity (Ephesians 5:32). And it points to the gospel itself, by acting out the creation of new life through the giving of self within a covenant. 

Rather than consumerism, sex is literally and symbolically about relationship, with God and with our spouse. Rather than being merely physical, sex is portrayed as a union of all levels of our being. Rather than implying that sex is essential for happiness, the Bible tells us about people like Paul (1 Corinthians 7:7) and Jesus who never had sex, and that there won’t be sex in heaven (Luke 20:35). Ultimately, sex is not all about us: there is something mysterious and wonderful here, something in the roots of our longings and the way our bodies are made that testifies to God himself. Don’t you know, Paul says, that your body is meant for God, that you are one with him, that the Holy Spirit lives inside you, that you are not your own? We aren’t to flee sexual immorality because of a low or fearful view of sex, but because of a high view of it, because we don’t want to do anything that would obscure what it is truly meant for.