By John A. Huffman Jr.
Senior Pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, California. He is a Contributing Editor to Preaching.
God is making a once-and-for-all indictment against either of the extremes. You and I are not called to asceticism, which denies the doctrine of creation. God has given you and me our appetites to be healthfully expressed. Some first-century Christians were so ascetic that they were denying the right of a husband and wife to have sex. It involved the concept of “spiritual marriage,” so rarified that they would not dirty the relationship with sex. Can you imagine the pent-up frustrations that came in that kind of a relationship and how one or the other might rationalize their way into sex outside of marriage?
Paul repudiates asceticism, but he also repudiates that libertarian approach of the Epicureans that says anything goes, because the body is bad. He states this clearly in
1 Corinthians 6:15-17: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, ‘The two shall be one flesh.’ But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”
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Then he adds this final dimension as he declares, “. . .your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you. . . .” Whereas in Old Testament times, God’s presence was in the tabernacle and then the temple at Jerusalem, now God dwells inside each believer. You are His temple. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body” (
1 Cor. 6:19-20).
Action Principle #3:
Sexual sin destroys. Flee from it!Paul writes, “Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself” (
1 Cor. 6:18). Sexual sin, by its very definition and reality, is dehumanizing. You become an animal. You declare yourself to be nothing but body parts and nerve endings. It destroys you, and it destroys others.
Why would God be so strict? Is He an angry old grandfather somewhere up in the sky who wants to destroy our fun in life? Not for a moment! He created sex. He gave it to us as a positive, fulfilling activity. He wants it to be channeled for your very best interest. Far from His commands being negative and inhibiting, they are guides to the healthiest kind of sexual living possible. In fact, even if one is not a Christian and has no respect for biblical teaching, there are some good, common-sense reasons for avoiding premarital or extramarital intercourse.
One reason to avoid premarital or extramarital intercourse is the possibility of
pregnancy.