Sexual Immorality
With the current debates in our culture, and even in the church over human sexuality, I find the contribution of Hebrews 13:4 to be an uncommonly used but helpful Scripture to add.
“Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”
It seems if we are talking about human sexuality in a Biblical sense, we must first answer the question what is “sexual immorality” because it is referred to often in the Scriptures as sinful? Often people argue that sexual immorality is equated only to adultery, having sexual relations outside the marriage bed. Which is indicated in this passage in Hebrew 13:4. However, it goes on to say, “for God will judge the adulterer, and all the sexually immoral.” In other words, adultery is only one of several forms of sexual immorality, and all of them will be judged by God. Rarely is sexual immorality defined, it is assumed the reader knows what it is. The word for sexual immorality (porneai), in Greek culture typically referred to prostitution and was used in the OT to refer to unfaithfulness, including the people of Israel being unfaithful to God by turning to other gods and idols of the cultures and nations around them. But here again in this passage, sexual immorality is more than just adultery or fornication with a prostitute, it is broader than that and likely draws its understanding from Leviticus 18, and therefore includes incest (including with any close familial relationship), bestiality, and homosexuality (a man lying with a man as though a woman). These are not just Mosaic Law that can be waved away, or dismissed by Gentile (non Jewish) Christians who are no longer under the Law. As the decision of James and the leadership of the early church indicated, sexual immorality (i.e. moral law), was still something all believers should avoid (Acts 15:20). In our permissive culture, we try to dismiss sexual immorality as being old fashioned notions, out dated, or not in line with the times. To some it is even offensive to call anything “sexually immoral” because it offends people (and who are you to judge anyways). After all some believe they are just acting on their nature, who they were created to be, so to deny that is unjust and unloving. It is true, we are not to judge those outside the church (non Christians), but we are to call out sin (including sexual immorality) for those who follow Jesus (see 1 Corinthians 5). This is not to shame or guilt, but to help set us free from sin, to be holy as God is holy.
God is invested in our holiness, in becoming who he created and saved us to be, to reflect him. When we become a Christian, our human nature is not primarily who we are (including our genetics, our family heritage, our desires and passions), as Christians our identity is who we are in Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul reflects, our nature or flesh is usually in conflict with God and his Spirit (Romans 8:5-13), and we need to follow the Spirit, not the flesh. To postmodern ears this is hard to hear because the culture tries to convince us that our fleshly desires and feelings are the real us, and we need to submit to those feelings and desires, but for those who are in Christ, we need to submit to him and his Spirit, and that is where we find true joy and peace. Following the flesh will only lead to disappointment and death, and we will not become who God is forming and shaping us to be.