What Genesis 1-3

Teaches
about
Marriage:
Sex
*
PCJB
PP Presentation
devised and prepared
at
Gujranwala Theological Seminary
may be copied for non-commercial use
only
September 2008
 Sex
A delicate subject?
There are many allusions to sexual
behaviour
in the Bible
– good and bad!
So Christians should not be
embarrassed by it!
Provided, of course, they
 To Discuss:
Current Attitudes to Sex
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__

How do most people in your culture

think of sex?
What is the perceived purpose of
sex?
• To express love in its most
intimate form?
• To let a man have a “good time”
with his wife?
• Just to perpetuate the human
race?
 Marriage & Sex
Genesis 2:18-25

Marriage
is instituted by God
and
sexual attraction
has been built into us by God.
 The Big Question about
Sex
What wider purpose can
the love of wife and husband for each
other,
expressed supremely in
sexual intimacy and delight,
possibly serve in God’s world,
except the obvious one of
creating a family of “gardeners”?
 Marriage & Sex - Genesis
The thought2:18,22-25
The Lord God said,
moves “It is not good for the man to be
alone.
from I will make a helper suitable for
A: Marriage him.”….
The Lord made a woman
(companion from the rib he had taken out
to help him) of the man,
and he brought her to the man. The
through man said,
B: physical “This is now bone of my bones,
identity and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman’
(bone of my for she was taken
bones, out of man.”
For this reason
flesh of my a man will leave his father and mother
flesh,) and
& physical union be united to his wife.
(united… one and
Adam & Eve’s Response
to Sex
Adam and Eve were not ashamed,
because they were not aware of
evil
and had no sinful thoughts.
The “knowledge of good and evil”
had not entered into
Adam's and Eve's lives
though the potential danger was
 A Pro-creational View of
Sex
An Ancient Misconception
The early Church Fathers,
including Augustine,
thought sex could only serve God
when it led to a pregnancy.
Otherwise it was essentially
sinful!!
 To Discuss:
(Watch your exegesis!)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_

• What is wrong with this

interpretation of
Genesis 2?

Look up
Gen 26;8, Is 62:5, Pro 5:18-19
Corinth’s Degradation of
sex
• Corinth was well known for
its sexual immorality.
So some people were reacting
by encouraging married couples
to avoid sex altogether
(“Don’t touch! - 1 Cor 7:1)
 Paul’s High View of sex
• Paul, however, told them
it was much better
for a couple to be married
and
enjoy equal “conjugal rights” over
each other.
They owe it to each other
to do all they can
to satisfy each other’s sexual desires.
 Before Marrying…
Note:
On your wedding day
you surrender authority over your
body
to your wife or husband.
So you had better make sure
before you agree to marry
that you trust that person!
1 Cor 7:4
 1 Corinthians 7:3-4
The husband should fulfil his marital duty to his
wife,
and likewise the wife to her
husband.
The wife’s body does not belong to her alone
but also to her husband.
[The wife does not have authority over
her own body,
but the husband does. – NKJV]
In the same way, also,
the husband’s body does not belong to him alone
but also to his wife.
 1 Corinthians 7:5

Do not deprive each other

except by mutual consent and for
a time;
so that you may devote*
yourselves to prayer.
Then come together again
so that Satan will not tempt
you
because of your lack
of self-control.

__________________________________________________
 Conjugal Rights
• We need to avoid anything
that diverts our sexual energies
away from the one to whom we owe
them
e.g.
– Overwork leading to neglect of the
spouse
– Pornography leading to loss of interest
in the marriage
 Conjugal Rights
For married couples:
• We need to pay attention to, and
guard,
those life-style factors that
cause sexual delight in marriage to
flourish.

e.g.
– Making regular times for being together
– Having time to attend to each other’s
needs and interests
 Conjugal Rights
In marriage
each owes his or her body to the
other,
to give the other all the love and
intimacy
of which they are capable.
Sometimes there will be sheer delight
for both.
At other times, for one partner this will
be
 Conjugal Rights
For married couples:

Remember
on your wedding day
you committed yourself sexually
to your wife or husband
for life.
Make space for it as marriage goes on;
nurture it and nourish it in love
 A Marital Duty

Remember:
• The Bible forbids sex outside
marriage,
• But it commands sex within
marriage!

Guard the fires of your heart

so that the warmth of your love
 A Relationship View of Sex
A Modern Misconception
“The neuter earth creature became
gendered.
Sexuality is to become
the means by which we overcome
isolation.
It is to carry us past isolation to
relationship.
Sexuality is the culminating high point
in the story in Gen 2.
 To Discuss:
(Watch your exegesis!)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_

• What is wrong with this

interpretation of
Genesis 2?
Study the context of
both passages following…
 Genesis 2:7
Genesis 2:23
The Lord The man (‘adam’) said,
formed man from “This is now bone of
the dust of the my
ground bones,
and flesh of my
(“adamah”) flesh;
and she shall be called
breathed into his ‘woman’
nostrils (‘ishah’)
the breath of for she was taken out
life, of
 A Wrong Exegesis
• Can “the breath of life” be equated
with ‘energy’?
• God “breathed the breath of life”) into
man
before he ‘gendered’ him
and made male and female
• It is the marriage union
(cf. reference to “wife” in the following
verse), not “sexuality”, (merely an
added comment),
 Genesis 2:24-25
For this reason
WHY?
a man will leave his father and
mother WHO?
and
be united to his wife,
WHAT?
and
they will become one flesh.
WHO? WHAT?
Transition to One A man…
Flesh will
Sexual Union leave…
A deliberate &
consequence of be
a man leaving his united with
parents his wife.
to become united with &
his wife They
(and so form a new will
family unit) become
 To Discuss:
Living Together?
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• Why do some newly-weds

live with their parents while
others choose to start their
own homes?
• Which way does the Bible
indicate is the better way of
starting married life?
• What can be done to
encourage couples to follow
 A New Social Order:
“United With His Wife”
• There is something special
that takes place
in the union of
a man and a woman,
and that the union must be
preserved intact
without the undue influence of.
or addition of,
A Unique Sexual Union:
“One Flesh”
• Sex outside of marriage
always leads to
trouble.
Sexually transmitted diseases
are spread from unions
outside
the sanctified marriage union.
 The Purpose of Weddings:
They Publicise A Marital Union

Weddings
in both Old and New Testaments
portrayed as
a public acknowledgement
of
a new married state.
 Private Intimacy

The beautiful and mutually delightful

intimacy of
a man “knowing” a woman
was a private matter
recognised only in the pregnancy of
the (married) woman.
The Sacredness of
“Knowing”
Those who took a woman
outside of marriage
were usually described as
“lying with”
the woman.
 The Sacredness of
“Knowing”
“Knowing”
is usually reserved for
legitimate intimate relationships.

So sacred is it that
it is sometimes used as a picture of
the spiritual intimacy
that God wants to have with His
people.
Public Acknowledgement of a
Vocation
Marriage is not just
a private matter of two lovers
making a covenant together.

Rather it is a calling
to which husband and wife are
called by God
by virtue of being married.
 The Public Nature of
Marriage
Further it is a relationship
initiated, hedged and bounded
by
public recognition and support.
Hence it should never be
totally private,
least of all secret.
 Public Feast – Private
Intimacy
Placing bride and bridegroom
on the marriage bed
in front of the cameras
has sound biblical justification.
The married state is thus
publicly recorded.
There can be no doubt of
their new sexual relationship as a
married couple.
What happens subsequently is
 To Discuss
(“We married at the top of a mountain – just 2
witnesses!”)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Modern secular portrayals of

marriage and sex
give the idea that it is “cool” to have
a private wedding (say, on a remote
exotic beach)
and that sex can be a public (adult)
affair.
• Discuss the comparisons between
a traditional shadi in the East
and the above scenario often
The Creation of Woman

The purpose of sex is

not primarily the satisfaction of
a need
(to experience a relationship)
That would cheapen sex.
 God’s Purpose
Our view of sex
changes radically
when we stop seeing it in terms of
meeting man’s needs
and start to see it as
expressing God’s purposes
 God’s Purpose
Began with
A. A garden
to be worked and cared for,
continued with a people
called to be
B. A light to the nations,
and proceeds now with
C. A Kingdom to be extended
through the carrying out of
the Great Commission.
 Love’s Task
The task
as set out in the Great Commission
can only be achieved through
a faithful love
for God and for your fellow man.
This love for the world
can only flow from
a life which lives out this love.
 The Purpose of Sex
A marriage of a husband and wife,
who both live out this love
as part of their private experience,
fulfils the purpose God
when He made man and women
to desire each other
in the intimacy of sexual delight.
 The Purpose of Sex
Not just to meet needs,
nor simply to create children;
but supremely to
to nurture love
between husband and wife
engaged in carrying out
the task God has given them.
 God’s Purpose
“Sex created in order to
build intimacy and love between the
couple
that then ‘explode’ onto the world
with the security and experience of a
private bliss.
The strengthening of relationship,
the joy in the midst of life
is vital for
 God’s Purpose
…There is a mutual delight in each
other,
an intimacy
in the midst of life and household
responsibilities.
To refresh and restore one
another,
to strengthen the relationship
which is then able to
 God’s Purpose
The faithful intimate love
of a committed couple
can provide a centre of stable
security,
so that this safe home becomes
a refuge into which others can be
welcomed.
 In the Service of God
The Song of Songs
is best known for its celebration of
the intimacies of love
as experienced by two lovers.
But how does it fit the context of
the service of God?
 God’s Purpose
Gardens in the Bible are not
primarily there to provide a
beautiful place
to sit and enjoy the pleasures of
its colourful flowers and lovely
fragrances.
A garden
is there
to produce fruit
 God’s Purpose
So the lovers revel in
the springtime of love
because it gives hope for
the autumn of fruitfulness.
Fruitfulness is a great Bible
picture,
not only of children,
but more significantly,
of a world properly ordered and
cultivated:
 The Abuse of Sex
Sex can be a wonderful thing.
It can also be destructive and
harmful
e.g. the damage caused by jealousy, abuse and
rape.

What is intrinsically good

can be subverted
and cause the greatest damage
when misused.
 Scripture recognises
an inherent instability about sexual
desire.
The lustful look (Job 31:1),
the adulterous look (Matt.5:27-30),
the difficulty of guarding pure thoughts
(Ps. 119:9) are all examples of the
difficulties
inspired by sexual desire.
The bible is realistic about sexual
 Marriage and Public
Order
The social consequences of
the abuse of sex
seen in
rape, adultery, molestation of the
young,
and homosexuality.
 Marriage and Public
Order
Marriage
an obvious hedge against such
abuse.

But the maintenance of public

order
in sexual matters
is not
the primary purpose of Marriage.
 To Discuss
(“Get her married off quick!”)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Is it wise to marry off

daughters
as soon as they reach puberty,
or should Christians have
another approach to an
appropriate age for
marriage?
What are the advantages of
 Next Session

Having Children
 The Purpose of Marriage:
Procreation?
.
Assumption:
The purpose of having male and
female,
the reason for the existence of sex
and the essential goal of marriage,
is
the creation of children.
The End