Scott Rae - The Ethics of Sex: A Zondervan Digital Short

ZONDERVAN

The Ethics of Sex

Previously published in Moral Choices
Copyright 1995, 2000, 2009 by Scott B. Rae

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EPub Edition JANUARY 2012 ISBN: 978-0-310-49648-9

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

The Library of Congress has cataloged the original edition as follows:

Rae, Scott B.

Moral choices: an introduction to ethics / Scott B. Rae3rd ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-310-29109-1 (hardcover)
1. Ethics. I. Title.

BJ1012.R32 2009
170dc22 2009005151

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Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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Cover design: Ron Huizinga

Interior design: Matthew Van Zomeran

Sexual ethics refers to the ethical issues raised by the variety of sexual relationships and arrangements both inside and outside of marriage. Cultures throughout the centuries have been concerned about the moral parameters for sexual expression. Since the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, many sexual boundaries have been challenged and longtime prohibitions on certain types of sexual behavior have been rethought.

To appreciate the challenges involved in this area of ethics, think about how you would respond to the following scenarios:

1. You are counseling a high school student who is unsure of his sexual orientation. He feels some attraction for the same sex and has received some very private encouragement from gay teens at his high school. He has doubts about his ability to be attracted to women but is very reluctant to admit that he is struggling with his sexual identity.

2. An engaged couple comes to you for counsel prior to their marriage concerning the subject of birth control. They do not want to become pregnant before they are ready, and they believe that life begins at conception. They believe that children are a gift from God, and they want to know if any birth control is okay. They have heard that some birth control methods actually prevent embryos from implanting in the womb. They dont think that they want to do birth control that way but are not sure if that is any different from a miscarriage that might happen naturally.

3. A gay couple comes to you asking you to perform their civil commitment service. They know you are a minister in the area, and they are committed to each other and plan to stay together and either adopt a child or procreate using assisted reproductive technologies.

4. A college student asks you for your opinion on masturbation. He wants to know if that is something that the Bible allows or if it is a practice that should be discouraged. He acknowledges that it is widespread, and he sees nothing wrong with it.

5. A couple in their forties tells you that they are done having childrenthat their family is just the right size. The man in the couple is considering a vasectomy. He believes that all of their children are gifts from God, but he and his wife feel that they can give them all the attention they need if they hold their family size at what it is today. He wants to know what you think about permanent birth control.

6. An engaged couple on their second marriage participates in your premarital counseling workshop and is taken aback by your view that sex is reserved for marriage. They consider you outdated, especially with people who have been previously married. They insist that marriage is just a piece of paper, and if they are committed to each other, there is nothing wrong with sex prior to marriage.

Biblical Teaching on Sexual Relationships

Much to the surprise of people who have never read the Bible carefully, there is a wealth of material in Scripture that addresses the sexual relationship. God did not appear to be bashful or embarrassed when he spoke about sex in the Bible, and his teaching is both clear about the need for restraint and explicit about the passion of sex when expressed within the proper parameters. Central biblical passages include Genesis 2:1825, where the notions of sex and marriage are both introduced; Leviticus 18, a listing of illicit sexual relationships; the Song of Songs, which passionately celebrates sex in marriage; 1 Corinthians 57, which addresses the sexual excesses of the church in Corinth; and selected statements in the Epistles that encourage avoiding sexual immorality.

Genesis

In Genesis 12 there is a critical link between the man and woman in the context of marriage and the sexual relationship that will eventually result in the procreation of children. Although there are two creation accounts in Genesis 12, they are complementary and not contradictory. Genesis 1 provides the broad overview of creation. Genesis 2 views the most important aspects of creation in more detailthe creation of man and woman and their relationship to each other and to God.

In Genesis 2:1825 both marriage and sexual relations are instituted. Thus this account actually fits into the broader overview of Genesis 1. It occurs after the divine initiative in 1:26 to create humankind and prior to the command to the newly formed couple in 1:28 to begin procreating and populating the earth. The first command given to them is the command to reproduce in 1:28, clearly a result of their becoming one flesh in 2:24.

Most scholars believe Genesis 2:24 to be the first reference to the institution of marriage. There are various reasons for this. First, the way that this text is quoted in other places in the New Testament makes it clear that it was originally intended for married couples (Matt. 19:5; Eph. 5:31).

Second, the term leave is used to suggest that a man and woman who will be intimately related (as the term cleave [KJV] suggests) are to separate from their families of origin and begin a new family unit of their owncontrary to ancient Near Eastern cultural practice in which the bride moved in with the groom and his family.

Third, the concept of one flesh clearly involves a sexual unity (though not limited to that), and throughout Scripture it is evident that sexual relations are restricted to the setting of marriage. Thus it would appear that 2:24 is where marriage as a divine institution begins.