3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
We live in a
society that exudes sexuality. And it’s not something one has to go looking
for. It’s on TV, in movies, the pages of magazines, and billboards. We stumble
across it on the internet and see it on the computer screen sidebar asking us
if we “want to meet men/women in your area?” At one time I thought that this
was evidence of how bad things had gotten over the last two millennia if the
not the last century. Blatant sexuality was not celebrated in the 1940s and 50s
like it is today. In the Victorian era some people considered it imprudent to
say “leg” in mixed company and table and piano legs were covered as a sign of
modesty. But then my wife and I travelled to Pompeii. I was taken aback by the
Frescos in that first century Roman city. Sexuality was blatant and celebrated.
Not only did the frescos in the public brothels feature people naked and in
various sexual acts, so did the walls of the dining rooms in some of the finest
homes. As I became more acquainted with the ancient world I began to realize
that in many ways our society was beginning to look like the one the apostle
Paul knew. Not only is it a world of multiple faiths, it is also a world where
Christian standards of sexuality are not the norm.
One could not be faulted for
thinking that Paul was a bit preoccupied with other people’s sexuality. It
seems to surface in just about every one of his letters. In fact, he has more
to say about it than Jesus. But this is symptomatic of Paul’s realization of
just how powerful of a force sexuality can be and how quickly it can destroy
the life of individuals and communities when it is not controlled. Paul’s language in 4:3-8 might seem somewhat coercive in the way that he
tries to propel them towards proper sexual conduct. But it also underlines how important it is to
him and the life of the community that he has worked so hard to foster in Thessalonica.
And sexual sin in particular effects the community on at least two levels.
First, it is
a sin against the believer’s body, which may be why Paul emphasizes that they
get control of their body (cf. 1 Cor 6:19). Paul contrasts the type of control
he expects believers to exert over their bodies with the “passionate lusts” of
“those who don’t know God” (1:4-5). This is one of the things that made the
believers distinctive as they sought to walk out their call to live holy lives.
If, however, it is allowed to continue, their identity as a holy, separate
people breaks down.
Second, sexual immorality has the potential for destroying a community. When this kind of behavior is
practiced and/or tolerated it undermines what makes the Christian community different.
Paul
has worked hard to create a new family out of this group. The Thessalonian
believers constitute a new family based on God’s love and choice of them. They
had been given a new identity and sense of belonging at a time when previous
social and family ties were probably dissolving because of the gospel. If
members are acting in ways that are less than holy and honorable, if they are
taking advantage of other members of the community, then the family structure
is in danger of collapsing.
In order to apply Paul’s sexual ethics
to our modern setting it is important to underline the importance of a
theological framework for sex in the life of the Christian. It’s not unusual
for the church to have a discussion of what is
and is not sexually moral. And these
are important discussions. But too often they focus on symptoms rather than the
cause. We can’t talk about sex if we are not asking the very thing that Paul is
encouraging the Thessalonians to do in this chapter; to live to please God
(4:1). We need to start by asking ourselves: What is pleasing to God? Certainly
the discussion will and should move to particular ways in which we act out and
express our sexuality. But first we need to determine what does it mean to live
out our sexuality in “holiness” and “honor”? And our understanding of what the
means will develop out of our realization that God has called us; called us to
be his people; called us to be different.
The Bible has a lot to say about sex
and it is mostly about why those who are called by God are to be different. And
if the Bible makes anything clear, God’s ultimate reason for giving us the gift
of sex is so that it could be enjoyed within marriage. From Genesis 1:28 where
God blesses humanity and tells them to be fruitful and multiply, to the Song of
Solomon where we discover that God wants us to express our sexuality to our
spouses, to 1 Corinthians 7:3-7 where Paul exhorts us not to deprive our
spouses of physical intimacy, we see that God wants us to have sex, to enjoy
it, on a regular basis, but within the confines of marriage. This means, as
they sometimes say in marriage vows, “forsaking all others,
keeping only unto him/her for as long as you both shall live.” This is a
principle in scripture that encompasses all of sexuality. In Gen 2:23 the first
couple is introduced and we are told that they become “one flesh.” In Ex. 20:14
the seventh commandment is “you shall not commit adultery.” Jesus later affirms
the seventh commandment (Matt 5:27) and connects the prohibitions against
divorce and adultery based on Gen 2:23. As I suggested above, it seems that
Paul’s admonition that “no one take advantage of a brother or sister” in 4:6 is
taking aim at a possible case of adultery in the church. The witness of
scripture, therefore, is consistently that God’s gift of sex was meant to be
enjoyed in the context of marriage.
But there is another aspect that should be
touched on here even if Paul doesn’t specifically highlight it. Not all forms
of adultery are acts that are physically consummated with another person.
There are those that are nurtured and hidden within the heart and mind. Jesus
highlights this in the Sermon on the Mount.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit
adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has
already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Not an easy
thing to hear and if we are honest most, if not all, are guilty of adultery. I
remember when Jimmy Carter was honest about it. In a 1976 interview with
Playboy Magazine, the then presidential candidate had this to say.
The Bible says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
Christ said, I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman with lust has in his
heart already committed adultery. I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've
committed adultery in my heart many times . . . This is something that God
recognizes, that I will do and have done, and God forgives me for it.
Some people
derided Carter for saying this, but he has it right. The irony of giving an
interview to Playboy Magazine in which he admitted to committing adultery in
his heart was not lost on Jimmy Carter and he later said that, in retrospect,
if he could do it over he would not give the interview.
But this leads to an
important aspect of this discussion, the problem of pornography. With the debut
of cable television and the internet pornography has become more and more
visible in our society and more acceptable. It is easy for men and women to
commit adultery in their hearts in the privacy of their home. This is not the
place to outline all of the destructive elements in the modern day porn
epidemic. But we must keep in mind Jesus and Paul’s warnings. It is not
harmless “fanaticizing” that hurts no one. It is an activity that stands in
direct contrast to God’s will for us connected to his call on our life to live
pure, holy and honorable in order to please him. If we are ever in doubt about
any sexual activity we should ask ourselves: is this pleasing to God?
Excellent post, John.
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