The Theme of Sexual Immorality in the Old Testament

Introduction

Sexual immorality is a sin that has existed since the beginnings of mankind and runs through the entire Bible, passing through Sodom and Gomorrah, the Benjaminite scandal, the adultery of King David, the fall of his son King Solomon, and the problems concerning the Church of Corinth.

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According to the Bible, sexual immorality is all sexual practice out of the standard established by God. Sex was created by God to be practiced between a man and a woman within marriage, with love and respect (Genesis 2:24). All that deviates from this pattern is sexual immorality. Sex is a very intimate action that can have very strong effects on the life of the couple. Therefore, the sexual act must be done within an environment of security, commitment, and love. Sexual immorality is all unsafe sexual practice and all sex outside of marriage is rejected and considered immoral by the Bible. Sex that aims at pleasure outside of marriage and the goal of procreation is considered sin and lust including homosexuality, masturbation, fornication, prostitution, incest, pornography or rape.

The first sexual immorality that is prohibited by the Bible is immorality. Adultery (fornication) occurs when two people who are not married have a sexual relationship. The Bible condemns this act clearly:

"You shall not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:14)

This undermines the promise of marriage to be faithful to one's spouse. Adultery was a very serious sin that had to be punished with death, as the following passage says:

"If someone commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress will be condemned to death". (Leviticus 20: 10)

"Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers will be judged by God."Hebrews 13: 4. "He has made everything beautiful in its time." is written in Ecclesiastes 3:11, and the time He has determined for sexual intimacy between a man and a woman is within marriage. Having such a relationship before marriage or with another couple after marriage is a direct disobedience to the commandment of God. Even if a spouse gives consent to an extra-marital relationship, this does not mean that it is acceptable in the eyes of God. For a Christian, there is no true and lasting happiness outside the will of God. The momentary pleasures of adultery soon disappear, but the sadness that one reaps is very lasting.

Secondly, God also condemns any sexual relations between relatives.

"No one will approach any close relative to have sex with him or her. I am the Lord". (Leviticus 18: 6) (NIV)

In the following, the text clearly defines that blood relatives are considered, with whom marriage is prohibited. These are the parents, the step-parents, the sister, brother, nephew, niece, aunt, sister of the brother, uncle's aunt, daughter-in-law etc. All these sexual relationships are incest. After that, the list goes on with other things that are defined as perversions:

"Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable. Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion. Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled". (Leviticus 18: 22-24) (NIV)

Another sexual immorality that is rarely talked about is sexual immorality of the mind. This is another form of immorality that is very widespread, and when a man or woman begins to practice this type of immorality, he or she will end up sinning by committing what he or she imagines.

"I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman"(Job 31: 1) (NIV)

The flesh provokes each one to sexual lust with a man or woman who may not be the husband or wife respectively. It is the responsibility of everyone to learn to control his/her mind and his/her eyes, because by looking at a man/woman wishing him/her, he/she has already committed adultery with him/her in his/her heart, and the adultery committed in the heart is equivalent to the one committed physically.

Another sexual immorality condemned by the Bible is Bestiality. This is an unnatural relationship of a man or a woman with an animal.

"'Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion." (Leviticus 18:23)

Deuteronomy 27, 21 says: "Cursed be anyone who has sex with an animal."

The Mosaic Law emphatically condemned this perverted practice and sentenced the guilty person and the beast to death. "When a man gives his seminal emission to a beast, he must be killed without fail, and you must kill the beast. And when a woman approaches any beast to have intercourse with her, you have to kill the woman and the beast. "(Le 20:15, 16; 18:23; Ex 22:19; De 27:21.)

The Bible also condemns homosexuality. In fact, God punished the people of Sodom since they practiced homosexuality. There are several attempts at exegetical interpretation of Gen 19, 1-29, which is one of the most classic texts for the rejection of homosexuality. Traditionally the cause of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah has been associated with the "sin against nature", which the Bible states was homosexuality, especially men sleeping with other men. God created man and woman, and he established that sexual relations should only take place between husband and wife (Genesis 1:27, 28, Leviticus 18:22, Proverbs 5:18, 19). Thus, sexual relations between persons of the same sex is utterly prohibited. It should be mentioned that those who have homosexual desires are not the only ones who must fight against their impulses. Millions of people have to master their desires in order to please God. These include single men and women whom circumstances may prevent them from getting married, as well as those who are married to someone who is unable to have sex. All of them have to control their impulses and resist temptations. Likewise, those who have homosexual inclinations but really wish to please God can also exercise self-control and be happy (Deuteronomy 30:19).

The last sexual immorality is anal sex. There is no explicit and direct mandate in the Bible that says "You will not have oral and anal sex because it is sin". However, there is an abundance of principles that prove that God condemns this act.

"Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers will be judged by God."Hebrews 13: 4 NKJV

The word honor means, something holy, something sacred. Marriage and the sexual act are something sacred to God (Genesis 1: 27, 28). But marriage is perverted when it serves only unworthy and immoral purposes, and loses the quality of being "honorable and holy."

God calls to treat sexual relationships in holiness and honor. From this perspective, one can affirm that oral and anal sex is a sin. The same nature teaches that the anus was created to excrete fecal matter, not to introduce something inside, it is the same principle used with the homosexual, a sexual deviation. The woman who allows this has become a sexual object, rather than a wife. Speaking of the oral act, the clinical and medical analyzes affirm that a good part of diseases in the mouth is due to oral sex, a good amount of microbes and bacteria accumulate in the male and female genital organs. Based on the above, sex is so holy and pure for God, that in the same act God is present because God is where there is holiness (Proverbs 5:15), it is, therefore, impossible to imagine that God will be present in an anal sex and oral. Oral sex, anal sex, is considered among the aspects of sodomy, a term that comes from sodomite, and to refer to all kinds of sexual depravity. Sex and marriage are sacred and blessed, and should not be perverted or degraded. Many use marriage as a nuance to hide all kinds of depravity.

Conclusion

Although sexual immorality is a great sin, God forgives sexual immorality. God not only forgives those who commit sexual immorality but also can restore their lives. When a person repents and decides to follow Jesus with all their heart, God forgives their sin, no matter what the sin is. This does not mean that people can continue to engage in sexual immorality, thinking "I will repent and God will forgive me." Repentance is recognizing one's sin and deciding to change, with the help of God. However, this does it mean that all the negative consequences will simply disappear. Changing behavior can be difficult and time-consuming. Some people have relapses of sexual immorality. But when one's heart is turned to God, He will help the person overcome sexual immorality. One must exercise self-control in what corresponds to all sexual matters before marriage and to the temptations that may arise when married. The justification of premarital relationships based on whether they are committed or that it is a serious relationship is a shameless compromise towards the norms declared by God in his Word. The Bible is clear about the sanctity and sexual purity. People cannot look for excuses to justify sexual immorality in their lives.

Works Cited

Holy Bible: NIV: New International Version. Christian Media Bibles, 2016.