We humans have practiced sexual sin since the very beginning and western culture has increasingly accepted a sexual ethic which is cause for concern especially since the 1960's. Too often on our one-eyed monster television we see sex between unmarried people. We see premarital cohabitation, homosexuality, and prostitution, and a whole host of other practices that seems to enjoy too much of a widespread societal approval. In the first century Greco-Roman world, sexual misconduct ran rampant. Homosexual behavior was widely tolerated; pagan husbands could have a mistress and use female slaves to satisfy their sexual desires. There were even forms of pornography in that culture's art and literature. However, when Christ entered the stage people were persuaded to abstain from sexual immorality. We see this throughout the gospels and in 1 Thess.4:3. Sexual immorality (Greek: porneia) refers to all sexual activity outside of the one-man/one-woman marriage covenant, the ancient Jewish sexual ethic we copied. We are not to be controlled by our sexual desires. We are to practice self-control and abstain from all forbidden sexual activity. The gospel sets us free from sin to honor God with our minds and our bodies so believers will seek to bring their sexual activities and desires into conformity with our Creator's word.
Sexual immorality steals from other people because we are using for ourselves what rightly belongs to someone else. Extramarital sex, adultery, and other sexual sins steal from other people. When the Lord brings us to faith in Christ, He sets us apart for Himself. We betray the holy status conferred on us in our conversion when we commit sexual sin.
Commentaires