For audio recordings of this class see HERE.
**Additional resources for this class are found HERE.
Week One:
1.
Introduction
a.
1 Cor. 6.19-20 vs. Camille Paglia
i. 19“Or
do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20For you have been bought
with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6.19-20)
ii. “Fate,
not God, has given us this flesh.
We have absolute claim to our bodies and may do with them as we see
fit.” Camille Paglia in Vamps & Tramps[1]
b.
Our time is awash is sexual anarchy à in the church too!
i. “Christ
has put us in this cultural moment.”
Cathi Herod
c.
New Testament has a concept of the “world” and
“worldliness” (Eph. 2.1; James 4.4; 1 John 2.15-17)
i. David
Wells’ definition:
“For worldliness is that system of values which in any culture has the
fallen sinner at its center, which takes no account of God or his Word, and
which therefore views sin as normal and righteousness as abnormal.”[2]
ii. Romans
12.1-2 “Do not be conformed to the
world… but be transformed…”
d.
Sexuality and our Worldview
“When we make sexual decisions, we are not just deciding whether to follow
a few rules. We are expressing our
view of the cosmos and human nature.”[3]
2.
WHAT class is about
a.
Biblical view of sexuality à true, good, and
beautiful
b.
Biblical view is contrary to the world/our
culture
i. Need
to understand the Bible and our time
ii. Need
to navigate our time in holiness, wisdom, and love
c.
We can’t cover everything on the topics we’re
going to cover
i. Biblical
and theological data à
immense
ii. Cultural
forces and arguments
iii. Issues
of how the church should respond
1.
In the Christian community
2.
In the wider culture
iv. Issue
of personal sanctification
3.
HOW we want to think and speak
a.
Our cultural time may be unique but our task as
the church is not!
b.
Francis Schaeffer à
love and truth simultaneously
“Increasingly I believe that after we are saved we have only one calling,
and that is to show forth the existence and the character of God. Since God is love and God is holy, it
is our calling to act in such a way as to demonstrate the existence of God—in
other words to be and to act in such a way as to show forth His love and His
holiness simultaneously. Further, I believe that the failure to
show forth either of these is equally a perversion. Of course, in one’s own strength it is only possible to show
forth either love or holiness. But to show forth the holiness and love of God
simultaneously requires much more.
It requires a moment by moment work of the Holy Spirit in a very
practical way.”[4]
c.
Psalm 119
i. 53:
a time for anger
ii. 136:
a time for tears
iii. 126:
a time for prayer
d.
Christians are sometimes known by the world for
saying “no” à
our prohibitions
i. Sometimes
this is an illegitimate characterization of the Christian community[5]
ii. We
do need a positive understanding of our Christian commitments
e.
We need a positive portrayal à truth, goodness, and
beauty
f.
This will be centered in the Gospel
4.
WHY is issue of sexuality important?
a.
Purity in sexual ethics/practice à a constant New
Testament refrain
i. James
1.27
“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this:
to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by
the world.”
·
Notice: We can’t play off against each other the
quest for social justice and the need for purity in our sexual ethics! Public justice and private holiness go
together.
ii. 2
Peter 1.4
“For by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises,
so that by them you may become partaker of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
iii. Galatians
5.16-21
16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out
the desire of the flesh. 17For
the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh;
for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things
that you please. 18But
if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 19Now the deeds of the flesh are
evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,… 21…just
as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit
the kingdom of God.”
iv. Jesus
in Mark 7.20-23
20And
he was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the
man. 21For from within
out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts,
murders, adulteries, 22deeds of coveting and wickedness, as
well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23All these evil things
proceed from within and defile the man.”[6]
b.
People apostatize over sex
i. 2
Peter 2.17-22
ii. Scott
McKnight and Hauna Ondrey Finding Faith,
Losing Faith: Stories of Conversion and Apostasy mention Christine
Wicker’s account:
“College and church did her faith in. She was disillusioned with the moral vision of a good God
who is sovereign of a world where so many innocent suffer. Knowledge of the world and of
others—who believe in other gods and who are just as good of people—took some
steam out of her faith as well.
“’And
then there was the message coming from my body. Sex before marriage was unthinkable in my church.’ She
speaks of beginning a physical relationship with her boyfriend and describes
what happened as ‘a sinful kind of magic that exceeded anything I’d ever
imagined. Nobody prepared me for
the power and weakness of sex. It
went beyond words and resistance.
Bible reading, praying, hymn singing—nothing could touch it.’ Her conclusion is as picturesque as it
can get: ‘Those preacher boys were operating with a cardboard cutout version of
reality, and it didn’t match what I was seeing.’”[7]
c.
New Testament teaching on sexuality is set in a
rich theological setting
i. 1
Thessalonians 4.1-8
1.
Peace of God
2.
Sanctification
3.
Judgment
4.
Calling
5.
Spirit
ii. 1
Peter 1.13-21
1.
Children of God
2.
Holiness of God
3.
Scripture (Leviticus)
4.
Fatherhood of God
5.
Judgment (future)
6.
Cross/blood of Christ
7.
Redemption
iii. 1
Corinthians 6.12-20
1.
Cross
2.
Resurrection
3.
Spirit
4.
Union with Christ
5.
Detailed look at 1 Corinthians 6.12-20
a.
Problem: Behavior à Visiting prostitutes (v. 15)
b.
Problem: Theology/Ideas/Worldview
i. Faulty
view of ethics
ii. Faulty
view of eschatology
iii. Faulty
view of the body
c.
Bad behavior flows from bad theology and bad
philosophy
i. “Even
as believers, the Corinthians held on to the part of the Hellenistic body/soul
or material/immaterial dualism which disdained the physical world for the
‘higher’ knowledge and wisdom of spiritual existence… Such a disdain for this
world could also lead them to consider participation in its law courts and
immorality as of no consequence…”[8]
ii. Body/mind
split is with us today! This will
be crucial.
d.
Paul’s Response
i. Paul
doesn’t just say, “Stop it!”
ii. He
refutes the false ideas (theology) and argues from the gospel to the truth of
proper sexual behavior.
e.
Corinthian Slogans
ii. ESV
translation highlights two of the three by quotation marks but on the second
slogan the ESV stops short
1.
ESV: “All things are lawful for me” (v. 12)
2.
ESV: “Food is meant for the stomach and the
stomach for food”
3.
Should add in quotation marks: “and God will
destroy both one and the other.”
iii. Third
quotation is in verse 18: “Every sin that a man commits is outside the body.”
|
Verse
|
Slogan
|
Idea
|
|
12
|
“All things are lawful for me” (2x’s)
|
Ethics
|
|
13
|
“Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do
away with both of them.”
|
Eschatology
|
|
18
|
“Every sin that a man commits is outside the body”
|
Body
|
6.
Paul’s responses to the Corinthian slogans
a.
“All things are lawful for me” (2x’s in v. 12)
i. “Paul,
you taught we’re free from the law.”
ii. “No
ethical constraints on the use of my body.”
b.
Paul’s response: Christian freedom has limits
(v. 12)
i. Limited
by love
à not all things are
“profitable”
“So the ethical question we have to have ask ourselves is not merely, ‘Is
this or that activity okay for me to do?’
The question is, ‘Will this or that activity be a help or a hindrance to
my brothers and sisters in Christ?’”[10]
ii. Limited
by lordship
à “I will not be
mastered by anything”
1.
Ultimate allegiance is to Jesus Christ!
2.
Not be “mastered”—lorded over—by another
c.
“Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food, but God will do
away with both of them.” (v. 13)
·
2 Arguments here…
i.
Teleology (purpose) of the body
1.
Stomach is for food.
2.
Sex organs are for sex.
3.
Human body’s design reveals its purpose; if it’s
“natural” it must be right
4.
Corinthians: “What could be wrong using the body
according to its purpose?”
ii.
Eschatology à
physical bodies give way to death
1.
“Since every person must ultimately die and lost
their body to the dust, God must not care much about physical bodies… From
this, the Corinthians concluded that the physical body figured very little in
God’s moral economy.”[11]
2.
Corinthian perspective: “moral irrelevance of
the body
d.
Paul’s response: Union with Christ and the
resurrection
i. Against
their teleology argument
1.
“the body is not for immorality, but for the
Lord, and the Lord is for the body” (v. 13)
2.
Paul could agree that the body is made for sex
·
But this is a subordinate end/goal
·
Ultimate goal of the body is for God’s glory à for God’s sake
ii. Against
their eschatology argument
1.
Resurrection is the great hope for our bodies
(v. 14)
2.
Our bodies have eternal significance!
iii. Further
argument against both teleology and eschatology arguments
1.
The believer’s body is Christ’s
2.
“When the believer engages his body in sexual immorality, he is
involving Christ’s own body parts in
the illicit act.”[12]
3.
“one body with her” à Genesis 2.24 (v. 16)
“It must not be missed that Paul
grounds his sexual ethic in Genesis 2:24.
When Paul (and Jesus, for that matter) sets out new covenant norms for
gender and sexuality, he never appeals to polygamist kings such as David or
Solomon or to polygamist patriarchs such as Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. For all the importance these Old
Testament figures have in the history of redemption, Jesus and Paul do not look
to any of them as the paradigm for understanding marriage. Instead, Jesus and Paul look back
without exception to the pre-fall monogamous union of Adam and Eve in Genesis 2
as the norm of human sexuality and marriage.”[13]
·
(cf. Gen 2.24; Matt 19.5; Mark 10.7-8; 1 Cor
6.16; Eph 5.31)
e.
“Every sin that a man commits is outside the body” (v. 18)
i. Idea:
only motives and intentions matter; the body is irrelevant
ii. “This
is not to say that the Corinthians denied the possibility of sin. Sin was possible but only on the level
of motive and intention, and they refused to concede that these could be
evaluated on the basis of the actions in which they were embodied. Hence, ‘every sin which a man may
commit is outside the body.’”[14]
f.
Paul’s response: the body is the arena of
central importance
i. Body
is the arena of sin: “the immoral man sins against his own body” (v. 18b)
ii. Triune
God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—interact with the body!
1.
Body is a temple of the Holy Spirit
2.
Body is bought by Christ (by his blood)
3.
Body is to be used to glorify God
7.
Christian sexuality is about a bodily reality
that interfaces with God and the Gospel!
a.
“Body” à
8 x’s in 1 Corinthians 6.12-20
i. Our
view of the body is a theological and philosophical issue
ii. Christian
worldview has a distinctive view of the body
iii. Crucial
concept for all that follows!
b.
The Triune God interacts with us as bodily
beings
i. Our
lives—including our bodies—are bought with the blood of the Son.
ii. Our
bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit
iii. All
of our bodily and sexual existence is to be lived for the glory of God
c.
The gospel engages our bodies throughout time
i. Cross
à bought by the blood
(past)
ii. Spirit
à indwelt by the Spirit
(present)
iii. Resurrection
à raised up (future)
8.
Conclusion: Paul contextualizes the Christian
life in terms of God and the Gospel
a.
Not simply prohibitions (although these are
present)
b.
Gospel-centered, Gospel-motivated sexual
ethics à this is the beauty of the Christian sexual ethic!
[5]
See my “Acts 19 and Cultural Controversy” White
Rose Review (September 5, 2012)—online: http://whiterosereview.blogspot.com/2012/09/acts-19-and-cultural-controversy.html.
[6]
For the term translated “sensuality” in verse 22 see my article “Jesus Did
Mention Homosexuality!” White Rose Review (October 23, 2014)—online: https://whiterosereview.blogspot.com/2014/10/jesus-did-mention-homosexuality.html.
[9]
Not all commentators agree with this analysis of the slogans. For a defense of the use of slogans
here see Denny Burk, What Is the Meaning
of Sex? (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2013), 45-46. For a more technical discussion see Denny Burk, “Discerning
Corinthian Slogans through Paul’s Use of the Diatribe in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20”
Bulletin for Biblical Research 18.1
(2008), 99-121—online: https://www.ibr-bbr.org/files/bbr/bbr18a05_burk.pdf.
