The Biblical View on Sexuality and Marriage
Sexuality in the Creation Order
The
Bible mainly comprises two main sections, the Old and New Testament. The Old
Testament begins with a creation story in the Book of Genesis. Genesis means
“beginning” (in the Greek). This story presents God as the creator of the
universe as there was nothing in the beginning. Not only did God create the
universe, the world, and everything within it, He (capitalized “He” refers to
God) also specifically created humans (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:24-25)! What’s very
interesting in the first chapter of the Bible is that God called all that He
had created as “good” (Genesis 1:4; 1:10; 1:12; 1:18; 1:21; 1:25), but only
after He had finished creating humankind did He call all of His creation as “very
good” (1:31).
This
shows that there is something special about humans, and that is found in
Genesis 1:27-28, which writes:
“So God
created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and
female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be
fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over
the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living
thing that moves on the earth.”
God
creating mankind in His image is highly significant because He did not create
anything else, including the angels that attend Him in His presence in heaven,
in His image. Mankind, you and me, being created in His image and form means
that we are representative of God. When someone sees you or me they see
God. For example, everything created in the image of a car means that when you
see it—even if it’s not labeled as a “car”—you know it's a car. In the same
way, being created in the Image of God means that we reflect God!
Hence,
this ties into the theme of sexuality and gender as God created humankind with
distinct genders. God didn't create a man with a man or a woman with a woman,
but distinctively man and woman. A decently theological
statement is that “sexuality and gender are grounded in the creation order.”
This means that, since God created gendered humankind, gender has been fixated
by God. Gender is not a matter of our choice, but of God’s choice as He created
us in a certain way. What’s more interesting is the third line (or phrase) of
Genesis 1:27, which writes: “…male and female he created them.” This reflects
that God’s Image, God’s form, is both male and female.
What about God being “male”?
You
might have heard that Christians address God with male pronouns such as “He” or
“Him”. God chose to address Himself this way, but this does not mean that God
Himself is male. God does not have a physical body because He is Spirit (John
4:24). In fact, pretty much every other idol or "god" that existed in the OT/NT era (e.g.: Baal, Zeus) , and even many today, are either male or female (either from humans or animals). These "gods" are so manmade they resemble so much to humans. Yet, as for the Lord, He does not lie in the binary distinction between male and female. He
transcends as He created it, and both male and female represent Him. All to
say, both male and female are of His image.
Male and Female in the Image of God
Thus,
because God created humankind as both male
and female—as a reflection as a representation of who He is—there is something
unique and distinct about a man being with a woman. In other words, there is
something special in what is known as “marriage”. This is where Genesis 1:28
comes to play. This passage records the first charge given by God to us, that
is: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over
every living thing that moves on the earth.” In order to have dominion over all
of creation, humans firstly need to fill the earth. But in order to fill the
earth, mankind needs to reproduce. Yet, reproduction can only take place
through the act of sexual intercourse, and sexual intercourse can only take
place through a male and female.
God
created humankind as gendered for a specific purpose—to establish dominion and
authority over the rest of His creation. A man lying with a man cannot
reproduce, nor can this take place when a woman sleeps with a woman. God
created the universe and everything in it in an intelligent way. The official
term is “intelligent design”, which shows that God created everything with a
specific purpose, especially regarding gender and sexuality. Therefore, if you
are created by God as male, you have been given a specific purpose of a man,
and if you are created by God as female, you have been given a specific purpose
of a woman. But how does God creating male and female being purposed to “be
fruitful and multiply” and to “have dominion” reflect His image? This reflects
God as He is the creator. As the creator, He has dominion over everything as
the King of kings and Lord of lords (Deuteronomy 10:17; Psalm 136:3; Revelation
19:16). Thus, humankind establishing dominion through multiplication reflects
God’s rule and reign of everything—though we messed everything up because of
sin (Genesis 3).
The Institution of Marriage
With
that mentioned, in the Creation story—the core foundation of the Christian
faith—God has institutionalized something between one man and one woman. If you
look at Genesis 2, the Bible provides a more detailed version of the creation
story zoomed in towards Adam and Eve. In Genesis 2:18-25, Scripture shows that
God created woman as man’s helper (Genesis 2:18). Now I know what you might be thinking but let me continue. The Old
Testament is primarily written in the Hebrew language, and the English bibles
we’re reading have all been translated. So, our current definition of “helper”
could be different from the meaning in Hebrew. In fact, the word “helper” is
oftentimes used as “ally” in the form of military intervention (Deuteronomy
33:7; 33:26; 33:29). In fact, not only is the woman called the “helper”, in
Psalm 33:20 (cf. 70:5; 115:9-11; 121:1-2), the same word is used to describe God!
Nonetheless, this shows why God created woman, that she was created for man, in
which her desire is for her husband (Genesis 3:16), so that they may not be alone!
God
created man and woman to be joined to each other, and this institution is
called marriage. This is explicitly seen in Genesis 2:24, which writes:
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his
wife, and they shall become one flesh.” This passage explicitly highlights the
union of marriage, in which the man is not being one with a woman but holding
fast to his wife. This shows that God created humankind as male and female for
a purpose, that is, to subdue and fill the earth through the institution of a
male-female union known as marriage. Therefore, God has specifically designed
marriage to be between one male and female; in other words, the only eligible
marriage can only take place between one man and woman.
A
common response towards this definition of marriage is that the Bible itself
includes many instances of people not adhering to this definition. Some people
would argue that Biblical characters such as Jacob, David, and Solomon all had
more than one wife. Yet, the people whom Scripture designates as godly, such as
Job (Job 1:1; 1:8) and Noah (2 Peter 2:5), all lived out the biblical
definition of marriage. More importantly, God Himself is constantly with the
definition of marriage which He established as He only has one bride (Ephesians
5:22-33; Revelation 19:7-9; Isaiah 54:5; John 3:29). 2 Corinthians 11:2 writes:
“For I [Paul] feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure
virgin to Christ.” Furthermore, Scripture strongly presents how those who did
not adhere to the biblical definition of marriage, such as David, Jacob, and
Solomon suffering the consequences of deviating from the God-intended order of
marriage. And if you look deeper into the consequences of those not following
the biblical mandate of marriage, some of these consequences are not recorded
as a punishment from God. Many natural issues arise from their deviation for
God’s law.
I’m
not sure if you have noticed, but so far, I have mostly addressed the Old Testament
and you might be wondering about what the New Testament has to say regarding
this issue. The reason why a robust understanding of sexuality, gender, and
marriage in the Old Testament is crucial is that it serves as the foundation
for everything else. This is firstly seen in the New Testament, when Jesus
speaks on the issue of marriage, He refers all the way back to the creation
order. Consider Matthew 19, which is mostly believed to be written almost 1400
years after the composition of the first five books of the Bible, including
Genesis:
“Have you not read that he who created them from the
beginning made them male and female, and said, Therefore a man shall leave his
father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one
flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined
together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6)
As
you can see, it is evident here that Jesus Christ, who is God Himself, begins
by saying “…He who created them from the beginning”, referring to Genesis and
affirms everything written there—as I have just explained to you above!
In
fact, the reason why the biblical definition of marriage is important is not
merely because “the Bible says so”. We can see everywhere that people arising
from unnatural families—"families” that are not in accordance with the
biblical one male-female union—suffering from many issues. Even on
psychological terms, a child who lacked a father and a mother figure usually
derives many issues. The point here is to state that the biblical worldview of
sexuality, gender, and marriage, is good! If God is real, alive, and active,
His mandate and ways are the best because He is the creator. It is similar to a
video game or a novel. The creator of the game and the writer of the novel
would always know the intricacies best. In the same way, following the biblical
definitions of sexuality, gender, and marriage is the best way because God is
real and so are the natural laws of His creation order.
All
to say, Scripture uniformly adheres to a very clear and distinct set of beliefs
regarding sexuality, gender, and marriage. There is honestly no concrete or
meaningful biblical debate regarding this issue. Our sexuality and gender are
defined by our creator in the creation order, and marriage is a union, one
flesh, between one man and woman.
Bonus Question: What about Galatians 3:28?
Galatians 3:28 writes: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither
slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus." Some say that, based on this verse, there are no more genders
since "there is no male and female". I can absolutely (I rarely use
this strong word) conclude that this is not what Paul was intending to assert,
nor does God think so.
First, if Paul suddenly thought that there was no gender, why does he use gendered language, such as “Apphia our sister” (Philemon 1:2), “sister Phoebe” (Rom 16:1), or “…brother and sister” (1 Cor 7:15)? Why would he also indicate gendered roles in marriage, that a man is the head of the family (Eph 5:23) and should love his wife self-sacrificially as Christ loved the church (5:25-26)? Why should a wife be a wife, and submit (not as a slave/servant, but as to the Lord as Christ submitted to the Father)?
Second, Galatians 3 is a discourse on faith and the promises of God, that “the righteous shall live by faith” (3:11), in which righteousness is not based on works but faith (3:5). Thus, a Christian is a son and daughter of God (3:25), who partakes in the promises given to Abraham (3:29; 3:9). Using Galatians 3:28 to invalidate gender or gender roles displays terrible reading and interpretational skills.
Third, this one verse fails to usurp the tons of other passages mentioned in this article, as well as broadly in Scripture, regarding God’s intention with His creation of gender. If humans are created as male or female, that’s that.
Fourth, if we were to be more academic and technical, there isn't a verb in the original Greek text for "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female." This means that this entire phrase is descriptive and modifying the previous one, "Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε", which is about putting on Christ (3:27). Thus, this passage is really about how everyone can live as Christ, as summarized by the end of 3:28 "for you are all one in Christ Jesus." We are one in Christ to demonstrate Christ. In other words, it doesn't matter whether we are male/female, slave/free...we all reflect Christ.
Thus, in all truthfulness and honesty, Galatians 3:28 really isn’t addressing the issue of sexuality and marriage that many today are obsessed with. What God thinks about sexuality and marriage is super clear in Scripture.
