Sexuality and Identity | The Purpose of Our Being
Over the past couple of decades, the culture has sought to push the boundaries of what constitutes gender and acceptable sexuality. Where things would have been not as accepted now have become commonplace for those in the community and those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. We have seen the rise in issues such as acceptability of homosexuality which then lead to the defining of various genders beyond male and female to pushing the boundaries of transgenderism. All while this happens throughout our society (arguably less often than we perceive it to occur), we have grown more sexually expressive outside of the a married relationship, drawing lines for the sake of promiscuity rather than on sound biblical counsel. The problem of sexuality in our modern day culture is that everyone has sought to define sexuality and their identity based on their own wants and their own desires rather than willfully submitting to the words and guidance of God. We must first return to a sound understanding of the purpose of sexuality and how God intended
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (Ephesians 5:22-33, ESV)
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul presents a radical view of sexuality where the man and woman mutually submit to one another. Yet, if you dig deeper, there is more to the nature of a relationship than simply a man and woman married to one another. Throughout the text, the relationship should be founded Christ’s relationship with the church. Sexuality comes as a gift from God for His glory rather than as the focus and basis of our identity. Life goes beyond the simply defining ourselves by a gender structure, sexual behavior, and any other related signifier. As Christians, we cannot begin to sort through our identity apart from being in Christ more than we can our gender and our sexual behavior. Nor can we rightfully identity according to how we see fit. Our identity can only rightfully be crafted by the hands of the master craftsman who designs and establishes all of creation.
Sexuality As A Gift From God For His Glory
Sexuality is a gift from God for His people to enjoy and to produce children. We see this first in the Garden of Eden. “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:28, ESV) The idea of sexuality is given by God as a means of blessing from the Lord. The command of God is given so that the people of God could continue in relationship with God throughout the generations, in enjoyment of Him. We should understand sexuality through the lens of its intended purpose and originating from God. Furthermore, since our relationships serve as a reflection of the love that God has for the church, we are meant to enjoy sex in a God honoring way as a means of glorifying Him. The intimacy we share with our devoted monogamous spouse is meant to serve as a type of the relationship between Jesus Christ and His bride, the church. There is union and mutual pleasure experienced being in the presence of one another.
Sexuality as intended to be a gift and a blessing to mankind. Yet, like most things, their full potential can only be found by using it according to its intended purpose. Throughout the Old Testament, when the people of God deviated from proper and true worship, the prophets, speaking on behalf of God, would compare Israel to a cheating spouse. Israel would be compared with a spouse who bound themselves with others or prostituted themselves to the various people available. In other circumstances, when the relationship meant between a married, committed man and woman in relationship went beyond the boundaries that God set in place, the Bible describes these as an abomination. The boundaries around the blessing of sexuality are meant to protect us from physical, emotional, and spiritual damage. God is a good God who designed sex to be enjoyed in a specific manner and context all to point to His glory. When we take that purpose and twist it, we tarnish the blessing that God designed for mankind into a selfish idols that seeks only our own personal pleasure rather than the communion of two people committed to one another.
Centrality of Sexuality In Identity
Perhaps, though, our understanding of what it means to be human and the centrality of sexuality should be challenged first and foremost. The secular view of mankind tends to be that mankind are primarily sexual beings who will occasionally worship God. Our prime expression of identity focuses on sexual expressiveness and any denial of sexuality of any kind would be a denial of a person’s identity and, by proxy, their own worth as an individual. Yet, putting the locus of human existence on a gift of God rather than on God Himself will always fall short of what we expect it to be. For many people, sexual expression to validate their identity and existence will always fall short. Sexual temptation for the believer, when indulged, will never be enough and always crave the next hit. Sexuality, when sought in the pursuit of pleasure and identity, creates a bottomless pit of selfishness that will never be satisfied. Pursuit of the flesh will never place us where our flesh has been satisfied, leaving our identity and our sexuality in a place of wanting.
Instead of sexual beings who worship God in spirit, we are primarily spiritual beings who may have sex. When God becomes the center and focal point of our identity, we become free to enjoy sexuality and the other gifts of God in their proper and intended manner. Beyond any physical pleasure we may experience in this life is the pleasure we experience in the presence of God, glorifying Him. God, conquering the flesh and overthrowing the rule of sin in the lives of His people through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, satisfies our ever need and attunes us to the realization that He is all we need. Union with Christ by identifying with Him in death, burial, and resurrection, provides us with the greatest expression of identity that sexuality could never fully express. Beyond sexuality we find the creator of every good and perfect gift who provides everything we need in Him for His glory as our perfect and benevolent creator.
About The Author
Daniel Burton is the founder of The Gospel Outpost. He is passionate about discipleship and seeing people grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. To find out more about him, check out his Author Page.
