Exodus 20 v 17. Do not commit adultery.
Apart from a command that protects and sustains healthy family life, this commandment also has a more profound purpose. It is given to us to act as a signpost pointing to a relationship with God. J I Packer says in his book “The Ten Commandments”:
‘Sex by being a blend of affection and loyalty and biology prepares us for and helps us into that which is their archetype. The happiness of being freely and voluntarily united to God.’
What is he saying? In the Bible, God uses marriage and the act of men and women coming together in physical union as a picture of what happens when He meets the human soul in the act of salvation. When a person becomes a Christian he is united to God in the most definite, intimate, and wonderful way: God and the soul come together.
The marriage service in the Church of England reads, ‘…this service of Holy Matrimony illustrates the mysterious relationship that exists between Jesus Christ and His people’. Sex is a signpost.
For people who use it correctly, there is a transcendent mystery attached to sex. There’s a dimension there that should help us to understand the deep and wonderful union between ourselves and God once we become Christians. How amazing this is illustrated by the sex act. How contrary this is to the view that sex is dirty or wrong. When sex is abused it is like coming to a signpost on the roadside and not going any further. JI Packer says that anybody who wants to get anywhere and comes to a signpost pointing in the right direction and then sits down and has a picnic, is stupid. But that is what people do today – they ignore the signpost. But that is one of the reasons why God has given us sex and why He gives us this law. It’s meant to be one of the signposts that points us to the Lord Jesus Christ in conjunction of course with the teaching of His word.
True legitimate and enjoyable sex in a committed relationship “prepares us for that which is its archetype” says Packer, “the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to God.”
Do you see why it is so inappropriate to abuse or misuse sex? It is a wonderful gift pointing to our even more wonderful gift in Christ – our union with the Father.
Meditation: In the light of the above do you think it is appropriate to tell sex jokes? Do you yourself do so? What will you do about it?