In the Judeo-Christian tradition sex has been seen as the sign and seal of the self-giving of one human being to another. More than pleasure, more than procreation, sex is sacred in the sense that it symbolises and achieves oneness between two individuals. The first reference to sex in the Bible emphasises this, “A man leaves his father and mother, and is united to his wife and they become one flesh,” Genesis 2:24. In the New Testament the Apostle Paul likewise says that illicit sex still creates a kind of illicit oneness. “Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body?” 1 Corinthians 6:16.

Even the frequent euphemism for sex used throughout the Old Testament, to know a woman, is suggestive of this same point. People sometimes make fun of the quaint terminology to know her in the biblical sense, but the Bible’s choice of word isn’t prudish. Indeed, scripture is frequently more open about sexual extravagance and deviance than polite secular society today. This word underlines the intimacy creating nature of intercourse. In an ideal setting one comes to know a partner in a profound way through sexual intimacy. It’s a point we can now describe in scientific terms, as sexual health research stresses the bonding hormones released with sexual encounters.

The mental and spiritual dimensions of sex are stressed in Jesus’ transposition of the seventh commandment, the commandment against adultery. True to form, he takes the law of Moses to a surprising level. “You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery, but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” Matthew chapter 5 verses 27 and 28. There’s something to notice here to rightly feel the force of Jesus’ remarks. The English adverb lustfully here could imply that a mere feeling of arousal in the presence of another person is wrong, is even adultery, but in the original Greek this is what’s called a purposive clause, not an adverbial expression. It literally reads, whoever looks at a woman in order to lust for her, not just looks at a woman lustfully, looks at a woman in order to lust for her.

The issue is not the feeling of arousal caused by noticing someone is attractive, it’s not referring to a passing erotic thought, Jesus is talking about intending to look at someone in order to satisfy your desire. The reference here is to nursing desire, directing desire, aiming to fulfil desire. Perhaps nothing is a clearer target of this particular teaching of Jesus than porn. It’s a kind of adultery, Jesus said.

People sometimes slander all this stuff in the Bible as having too low of view of sex as dirty and taboo. The opposite is the case. If I value my car I’ll be careful how I use it and to whom I lend it. The Bible values sex enough to limit its enjoyment to the most intimate human relationship imaginable. A more secular unrestrained approach might have the appearance of sexual liberation and celebration, but it’s frequently little more than a diminishing of the symbolic and relational power of sex. It’s lending out the car too freely. If you think of sex as merely a pleasurable physical experience, it probably makes sense to throw off any perceived shackles. So long as it’s safe, it’s fine. It’s a bodily delight only, like eating an exquisite meal. But if you find yourself persuaded that sex is a joyous, physical enactment of a profound spiritual truth about oneness with another human being, you’ll approach sexual activity very differently.

C.S. Lewis, the great Oxford Literary Don, and public advocate of Christianity, once defended the biblical approach to sex against the call in his day (1940s) for more sexual freedom. His insights are as relevant today as then, listen to this,

I know some muddle-headed Christians have talked as if Christianity thought that sex, or the body, or pleasure were bad in themselves, but they were wrong. Christianity is almost the only one of the great religions which thoroughly approves of the body, which believes that matter is good, that God himself once took on a human body, that some kind of body is going to be given to us even in heaven, and is going to be an essential part of our happiness, our beauty, and energy. Christianity has glorified marriage more than any other religion, and nearly all the greatest love poetry in the world has been produced by Christians. If anyone says that sex in itself is bad, Christianity contradicts him at once.There is nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying your food. There would be everything to be ashamed of if half the world made food the main interest of their lives and spent their time looking at pictures of food and dribbling and smacking their lips. I do not say that you and I are individually responsible for the present situation, our ancestors have handed over to us organisms which are warped in this respect, and we grow up surrounded by propaganda in favour of unchastity. There are people who want to keep our sex instinct inflamed in order to make money out of us. Because, of course, a man with an obsession is a man who has very little sales resistance.

By John Dickson

Want to hear the rest of the episode?
Check out episode 43: “Big Porn”