The Three Main Topics of Sexual Sin

Masturbation, pornography and sex.

No where in the bible does it say masturbation is a sin.

Leviticus 15:16-18
16 When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. 17 Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. 18 When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

This is simply about hygiene.

Genesis 38:9-10
9 But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.

Some consider it a sin to withhold sex from a spouse.

Matthew 5:28
28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

So if your masturbation includes lust, it may be likened to pre-marital sex or adultery.

Exodus 20:14
14 You shall not commit adultery.

So extra marital affairs are considered sinful.  Sex with another woman while married is sinful.

Exodus 20:17
17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

So lusting after a married woman might be sinful.

Exodus 20:3-4
3 You shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Is it possible to idolize lust?  What about relationships, in general?

Deuteronomy 4:16
16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman,

Is pornography an idol?  Is it likely pornography had other forms long before the internet?

Deuteronomy 4:28
28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

The curse of pornography is that eventually you will find yourself attached to something that can't even talk back to you!

An addict is an addict not because he can't, stop.  An addict is an addict because he has no desire to.  When relating sexual addiction to a drug addiction, check out this article on the chemical cocktail (dopamine, norepinephrine, oxytocin, vasopressin, endorphins,  serotonin) associated with sex.

http://www.covenanteyes.com/2014/02/03/brain-chemicals-and-porn-addiction/

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Surpisingly, the bible doesn't call out pre-marital sex as a sin.

1 Corinthians 7:1-25
1 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. 8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

So healthy sexuality is explored within the confines of marriage.

Matthew 5:32
32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 19:9
9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.

So divorce can lead to adultery.

Proverbs 6:32-34
32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself. 33 Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away. 34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

So society would be filled with violence if we do not respect the marital relationships.

With all these pitfuls, you might set up three laws for yourself, to protect against sin:

1. No maturbaton
2. No pornography
3. No sex outside of marriage.

But if you follow the law, you may fall victim to pride.

Proverbs 16:18
18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

So how shall we win.  If we have no law, we sin without restraint.  If we follow the law, we become prideful.

Romans 7:5-11
5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. 7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.

Paul is saying here that because we are sinners, setting laws for ourselves actually entices us to break the law!  So the only good that comes from a law is knowing right versus wrong.  The paradox is that without laws we would never have to worry about breaking laws.

Romans 8:1-13
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. 12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

If we focus on the law, or boast of our adherence to the law, we will surely break it.  What we must do is realize the spirit within the law.

Man was created to be in relationship with God and relationship with others.  Sin is any action that destroys relationships.  Love is any action that unifies relationships.

We might know the law so that we understand right and wrong.  But it is only through Christ's spirit within us that we might follow the law by seeking and focusing on building relationships.

This post was reposted from http://sizuservices.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-three-main-topics-of-sexual-sin.html, originally written on October 30th, 2014.