I. Introduction: Did God actually say?

• Today’s class: not focusing on individual commands on sex, but rather the whole biblical vision for marriage and sexuality

II. God’s Design for Marriage and Sex:

• Gen 1:27-28: Male & female he created them… “be fruitful and multiply”

• Gen 2:22-25 “They shall become one flesh”

• Eph 5:28-32: Marriage as a one flesh union (Song 6:3)

What is marriage? A covenantal, bodily union of one man and one woman, open to the gift of procreation, symbolic of the relationship between Christ and the church.

1. Marriage is covenantal
2. Marriage is bodily union
3. Marriage is a union of one man and one woman

1. Procreation is one of the designed ends for marriage
2. Marriage is a picture of two distinct parties in covenantal union

The lesson? Marriage and sex are mutually interpreting realities.

• True sex vs. counterfeit sex
• Making sense of chapters like Leviticus 18 and 1 Corinthians 6

III. Sex as Fulfillment? The Example of Jesus

• Fulfilling personal desires as the foundation for morality?

• The “sexuality of Jesus”

1. Jesus is a fully human man

1. Jesus took on a body capable of sex

• Jesus’ intimate friendships and real human sufferings

• Matthew 19:12: “Eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven”

IV. Same-Sex Attraction

1. Fallen people have fallen desires (Jer 17:9, Eph 2:3, Titus 3:3)
2. What if someone is “born that way?” (Ps 51:5)
3. All sins make us equally deserving of condemnation, yet some sins are particularly consequential denials of God’s design
4. A posture of compassion and speaking the truth in love

V. Concluding Application

1. We should honor marriage (Heb 13:4)
2. We should honor singleness (1 Cor 7:8)
3. We should cultivate strong friendships in the family of God