Two popular subjects arise in the first two chapters of Genesis – Human Sexuality and Environmental Stewardship.
Though I do not believe that the main intention of these chapters is to teach either of these things, they do create a jumping off point for the Bible’s view of both.
It would be unfortunate to allow the opportunity to simply pass by without a mention, so here are a few brief words on each.
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Human Sexuality and Genesis 1+2
Genesis 1:26-28
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
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Genesis 2:18, 21-25
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
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God created humanity as a sexual being.
There is a lot of sex in Genesis, and it often looks really bad. People’s lust and selfishness run amok leads to disastrous consequences in the book of Genesis. For this reason, many people, including Christians, have concluded that sex itself is somehow perverted, wrong, or less than holy. But God created sex and sexuality, and both existed before the fall.
In Matthew 22:30 Jesus says that in heaven there will be no marriage or giving in marriage. This has unfortunately led some to conclude that in our eternal resurrected state, there will be no more sex. In this case, sex becomes a common and naturalistic thing only, a practice of our temporary meat based existence, and nothing more. But scripture itself does not describe sex this way.
Song of Solomon is only one example that makes abundantly clear that God’s intention for sex is something that beautifully transcends the natural reality of body parts fitting together. Genesis says that man and wife become one flesh. God’s intention for sex is a union of loving partners in both body and soul. If we understand sex God’s way, and receive it as a gift, we must conclude that sex is not just something se do. Sex is part of who we are.
Sexuality is an expression of humanity that God gave us as a gift to be enjoyed, a practice that can bring us close to one another and to him. Our first thought of sex may be to the merely naturally driven perversion that it has often become here on earth. However, God’s view of humanity and sexuality gives us hope that in heaven it will be fully redeemed. Instead of romance subverted for bodily pleasure, we will experience romance perfected for God’s pleasure.
Since we will be in heaven, and we have been created on purpose by God as sexual beings, there is no reason not to believe that we will not experience in heaven a spiritually perfect union, full and free and unencumbered by sin. Jesus’ teachings are true, and we have no reason to believe that the act of sexual intercourse as we know it will continue for eternity, but we should not interpret this as any implication that sex is anything less than a good, Godly, intentional, and beautiful part of our eternal beings as created by God.
(next - In God’s Image – Humanity and Creation Care – Genesis 1-2)
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