Is There A Spiritual Dimension To Sex?

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Urban Legends examines widely held myths from a Biblical perspective.
 
There are things in life we cannot fully understand from a physical perspective alone. Reality is two-dimensional – the physical and spiritual. Paul tells us the spiritual is eternal but the physical is temporal. (2 Corinthians 4:18) Without the spiritual perspective therefore we can only see half the picture. And this especially applies to the subject of sex.
 
The Bible says sex is regulated by both physical and spiritual laws. In the words of Paul, “There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact.” (1 Corinthians 6:16 MSG) So there’s a spiritual mystery about sex. Without an insight into this mystery we will understandably be perplexed by some of God’s regulations concerning sex. The fact that sex is employed in Satan worship lends credence to the claim of spiritual dimension of sex. There were temple prostitutes in the days of Paul. They were called heraitai. The temple of Aphrodite in Ancient Greece employed a number of them.
 
But let’s quickly clarify a misconception – the idea God hates sex. Well, God invented sex so he cannot hate sex. God created sex organs, gave us a body. Like any inventor he laid down parameters for his invention. There are environmental parameters and context parameters. For example sex only takes place on earth and its realms. There’s no sex in heaven. Angels don’t have that privilege, Jesus said so. In one of those fights with that group of religious leaders who didn’t believe in the afterlife Jesus made this statement: “For in the resurrected state neither do men marry nor are women given in marriage, but they’re like angels in heaven.” (Matthew 22:30 AMP) Angels don’t have sex and don’t marry. But do angels have sexual desire? The answer to that question is in the Message Bible translation of that scripture: “At the resurrection we’re beyond marriage. As with angels all our ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God.” (Matthew 22:30 MSG) In other words, angels have ecstasies but those ecstasies are spiritually dimensioned, they’re not carnal. The only record of angels having sex in the Bible is with regard to members of the Rebel Federation – the fallen angels. These were the angels that rebelled with Satan in Heaven. As the human race multiplied and more and more girls were born, these angels began to lust after women and pick out wives. (Genesis 6:1-4) They gave birth to mutants – half man, half angel species. A new race was birthed – Nephils! They were giants. Very violent. Well, it was one rebellion too many and God rounded them up, locked them up in a detention center called Tartoros. They’re awaiting judgment. (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6) The Nephils were eventually destroyed in Noah’s flood.
 
There Bible gives us six spiritual laws regulating sex. The primary law is The Law of Oneness. The others are The Law of Spiritual Architecture, The Law of Proprietorship, The Law of Sacredness, The Law of Reciprocity and The Law of Sacrifice.
 
The Law of Oneness is what regulates intimate relations between sacred entities. This law defines the context, partnership and scope of sex. The scope of the law of oneness is conjugality. And where there’s no conjugality it conjugates or assumes conjugation. Our spiritual intimacy with Christ is governed by this law. (1 Corinthians 6:17) We are ONE SPIRIT with the Lord. (1 Corinthians 6:16) In marriage two become one. The Church is one with Christ in marriage. It’s why the Church is called the bride of Christ. (Ephesians 5:25-30, Revelation 19: 7-9) It’s the oneness principle. Sex is a physical enunciation of oneness by a couple. In sex the couple become one body. (Cf. 1 Corinthians 6:16) And concerning sexual oneness Paul admonished, “We must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonelier than ever – the kind of sex that can never “become one.” (1 Corinthians 6:16-20 MSG) And for the first time we see mention of the soulish dimension of sex. And so sex is spiritual and physical but also emotional.
 
Interestingly it’s because of the law of oneness that there’s sex in the first place! The only reason we copulate is to enunciate oneness. That law is paramount. The human race can multiply without sex. We have laboratory means. There are animals that multiply without sex. There are many creatures that breed without sex. It’s called parthenogenesis. So copulation is NOT absolutely necessary for human multiplication. Why sex then? Sex is a physical articulation of the sacred principle of oneness. Oneness points to the union of Christ and man, a principle enunciated by the incarnation of Jesus as 100% man, 100% God. It therefore heralds the salvation of mankind through the sacrifice of Jesus. It’s why sex is a spiritual big deal. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32) The mystery is Christ and the church.
 
The other reason we have sex is to enjoy erotic sensations. But we can experience those sensations too without intercourse. Virtual technology can achieve the feat. A pointed stimulation of the brain will definitely achieve it. Demons use both means on humans all the time. Unlike angels demons don’t have bodies so they can’t do physical copulation. But they can stimulate the brain, enmesh it in virtual realism and it will produce the same effect. The brain can’t tell the difference between stimulated, simulated and real. Bottom line, the utilitarian dimension of sex can be achieved without actual sex. Therefore it’s spiritual law that holds sway. It’s the spiritual mystery that prevails.
 
But why did Paul admonish the Corinthians not to patronise the temple prostitutes? Well, it turns out it’s not wholly about morality but the Law of Spiritual Architecture. According to the Bible the human body is a temple. Paul wrote the Corinthian Christians, “You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you…God’s temple is sacred – and you, remember, are the temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17) With regards to the specific charge of sleeping with temple prostitutes, Paul asked, What has Christ got to do with the devil? (2 Corinthians 6:15) Christ is thus presented as an occupational authority. (The devil too) We live a holy life because a holy God lives in us.
 
The third spiritual law regulating sex is The Law of Proprietorship. We’re told our bodies belong to God, that Jesus paid for them. And he paid a high price. So we can’t live as we please squandering what God paid for. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 MSG) Our bodies are thus spiritual assets – God’s assets. Therefore we’re subject to God’s control and regulation concerning our body. He owns it.
 
The fourth spiritual law regulating sex is The Law of Sacredness. We’re told we must not violate the sacredness of our bodies and that we must honour our bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:18) Why? Because they were created with the same dignity as the Master’s body. (1 Corinthians 6:14-15 MSG) We’re also told God will honour our body the same way he honoured the body of Christ. He’s going to raise us from the dead. (1 Corinthians 6:14-15 MSG) But the Message Bible extends the principle of sacredness. It says our bodies were specially made for God-specified love – for “God-given” and “God-modeled” love. (1 Corinthians 6:16-20 MSG) He essentially built the hardware for proprietary applications. It’s the Apple model.
 
The fifth spiritual law regulating sex is The Law of Reciprocity. Paul says because God honours us with a body we should honour him with our body. (1 Corinthians 6:13) It’s because the Master gifted us with a body we can express ourselves without need to borrow a body. Demons don’t have that privilege. They have to borrow bodies to express themselves on earth. And that can be horribly frustrating. Which is why they resort to desperate means sometimes. In Matthew 8:31, a legion of demons begged Jesus to cast them into pigs. They reckoned the limited function of pigs’ bodies is better than being bodiless. Therefore having a human body is a great privilege.
 
And the sixth spiritual law regulating sex is The Law of Sacrifice. Our bodies are a living sacrifice to God. We’re enjoined to make a decisive dedication of our body to God, present it a “living sacrifice.” (Romans 11:36 MSG, Romans 12:1 AMP) It’s a rational, intelligent and reasonable response to what God has done for us. And it’s an act of worship. (Romans 12:1) Jesus made a death sacrifice. We make a living sacrifice. (Romans 5:6-11 MSG) Jesus made a death sacrifice because of the sins of humanity. We make a living sacrifice because of God’s life-giving Spirit. And such sacrifice is an exercise of our priesthood.
 
It is these spiritual laws that determine God’s regulation of sex. Without an understanding of them we will struggle with God’s perspective on sex. God is a spirit. We look at sex as wholly physical, but God and indeed Satan see sex through spiritual lens.
 
© #Illuminare Leke Alder | talk2me@lekealder.com