Sexuality in the Bible: The Beginning

This is part 1 of a several part series.

Sexuality: what it is and how it plays into God’s role of salvation is a captivating subject. This is probably at least one reason why St. John Paul II came out with his ‘Theology of the Body’. It is a topic that virtually everyone is interested in in one way or another, especially today.

In order to truly explore the theological depths of the sexual act it is necessary, first and foremost, to learn what the Bible reveals about sexuality. There are many instances in which Scripture addresses or implies various meanings of human sexuality. In this upcoming series I do not intend to discuss all of such instances. It will not be an exhaustive list of such scenarios, but rather a description of some such scenarios that will reveal key themes about sexuality and how God designed it within us and for us.

The first and most obvious of passages concerning sexuality is in Genesis 2: 24, where after Eve was formed from the side of Adam we are told, ‘That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two become one flesh.’

The meaning of ‘two becoming one flesh’ has historically identified with the sexual act of husband and wife. But it also identifies with the spiritual life of husband and wife entering into the same Sacrament together. We see this most clearly in Ephesians 5, where St. Paul directly quotes Genesis 2: 24 in his plea to married couples:

"Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of his wife just as Christ is the head of the church, he himself the savior of his body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. 'For this reason a man shall leave [his] father and [his] mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church. In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband." (Ephesians 5: 22-31) (emphasis mine)

St. Paul here connects Genesis 2: 24 with the duty of self-sacrifice that he argues is necessary for marriage. Such a connection to a biblical passage that so obviously reveals the sexual relationship of a married couple was not done on accident; it is meant to show that sex between husband and wife is a physical representation of the spiritual reality in which they live together; they are one, just as Christ is one with his Church. In fact, marriage between husband and wife is designed entirely as a symbol of the union between Christ and His Church. This is also seen in Ephesians 5 where, after the Genesis quote, St. Paul says, ‘This is a great sacrament; but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church’ (Ephesians 5: 32).

Indeed, there are numerous other times in Scripture in which the depiction of Christ’s union with His Church is connected to Genesis 2: 24, such as in 1 Corinthians 12: 12, where St. Paul says, "As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ." He then goes on a lengthy discussion about how a body's parts cannot ever act against one another because they by their very nature act in accord with one another, for no part is the body itself but only together can they be the body. He establishes his point by recognizing that it is the same with the body of Christ.

The language that St. Paul uses in his exhortation with the Corinthians only makes sense in light of Genesis 2: 24, for the body of Christ is united with the head, thus making ‘one flesh’. This therefore makes Jesus’ union with the Church to be the complete fulfillment of the words of Genesis.

Ultimately then sex, much more than physical pleasure or even more than the means through which life comes into the world, is designed by God to symbolize the most beautiful and unifying relationship of all, and does so by being the symbol of the beautiful and unifying relationship of husband and wife. This is the fulfilled meaning of Genesis 2: 24 and of marriage and sexuality as a whole.

Any and all other passages on sexuality within Scripture build off of and hinge upon this understanding. Sex and marriage point to other Godly things, but it first and foremost points to the union of Christ and His Church, as all things that pertain to salvation must.