Q.
150
Does the Bible call for sexual purity? If so,
what qualifies as pure and impure?
David J. Lose
Who is...
?
David J. Lose
I was born on the darkest day of the year.A.
It’s helpful to keep in mind two things about biblical regulations
regarding sexuality. First, there are vast differences between the
nomadic and agrarian cultures from which the Bible came and our
own culture. Consider the following few examples:- Most marriages were arranged, were valued primarily for the sake of
procreation, and usually commenced at the onset of puberty. - Women were considered property, fi rst of their fathers and later of their
husbands, and valued chiefl y for their childbearing ability. - Children, also considered property, were essential for the survival of the
community, and so anything connected with pregnancy and birth was
highly regulated.
Contrast this with some of our own sensibilities regarding choosing one’s
marital partner, the rights of women and children, and the typical ten- to
twenty-year gap between the onset of puberty and marriage, and you soon
realize that directly applying biblical norms to our own day and age is dicey
at best.
Second, some important things have not changed in the millennia that
separate us from the writing of the Bible. In particular, sexuality is a powerful
force in human relations. This helps to explain the number of biblical regula-
tions regarding sexual purity and our own persistent concerns about sexuality.
Sometimes biblical norms about sexuality may address our situation.
Sometimes the implicit value beneath the regulation is useful but its applica-
tion is more contextual and must be adapted to our context. And sometimes
the value being expressed in a particular regulation itself is bound to a context
so unlike our own that we need to seek counsel from another more central
portion of the biblical witness.