151
Q.
Does the Bible call for sexual purity?
What remains constant is the confi dence that our faith tradition—and the
scriptural witness as a whole—addresses all dimensions of our lives.
Brandon Gilvin
Who is...
?
Brandon Gilvin
I’m a nerd.A.
When many contemporary Christians talk about sexual purity,
they are talking about one thing and one thing only: sex within the
bounds of a heterosexual marriage.
That’s why I prefer to think about this in terms of sexual ethics, not
sexual purity. Sex has been part of the puzzle for thousands of years, and we
keep on asking diffi cult questions about everything from reproductive rights
to gay marriage.
Sexual ethics in the Bible are based on a different sense of purity than we
are accustomed to thinking about. The Holiness Code of Leviticus, for exam-
ple, splits the world into two categories: those things that are holy and those
things that defi le. There were taboos around crossing boundaries and the
boundary of the human body was no different. Bodily fl uids, including semen
and menstrual fl ow, could render one ritually impure, though that sense of
impurity had little to do with a sense of how moral or ethical a person was.
Another major way of understanding ethics in the ancient world had to
do with property rights. Women and children were considered the property of
men and men exercised substantial control over their lives. Therefore, in many
legal proceedings of the ancient world, including those of the Bible, a violation
of a woman (rape, murder, etc.) was a violation of a man’s property rights and
sense of honor. The virginity of a woman was her male guardian’s property.
Men, of course, had plenty of opportunities for sex outside of marriage.
Men could take multiple wives, have concubines, or visit prostitutes. How-
ever, sex with another man’s wife violated that other man’s property rights
and sense of honor. Adultery—understood only as having sex with a married
woman—was a property crime and had nothing to do with a sense of purity.
Ultimately, it is out of another biblical tradition—that of justice—that I
think we should derive our sexual ethic. How do we treat our partners? Do
we treat them as we wish to be treated? Do our actions show the care for one
another’s physical and emotional health that we declare? That is at the root of
any relationship, romantic or otherwise.