A question from BSF Lesson #2 (Romans)

In Bible Study Fellowship, we studied Romans 1:18-32 this past week.  This is the classic Biblical text that addresses the progression of rebellious man into increasingly destructive sexual sins.

One of the questions in our lesson was, "What are some of the reasons God links the sin of idolatry to sexual immorality?"

A number of people reacted to that question with confusion and disinterest.

It was a good question, though, and leads to a much better understanding of sexual issues.

In my attempt to share my answer, apparently I failed to be clear or convincing, because when I was done, one woman in the group said, "Well, I don't know what the question means, but I just think sin is sin, and that's all there is to it."

It made me sad.  I think this is part of the reason why it is hard to reach those who have been drawn in by sexual sin.  Telling them, "Sin is sin, and you are sinful," is not a productive approach.

On our lesson sheet, the BSF question: "What are some of the reasons God links the sin of idolatry to sexual immorality?" suggested we look up the following texts for "help" answering the question.

• Genesis 1:26-27 (God created man in His own image, male and female in the image of God.)
• Genesis 2:24-25 (Man and woman are to leave their parents and be united into one flesh; the first man and woman were naked and unashamed.)
• Mark 10:8-9 (Restates that a man and a woman will be joined into one flesh, joined by God and not to be separated by man.)
• 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (Talks about who will not inherit the kingdom of God, and lists sexual sins, including homosexuality.)
• 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 ("Flee from sexual immorality.  All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore, honor God with your body.")

I'm just saying, but in that list, the only texts that actually apply to the question are the first and the last.  The three in the middle only confuse the issue.  They may show Biblical evidence that homosexuality is contrary to God's design, but they don't bear any weight on why God links idolatry with sexual immorality.  The question was, "What are some of the reasons God links the sin of idolatry to sexual immorality?"

Besides pointing to some unhelpful texts, BSF left out some texts that would have been extremely helpful:

• Isaiah 43:6b-7 ("Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth--everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.")
• The book of Hosea.  (This book is about spiritual adultery, allegorically explained through human adultery.  Hosea 3:1 somewhat encapsulates the theme:  "The Lord said to me, 'Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress.  Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.' ")
• Jeremiah 2-3, 13:22-27 (Graphic descriptions, comparing the idolatry of Israel to sexual unfaithfulness.)
• Ephesians 5:31-32 (" 'For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church.")
• James 4:3-4 ("When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your own pleasures.  You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God?")
• Revelation 19:7 ("Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.")

(All emphases were added by me.)

Maybe in reading these texts, you are starting to synthesize an understanding of where I am going, before I spell it out.  I hope so!  I want so badly to answer this question simply and clearly.

Here are my points:

1.  God created humanity in His image.  He even created both maleness and femaleness, somehow, in His image.  We are created in the image of God for the purpose of glorifying God by reflecting His glory into His creation.  Reflecting the image of God is a Big Deal.  We are only little mirrors, little moons, reflecting the sun. We have no business messing with or distorting the Image of God.

2.  God created the male-female relationship to mirror the God-humanity relationship.  God is a God of faithfulness, relationship and covenant love.  God is always faithful to His promises, His covenants.  God has made a covenant with His people.  Jehovah is the husband of Israel, and Christ is the husband of the church.  God keeps His covenants.  Likewise, it is God's desire that a man and a woman remain faithful to the promises they make to one another when they covenant in marriage.

3.  When we see physical adultery among the people of earth, we can understand the pain it causes.  This should help us understand the extreme devastation that results from spiritual adultery, when people turn away from the one true God and look instead to worthless things for their hope, satisfaction, peace, joy and sustenance.

4.   Sexuality can become an idol, when we look to it for fulfillment and pleasure outside of God's will.  When we try to use sexual intimacy as a replacement for spiritual intimacy with God, we are bound for big trouble, although we may not realize our predicament right away.

5.  Sexual sin is especially insidious.  When a murder is committed, a dead body makes the problem fairly obvious.  Likewise with theft, there is a visible loss of property; someone's means have been diminished.  When sexual sin occurs between two consenting parties, and particularly if there are neither betrayed spouses nor children involved, it may be less obvious what the problem is.  This is why 1 Corinthians 6 tells us, "he who sins sexually sins against his own body."  We may not be able to see, immediately, what the harmful result is.  It is an invisible problem, a damaged soul and spirit.  Nevertheless, the damage is deep.  When we depart from God's directions for sexual relationships, we lacerate our purity and faithfulness.  Thus, the image of God in us becomes disfigured.

After considering these points, we can reconsider the question:

"What are some of the reasons God links the sin of idolatry to sexual immorality?"

Here are some reasons:

• Both idolatry and sexual immorality are about turning away from God and rebelling against His authority.
• Sexual immorality breaks down the image of Himself that God designed within mankind.  Thus, sexual immorality reinforces fallen humanity's inclination to turn increasingly farther away from God and seek satisfaction, pleasure and happiness elsewhere. 
• The definition of idolatry is: seeking satisfaction, pleasure and happiness in something other than God, while turning away from God (or sometimes even while trying to pay lip service to God on the side).

When sexual sin disfigures the image of God in man--the glorious image that man was created to reflect and display--man loses his worth (see 2 Kings 17:15, Jeremiah 2:5, Hosea 9:10).

It begins with a failure to trust God and believe that He knows what is best for us, even if something forbidden seems like it would be very pleasurable (remember how "good for food and pleasing to the eye" that lethal fruit in the garden seemed?).  As people turn away from the wise counsel of God, prioritizing their own opinions and desires, it is as though they turn off a light.

When you turn off the light, you are left in the dark.

That is what Romans 1:21 is talking about.  "For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."

So, Romans 1:24-28 tells us three times that God "gave them over" to what they were seeking.  God never forces His way on us.  He will pursue you, because He loves you.  However, He will never coerce you.

God gives you what you want.  Woe to you if you want destructive things.  However, even in giving you over, God often opens your eyes to the devastation of your choices in time for you to see the resulting wreckage and repent.  He wants you back.  He calls you back.  He sent Jesus to get you back.

Here's one of my current favorite verses:

I will heal their waywardness 

and love them freely, 

for my anger has turned away from them.

Hosea 14:4