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VERSES ABOUT SEXUAL THEMES
Sexuality can be such a taboo topic, shrouded in silence and denial. But as Christians, we should be asking ourselves, "What is God's plan for human sexuality?" The Bible isn't silent on sex; it actually has a lot to say about it.
Hebrews 13:4 tells us that marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Marriage is an honorable institution, and we should treat it as such. We're called to flee from sexual immorality.
We’re supposed to hate, detest, and run from impurity. Sexual activity outside of marriage is something God abhors. Even though attitudes toward sex vary so widely these days, we need to remember that God is in the business of making things beautiful. We don't have to be ashamed of anything God made.
Since God created sex, the only legitimate way to satisfy sexual desire is within the commitment of a covenant, and the seal of that covenant is found in marriage. This just makes sense from God’s perspective. The divine principle is clear: God created sex for marriage, not outside of it.
A faithful couple will never get an STD from having a lot of sex with each other. However, if one partner breaks the covenant and has sex outside of marriage, they risk disease and other consequences because of that sin.
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
A man who commits adultery with a woman lacks wisdom, whoever does it destroys his own life.
Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body” – but the immoral person sins against his own body.
So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry.
God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
Now with regard to the issues you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”To the married I give this command – not I, but the Lord – a wife should not divorce a husband(but if she does, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband), and a husband should not divorce his wife.To the rest I say – I, not the Lord – if a brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is happy to live with him, he should not divorce her.And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is happy to live with her, she should not divorce him.For the unbelieving husband is sanctified because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife because of her husband. Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.But if the unbeliever wants a divorce, let it take place. In these circumstances the brother or sister is not bound. God has called you in peace.For how do you know, wife, whether you will bring your husband to salvation? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will bring your wife to salvation?Nevertheless, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each person, so must he live. I give this sort of direction in all the churches.Was anyone called after he had been circumcised? He should not try to undo his circumcision. Was anyone called who is uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised.Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Instead, keeping God’s commandments is what counts.But because of immoralities, each man should have relations with his own wife and each woman with her own husband.
But because of immoralities, each man should have relations with his own wife and each woman with her own husband.
Do not deprive each other, except by mutual agreement for a specified time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then resume your relationship, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
A husband should give to his wife her sexual rights, and likewise a wife to her husband.
May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in your young wife –a loving doe, a graceful deer; may her breasts satisfy you at all times, may you be captivated by her love always.
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become a new family.
Marriage must be honored among all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.
Now the man had marital relations with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. Then she said, “I have created a man just as the Lord did!”
Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”
“‘No man is to approach any close relative to have sexual intercourse with her. I am the Lord.You must not expose your father’s nakedness by having sexual intercourse with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have intercourse with her.
You must not have sexual intercourse with the wife of your fellow citizen to become unclean with her.
You must not have sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman; it is a detestable act.
You must not have sexual intercourse with any animal to become defiled with it, and a woman must not stand before an animal to have sexual intercourse with it; it is a perversion.
If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.
If a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman, the two of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.
If a man has sexual intercourse with any animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal.If a woman approaches any animal to have sexual intercourse with it, you must kill the woman, and the animal must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.
Suppose a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, and then rejects her,accusing her of impropriety and defaming her reputation by saying, “I married this woman but when I had sexual relations with her I discovered she was not a virgin!”Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity for the elders of the city at the gate.The young woman’s father must say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man and he has rejected her.Moreover, he has raised accusations of impropriety by saying, ‘I discovered your daughter was not a virgin,’ but this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity!” The cloth must then be spread out before the city’s elders.The elders of that city must then seize the man and punish him.They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, for the man who made the accusation ruined the reputation of an Israelite virgin. She will then become his wife and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.If the owner does not live near you or you do not know who the owner is, then you must corral the animal at your house and let it stay with you until the owner looks for it; then you must return it to him.But if the accusation is true and the young woman was not a virgin,the men of her city must bring the young woman to the door of her father’s house and stone her to death, for she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by behaving like a prostitute while living in her father’s house. In this way you will purge evil from among you.
If a man is caught having sexual relations with a married woman both the man who had relations with the woman and the woman herself must die; in this way you will purge evil from Israel.
If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets her in the city and has sexual relations with her,you must bring the two of them to the gate of that city and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry out though in the city and the man because he violated his neighbor’s fiancée; in this way you will purge evil from among you.
Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes her and they are discovered.The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives.
One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive.if the king becomes angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize they would shoot from the wall?Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ just say to him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’”So the messenger departed. When he arrived, he informed David of all the news that Joab had sent with him.The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and attacked us in the field. But we forced them to retreat all the way to the door of the city gate.Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall and some of the king’s soldiers died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t let this thing upset you. There is no way to anticipate whom the sword will cut down. Press the battle against the city and conquer it.’ Encourage him with these words.”When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for him.When the time of mourning passed, David had her brought to his palace. She became his wife and she bore him a son. But what David had done upset the Lord.So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”David sent some messengers to get her. She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) Then she returned to her home.
As she brought them to him to eat, he grabbed her and said to her, “Come on! Get in bed with me, my sister!”But she said to him, “No, my brother! Don’t humiliate me! This just isn’t done in Israel! Don’t do this foolish thing!How could I ever be rid of my humiliation? And you would be considered one of the fools in Israel! Just speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”But he refused to listen to her. He overpowered her and humiliated her by raping her.
Drink water from your own cistern and running water from your own well.Should your springs be dispersed outside, your streams of water in the wide plazas?Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in your young wife –a loving doe, a graceful deer; may her breasts satisfy you at all times, may you be captivated by her love always.
by keeping you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the loose woman.Do not lust in your heart for her beauty, and do not let her captivate you with her alluring eyes;for on account of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man preys on your precious life.Can a man hold fire against his chest without burning his clothes?Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet?So it is with the one who has sex with his neighbor’s wife; no one who touches her will escape punishment.
She persuaded him with persuasive words; with her smooth talk she compelled him.Suddenly he went after her like an ox that goes to the slaughter, like a stag prancing into a trapper’s snaretill an arrow pierces his liver – like a bird hurrying into a trap, and he does not know that it will cost him his life.
“Stolen waters are sweet, and food obtained in secret is pleasant!”But they do not realize that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.
The mouth of an adulteress is like a deep pit; the one against whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.
Enjoy life with your beloved wife during all the days of your fleeting life that God has given you on earth during all your fleeting days; for that is your reward in life and in your burdensome work on earth.
Oh, how I wish you would kiss me passionately! For your lovemaking is more delightful than wine.The fragrance of your colognes is delightful; your name is like the finest perfume. No wonder the young women adore you!Draw me after you; let us hurry! May the king bring me into his bedroom chambers! We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. The Beloved to Her Lover: How rightly the young women adore you!
His left hand caresses my head, and his right hand stimulates me.I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields: Do not awaken or arouse love until it pleases!
How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine; the fragrance of your perfume is better than any spice!Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride, honey and milk are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.You are a locked garden, my sister, my bride; you are an enclosed spring, a sealed-up fountain.
How beautiful you are! How lovely, O love, with your delights!Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like clusters of grapes.I want to climb the palm tree, and take hold of its fruit stalks. May your breasts be like the clusters of grapes, and may the fragrance of your breath be like apricots!May your mouth be like the best wine, flowing smoothly for my beloved, gliding gently over our lips as we sleep together.
But approach, you sons of omen readers, you offspring of adulteresses and prostitutes!At whom are you laughing? At whom are you opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue? You are the children of rebels, the offspring of liars,you who practice ritual sex under the oaks and every green tree, who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs.
You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your sexually aroused neighbors, multiplying your promiscuity and provoking me to anger.
For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me, they have passed through the fire as food to their idols.Moreover, they have done this to me: In the very same day they desecrated my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths.On the same day they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they have done in the middle of my house.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
He answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female,and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder,adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly.All these evils come from within and defile a person.”
But from the beginning of creation he made them male and female.For this reason a man will leave his father and mother,and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
So Jesus said to them, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage.But those who are regarded as worthy to share in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones,and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires,and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness.
Let us live decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in discord and jealousy.Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to arouse its desires.
It is actually reported that sexual immorality exists among you, the kind of immorality that is not permitted even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting with his father’s wife.
“Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both.” The body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin a person commits is outside of the body” – but the immoral person sins against his own body.Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent to settle trivial suits?For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.
A husband should give to his wife her sexual rights, and likewise a wife to her husband.those with tears like those not weeping, those who rejoice like those not rejoicing, those who buy like those without possessions,those who use the world as though they were not using it to the full. For the present shape of this world is passing away.And I want you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.But a married man is concerned about the things of the world, how to please his wife,and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, to be holy both in body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how to please her husband.I am saying this for your benefit, not to place a limitation on you, but so that without distraction you may give notable and constant service to the Lord.If anyone thinks he is acting inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the bloom of youth and it seems necessary, he should do what he wishes; he does not sin. Let them marry.But the man who is firm in his commitment, and is under no necessity but has control over his will, and has decided in his own mind to keep his own virgin, does well.So then, the one who marries his own virgin does well, but the one who does not, does better.A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes (only someone in the Lord).It is not the wife who has the rights to her own body, but the husband. In the same way, it is not the husband who has the rights to his own body, but the wife.But in my opinion, she will be happier if she remains as she is – and I think that I too have the Spirit of God!Do not deprive each other, except by mutual agreement for a specified time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then resume your relationship, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
But if they do not have self-control, let them get married. For it is better to marry than to burn with sexual desire.
If anyone thinks he is acting inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the bloom of youth and it seems necessary, he should do what he wishes; he does not sin. Let them marry.But the man who is firm in his commitment, and is under no necessity but has control over his will, and has decided in his own mind to keep his own virgin, does well.So then, the one who marries his own virgin does well, but the one who does not, does better.
Do not become partners with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness?And what agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share in common with an unbeliever?
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity,Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all!idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions,envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!
Because they are callous, they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
But among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints.
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.This mystery is great – but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church.Nevertheless, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.
For this is God’s will: that you become holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality,that each of you know how to possess his own body in holiness and honor,not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.
But keep away from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faithfulness, love, and peace, in company with others who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
In this way they will train the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children,to be self-controlled, pure, fulfilling their duties at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the message of God may not be discredited.
But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires.Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.
Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul,
Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as the weaker partners and show them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life. In this way nothing will hinder your prayers.
For the time that has passed was sufficient for you to do what the non-Christians desire. You lived then in debauchery, evil desires, drunkenness, carousing, drinking bouts, and wanton idolatries.
And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.
especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones,
Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning; they entice unstable people. They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children!
because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world.
So also Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire in a way similar to these angels, are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.I have given her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality.Look! I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness, and those who commit adultery with her into terrible suffering, unless they repent of her deeds.
Furthermore, they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing.
These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from humanity as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb,
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me. “Come,” he said, “I will show you the condemnation and punishment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters,five have fallen; one is, and the other has not yet come, but whenever he does come, he must remain for only a brief time.The beast that was, and is not, is himself an eighth king and yet is one of the seven, and is going to destruction.The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but will receive ruling authority as kings with the beast for one hour.These kings have a single intent, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.They will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those accompanying the Lamb are the called, chosen, and faithful.”Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw (where the prostitute is seated) are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.The ten horns that you saw, and the beast – these will hate the prostitute and make her desolate and naked. They will consume her flesh and burn her up with fire.For God has put into their minds to carry out his purpose by making a decision to give their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.As for the woman you saw, she is the great city that has sovereignty over the kings of the earth.”with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.”
On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.”
For all the nations have fallen from the wine of her immoral passion, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.”
Then the kings of the earth who committed immoral acts with her and lived in sensual luxury with her will weep and wail for her when they see the smoke from the fire that burns her up.
But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, idol worshipers, and all those who lie, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. That is the second death.”
Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood!
Who can find a wife of noble character? For her value is far more than rubies.The heart of her husband has confidence in her, and he has no lack of gain.She brings him good and not evil all the days of her life.
Certainly you made my mind and heart; you wove me together in my mother’s womb.I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing. You knew me thoroughly;
for a prostitute is like a deep pit; a harlot is like a narrow well.Indeed, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful among men.
Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Nevertheless, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each person, so must he live. I give this sort of direction in all the churches.
For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace,
because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for herto sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word,so that he may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.