The first thing that I found interesting was the discussion of “common grace” (pg 28). This gift of sex is available to everyone to enjoy. Everyone is free to enjoy the physical pleasures of sex and can also use it to reproduce. But he goes on to explain: “Christians are the only ones who can fully grasp and benefit from the holiness of sex.”
In the next few pages he talks about illicit sex and how that factors in to things. Unbelievers who have sex are still becoming one with each other. And if a Christian has illicit sex with a friend/stranger/prostitute/coworker etc., he or she not only uniting their physical bodies as one, but the believer is “uniting the body of Christ with the other person.” Isn’t that something to think about? “As believers, if we have sex outside the bonds of marriage, we have dishonored God with our bodies by becoming one in the wrong way.” Of course I have heard teachings on adultery before, but this is the first time that I’ve ever heard it explained this way. Our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and when we sin against our own bodies (sexually) we are essentially sinning against God. He references those familiar verses of 1 Corinthians 6.
I think that page 37 was the biggie for me in this chapter. God created everything and it was all good. God created Adam and he was good. The first thing that wasn’t good was that Adam was alone. Sin had not yet entered, so there was nothing coming between he and God, but it was still “not good” that he was alone. God could have done any one of several things for Adam, but He chose to give Adam, Eve. God knew beforehand that Adam would be lonely (because God knows all)…and He told Adam that without Eve (his wife) a part of him was missing. Listen to what he says: “Even though Adam was created in God’s image, without Eve he didn’t yet fully represent God’s image. The work of creation wasn’t complete until God formed Eve from Adam’s rib.” If you are reading this article without having read the book, then you may be wondering if that somehow means that unmarried people are “less.” The answer is NO! Not at all! But I would like to encourage you to read this chapter to gain further insight.
I was glad to see him use an example couple (Michael and Sarah) as well. The example he used is like so many emails that we get here at CN. The wife has no libido of her own and feels like sex is just something on her list of things she needs to do for her husband and to have children. I was glad to hear the resolution to this couple’s stagnant intimacy. It is never just one person’s problem. A marriage is two becoming one, and when one had an ‘issue’ the other is indirectly (if not directly) related to that issue as well.
I didn’t mention every single thing covered in this chapter. These are just the points that stuck out to me as I was reading. What stood out to you? Anything that challenged your thinking or views? Anything that you disagreed with? What did you get out of chapter 2?
Christian Nymphos 