Outline Made For Love

Sexual Covenant and the Question of Celibacy Gen. 2:18-35; Mark 10:8-9: Ruth; 1 Cor. 7:1-10

Made For Worship

Imaging God to point to our Creator Genesis 1:26-27, Romans 1:18-2:1

Made For Community

From walls to radical inclusion Lev. 18 & 20:13; 1 Cor. 6:7-11; 1 Tim 1:10 Sodom & Gomorrah; Q&A

Made For Love

Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God

And it Was Good.(Genesis 1)

And God saw that it was good (1:10) And God saw that it was good (1:17) And God saw that it was good (1:21) And God saw that it was good (1:25) And God saw all that God had made, and behold, it was very good (1:31)

God Dont Make No Junk!

Until it Wasnt
Genesis 2:18 The Lord God said, it is NOT GOOD for the man to be alone

The first problem of creation, the first NOT GOOD, of creation is loneliness and the lack of a partner

Celibacy Is Not Biblically Normative

1 Cor. 7:1-2, 7b, 9 Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husbandso that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control

1 Corinthians 7:8-9
8 Now

to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

 ezer cinegdo) A Strong Ally ( Genesis 2:18 The LORD God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable (ezer cinegdo) for him. .. 19 But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, God took one of the mans ribs *side+ and closed up the place with flesh.

 ) Ally ( (ezer) Literally = Helper/Power It implies one who has the power/resources to come to anothers aid

Ezer is NOT a diminutive term, nor does it imply complementary In scripture ezer is used 17 times to refer to God as the ezer of Israel (the one who comes to Israels aid in time of need) and 3 times to refer to refer to military aid

..

Equal ( ) - knegdo Literally as in front of him (not terribly helpful but note its not below him)
..

In the Mishnah (specifically the Tractate Peah) refers to study of the Torah as kneged other good deeds In the Talmud the virtue of charity is kneged all other commandments If anything, it implies superiority, not inferiority. Here it likely means EQUAL

Blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib *side+ God had taken out of the man, and God brought her to the man. 23 The man said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man. 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and - vedavaq) to his wife, mother and be united ( and they will become one flesh.

One Flesh The Ancient Near East kinship systems considered the entire kinship system of one flesh, of one bone. The whole kindred conceives of itself as being a single life Blood Oath with one blood flowing through the veins of the kinship group.the obligation of the kinsman is [to] uphold the welfare of his [or her] fellow kinsman. One is obliged to love ones kinsman as ones own soul. (Cross, 1998, p. 3-4)
Cross, Frank Moore. From Epic To Canon: History and Literature in Ancient Israel. Baltimore Gordon, MD: John Hopkins. 1998.

One Flesh Laban said to him [Jacob], Surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he stayed with him a month. (Genesis 29:14)

Blood Oath
Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. (2 Samuel 5:1) It is demonstrably unbiblical to say that only opposite gender couples can become one flesh

Jesus & One Flesh This interpretation fits with Jesuss definition of marriage as a lasting covenant they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no Blood Oath one separate (Mark 10:8-9) So, a biblical marriage involves a covenanted relationship between individuals with the strength to aid each other in times of trouble who seek the welfare of each other. Theres nothing here that excludes same sex marriage.

Ruth & Naomi The same word ( davaq) that is used to describe a man and wife being united in one flesh is used to describe how Ruth clings to Naomi in Ruth 1:24

CLEARLY, a lasting kinship covenant can exist between people of the same sex PERHAPS this points to a possible bisexual relationship in scripture.

Made For Worship Imaging God to Point to Our Creator

Image of God 26 Then God said, "Let Us make man [humanity] in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and

and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 God created man *humanity+ in Gods own image, in the image of God God created [it]; male and female God created them

Image of God The Hebrew word for image ( tzelem) not only referred to images/icons but also royal images/statues set up by kings and queens to represent and assert their authority in their absence.

Jesus As the Image of God Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15) Colossians 1:15 explains that Jesus is the image of the invisible God due to his activity in creating, holding all things together, and reconciling the world to God

Imaging God The idea is that each human, and collectively ALL humanity, reflect Gods image, pointing back to the God who made them and who uses them. The chief end of humanity is to glorify God and enjoy him forever (the Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q1)

This should be understood as a merism a literary device that represents all of a range by citing two extremes. (For example: God knows my sitting down and
rising up means God knows all my actions) 100% feminine Gender Spectrum

Male and Female, God Created Them

100% masculine

OVERPOPULATION

Is a blessing not a command (see Gen 1:22) Becomes a curse when the planet is overpopulated You can be fully human without procreating (or else Jesus, Paul, and a few other important folks wouldnt participate in the image of God)

Be Fruitful and Multiply

Biblical Sex as Pleasure

I belong to my lover and my lover belongs to me. My lover sent his hand through the hole, and my innards roiled toward himHis member is an ivory tusk Song of Songs 5:3-4, 14 May her breasts satisfy you always Proverbs 5:19

Romans 1:18-2:1 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men [humanity] who suppress the truth in unrighteousness21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor God as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man [humanity] and of birds and fourfooted animals and crawling creatures.

Romans 1:18-2:1 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error

Romans 1 Context
The point Paul is building up to that there is no distinction between Gentiles and Jews, as all depend upon God for their righteousness. No one is righteous apart from the righteousness of Jesus which is applied to us through faith (Romans 3:22-28; 4:24

Argument of Romans 1 (coninued) Rhetorically, Paul is undermining his audiences divisive pride
Paul reels in his audience by using Jewish stereotypes about heathen Roman culture that would make his Jewish audience feel superior Then in 2:1 he pulls the rug out from other them saying for you who judge practice the same things.
Paul reverses this move in 9:30-33

Cultural Context The religion of Cybele had recently gained political support from Claudius (50 AD) The galli (castrated temple priests whom Paul calls dogs in Phil. 3:2-3) were known not only for gender transgressions but also temple prostitution (including anal sex between men)

Anal Sex and the Galli The priests viewed their anus as a sex organ belonging to their god When the gala/kalu wiped his anus [he said+, must not excite that which belongs to my lady Innana (3rd century BC Sumerian Proverb cited in Townsley, 2011) The word gala (singular form of galli) was written using the signs penis + anus

Their Women Exchanged This is linked not by act but by exchanging natural for unnatural The early church did not read this passage as referring to homogenital intimacy between women until the 4th century References to same sex intimacy between women is RARE in this period and ABSENT in intertestamental Jewish literature

Argument of Romans 1 (coninued)

Paul argues that due to pagan Roman idolatry, Gods wrath has handed them over to pagan culture

NOTE THE WORD ORDER. It does not say they had homogenital sex so God became wrathful. It says, God became wrathful (due to their idolatry), so God allowed them (you can even argue caused them) to participate in immoral pagan culture

According to Nature (nature) is about purpose (and for Paul created purpose). Our nature is to worship the God who made us and who is self-evident in creation (Romans 1:19-20)
Natural sex is sex that acknowledges our Creator and that witnesses to the rule of God over our sex lives. Unnatural sex would be idolatrous sex that tries to influence (rule over?) a false god with sex

God Acts Against Nature For Paul, against nature ( - para physin) appears to point to a discontinuity with history. Importantly, Paul argues Gods election of Israel is (unnatural) (Rom. 11:24) Likewise, Paul calls circumcision natural, implyig that Gods command to circumcise is against nature (Rom. 2:27)

Changing the Course of History Humanity turned from their created purpose to unnaturally worship idols rather than God. God has let them keep heading down a road ruled by idolatry

This road gets them into a bad place (illustrated by temple prostitution and more generally by the list of vices in 1:29-31)
God sends Jesus to change their nature & bring them back to God

The Due Penalty of their Error Can be read as a reference to the ritual castration of the temple priests under this reading of Romans

Even if you reject this reading, contextually it refers to the degrading practices of Romans 1 and not to modern day STDs

Made For Community From Walls To Radical Inclusion

Leviicus 18 & 20 And the Threat of Assimilation

Cultural Distinctiveness
Israel started as a small nomadic people and for most of its history it was smaller than dominant surrounding nations (Egypt, Babylon, Persia, etc.) Part of the function of the law was to keep Gods people culturally distinct from the surrounding nations/Gentiles

Leviticus 18:1-5, 22 1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'I am the LORD your God. 3 'You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. 4 'You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God. 5 'So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD. 22 'You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. ut the nation which has been before you..

Leviticus 20:13 'If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act [an unclean act. Same word as Lev. 18:22]; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13

Maintaining cultural distinctiveness was the purpose of this ban against anal sex (which only mentions anal sex)
Context (18:3): You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt

( abomination) does not mean evil/sick It refers to a foreign (usually cultic) practice Sex during a womens period was for the Egyptians Eating with the Hebrews was

Death Penalty And the Hebrew Scriptures

Death is the main penalty cited in the law which has no provision for jailing and rarely requires restitution. It was not always, or even typically, followed.
The death penalty was also the penalty for being a rebellious child (Dt. 21:18), breaking the Sabbath, lying about virginity (Dt. 22:20-21), ignoring the verdict of a judge or priest The death penaltys purpose was to cleanse the community of the ritual pollution of sin

Welcoming the Stranger Sodom and Gommorah

Welcoming the Stranger

Welcoming the stranger was la life or death concern due to the extreme conditions of the Sahara desert.
Israel was commanded to welcome the stranger remembering they were strangers in Egypt.

The Sin of the Sodom

The sin of Sodom was assaulting strangers who sought sanctuary and safety for the night
Ezekiel 16:48-50 says the guilt of Sodom was arrogance and how she did not help the poor and needy Jesus connects this text to whoever refuses to receive his disciples (Matt. 15:14-15) [Jude 1:6-7 is worried about sex with angels strange flesh+

Why Does Lot Offer His Daughters?

SEXISM

In the ancient Hebrew kinship system (like the rest of the Ancient Near East), women were considered the property of the head of the house.

NOTE: SCRIPTURE DOES NOT APPROVE OF THIS SUBSTITUTION. THIS IS WHEN THE ANGELS INTERVENE!

Jesus Refocuses The Purity Code

There is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man (Matt. 7:15) Jesus refocused purity from a boundary that kept outsiders away to the life that proceeds from ones relationship with God Jesus and the church no longer avoided outsiders, Instead they reached out in order to connect them with the purifying love of God

Life By The Spirit

The Fruit of the Spirit, 1 Co. 6:7-11, and 1 Tim 1:10

Life By The Spirit Vs. Life By the Flesh

For Paul, the key distinction is living by the Spirit versus living by the flesh (Galatians 5:16-17) The flesh refers not to the dirty/physical but to humanity apart from God. Flesh is not sinful (this is not Gnosticism). RELYING on the flesh is sinful (Galatians 6:12-15; Romans 2:28-29)

Vice lists and virtue lists use prefabricated lists to illustrate the consequences of life in the Sirit and life in the flesh

1 Corinthians 6:8-11 8 Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren. 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God ? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor malakos, nor arsenokoits, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Virtue & Vice Lists Paul uses vice lists to illustrate the pagan world in contrast to the life by the Spirit which is available to believers

Will not inherit the kingdom does NOT mean those who do these things will lose salvation. It means that this is the way of the unbeliever.
It is a prophetic challenge to live lives that reflect the inheritance we have in Christ

Pederastry ( ) Literally love for boys-- A social practice in which boys were initiated into adulthood through a sexual service relationship with a teacher/master This was the most common form of homoerotic relationship in the Greco-Roman world and the most criticized by Rabbinic sources including Philo

 - malakoi (sissies)
Litterally meaning softie was used to describe boys in pederastic relationships They were known as sissies because they had to groom themselves to avoid looking old to avoid being discarded by their masters In Rome they were usually of a lower class, unable to consent or resist, and subject to being used in ways that would be considered evil if they were citizens.

 - Arsenokoites
A rare word that appears with only one exception in vice lists. Its meaning is unclear.
Context suggests a connection to malakoi (due to proximity) and to sexual sin in 1 Corinthians 6 Its composed of two word roots + (man + bed) but its a mistake to assume meaning based on a words roots (eg. butterfly, outhouse, chairman) In two non-biblical sources (the Sibylline Oracle an the Acts of John) it is listed with other forms of abuse and violence NOT with sexual sins

Virtue List For Paul, life by the Spirit is marked not by self-righteousness but by the fruit of the spirit which stand in contrast with his lists of vices. Does this look like the fruit of the closet? What fruit is born of the act of coming out and bringing all that you are to God and your community?

References

Cross, Frank Moore. From Epic To Canon: History and Literature in Ancient Israel. Baltimore Gordon, MD: John Hopkins. 1998.
Countryman, William L. Dirt, Greed, & Sex: Sexual Ethics in the New Testament and Their Implications for Today. 2nd ed. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress. 2003. Greenberg, Steven. Wrestling with God & Men: Homosexuality in the Jewish Tradition. Madison, WI: Wisconsin UP, 2004. Lopez, Ren. Pauls Vice List in Galatians 5:19-21. Bibliotheca-Sacra, 169. 48-67. Martin, Dale. Arsenokoits and Malakos: Meanings and Consequences. http://www.clgs.org/arsenokoit%C3%A9s-and-malakos-meanings-and-consequences Roscoe, W. (1996). Priests of the Goddess: Gender Transgression in Ancient Religion. History of Religion 35(3) (1996): 195-210. Townsley, J. Paul, the Goddess Religions, and Queer Sects: Romans 1:23-28. Journal of Biblical Literature 130(4) (2011): 707-728. Wenham, J. Genesis 1-15 (1998). Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 1. David A. Hubbard, Glenn W. Barker, & John D. W. Watts (Eds.) Waco, TX: Word.