Sex and Biblical Law

Lots of noise over at Jack’s blog. It’s the comment section where so much of it can be heard. If you can’t or won’t wade through the comments, I won’t blame you. But by the same token, I will share with you only my take on the basic issue of discussion. And rather than adding to the clutter there, I’m making it a post here. (Yes, there’s some crap there.)

I’ve said this before: It is a sin for wives to deny sex to their husbands. I’ve said that taking it by some limited force is fully justified under Biblical Law. You’ll have to make up your own mind if you want to take that path men, and how you do it. But technically speaking, it’s justified in God’s eyes to claim your divine feudal privilege. Further, her denial of your sexual desires for her justifies divorce, and your church should stand with you.

This should be taught in every church pulpit around the world.

Along with this is a very good explanation: If a wife decides that sex is transactional — a means for coercing concessions from her man — then she is nothing more than a prostitute, adulteress. If she does not willingly accede to her husband’s claims on her body, if she has not already vowed to sacrifice that body on the altar before the Lord, then she is not actually a wife, just a concubine. She has none of the divine feudal privileges of a wife.

The man is also bound by the same law. Your wife, by God’s Law, owns your body. A man cannot take his sexual desires elsewhere, lest he become in God’s eyes a mere “dog” (the OT term) — a man who has sex for money. He forfeits his moral and spiritual headship and defiles everyone and everything he touches.

We talk about it this way because, as long as you do not walk in the grace of God, then you are bound under His Law. If you do walk in His grace, you have no argument with His Law. Psalm 119 says His Law is your delight.

In His grace, you aren’t too worried about this world and this life. You have no trouble with sacrificing the various parts of your fleshly existence to divine purposes. Marriage is not a social construct; it did not arise from mere human evolution, either biological or social. Marriage is part of God’s provision for the pain of having lost our oneness with Him in the Fall. His Law controls all the ins and outs of what marriage is and does.

Your feelings don’t mean shit.

Yes, we would expect people of grace to cultivate romance and strong emotional bonding, but grace is the foundation. Your emotions are just some flag waving that may or may not mean anything. Emotions are just a manifestation of our fleshly existence, and your flesh is not really you. It’s just the assigned baggage you bear for under the Curse of the Fall. We should all be eager to shed this fleshly mortal existence. But until that day comes, whenever it is God decides it’s time to bring you Home, you have a duty to live in such a way as to glorify Him. And that means demonstrating His moral truth through obeying His Law.