As a result of Jesus’ infrequent and incomplete teaching on human sexuality, many have wondered what Jesus would think about the sexual issues facing our world today. Would Jesus mind if you slept with your long-term committed girlfriend? Would he care if you got divorced and then remarried? Would it matter to him if you were gay?
Most people assume Jesus had a sexual ethic. I have yet to meet anyone, for example, who thinks Christ would turn a blind eye to rape or pedophilia, but confusion sets in once people begin to speculate which sex acts Christ would condemn.
We must never forget that Christ’s moral and ethical compass was decidedly Torah-shaped—marriage between a man and a woman, with fidelity inside marriage and abstinence without. Jesus never taught anything other than the best of Judaism. He never changed the rules about marriage or money or materiality. The only “changes” he introduced concerned the fulfillment of the Law—which centered on himself. (To fulfill the law doesn’t mean to bypass it, but to empower us to live a life that would otherwise be impossible.)
Jesus never deviated from the boundaries of Jewish sexuality. Which, perhaps more importantly, also means Christ would not have been unconcerned about boyfriends and girlfriends sleeping together, internet porn, or hooking up at the club. The truth is that the Bible holds sex in the highest possible regard. Sex is spiritual, and sharing your body with another person involves commingling your souls also.
When we cheapen sex—imagining it doesn’t matter, or it doesn’t matter all that much—we cheapen ourselves. And for everyone who thinks we ought to be able to do whatever we want with whomever we want, let us never forget that we can sleep with whomever we choose. We can screw our brains out. But not without consequence. And not without guilt.