Dictionary Home / M

Marriage and sexuality

theological_topic theological_term standard

The Bible teaches that marriage is a covenant union of one man and one woman, and that sexual intimacy is God’s good gift to be expressed within that covenant.

At a Glance

A biblical topic describing God’s design for marriage, sexual intimacy, and sexual purity.

Key Points

Description

Marriage and sexuality are closely joined in Scripture’s teaching about God’s design for human life. Marriage is presented as a covenant union established by God between a man and a woman, marked by exclusive fidelity, mutual care, and lifelong seriousness. Sexuality is not treated as evil or merely private, but as part of God’s good creation, to be expressed rightly within marriage and governed everywhere by holiness and self-control. Because humanity is fallen, the Bible warns against sexual immorality in its various forms and calls believers to purity in thought and conduct. Christian teaching on this subject should therefore uphold both God’s good design and His call to repentance, while speaking with truth, compassion, and pastoral care in a morally confused world.

Biblical Context

The biblical pattern begins in creation, where man and woman are joined in one-flesh union. Jesus appeals to that creation pattern when teaching on marriage, and the apostles apply it to Christian households, bodily holiness, and the sanctity of the marriage bed.

Historical Context

In the ancient world, marriage was a recognized social institution, but Scripture grounds it not merely in custom or law but in God’s own design. The New Testament further places marriage and sexuality under the lordship of Christ and the call to sanctification.

Jewish and Ancient Context

Jewish Scripture and later Jewish tradition generally honored marriage, procreation, and sexual purity, while Jesus and the apostles clarified the creation basis of marriage and intensified the call to covenant faithfulness and holiness.

Primary Key Texts

Secondary Key Texts

Original Language Note

The Old Testament often uses covenant and one-flesh language for marriage, while the New Testament commonly uses terms such as porneia for sexual immorality and moicheia for adultery. These terms help distinguish marital unfaithfulness from broader sexual sin.

Theological Significance

This topic gathers Scripture’s teaching on creation order, covenant faithfulness, bodily holiness, and the relationship between earthly marriage and Christ’s love for the church. It also shows that human sexuality is morally meaningful, not morally neutral.

Philosophical Explanation

Biblically, sexuality is embodied, relational, and teleological: it has a purpose given by God rather than being defined solely by desire. Marriage provides the covenantal context in which sexual intimacy is meant to express exclusive union, mutual self-giving, and openness to family life.

Interpretive Cautions

Do not reduce biblical teaching to mere rule-keeping or to a denial of goodness in sexuality. Also distinguish carefully between the honor Scripture gives to marriage and the equally honorable calling of singleness. Pastoral application should combine truth, chastity, mercy, and clarity.

Major Views

Most conservative evangelical interpreters understand Scripture to teach marriage as the covenant union of one man and one woman and sexual intimacy as proper only within that covenant. Alternative contemporary readings that affirm same-sex unions depart from that creation-and-apostolic framework.

Doctrinal Boundaries

Affirm the goodness of creation, the sanctity of marriage, the seriousness of sexual sin, the call to repentance, and the need for pastoral compassion. Reject adultery, fornication, pornography, coercion, abuse, and any teaching that severs sexual ethics from Scripture’s authority.

Practical Significance

This topic informs Christian teaching on dating, engagement, marriage, parenting, singleness, sexual temptation, repentance, counseling, church discipline, and the care of those wounded by sexual sin or broken relationships.

Related Entries

See Also

Data

Machine-readable JSON for Marriage and sexuality

↑ Top