Sexual Ethics, Then and Now

Read Matthew 19:1-15

      The opponents of Jesus thought they could damage his reputation by getting him to take an unpopular position on the sexual ethics of the day.  Maybe they could even get him to wade into the Herod-Herodias controversy that got the Baptizer killed. 

      The Law of Moses allowed divorce if a husband discovered “some indecency” in his wife (Deut. 24:1).  But what constitutes an indecency?  The rabbinic school of Shammai restricted it to gross sexual sins.  The Hillelite school extended it to all kinds of potential complaints, up to and including an improperly prepared meal.  Divorced and remarried Pharisees (like the famous historian Josephus) tended toward the more liberal view. 

      Jesus raises the bar on preserving marriage over both then-dominant schools of thought.  What is most interesting is that he grounds his arguments not in intricacies of the Law and what is or is not allowed, but on God’s original intent as reflected in his original creation, quoting Genesis 1:27 and 2:24.

      The rabbinic schools then, and people still today, begin with the desires of sinful people, and seek to craft a sexual ethic that will satisfy those desires.  But Jesus began with the design of God.  Not even the disciples were ready for that reorientation, lamenting, “If such is the case . . . it is better not to marry” (19:10). 

      Beginning with our fallen and corrupted desires is the path to confusion and dysfunction, in a society and in a life (and in a marriage).  Beginning with God’s design is the way to something good and right, even when it cuts across the grain of sinful appetites.  When God’s design is followed, we are blessed, for he created us.