Sex

Definition: The characteristics of earthly creatures that serve as a means of reproduction by two interacting parents. The differences between the male and female sexes have far-reaching effects in human life. Since God himself is the Source of life and since humans are meant to reflect his qualities, the ability to transmit life by sexual relations is to be treated with great respect.

In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety (known as a sex). Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells (gametes) to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents. Gametes can be identical in form and function (known as isogametes), but in many cases an asymmetry has evolved such that two sex-specific types of gametes (heterogametes) exist: male gametes are small, motile, and optimized to transport their genetic information over a distance, while female gametes are large, non-motile and contain the nutrients necessary for the early development of the young organism.

An organism's sex is defined by the gametes it produces: males produce male gametes (spermatozoa, or sperm) while females produce female gametes (ova, or egg cells); individual organisms which produce both male and female gametes are termed hermaphroditic. Frequently, physical differences are associated with the different sexes of an organism; these sexual dimorphisms can reflect the different reproductive pressures the sexes experience

Does the Bible teach that sexual relations are sinful?

Gen. 1:28: “God blessed them [Adam and Eve] and God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth.’” (Fulfilling this divine command would require that they have sexual relations, would it not? Doing so would not be sinful but would be in harmony with God’s purpose for the populating of the earth. Some persons have thought that the ‘forbidden fruit’ in Eden was perhaps a symbolic reference to a divine restriction or even a prohibition of sexual relations on the part of Adam and Eve. But that conflicts with God’s command quoted above. It also conflicts with the fact that, although Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit in Eden, the first mention of their having sexual intercourse was after they had been expelled from there.—Gen. 2:17; 3:17, 23; 4:1.)

Gen. 9:1: “God went on to bless Noah and his sons and to say to them: ‘Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth.’” (This further blessing, together with a restatement of the divine command to procreate, was given after the global Flood in Noah’s day. God’s viewpoint toward lawful sexual relations had not changed.)

1 Cor. 7:2-5: “Because of prevalence of fornication, let each man have his own wife and each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to his wife her due; but let the wife also do likewise to her husband. . . . Do not be depriving each other of it, except by mutual consent for an appointed time, . . . that Satan may not keep tempting you for your lack of self-regulation.” (What is wrong is thus shown to be fornication, not proper sexual relations between husband and wife.)

Are sexual relations before marriage wrong?

1 Thess. 4:3-8: “This is what God wills . . . that you abstain from fornication; that each one of you should know how to get possession of his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in covetous sexual appetite such as also those nations have which do not know God; that no one go to the point of harming and encroach upon the rights of his brother in this matter, because Jehovah is one who exacts punishment for all these things, just as we told you beforehand and also gave you a thorough witness. For God called us, not with allowance for uncleanness, but in connection with sanctification. So, then, the man that shows disregard is disregarding, not man, but God, who puts his holy spirit in you.” (The Greek word por·nei′a, translated “fornication,” refers to sexual intercourse between unmarried persons, also to extramarital relations on the part of married persons.)

Eph. 5:5: “No fornicator or unclean person or greedy person—which means being an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Christ and of God.” (This does not mean that anyone who in the past was a fornicator cannot enjoy the blessings of God’s Kingdom, but he must cease that way of life in order to have God’s approval. See 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.)

Does the Bible approve of living together as husband and wife without legal marriage?