Jesus & the Law – on sexual relations … (11/21/18)
Though the Law made it clear from its very beginning that the law-abiding Jewish citizen was required to “be fruitful and multiply” (see Genesis 1:28), it was just as adamant in circumscribing which sexual relationships were appropriate and which were sinful. Premarital intercourse was forbidden (see Deuteronomy 23:18), as was any act of incest (proscribed with no small amount of detail in Leviticus 181), any act of homosexual intercourse (see Leviticus 18:22 & Leviticus 20:13), and any sexual act committed outside the bounds of sanctified marriage (i.e. any acts of adultery – see Exodus 20:14, Numbers 5:11-30, Leviticus 18:20, & Deuteronomy 5:18) … Intriguingly (though not surprisingly), Jesus made a point to amend these legal stipulations as well – going out of his way to be non-condemningly kind to an openly gay centurion (see Matthew 8:5-13, Luke 7:1-10, & John 4:46-53 – as well as the thorough analysis provided on page 27 herein), to be publicly forgiving of a vehemently accused adulteress (see John 8:2-11 – also the information provided on page 25 herein, as well as Matthew 5:28‘s “everyone who even glances at a woman with lust has already committed adultery”), and even to champion sexual celibacy for every Jewish citizen – married & unmarried alike …
“There are eunuchs who have been so from birth, there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let everyone who can abide by this proclamation do so.” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:12)
……………………………………………………………….
1 Interestingly, it is worth noting that – despite providing a seemingly exhaustive list of the familial relations with which one is prohibited from engaging sexually – nowhere in Leviticus 18 (indeed nowhere else in the rest of the Bible) are sexual acts with one’s own daughter prohibited. As an additional aside, it is equally intriguing that the phrase used by Leviticus to denote forbidden sexual acts is “you shall not uncover the nakedness of” – something Jesus literally & explicitly did when he disrobed completely in front of his disciples (all openly proclaimed members of his spiritually sanctified “family” – see see Matthew 12:46-50, Mark 3:31-35, & Luke 8:19-21) before washing their feet in John 13:3-12.
;