In addition to NT passages which use marriage as an illustration of some other truth, there are numerous passages which speak directly to the subject of marriage. Some deal with the institution of marriage, while others give instruction about the relationship between husbands and wives, and others deal with practical issues relating to marriage in the life of the church. We will try to group these passages by theme and examine each in turn.
Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Throughout history there have been those who held a low view of marriage in general and of sexual intimacy in particular, but the writer of Hebrews affirms both. Many modern translations read similarly to the ESV: “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” Since the institution of marriage was created by God and declared to be “very good,” we ought to receive it as a gift from God and consider it precious. This might seem strange to many of us who have a generally positive view of marriage, but the apostle Paul warned in 1 Timothy 4:3 that some would fall away from the faith, believing demonic doctrines, and that one characteristic of such people is that they would forbid marriage. To avoid such an error, let us affirm the honorableness of marriage.
The writer of Hebrews also affirms the purity of sexual intimacy within marriage, and he calls on believers to maintain that purity by rejecting sexual sin of every form. He uses two terms, fornicators and adulterers, to include every instance of sexual immorality. Fornication describes any sexual activity outside of marriage, either before one is married or, say, after one’s spouse has died; in these situations, God’s word demands chastity. Adultery involves the violation of one’s marriage bond through sexual immorality. For the married person, sex is to be enjoyed with one’s spouse, and not in any other context. As Leon Morris points out, “This was a novel view to many in the first century. For them chastity was an unreasonable demand to make. It is one of the unrecognized miracles that Christians were able not only to make this demand but to make it stick.” We, too, live in a society that honors unrestrained sexuality. But rather than giving in to the culture, Christians ought to take these words to heart and show the next generation that it is possible, by God’s grace, to maintain the honor and purity of marital intimacy.
The writer of Hebrews explains the reason for these stringent requirements is that God will judge all forms of sexual sin. But how will fornicators and adulterers be judged? He does not say, but the apostle Paul states clearly in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that “Neither fornicators…nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites…will inherit the kingdom of God.” He repeats nearly this same warning in Galatians 5:19-21 where he lists the works of the flesh, including both adultery and fornication and says “that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” And then again in Ephesians 5:5, Paul says, “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Finally, the apostle John writes in Revelation 21:8 that the “sexually immoral…shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death,” and again in 22:15 he says that the sexually immoral are outside the New Jerusalem along with sorcerers, murderers, idolaters, and liars. All those who live in unrestrained lust and immorality demonstrate that they are unrepentant rebels, who will rightly be cast into hell. But as with every other form of sin, mercy and forgiveness are freely given to all who turn from their sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, our merciful Savior. We can be cleansed and changed (see 1 Cor. 6:11).
This world says that sex is fun and is to be enjoyed without regard for God’s law. Being promiscuous or indulging in pornography or deviant practices such as homosexuality are held up as indications of our “enlightenment” as a society. The sexual revolution is considered to be evidence of genuine human progress in our day. But God says that illicit sex is sin, and it will not go unpunished. As Christians, we must reject the sexuality of this present, evil age and seek to honor marriage and sex. We do this by abstaining from sex outside of marriage, repenting of sin where we have failed, and affirming and enjoying God’s gift of sexuality within the one-flesh covenant of marriage.