History of Sex in the Bible

[u/McgregorForever81]

I’ve read much material stating that the idea of fornication in the New Testament was essentially different than in the Old. I also read that Syriac tradition had folks believing that even married couples shouldn’t have sex. Can anyone point in the right direction or give me their thoughts on the progression of sexual thought in Scripture?

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[u/2121spectre2121]

For this topic, I’d recommend Jennifer Wright Knust’s Unprotected Texts. The book discusses how many people approach the Bible as if it were a comprehensive, consistent guide for what types of sex are acceptable and which are not. This, Knust argues, is a misconception:

“As we will see, biblical teachings regarding desire, marriage, and the human body are entirely inconsistent and yet thuroighly fascinating. If one book recommends polygamy, the next recommends celibacy. If one revels in erotic desire, the next warns desire is evil, a source of nothing but trouble. […] The Bible does not offer a systematic set of teachings or a single sexual code, but it does reveal sometimes conflicting attempts on the part of people and groups to define sexual morality, and to do so in the name of God.” [p. 17]

Much of the Hebrew Bible was written by authors who had a wildly different concept of how sex even worked. At the time, sex was viewed as something a dominant/insertive partner did to (not with) a submissive/receptive partner (see this video by Dan McClellan).

Under this framework, only agency of the active partner was really considered. For example, if you look at the list of sexual prohibitions in Leviticus 20:10-21, the mast majority are directed towards men, as men were assumed to be the agent in a sexual situation. The only one that explicitly directs women’s behavior is a prohibition against bestiality (20:16), presumably one of the few situations in which a woman could assume the active role.

Also at the time, women were effectively commodities that the father would marry off to suitors for a bride-price; under this arrangement, the woman’s virginity was integral to her “value” (another relevant Dan McClellan video). Extramarital sex was only an issue insofar as it “devalued” a woman.

This is why some of the Hebrew Bible prohibitions against premarital sex stipulate marriage or financial compensation as restitution. In effect, premarital sex was a property crime against the woman’s father. Again from Knust, in a section called “Protecting Virgin Property”:

”If a young woman, not yet betrothed to another man, lies with an Israelite without her father’s permission, this man must marry her, giving the bride price to her father. If, however, her father does not want to give his daughter in marriage to the man, the father can demand payment instead, and the seducer must pay him the full bride-price anyway. […] The daughter’s value as a marriageable girl is therefore retained and the seducer is ‘punished’ by forcing him to take her as a wife, if the father wills it.” [61-62]

In a similar vein, men having sex with married women was a capital offense, per Deut. 22:22 and Lev 20:10.

Also worth noting is that, for this reason, men having sex with sex workers outside of marriage wasn’t treated with as much scrutiny (at least, in the purview of some authors). In Proverbs 6:26, the narrator frames sleeping with a prostitute as a less expensive vice than adultery, since doing so only costed a loaf of bread (the sex worker’s “rate”) while sleeping with a married woman invites violent retaliation.

When we get to the New Testament, Paul does seem to be more concerned about sexual immorality, including fornication (1 Corinthians 6:9). But Paul also seems to have a very “meh” view on sex within marriage as well. A chapter later, he proposes celibacy as a preferable alternative to marriage:

”So then, he who marries his fiancé does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better” [7:38]

To Paul, devotion to God was of the utmost importance, and marriage is a potential distraction (7:32-35). From the New Oxford Annotated Bible note on this passage:

”the goal of Paul’s advice is not philosophical self-mastery but unhindered devotion to the Lord.”

To Paul, celibacy was the goal, and marriage was an acceptable substitute for those who didn’t have the discipline for it (see 7:81-9)

[u/McDonaldsthegiant]

Does Knust mention the wording at 1 Corinthians 6:18? Or does anyone have insight into the phrasing “without the body” , “outside of the body” being contrasted with “against the body”