The Reverend Debra W. Haffner is the Director of the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing and an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister. This article was written in 1997, when Rev. Haffner was President and CEO of SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. It was originally printed in the SIECUS Report, October/November 1997, and is reprinted here with permission.

During the past two years, I have become a serious student and avid reader of the Bible. I started my studies believing, as many adults with whom I have worked over the years believe, that the Bible either disparaged or ignored sexuality.

As I began my research as a Yale University Fellow, I discovered something quite different. Both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament directly address sexuality issues and send messages that are quite different from what most people are taught in their religious groups and denominations. In fact, I now believe that a major function of Bible stories is to teach sexuality education: many of the stories and many of the laws contain information to help people understand the important role that sexuality plays in their lives.

Conversely, I was surprised to find that the Bible is absolutely silent about masturbation, abortion, birth control, oral-genital sex, and other sexual practices.

As I continued my work, I gradually realized that, by studying the Bible, readers can see how the people who created scripture understood sexuality. And, in the process, they can also gain personal insights into the Bible's ability to speak to all of us today on these moral issues.

There is no question that certain church traditions have provided justification for sexual oppression. From the writings of Paul to those of Augustine and Aquinas--and through the current work of the Christian Coalition--parts of the Christian church have attempted to control, define, and limit sexual expression. In fact, it is clear that the mind/body dualism that characterizes much of Christian thought is the lens through which both the Bible and church traditions are used to limit people's experience of their sexuality and, indeed, to promote systematic oppression of sexuality.

However, these same theological tools can help demonstrate a revised sexual theology. Both scripture and church history are far richer on sexual issues than most people assume.

The Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible (also referred to as the Old Testament) is replete with stories that have sexual themes. Genesis itself has more than 30 stories that deal with sexual issues.

Genders and biological sex
The creation stories (Gen 1 and 2) explain biological sex and the reasons for two genders. Genesis 1 says that God created "male and female, he created them" (Gen 1:27) and then God blessed them: "Be fruitful and multiply" (Gen 1:28). Genesis 2 is the more familiar telling of the creation of a woman from Adam's rib. God recognizes that "it is not good that the man should be alone" (Gen 2:18) and sets out to find Adam a companion.

In fact, this solitariness is the first aspect of creation that God finds displeasing. Adam rejects all of the animals that God brings forward. It is only then that God puts Adam to sleep to create woman. The centrality of two genders and sexuality is emphasized: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife and they become one flesh" (Gen 2:24). According to these passages, man needs not only a companion and a helper but also a lover. The goal of union in Genesis 2:24 is sexual pleasure, not procreation. Side by side, the two creation texts reinforce that sexuality is both pro-creative and re-creative.

Sexual intercourse and desire
The importance of sexual intercourse and the role of desire appear numerous times in Genesis. Eve is told that despite the pain of childbirth, "your desire shall be for your husband" (Gen 3:16). Divine beings were said to desire the beautiful human women (Gen 6:2). Sarah describes sexual intercourse as "pleasure" (Genesis 18:12). Isaac is noticed "fondling his wife Rebekah" (Gen 26:8). Leah and Rachel negotiate for Jacob's sexual favors (Gen 30:14-16). Potiphar's wife strongly desires Joseph and asks him to sleep with her (Gen 39:7). Intercourse itself is also frequently and publicly accounted for in Genesis: Adam "knew his wife Eve" (Gen 4:1). "Cain knew his wife" (Gen 4:17). "Adam knew his wife again" (Gen 4:25). And so on.

Physical beauty and love at first sight
Physical beauty and love at first sight are also featured in Genesis. Rebekah "was very fair to look upon" (Gen 24:16). Rachel "was graceful and beautiful" (Gen 29:17). Joseph was "handsome and goodlooking" (Gen 39:6). Jacob and Rachel fall in love at first sight (Gen 29) and he happily waits seven years to marry her: "they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her" (Gen 29:20). Rebekah assuaged Isaac's grief after the death of Sarah: "He loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death" (Gen 24:67).

Fertility
Fertility is referred to in Genesis as a gift from God. God's first words to people are "be fruitful and multiply" (Gen 1:28). However, the matriarchs of the Hebrew Bible are all initially infertile: "God chose three infertile women and one woman [Leah] who was not desirable to her husband to bear children who would inherit the covenant."1 God's direct intervention helps these women to conceive. Sarah has her son at 90 after lifelong infertility (Gen 21:2). God healed Abimelech's "wife and female slaves so that they bore children" (Gen 20:17); God resolved Rebekah's infertility (Gen 25:21); "[t]he Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb; but Rachel was barren" (Gen 29:31); but eventually "God remembered Rachel; and God heeded her and opened her womb" (Gen 30:22). The Hebrew Bible also recounts two stories where infertile women arrange for their husbands to have children with other women: Sarah sends Abraham to have sex with Hagar (Gen 16:2), and Rachel tells Jacob to "go in to" her maid Bilhah so that she may have children through her (Gen 30:3).

Genitals and bodily functions
Genesis also speaks directly about genitals and bodily functions. God asks the ancients to "circumcise the flesh of your foreskins" as the "sign of the covenant between me and you" (Gen 17:11). Circumcision assures that the "covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant" (Gen 17:13). In 1970, theologian and marriage counselor David Mace wrote that the penis was chosen for this mark because it was the most holy part of the body: "It was with this special organ that he became, in a special sense, a coworker with God."2

It also speaks frankly about menstruation. The writers knew that the end of menses was likely to be the end of fertility (Gen 18:11). Menstruation is actually used as a plot device in the story of Rachel's deception of Laban (Gen 31:32-35).

Destructive uses of sexuality
Genesis also contains numerous warnings about the potential destructive uses of sexuality. There are references to rape (Gen 34:1-4), gang rape (Gen 19:4-8), incest (Gen 19:31-39), and prostitution (Gen 38:15-17). In the three versions of the wife/sister stories, Abraham and Isaac try to pass their wives off as their sisters and almost endanger peace in the land (Gen 12, 26 and 20).

The Bible does not, however, contain the negative sexual messages that people assume. For example Sodom and Gomorrah is not a story against consensual same gender sexual relations. Rather, the sin is about inhospitality and gang rape. Likewise, the sin of Onan is not about masturbation but about his ignoring the Levite Law to procreate with his dead brother's wife. Onan does not masturbate to avoid procreation. He practices coitus interruptus: but "Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, he spilled his semen on the ground whenever he went in to his brother's wife" (Gen 38:9), something he apparently did with some frequency.

Sexuality in relationships
The special role of sexuality in the first year of a sexual relationship is underscored in Deuteronomy in this translation from the Tanakh: "When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any related duty. He shall be free at home for one year, to be happy with the wife whom he has married" (Deut 24:5). (Writing about this passage in the 15th century, Martin Luther wrote that it is "as though Moses wanted to say, 'The joy will last for a year; after that we shall see."3) Proverbs also contains hope for ongoing sexual intimacy in a long-term relationship: "Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. May her breasts satisfy you at all times; may you be intoxicated always by her love" (Prov 5:18-19).

Same gender sexual relations
The Bible contains only four verses about same gender sexual relations: two in Leviticus and two in the New Testament. Leviticus says that "you shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" (Lev 18:22), and "if a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them" (Lev 20:13). The same scripture says that cursing your mother and father is also punishable by death (Lev 20:9) as is sex with the wife of a neighbor (Lev 20:10), one's father's wife (Lev 20:11), daughter-in-law (Lev 20:12), both a woman and her mother (20:14), or an animal (Lev 20:15-16). Other acts, punishable by exile, according to Leviticus are seeing family members naked and having sex during menstruation (Lev 20:17-21).

In the New Testament, the opening passages of Romans condemn pagan practices. It then denounces sex with someone of the same gender: "For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural" (Rom 1:26), "and in the same way, also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error" (Rom 1:27). In addition, verses in 1 Corinthians (6:9-10) and 1 Timothy (1:10) equate "fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites" with other sinners such as the "greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers" (1 Cor 6:9-10). But, these two books never offer definitions for these terms.

It is, at best, inaccurate to use scripture to condemn committed, consensual same-gender sexual relationships. The fact that only four verses explicitly address this issue implies that this subject was of relatively little importance to the authors. In contrast, there are more than ten prohibitions in Leviticus against sexual relations during menses and 17 verses on how to make a grain offering. The Hebrew Bible also condemns eating fat (Lev 3:17), touching the bedding of a menstruating woman (Lev 15:20), and cursing one's parents (Lev 20:9, Deut 21:18-21).

Most modern theologians believe that these passages about men having sex with men actually related to the rejection of nearby foreign cults (Lev 20:22-23). Such cults practiced sacred prostitution--often using male prostitutes--during religious observances. Prostitution was an accepted part of urban society during biblical times (see 1 Kings 22:38, Isa 23:16, Prov 7:12, and 9:14); cultic prostitution (or prostitution as part of religious practice) was, however, clearly condemned. Deuteronomy and Numbers contain several prohibitions against such prostitution (Deut 23:18 and Num 25:1-3) but none on same-gender relations. Many theologians believe that Leviticus refers only to the use of male sacred prostitutes, a practice not completely eradicated in the Temple until the reforms of Josiah (1Kings 15:12 22:45; 2Kings 23:7)4

Interestingly, there are several little quoted passages in the Bible that acknowledge sexual contact and love between men. For example, Abraham asks his servant to swear an oath by putting "your hand under my thigh" (Gen 24:2). David, speaking of Jonathan, wrote: "...greatly beloved were you to me, your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women" (2 Sam 1:26). Indeed, Jonathan and David seem to fall in love at first sight: "...when David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul" (1 Sam 18:1). And later, "Saul's son Jonathan took great delight in David" ( 1 Sam 19:1).

Adultery
In contrast to its position on same gender sex, the Bible clearly condemns adultery. It is important to understand, however, that adultery is looked upon not only as a sexual sin but also as a violation of property rights. In Biblical times, adultery was defined as having sex with another man's wife or concubine without his permission, not as having sex outside of one's marriage. Indeed, Proverbs (6:26) urges men to seek prostitutes, whose fee is equal only to a loaf of bread, rather than be tempted by the wife of another. People in biblical times felt that a man who committed adultery was not violating his own marriage, but rather that of the other woman and her husband. During the period in which the New Testament was written, the husband was said to commit adultery if he divorced his wife (Mt 5:32, Mk 10:11, and Lk 16:18), and it was forbidden in several books (Rom 13:9, Gal 5:19, and Jas 2:11).

There are few restraints on men and sex in the Leviticus and Deuteronomy codes besides adultery. For example, there is no limit on the number of wives and concubines (Solomon was said to have 700 wives and 300 concubines) (1Kings 11:3), and male virginity is not discussed. The law is silent on sexual behavior for an engaged couple.

Celibacy
Celibacy is never presented positively in the Hebrew Bible. During the disorganized period of time in Judges, Jephthah's daughter begs her father for two months' reprieve before she is to die because she is still a virgin: "grant me two months, so that I may go and wander on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, my companions and I" (Judg 11:37). The daughters of Israel went out each year to mourn Jepthah's daughter because "she had never slept with a man" (Judg 11:39). Similarly, the prophet Jeremiah was said to remain single as an example of the disorganization that characterized Israel at that time (Jer 16:2).

The Song of Solomon
The most overtly sexual book of the Bible are the Canticles or the Song of Solomon. Throughout history, there have been attempts to understand the Song of Solomon as an allegory. In various books, the Song is described as a book about the love of God for Israel, or about the love of Jesus for the church, or even about historical battles. Modern scholars have, by and large, dismissed these interpretations, believing that they "do not explicate the primary level of the text, which is explicitly about human love and nowhere mentions God."5

The Song of Solomon celebrates erotic love between a man and a woman in a remarkably mutual relationship. Marcia Falk in the Harper's Bible Commentary says that "women speak as assertively as men, initiating action at least as often; men are free to be as gentle, as vulnerable, even as coy as women. Men and women similarly praise each other for their sensuality and their beauty, and identical phrases are sometimes used to describe lovers of both genders."6

The Song does not talk about sex in the context of marriage or procreation: the woman in the Song is never "called a wife, nor is she required to bear children. In fact, to the issue of marriage and procreation, the Song does not speak."7

The Song is remarkably explicit in its erotic descriptions. Consider, for example, these two passages:

My beloved thrust his hand into the opening,
and my inmost being yearned for him.
I arose to open to my beloved,
and my hand dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh...(Song 5:4-5).
How fair and pleasant you are
O loved one, delectable maiden!
You are stately as a palm tree
and your breasts are like its clusters.
I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its branches.
Oh, may your breasts be like
clusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
and your kisses like the best wine
that goes down smoothly
gliding over lips and teeth...(Song 7:6-9).

Interestingly, after Genesis and Psalms, the Song was the most frequently expounded book of the Old Testament in the middle ages. Denys Turner in Eros and Allegory observes this irony: "male celibates, priests and monks have for centuries described, expressed, and celebrated their love of God in the language of sex."9

Some early theologians warned against the text: Denys the Carthusian, for example, warned that the Song should not be read by anyone under 30, and that only people who are "reformed, purified of sensual desire" will not be harmed by its reading. Giles of Rome said that "the text here seems to be defective."9

The Latter Prophets present a much more daunting picture of marriage and sexuality. The marriage metaphors of Hosea, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all portray relationships gone awry: "Plead with your mother, plead--for she is not my wife and I am not her husband..." (Hos 2:2). "...I will hedge up her way with thorns and I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths" (Hos 2:6). In these passages, Israel is portrayed as the adulterous wife and God as the husband who has deserted her.

Even in the times surrounding the exile, however, the love between men and women are still held as an ideal. For example, in Jeremiah, the Lord says to Israel, "I am going to banish from this place, in your days and before your eyes, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride." Numerous analogies related to sexual abuse, rape, and adultery are used to indicate the coming destruction.

The promise of God to Israel is referred to in terms of intimate relationships. Consider this passage from Isaiah:
...but you shall be called My Delight Is In Her
and your land Married.
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your builder marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride;
so shall your God rejoice over you (Isa 62:4-5).

This passage is reminiscent of the passage in Deuteronomy quoted above; the special relationship of a couple newly in love is celebrated. The prophets recognized that a righteous relationship between a man and a woman is as holy as God's love for Israel.

The New Testament

The New Testament includes little discussion of sexuality issues. However, The First Letter of Paul to The Church at Corinth (also known as 1 Corinthians) is rich in such coverage. In fact, it contains many of the topics in current sexuality education programs and can be viewed as a form of sexuality instruction for the first century.

First Corinthians includes some coverage of at least 17 sexuality topics. In his letter, Paul briefly addresses anatomy, families, child-rearing, values, decision-making, communication, assertiveness, shared sexual behavior, and sexual desire. He also provides extensive information on bodies, love, marriage, gender roles, sexuality and society, law, and religion. First Corinthians recognizes the sacredness of the body and sexual relationships, reinforces that sexual desire is part of life, and respects the importance of mutual and egalitarian pleasure and responsibility in intimate relationships. It also affirms marriage and presents a brilliant description of love.

Paul believed that the "body is a temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 6:19). He also recognized the sacredness of all parts of the body: "God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body" (1 Cor 12:14-26). Although he unfortunately differentiated between more and less honorable parts of the body, he asserted that "...there may be no dissension withinthe body, but the members may have the same care for one another" (1 Cor 12:25).

Paul underscored that sexual relations are sacred and not to be engaged in lightly. 1Corinthians 6:12-20 should not be read as condemning all sexual relationships as some theologians have implied. Rather, it affirms that sexuality has the ability to profoundly affect one's life. Many scholars have written that porneia should not be translated as fornication but rather as sexual immorality as delineated by the Torah.10 Paul was urging Christians to avoid using prostitutes--especially cultic prostitutes--because the physical act of intercourse involves the sanctity of becoming "one flesh." In the words of William Countryman, Paul "regarded sexual desire as a natural appetite though one too central to human identity to be treated casually."11

Paul recognized that adults experience sexual desire. He felt that people have the ability to make decisions about their sexual feelings, that sexual feelings are not uncontrollable, and that they should be acknowledged and acted upon only as they support one's values (1 Cor 7:36-8).

Paul did not suggest abstinence and celibacy for all. He believed that permanently abstaining from sexual relationships is a special gift: "I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind" (1 Cor 7:7). Indeed, in a surprising admission, he stated that his personal belief in celibacy was not from Jesus or God: "Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord" (1 Cor 7:25).

Paul clearly affirmed marriage as the context for sexual relationships and emphasized the mutuality of roles. "The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to the husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body; but the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body; but the wife does" (Corinthians 7:3-5).

Further, partners have a right to expect sexual relations on a regular basis: "Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time" (1 Cor 7:5).

Paul wavered in his understanding of the equality of both genders, but he did underscore the unique contributions of both. Although there are certainly lines in this text that are overtly patriarchal (Corinthians 11:8-10), other verses recognize the importance of both genders: "in the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman" (1 Cor 11:11).

The centrality of the message of love is a basic component of all good sexuality education programs. And here, Paul is as relevant today as he was two millennia ago. Chapter 13 could be a central point of study for sexuality education programs from adolescence to adulthood:

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or
arrogant or rude....It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor 13:4-7)

Toward A New Sexual Theology
Numerous religious denominations are struggling with sexuality issues, and the Bible is an important place to start these explorations. Jewish and Christian individuals who are seeking to understand the role that sexuality plays in their lives can look to scripture for insights and understanding.

Without a doubt, there is an urgent need for a new sexual theology that will help people recognize the value of sexuality. Theologian James Nelson has eloquently stated the goals of such a theology:

It will be strongly sex-affirming, understanding sexual pleasure as a moral good rooted in the sacred value of our sensuality and erotic power, and not needing justification by procreative possibility. It will be grounded in respect for our own and other's bodily integrity and will help us defend against the common sexual violations of that integrity. It will celebrate fidelity in our commitments without legalistic prescription as to the precise forms such fidelity must make. It will be an ethic whose principles apply equally and without double standards to persons of both genders, of all colors, ages, bodily conditions, and sexual orientations.12

To that, I add, "Amen." Sexologists need to take a new look at the Bible and its influence on many of the people we serve. We need to understand that the Bible teaches that sexuality is a central part of being human, that bodies are good, that pleasure is good, and that men and women experience a healthy desire of each other.

Just as it is today, sexuality in biblical times was a source of pleasure and intimacy as well as misery and distress. Bible stories and passages can help people identify and live according to their own values and to discriminate between sexual decisions that are life-enhancing or destructive. Those of us who are people of faith must spread the gospel, literally the "good news" that the Bible affirms a healthy and positive view of sexuality.

Author's note: I am grateful to the Yale Divinity School for the opportunity to participate in their Fellowship program and to the faculty for its assistance in this research.

Endnotes
1. S. P. Jeansonne, Women of Genesis (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990).
2. D. R. Mace, The Christian Response to the Sexual Revolution (New York: Abington Press, 1970).
3. Luther's Works, vol. 28 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1973), p. 12.
4. L. M. Epstein, Sex Laws and Customs in Judaism (New York: Block Publishing Company, 1948).
5. M. Falk, "Song of Songs," Harpers Bible Commentary (San Francisco: Harper, 1988).
6. Ibid.
7. P. Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (London: SCM Press Ltd, 1978).
8. D. Turner, Eros and Allegory (Massachusetts: Cistercian Publications, 1995).
9. Ibid.
10. R. Lawrence, The Poisoning of Eros (New York: Augustine Moore Press, 1989).
11. L. W. Countryman, Dirt, Greed, and Sex (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988).
12. J. B. Nelson, Body Theology (Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992), p. 21.