We’re not in Eden anymore. It’s an obvious statement, but it’s an important reminder. What God initially made as “very good” is now flawed. We have already established that God created sex for His glory and our good. But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden they brought sin into the world. That means that while sex, itself, is still good, sin has made us all to misuse and abuse sex. Sex, even our sex, has been contaminated by sin.
The Genesis account lays out for us first that post-fall sex can be shameful. Originally it was supposed to be for building unity, fulfilling God’s plan, and bringing Him glory. but now it can also bring shame and humiliation. Genesis 3 reads:
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:6-10)
Previously they were naked, but after the Fall they felt shame associated with their nakedness. Ours is a culture full of sexual shame. Not only do people commit “shameful acts,” but sex, itself, becomes associated with shame. This is particularly true of those in the Christian community whose hyper-conservativism makes them embarrassed about sex.
Sex, post-fall, is both people doing anything they want and people treating sex as a shameful act. The Bible speaks against both. The Bible has plenty to say about sexual immorality (we will look at this in the coming weeks). But the Bible also continues to develop a healthy picture of sex that forbids us from associating it inherently with something shameful.
It’s important for us to make this a key piece of our theology of sex. If we don’t remember how sin has damaged our sexuality we will be prone to do sex however we want. God as Creator has established His law over sex, even your sex. But our cultures says sex can be whatever you want and in the process applauds shameful acts. The Fall reminds us that we need rescuing; even our sex needs rescuing. Tomorrow we will look at the solution to the opposite side of this “shame equation.”
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