Why Does Jesus Care So Much About Sex?
Walking through our Jesus + Sexuality formation class has me thinking a lot about where we've gone wrong. It’s prompted me to reflect on my own story and pastoral experiences. In particular, I keep returning to a question I've heard many times over the past 20 years of ministry: Why does Jesus care so much about sex?
To the modern mind, it feels strange. It seems odd that religion in general, and the Messiah in particular, would have an opinion about what we do in our "personal lives." Some of the concepts and passages we've explored in the class have helped me gain a bit more clarity, and perhaps you might find them helpful, too.
One thing I've been reminded of is Jesus' practice of making connections between the inward and outward lives of his disciples. Like in Matthew 5, when Jesus says: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'" That is the outward life. The act of adultery is a sin with the body. But then he makes a connection: "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." That's the inward life. The act of lust is a sin with the mind and heart.
Jesus is reframing righteousness around the heart. The religious class prohibited people from having sex outside of marriage. Which is a good thing. However, their zeal limited morality to the outward or public life. And so, what Jesus points out is that holiness is deeper than that. People are capable of adultery not just with their bodies, but in their hearts. You see, the seventh commandment isn't just about looking righteous; it's about being righteous. It's not just about our bodies; it's about the soul's relationship with our bodies.
Many of us carry a lot of pain and false notions about our sexuality. In recent history, the American Church has committed a similar error to that of the first-century Pharisees. For many, this stems from "purity culture." Instead of a holistic vision of human dignity, it created a rigid binary. As Garrett Kell notes, purity culture taught "that there are two types of people: those who are sexually 'pure,' and those who are 'impure'"—often comparing lost purity to a crumpled rose or a chewed piece of gum, never to be recovered. We were warned about sex, but we were never discipled. In other words, our inward formation and outward formation were fractured.
That fracture is what causes a wound.
And I think that's why Jesus cares so much about sex.
He wants us to be healed.
Biblically speaking, our bodies find wholeness when they are understood and seen through the lens of the soul. As writer Andy Crouch has put it, human beings are “heart-soul-mind-strength complexes designed for love.” Yet, sin—inwardly and outwardly—has separated the body from the soul. To be sure, the sin is not always our own. Often, the sin is a violation against us. The fracture cuts both ways.
Consider pornography. Engaging porn is the practice of detaching a body into a merely physical and visible commodity for self-centered pleasure, rather than seeing the body through a soul, mind, and heart meant for glory and relationship. The real violation of porn is the belittling of a body-soul person into just a body. And it cuts both ways. The one consuming the porn is wounded, as is the one who is being objectified.
This is why Jesus cares so much. And one of the beautiful mysteries of Jesus' resurrected body is that it is both old and new. He still bore the wounds of the cross, yet his body was newly glorified (see Luke 24:37-40, 42-43). You see, when he was crucified, he allowed his body to be detached from his soul. But when he was raised from the dead, his whole self was fully integrated and restored. That's the good news. Bodies have been fractured from souls, but in Christ, our bodies bear his image now and will one day be whole and glorified.
When Jesus teaches us about the connection between the inward and outward life, he's beginning the healing process. It's a thread God weaves through the whole redemptive story, emphasizing "the primary unity and integration of body and soul in creation, in the incarnation, and in the bodily resurrection." Because of this, naming our sexual woundedness isn't something to fear—it begins the process of reintegration. Walking in righteousness is the pathway to healing. It's how Jesus is bringing our bodies back into full alignment with our heart, soul, and mind, making us whole again (see Mark 12:30).
That, I think, is what Jesus really cares about.
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RESOURCES & FURTHER READING
Matthew 5:27-28 – Jesus' teaching on adultery and lust, establishing the vital connection between the outward bodily action and the inward heart/mind.
Mark 12:30 (and Deut. 6:5) – The command to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; the biblical picture of a fully integrated human being.
Luke 24:37-40, 42-43 & John 20:26-27 – Post-resurrection appearances highlighting the mystery of Jesus’ glorified body, which retains physical form (flesh, bone, eating) and bears the scars of trauma, yet is entirely healed and restored.
Genesis 2 & 3 – The original design of the body-soul union (dust and breath) without shame, and the subsequent fracture, hiding, and blame that entered humanity through sin.
1 Corinthians 15:42-44 & Romans 8:23 – Paul’s teachings on the future redemption and glorification of our physical bodies.
Curt Thompson, The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves.
Garrett Kell, Pure in Heart: Sexual Purity and What It Means to Be a Man.
Rachel Joy Welcher, Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexuality
Linda Kay Klein, Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free
Andy Crouch, The Life We’re Looking For
"Biblical Hermeneutics and the Body-Soul Debate" (Biola University Center for Christian Thought)
"Why You Can't Escape Purity Culture" by Liz Bucar
"20 Great Quotes from Garrett Kell’s New Book on Sexual Purity"
