Sexual Purity and Sola Scriptura
“How dare you claim to have exclusive rights to the only correct biblical interpretation—especially on a topic as personal as sexuality?”
You are here because you want Focus on the Family's views on sexual morality and abstinence. Our views are, quite simply, God's views, as expressed in the Bible. Some might call such a statement arrogant: "How dare you claim to speak for God?" or, "How dare you claim to have exclusive rights to the only correct biblical interpretation—especially on a topic as personal as sexuality?"
We dare because we have chosen to accept the Bible at face value. We dare because we see no reason to reinterpret what Christians have affirmed for thousands of years when they have read simple statements such as Paul's command to the Thessalonian church to "avoid sexual immorality." Taken together, all the Bible's passages relating to sex reveal one very clear declaration: Within a committed, one-man-one-woman marriage, sex is right and good, but any sexual relations outside that boundary are wrong and to be avoided.
Scripture, Plain and Simple
The ultimate battleground for sexual morality is not in legislative chambers, nor is it in the courts or in classrooms. It's not even in theological debates or in theologians' personal studies. The real battleground is within the heart and mind of each of us who claims to be a follower of Christ. Will we accept and adhere to the plain teachings within the Bible, or will our personal desires cause us to nuance away the manifest meaning of simple, basic biblical statements and stories?
From the time of The Enlightenment, scriptural influence was increasingly marginalized by—and was reinterpreted to fit—new discoveries in "new" sciences. (Never mind that "new" scientific discoveries often contradicted previous "new" scientific findings. Come to think of it, that still happens.) Gradually, science dethroned Scripture, first in epistemological matters (the nature of knowledge), and then in moral matters. (After all, morality rests on our basic understanding of how we know what we know, and if we gain knowledge first and foremost through our observations apart from any external authority, then all behavioral standards naturally change in response to that worldview.)
In recent decades, however, probably because we humans are inherently religious beings, most people have rejected a purely naturalistic epistemology and morality in favor of a worldview that marries science to religion, with religion generally deferring to the headship role of science. My religion tells me extramarital sex is wrong, but science tells me people will violate that religious stricture. The offspring of this union of conflicting views is a compromise that insists Scripture adjust to the "real world"—calling for chastity while distributing condoms.
But, taken at face value (trusting that God meant Scripture as communication to all, common people as well as scholars), the Bible does not allow for such "real world" compromises. Reading the Bible at face value reveals its expectation that people need to adjust to it rather than allowing for it to adjust to new discoveries, desires and trends.
Where do we stand on sexual morality and abstinence? We stand on the plain meaning of the Bible. For specifics, read the Colorado Statement on Biblical Sexual Morailty
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