Mortification of the Flesh: How the Gospel Produces Sexual Purity in Christ Followers

Introducing Pride Month

June has been declared by our American government as “pride month.” During this time period, many discussions surround the rights, morals, and ideologies of the LGBTQ+ movement and/or agenda. The church is not excused nor excluded from these discussions. In fact, God’s people might and should be wrestling with how to navigate these tumultuous times of sexual purity, promiscuity, and pandemonium.

Disclaimer

From the outset, this content is primarily directed to Christians who believe in both the gospel of Jesus Christ and the authority and inerrancy of God’s Word. The primary audience should not deter anyone who has a different belief system–also known as a worldview. If you aren’t a Christian, you can and should still engage with arguments that might be contrary to your own–Christians, we must do the same. Perhaps a non-Christian might follow the logic of my argument and be convinced that Christianity is not only a belief system–what we call faith, but also provides a logical framework to help us make sense of the purpose and parameters of our sexuality–what we call reason.

Some of us might ask the question, “How do we navigate the ideologies of pride month?” Does God really condemn sexual behaviors (like homosexuality, transgenderism, polygamy, watching pornography, etc.) for Christians if they are not hurting others, living out who they are, and are in consensual relationships?” To restate the question, “Does God really disapprove of believers accepting the underlying theme of pride month–love is love?” These are great questions for the church to wrestle with as our culture accepts various forms of sexual appetites and proclivities and as we, the church, have ignored some of the sexual sins within our own communities of faith.

Sin: The Root of the Problem

The root problem for all sexual activity and thoughts that are outside the bounds of God’s intended purpose for sex is what the Bible calls “sin.” We are born sinful or what theologians define as being born with a sin nature (cf. Eph 2:3). This is currently true of those who are not believers and was true of those who are now redeemed in Christ–albeit all present believers would willingly tell you that they still struggle with sin even though their sin has been covered by Christ (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-11; 2 Cor 5:16-17).

We need to understand that realistically sexual sin is just as much inside the church as it is outside the community of God’s people. This means we need to be diligent about fighting sin for the sake of the gospel in our local communities instead of being seen as people who only fight against the sexual promiscuity of our culture–i.e., pride month. For example, we sometimes need to take a Pauline stance when it comes to sexual deviants like he did to the Church in Corinth (2 Cor 5:1-2). We must be a people who fight against the lust of the flesh and the nonchalant attitude of “acceptable” sexual sin, such as: lust, pornography, and sexual humor, within our churches with the same tenacity that we do towards culture. The church ought to be seen as place of both redemption and healing in the gospel, but also a place where the gospel’s presence becomes evidenced to the watching world because of our own posture towards our own sinful proclivities.

Before we embark on a discussion of how to think about pride month from a Christian perspective, we need to do this through the methodical understanding of three truths that build upon each other. First, every person on the planet is born a sinner. We have a sinful disposition that reveals itself in our actions–albeit the application of our sin nature can be different from person to person. Second, the church must deal with the log in its own eye when it comes to sexual sins (cf. Matt 7:5). In other words, we must be serious about personal holiness within the body of Christ. Third, after removing the log from our own eyes, we are in a better position to engage with culture’s distortion of human sexuality.

Mortification of the Flesh

The church and culture need to see that Christianity call believers to the mortification of the flesh. Yet, a dying to self that develops personal joy and contentment in Christ. Many times, people will make the argument that God can save me, still love me, but also want me to be happy. In hearing this statement, people are seeking a means to be saved and also indulge their sinful appetites. The idea may be reworded like this: I believe in Jesus by faith alone through grace alone; thus, I can continue to live out my perceived sexual appetites as long as those acts don’t hurt anyone, don’t break any human laws, and are consensual in nature.

The Bible has two passages that are pertinent to this problematic thought. First, Romans 6:1-4,

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We are buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:1-4, emphasis added.

The Apostle Paul makes a clear argument that believers are no longer to go on deliberately sinning because of the grace they have received in Christ. This great theologian rejects the notion that by sinning more one receives more–abounding–grace. To summarize the counterargument, since God’s grace covers all my sin, I should sin as much as possible so that I receive more of God’s grace. Paul asserts that this is not the mindset nor the nature of a redeemed person. A believer has put sin to death (the puritans called this mortification). Therefore, Paul tells all believers that since they are in Christ by faith, they are to walk in the newness of life that Christ has given to them by turning from all sinful practices.

Paul would answer the question, “Can I still make a practice of sexual sin if that is who I am since God wants me to be happy?” with a resounding “No” because believing in Jesus makes you a new person in Christ. Thus, believers are to walk in this newness of life by conforming to the image of Christ and surrendering to the Word of God, which means embracing the biblical view and practice of human sexuality while also restraining from all forms of sexual sin.

The second passage comes from Jesus’s teaching in Luke 14:27,

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:27

Jesus teaches that being a disciple–i.e., a faithful follower of Jesus–means surrendering our appetites, affections, and material possessions–basically everything–to him. In other words, Christianity is a complete surrender to the Lordship of Christ. The cross was a symbol of an excruciating and painful death in this time period. Jesus used this murderous tool as a picture of what discipleship is all about. It is about dying to our wants and desires and following our Lord and Savior who bought us by his blood. This includes our sexual compulsions.

We need to take away that both Jesus and Paul teach about the mortification of the flesh. This means that Christians look to the scriptures for their guidance on human sexuality, which is one man and one woman in covenant marriage. This human institution is where our sexuality is to be celebrated. Anything outside of that ought to be put to death–i.e., the mortification of the flesh.

Implications for Pride Month

The Bible seems to definitively answer that the mortification of the flesh requires us to answer in the negative to the practice of all sexual sins within the church. In addition, the church should take sexual sin seriously so that we have a biblically gracious and practical response to culture. This means that for those who have same-sex attraction they must mortify those passions for the sake of the gospel that saved them from all their sin. This means that those who struggle with gender identity must mortify that ideology for the sake of the gospel that saved them from all their sin. This means that those who are engaged in pornography must mortify their passions for “fake pleasure” for the sake of the gospel that saved them from all their sins. This means that those in adulterous relationships ought to mortify their passions for the sake of the gospel that saved them from all their sins. This means that those who look lustfully at someone must mortify their passions for the sake of the gospel that saved them from their sins. The list could go on forever, but the point remains the same. Jesus saves us from our sin and calls us to follow him completely.

We need to be reminded that Jesus calls us out of our sinful nature. Jesus empowers us to think rightly about our sexuality. Jesus’s love on the cross and the empty tomb makes us respond with gratitude to his saving work. Therefore, we joyfully struggle in this life by mortifying the flesh, which includes all of our sexual appetites that go against God’s design for our sexuality. I pray that you see Jesus is all about redeeming us for his glory, and this means dying to ourselves and living for him by putting to death our sinful proclivities. However, don’t think of this as loss, but rather a gain because in the end, we get the greatest treasure of all–Jesus himself.

It is this message that help us understand the underlying ideologies of “pride month” while also providing the appropriate response to ourselves, our churches, and our culture. Culture needs to know, and our churches need to embrace that a relationship with Jesus is far more valuable than any physical pleasure this earth can provide. Yet, when we do things God’s way, we actually find more freedom, joy, and appreciation due to the work of Christ on our behalf.

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