Page 151 - Push Back

who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

In the passage above, we have two of the three parts of man mentioned. Paul speaks of intimate
union at the level of body, and at the level of spirit. Paul mentions the physical union of a man
and a woman as being parallel to, and a type and shadow of, spiritual union between humanity
and “the Lord.” One could rightly say that the goal of creation is “HOLY union” of body, soul,
and spirit.

Again, we are most familiar with intimate union on the level of the body. Because of sin in the
world, mankind has greatly defiled the physical union that Yahweh designed to be regarded as
holy.

Hebrews 13:4
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for fornicators
and adulterers God will judge.

This is a most serious matter with God. He will judge those who defile that which He ordained to
be holy and pure. Mankind has always understood the sanctity of the marriage union. Even those
in society who are strangers to the life of Christ have referred to the union of the man and woman
as “HOLY matrimony.” Traditional wedding vows begin with a statement similar to the
following:

Dearly beloved: We have come together in the presence of God to witness and bless the joining
together of this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony.

The holy character of the marriage union traces its source to the second chapter of Genesis.

Genesis 2:24-25
For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they
shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

In the act of sexual intercourse, the man and the woman become “one flesh” with each other. It is
worthy of consideration that in all other settings and relationships, it is regarded as a shameful
thing for a man or woman to expose their nakedness. Yet there is no condemnation from God,
and no consciousness within the soul of man, that it is immoral, nor an unholy act, for a man and
wife to see one another’s nakedness. Yahweh has sanctified the intimate union of a man and his
wife, declaring it holy.

Unholiness, and the judgment of God, enter in when the man or the woman go outside of the
marriage to participate in intimate physical union with another. Paul states that “fornicators and
adulterers God will judge.” Fornication is sexual union outside of the marriage covenant.
Adultery is sexual union with another person’s spouse.

It is important to understand that marriage is a covenant, and that sexual union is an act of