New Testament Christianity turned the natural and accepted sexual inclinations on their heads. Not only do the New Testament apostles reaffirm the prohibition against fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and all other sorts of sexual immorality,[5]but the gospel of Christ reminds Jews and Gentiles that men and women are not just spiritual equals, but sexual equals as well. 

#MeToo and the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh have the nation asking some very important questions about our sexual ethics. Are they too ambiguous or too clear-cut? Too prudish or too loose?

The aver-arching sexual ethic of Western Civilization was clear for centuries – do not dishonor women.  Yes, men especially were bad at upholding this, and there were legal exceptions to this ethic; but the general attitude toward sex among Judeo-Christian peoples was that of suppression. In the first century Christian Church, this attitude was in stark contrast to the contemporary Pagan animalistic view of sex. This is not to say the Pagans were without boundaries; but in general the honor and dignity those boundaries were meant to protect did not belong to women in the final analysis, but to men.

In Ancient Greece, for example, it was a worse crime to seduce the daughter or wife of a freeman than it was to really and physically rape an alien, slave, or prostitute.[1] In the Roman Empire, similarly, the standards of sexual ethics were largely in favor of men. Cato cited Roman Law, noting, “Moreover, it is written in the law concerning being put to death: ‘if you arrest your wife in adultery, you may kill her with impunity; but for her, if you commit adultery or engage in adulterous acts, she shall not dare to lay a finger on you, neither would it be just to do so.’”[2]

Throughout history in fact, there seems to have been a natural inclination to excuse or exalt the virility of men. Perhaps this is evidence of a conspiratorial patriarchy, but anthropologists will recognize that general masculine dominance was in many ways a necessary consequence of biology, even from an evolutionary model – the reasons ranging from general physical strength to the absence of an oestrus cycle (seasonal “heat” periods) found in the rest of the mammals.[3] Even the most famous feminist apostle, Simone de Beauvoir noticed the general aggressiveness and control exerted by males throughout the animal kingdom.[4]

Speaking from an anthropological perspective, then, New Testament Christianity turned the natural and accepted sexual inclinations on their heads. Not only do the New Testament apostles reaffirm the prohibition against fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and all other sorts of sexual immorality,[5]but the gospel of Christ reminds Jews and Gentiles that men and women are not just spiritual equals, but sexual equals as well. St. Paul told the Corinthians, just after admonishing them for their overt sexual immorality, “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does.”

Every other culture would have stopped there, but Paul continues: “Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.”

This doctrine, among others, greatly contributed to the sexual suppression culture prevalent throughout Christianity. Paul recognizes there are still passions, “but if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than burn with passion.” Paul understood the passions of sex were real, but they were to be leashed, bridled, and guarded.

This sexual ethic, simplistically put, was the guiding doctrine toward intersex action. Christians throughout history – myself included – by no means got it right every single time. Adulterers, whores, and rapists are recognized throughout the history of the church, sometimes among its leaders. But hypocrites do not make the standard itself hypocritical. To assert this, one must likewise assert the standards against murder and man-stealing are hypocritical because so many throughout history that claimed Christianity participated in the same.

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