One Flesh

Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. (Genesis 2:22-24 NIV)

Becoming one flesh is a beautiful part of God's design for husband and wife.  God clearly designed it to be beautiful, powerful, and enjoyable.  After all, God did design and create our bodies.  Reading the Song of Solomon, we see the beauty of romantic love being expressed between husband and wife.  God intended sexual intimacy to build intimacy between a husband and wife.

"Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." (Genesis 1:28 NIV)

There is a second God-given purpose for sexual intimacy: children.  When brought Eve to Adam, she would help Adam meet the requirements of God's command.  The first command God gave Adam and Eve together was to be fruitful and multiply.  Obviously they fulfilled that command because we are here today - all 7 billion of us.

Now for the matters you wrote about: "It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman." But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. (1 Corinthians 7:1-6 NIV)

As powerful, beautiful and enjoyable as sex can be, it can also be twisted in ways God never intended it to be.  Husbands and wives are both tempted to go outside their marriage bed when things aren't going well at home.  People try to separate the pleasure part from the procreation part of sexual intimacy.  Since we aren't very good at separating the two, we end up with unexpected children.  40% of them are aborted before coming out of the womb.  The rest are given up for adoption, born into a single-parent home, or born into a two-parent home that wasn't ready for them.  It all works much better if we simply accept both parts of God's design and enjoy God's gift of intimacy within the covenant commitment of marriage.

Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. (1 Timothy 5:2 NIV)

Before that, we should be treating one another with all purity - like a sibling.  That way, we don't end up with the many, many problems brought about by the enemy-twisted views of human sexuality.

How about you?  Do you treat people with all purity like a brother or sister?  Do you reserve sexual intimacy for your (future) spouse?  When you do enjoy sexual intimacy, will you be open to both pleasure and procreation as God intended?  Do you enjoy God's design for one flesh?