Sexual Morality

Today's Reading

Read 1 Corinthians 6:18-20: "Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

Then read Matthew 5:27-28: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

Reflection

Lewis addresses sexual morality head-on, without apology but also without the harsh tone some expect. He states the Christian standard plainly.

"Chastity is the most unpopular of the Christian virtues. There is no getting away from it; the Christian rule is, 'Either marriage, with complete faithfulness to your partner, or else total abstinence.'"

Lewis does not pretend this is easy or popular. But he argues that our difficulty with chastity tells us something important — not that the rule is wrong, but that our sexual instinct has become warped. He illustrates this with a thought experiment: imagine a country where people pay to watch a plate of food slowly uncovered on a stage. You would conclude something had gone wrong with the appetite for food. Lewis suggests something similar has gone wrong with the sexual appetite in modern culture.

But Lewis immediately makes a crucial move that sets him apart from moralists who treat sexual sin as the worst of all sins.

"The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising... of power, of hatred."

This is classic Lewis — demolishing smugness at every turn. The person who is sexually pure but filled with pride, contempt, and cruelty is in a far worse condition than the person who struggles with lust but is humble and compassionate. The devil, Lewis reminds us, is a pure spirit. His sins are entirely non-sexual.

Paul in 1 Corinthians treats the body as a temple — sacred, not shameful. The Christian view of sex is not that the body is dirty but that it is so valuable that it must be treated with reverence. Jesus in Matthew 5 extends the standard inward: it is not just about outward actions but about the heart's direction.

Going Deeper

Lewis's approach to sexual morality avoids two errors: the permissive culture that says desire justifies any action, and the legalistic culture that treats sexual sin as uniquely damning. The Christian view honors the body, acknowledges the power of sexual desire, and insists that it be directed toward its proper context — while firmly maintaining that spiritual sins are even more dangerous.

The question is not whether you struggle with sexual temptation — everyone does — but whether you are being honest about it and moving in the right direction.