Is Sexual Desire Good or Bad?
The Creation of Adam, 1512, Michelangelo
Sexual desire is a complex subject. It arises from the human soul, and is something God our Creator intended for us, with its rules and norms written deep in our hearts. Sexuality is integral to our humanity, and it encompasses a myriad expressions.
Eros
Sexual desire, also known by its Greek term, eros – the mutual attraction of the sexes – is not merely the desire for sexual intercourse that can lead to marriage and procreation.
It is also the ‘nuclear’ energy that comes from our hearts – the energy that builds and inspires families, societies, civilisations, culture, literature, the arts, music, and other great human endeavours. This energy is intended to direct us to our ultimate destiny in heaven.
How so, you may ask. When God created humanity, He began with the end in mind. If our end is heaven – the marriage supper of the Lamb of God, or the marriage of Christ, the bridegroom, to His bride, the Church – then our sexual desire – earthly eros – and marriage is a foretaste of our redeemed eros, the desire that leads us to heaven.
Creation and redemption
Christianity is really about our creation and redemption. It is the story of the marriages of the Adam and Eve of the Book of Genesis, and the marriage of the New Adam, Christ, to His bride, the Church, symbolising God’s desire for intimate union with us.
The Old Testament foreshadows and prefigures the New Testament, which fulfils and fully reveals its prophecies.
Ephesians 5:31-32 tells us the union of flesh in the consummation of marriage is a great and profound mystery, since it is an image of Christ and his Church.
The consummation of the earthly marriage of Adam and Eve points to the consummation of the heavenly marriage between Christ and His Church, as described in Revelation 19-21.
To give humanity knowledge of His ultimate plan, God created us male and female with sexual desire in our hearts that leads to marriage. The consummation of that marriage is the fulfilment of our redemption.
Love vs lust
Satan, on the other hand, confounds God’s heavenly plan by distorting eros, causing us to lust instead of love – using people for our own sexual gratification.
Through the sexual sins of masturbation, fornication, adultery, sodomy, and prostitution, among others, eros has been perverted. Redemption, then, is the redemption of our body and of eros, so that living in purity we can see God and His plan, for “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).
Good or bad?
Is sexual desire good or bad? The answer is – both.
God created everything and saw that it was good, but with the Fall of Man in Adam, our human nature was damaged, and along with it, our sexual desire.
Eros, the impulse of the heart towards the true, good, and beautiful, was originally created pure.
Through the Fall, our sexual desire was distorted – even perverted – and became lust. This inordinate eros leads us to use, rather than love, people.
However, all is not lost. Our redemption through Jesus Christ is God’s way of restoring His original plan, reversing this distortion caused by original sin.
This redemption redirects our eros to authentically love what is true, good, and beautiful.
Summary
Sexual desire as eros is God’s plan to point us to heaven.
Original sin distorted eros, causing us to lust for instead of loving others.
Redemption of our body involves the redemption of eros.
Only with the grace of redemption can we reorient our eros to seek the true, the good, and the beautiful, which leads us to seek and love God who is the Ultimate Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
