Nature, Grace, Sex, And Analogies

 By Dr. R. Scott Clark - Posted at The Heidelblog:

Josh Butler, a fellow at the newly launched Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics and author of a forthcoming book, Beautiful Union (Multnomah, 2023), has written a provocative essay, “Sex Won’t Save You (But It Points To The One Who Will).” He raises some interesting questions: what is the function of natural revelation and what are its limits? How does Paul employ the union of husband and wife in Ephesians 5:31–32, and are evangelicals re-sacralizing nature (i.e., is marriage a sacrament or is the act of sex, within marriage, a sacrament)?

He begins by arresting our attention: “I used to look to sex for salvation.” Our culture, he writes, “looks to sex for salvation too” but idolizing sex, he writes, “results in slavery.” “Sex,” he argues, “wasn’t designed to be your salvation but to point you to the One who is” (italics original). He argues “[s]ex is an icon of Christ and the church” and it is “an icon of salvation.” To illustrate he appeals to the categories of generosity and hospitality. He appeals to the Hebrew expression for sexual union and urges that each sex brings something unique to the union. He concludes by appealing to Paul’s analogy to say that Christ and his church have the same sort of reciprocal relationship. Warning: the language is relatively graphic. You may not want to read his essay out loud to children, teens, or your grandmother. Let it suffice to say that he appeals to images of giving and receiving.

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Editor's note:

TGC has removed the controversial article, stating: 

"We recognize that the adapted excerpt from Josh Butler’s forthcoming book Beautiful Union lacked sufficient context to be helpful in this format. The excerpt was taken from the first chapter of Beautiful Union, and you can download and read the entire introduction and first chapter here." 

(Source:Beautiful Union Book (thegospelcoalition.org))

See also:

• The Magnum Opus of all Heresy… | See, there's this thing called biology... (wordpress.com)
• The Gospel Coalition Under Fire for Article Comparing Christ’s Love to a Sexual Encounter (churchleaders.com)
• Sex Won't Save You - Jennifer Michelle Greenberg (substack.com)