However, in emphasizing sexual purity it is very important for us to note that Christians do not regard sex itself as impure in any way. Sex is God’s good gift—to serve, not to be the master, but the servant of the spiritual and emotional bond between a man and woman in the holy estate of marriage. Christians oppose sexual sin not because we have a low view of sex, my friends—it is because we have a high view of sex. We care about chastity not because we believe that sex is dirty—we do not—we believe that it is holy, and therefore we call for it to be treated in that way.
Realizing this reminds us that as Christians, we oppose sexual immorality and paganism not merely because we are upholding some tradition. We are not merely opposing the society in this; we are serving the society. How great is the need of our culture right now to see a radical counterculture that believes in purity, and true love, and innocence, holiness, chastity—and these things are actually realized in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our world needs holiness from the people of God, and that will lead us first to sexual purity.
J. I. Packer writes this:
Richard D. PhillipsOur benighted society urgently needs recalling to the noble and ennobling view of sex which Scripture implied, and the Seventh Commandment assumes—namely, that sex is for fully and permanently committed relationships—marriage—which prepare us for and help us into the archetype. What is that? The love and delight of knowing God.You see, we do not believe that it is merely a matter of maintaining a traditional morality or a traditional institution. It concerns the truth about creation, redemption, and the knowledge of God. What does Paul say? Not so much about sex, but about the marital union as a whole—part of which is the mystery of sex—he says that it is a picture, in a way, of Christ and his church. These are our concerns: creation, redemption, the knowledge and glory of God.1
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;