Heaven and Sex
By Babu G. Ranganathan
Will there be sexual relations in heaven? Some say "No" because Jesus says in Matthew 22:30 that we will be like the angels. But, in the context of what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 22:30, what Jesus meant is that we will be like the angels in that there will be no marriage in heaven. A question was given to Jesus concerning a woman who had several husbands in her lifetime (each husband having died and the woman outliving them all). The question given to Jesus was who will be the woman's husband at the resurrection since she had several husbands. Jesus responds by saying, "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven" (Matthew 22:30, KJV).
In heaven no one will belong exclusively to one person and there will be no building of families in heaven as marriage involves. Only in this sense we will be like the angels because angels do not marry. But, we will not be like the angels in every other sense. For example, the Bible teaches that we will continue to be able to eat and enjoy food in our resurrected bodies, but angels are strictly spirit beings and don't eat food.
On earth sex is reserved for marriage, but that does not mean that sex in heaven must require marriage. In this life sex within marriage also is a test of faithfulness, but in heaven no such test is necessary for only the faithful will be there. But, if there is sex in heaven it will be driven spiritually and by perfect love. It will not be driven by lust or the body and, yet, it will be more enjoyable for soul and body than any sex on earth. It is not something that we can now imagine in our fallen, selfish, and sinful state.
Human sexuality is so powerful because it is not only for reproduction. Animals don't have sex all the time but humans do. Human sexuality is a hunger of the soul as well as body and that is because human sexuality is an expression of the essence of God.
The Bible teaches in Genesis that God created Adam and Eve in His image. God's image is not limited to sexuality but sexuality is partly involved in making up that image. Some say that the image of God cannot include sexuality because animals also have male and female sexuality. But, again, animal sexuality and human sexuality are universes apart. Animal sexuality only involves reproduction. Human sexuality involves communication of the spirit and soul as well as that of the body. In the New Testament human sexuality is used as a picture of Christ's spiritual relationship with the Church, the body of all true believers in Christ (Ephesians 5:31-32).
In Genesis 5:2 we read "Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created" (KJV). Notice that both the male and female were called "Adam" by God. Eve was taken out of Adam for Eve had already existed within Adam. The Bible teaches that God finished His creation on the seventh day which means that Eve, including her soul, must have existed in Adam since Eve was formed after creation week. The original Adam was both male and female.
The Bible expresses God as having both feminine and masculine characteristics. For example, sometimes God is pictured in Scripture as being nurturing as a mother. Both masculine and feminine are complementary not contradictory. It is the communication of give and take involved between male and female. Within God this give and take is perfect without selfishness or sin.
Why, then, does God refer to Himself as "He" in Scripture? One reason for why God, mostly, identifies with the male role, is because, after the fall of Adam and Eve, God has designed for the man to be the head of the household. Positionally, Eve was not put under Adam until after the Fall (original sin). She was put under Adam because she was the first to sin. Because of sin and the selfishness that comes from sin there cannot exist two equal heads of a household. For the better or worse one has to be in charge and be accountable for the whole family. Genesis is clear that only after Eve and Adam sinned was Eve put, positionally, under Adam, although both are equally created in God's image and stand equally in worth and value before Him.
The Bible teaches that there will be both spiritual and bodily enjoyment in heaven. For example, Psalm 16:11 tells us that in God's presence there will be fullness of joy (this is spiritual) and at God's right hand there will be pleasures forevermore (pleasure is something experienced physically).
We must distinguish between selfishness and what I call "selfness". Selfishness is sin because it involves wrong motives. Selfness, however, is not sin. When you want to enjoy good food it is not sin, but when you let the enjoyment of food control you then that is sin. Just because you want something for yourself does not mean you are being selfish. God wants us to love ourselves and others but in the right way.
