Bible Passage: “Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.” (1 Timothy 5:1-2 NIV)
Scripture Reading: Romans 6:1-2; Romans 8:1-2
If you grew up in church during the 80s and 90s, “purity culture” reigned.
As the world surrounding the Church grew increasingly sexualized, the Church pushed back by actively promoting God’s biblical vision for sexuality.
No problems so far!
Core scriptural beliefs were shared on the nature of sex, relationships, marriage, modesty, our bodies, and God’s design for all of it.
Straightforward enough—so why are we even talking about it?
Well, as those kids of the ’80s and ’90s became adults, got married, and started having their own kids, some reflection occurred.
It turns out that, while the message of purity originated from godly intentions and wasn’t inherently bad, some of the teachings associated with it went off the rails.
Some teaching inadvertently ended up relying heavily on shame, control, and manipulation to try to keep our young people on the straight and narrow.
Some of the messages communicated and received had a deep and lasting negative impact—not because they were biblical, but because they went beyond the Bible.
I grew up as a teenager during that era, and as a pastor, I’ve spoken with many who also grew up during that time. I’ve heard numerous stories of damage done—deep-rooted shame, ongoing sexual problems in marriage, body image issues, and a view of sex and sexuality that could at best be called “unhealthy” and at worst full-on “toxic.”
So what is a man of God to do?
Some have dismissed the whole matter. “Purity” is no longer a thing. They embrace the sexualization of the culture around us and leave even the good teaching behind.
But the thing is, not all of the teaching was harmful, even if it was challenging. Tossing the baby out with the bathwater is always an unwise path (Romans 6:1-2).
Others move in the opposite direction, doubling down on even the worst aspects of what went wrong, embracing legalistic views on sex that extend beyond Scripture.
This, too, is unwise.
But there is a better way—one where a man holds fast to what the Bible says about sex and purity, acknowledges the harm that was done in the past, and seeks to find a God-honouring, Bible-obeying, Christ-like path through this challenging topic, where we embrace God’s ways, love others well, and leave sin and shame behind (Romans 8:1-2).
And that is exactly what we’ll explore this week.
Prayer: Father, I desire to be a man of purity! May I know Your Word and follow Your ways, and leave behind anything that is not of You. Amen.
Reflection: When you think of “purity” from a biblical standpoint, what comes to mind for you?
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