Sexual Soul Ties

Written by Terri Savelle Foy

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their chains in pieces. (Ps. 107: 13-14)

In our desperate need for love and affection, approval and closeness, many of us find ourselves falling into the arms of the wrong person. The more intimate you are with someone, the stronger that bond becomes. Sexual immorality is having sex with anyone to whom you are not married. God is not trying to withhold good from us by instructing us to withfrain from sex outside of marriage. He has developed certain guidelines for our benefit.

Having sexual intercourse isn’t just a physical encounter, it invades our soul. That’s why God’s instructions for when we are facing sexual temptation are very clear: flee (1 Cor. 6:18). There’s a reason God commanded us to run for our lives from this temptation. The road to recovery from sexual sin seems to be the most painful and requires the longest amount of healing time. 

Becoming One Flesh

"...and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one." - Mark 10:8

Jesus describes marriage as two people becoming one flesh. What does this mean? Now an obvious meaning is an expression of sexual intimacy. But it is more than that. There is also an emotional oneness. For instance, upon the death of a life-long mate, many people will declare, "I feel like a part of me has just been ripped away." And that's exactly right! God wants your marriage to be so close that your flesh almost literally does become one.