Chastity, a forgotten virtue

I have recently recommended that the church (meaning the universal church that holds to traditional and orthodox positions) should be more positive than negative about social issues. We have battled same-sex marriage, abortion, and transgendered bathrooms from an ‘I’m-against’ stance that often comes off very negative, especially by those who hold staunchly to an opposite view of our own. It is legitimate to claim that many of those of the more liberal political/social view would be little swayed by a more kind approach, still we are told to be gracious, Ephesians 4:29 (NLT) “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” If our side is right, and I believe we are, then we are TRYING to sway some to our position, but we should try to do so with a more positive approach. We need to more emphasize what we are FOR!

One of the things that the church should encourage is virtues or morals. There are things that the church has stood for since its inception, bedrock values that we can have biblical justifications for. Honesty, sincerity, and prudence are such values, some I will deal with in future articles. Today I wish to tackle a virtue we hear little about, chastity, but debate its value often. C. S. Lewis spoke of this virtue, “Chastity is the most unpopular of the Christian virtues. There is no getting away from it: the old Christian rule is, "Either marriage, with complete faithfulness to your partner, or else total abstinence." Now this is so difficult and so contrary to our instincts, that obviously either Christianity is wrong or our sexual instinct, as it now is, has gone wrong. One or the other. Of course, being a Christian, I think it is the instinct which has gone wrong.” (Lewis, C. S. (1952). Mere Christianity. New York: MacMillan Pub.)

We find Jesus speaking of chastity when asked about marriage, Matthew 19:4-6 (KJV) “And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” As Lewis pointed out, the Christian idea of chastity is simply stated as sex practiced within the bounds of marriage, as Jesus points out: one man to one woman. We should become an institution (the church that is) that promotes this virtue as something that all can put into practice. Let’s look at what it is, but first, what it is not, or better what it is more than.

MODESTY

Modesty is a fickle notion. It is often very subjective, as the culture and society you live in has a different idea of modesty from a culture and society of a different time and place. Lewis described it as so, “The Christian rule of chastity must not be confused with the social rule of "modesty" (in one sense of that word); i.e. propriety, or decency. The social rule of propriety lays down how much of the human body should be displayed and what subjects can be referred to, and in what words, according to the customs of a given social circle. Thus, while the rule of chastity is the same for all Christians at all times, the rule of propriety changes.” (Mere Christianity). Modesty is commended in scripture, 1 Timothy 2:9 (HCSB) “Also, the women are to dress themselves in modest clothing, with decency and good sense, not with elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel…” But… Paul (or we could say; the Holy Spirit) doesn’t explain ‘how’ modesty is. Modesty in apparel, but where and how much? Lewis described the difference between Polynesian and Victorian definitions of modesty, and how different they could be, but more importantly, “When people break the rule of propriety current in their own time and place, if they do so in order to excite lust in themselves or others, then they are offending against chastity.” (Mere Christianity). Modesty can be a useful part of chastity but it isn’t chastity.

FIDELITY

Fidelity is simple the idea of faithfulness, and while chastity has an element of faithfulness to it, it is not the whole picture. I think chastity is something that is more than fidelity, a step better, so to speak. Paul actually addresses the aspect of fidelity in chastity, in his instruction to older women in teaching younger, Titus 2:4-5 (NLT) “These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, 5 to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.” The phrase “be pure” is translated “chaste” in other English versions (such as the KJV), but the teaching here is about fidelity more than chastity, though it is mentioned. Lewis describes love, in relation to marriage, on two levels, ‘falling-in-love’, love and the more lasting, deeper kind of love. This deeper love is the act of the will, according to Lewis, and upon this, fidelity is staked (as well as chastity), “’Being in love’ first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.” (Mere Christianity).

ABSTINENCE

Today, when we use the word chastity, it is often equated with simply abstinence, this is unfortunate, as chastity is actually a promotion of sex, at least as God intended. Abstinence also got a bad rap in the 80’s and 90’s as the movement to curtail sexual mores and values grabbed that word as its catch phrase. Sex Education was moving towards a more liberal, even unethical version and the conservative political movement in this country backlashed, in an attempt to combat the negative effect of the morals being promoted in the liberal agenda of the education system in our country. In reality the downfall of sexual morals and mores can be traced much farther back culminating in the sexual revolution in the 60’s that has now produced the acceptance of same-sex-marriage and transgenderism. God actually created sex, and His first command to man is recorded as promoting it, Genesis 1:28 (HCSB) “God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.””

CHASTITY: A Virtue

I suppose you could say that as a part of chastity, each of the above elements are present, or promoted. It is true that fidelity, modesty, and abstinence are often practiced as a part of chastity but that is not all and should be distinguished as so. Chastity is more than these virtues. Chastity is a virtue that is God ordained, if we believe scripture, and thus it is something more spiritual than will-power. Lewis noted, “We may, indeed, be sure that perfect chastity-like perfect charity-will not be attained by any merely human efforts. You must ask for God's help.” (Mere Christianity). In the culture we live in today, bombarded by TV, internet, and social media, chastity is a forgotten quality. The opportunity to fail at chastity is all around us, yet we can’t think of it as a ‘one-and-done’ deal. Even virginity can be restored, 2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV) “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Marriages that have faced moral failures can be restored, but this is a spiritual thing. Lewis described our hope, “We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection.” (Mere Christianity).

It is a virtue to aspire to, and it is one to work ‘back’ to, also. It is a virtue long forgotten in our culture and society. The sexual revolution is now the sexual moral, sadly what once was the extreme is now the norm. We have come to a point in our history that sex-ed sees no value in talking about abstinence or virginity. Sex within marriage (one man and one woman) is no longer thought of as the standard of our day. Chastity then is simply the promotion of sex as the means by which God intended, in the bonds of holy matrimony. The church doesn’t need to be prudish and coy, rather we should be bold and forthright…telling for all to see, “We believe in chastity, it is a virtue we can cling to.”

#CSLewis #Chastity #virtue