Until this time (the time of the Law) the role of sex was left up to the conscience of man. As far as the Bible was concerned, there was no record of the mind of God on how sexual activities were to be engaged in. There was no legislation or regulation. All we know is that God made them male and female and said for this cause - maleness and femaleness, a man would leave father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two would become one flesh. This suggested that if a man saw a woman that he would like to have sex with, he would leave his father and his mother, and get connected to the woman and they too would be joined together and become one. But we had Lamech with 8 wives with whom he could cohabit. The idea that a man can see several women and go about sleeping with all of them is definitely not contained in this verse. 

 

Adam had one wife, Noah had one wife, he was an exception. Abraham had one wife who was actually his sister, he had a child with his maid Hagar. Lot had one wife, praise God, but his daughters drugged him and had sex with him to bring up seed. Isaac had one wife, but Jacob had 4, two of whom were sisters and were also his first cousins.

A troubling question is, why did God tolerate these apparent sexual aberrations for so long. Obviously, some of these behaviours were offensive to God. Like Reuben sleeping with his father's concubine  Bilhah or Judah having sex with his sons's wife. However, the scripture declares, "the law entered that the offense might abound" (Rom. 5:20). God felt it was high time to clear up this mess.

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The offense did abound. Absalom had no excuse. In the face of the Law he deliberately and consciously slept with his faher King David's concubines for the people to see. (2 Sam.16:22).

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🕰️  Pre-Law Sexual Behavior (Before Mosaic Law)

Human conduct:

• In Genesis, sexual behavior was largely unregulated by formal law. Patriarchs like Abraham and Jacob had multiple wives and concubines, and there’s no explicit divine rebuke.

• Practices like polygamy, incest (e.g., Lot’s daughters), and even surrogate arrangements (e.g., Hagar) were culturally normative.

God’s attitude:

• God tolerated these behaviors, but His ideal was already hinted at in Genesis 2:24—one man, one woman, one flesh.

• Divine displeasure is implied in narratives like Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), where sexual perversion leads to judgment.

• The absence of codified law didn’t mean absence of divine expectation—God’s image-bearing design carried implicit moral weight.

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📜 Peri-Law Sexual Behavior (During Mosaic Law)

Human conduct:

• The Law (especially Leviticus 18 and Deuteronomy 22) introduced strict boundaries: prohibitions against incest, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, and cultic prostitution.

• Sexual behavior became a matter of covenantal holiness—Israel was called to be distinct from surrounding nations.

God’s attitude:

• God’s response was direct and judicial. Violations were met with severe consequences—often death or exclusion from the community.

• Sexual sin was seen not just as moral failure but as defilement of the land and breach of covenant.

• The Law functioned as both a moral compass and a cultural firewall.

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Post-Law Sexual Behavior (After Christ’s Fulfillment of the Law)

Human conduct:

• The New Testament shifts focus from external regulation to internal transformation. Sexual ethics are rooted in purity of heart (Matthew 5:27–28).

• Paul’s epistles (e.g., 1 Corinthians 6, Romans 1) condemn sexual immorality, but also emphasize grace, repentance, and sanctification.

• The early church upheld chastity, fidelity, and the sanctity of marriage, even as Greco-Roman culture embraced permissiveness.

God’s attitude:

• God’s posture is both holy and redemptive. Sexual sin is still serious—“flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18)—but the cross offers restoration.

• The Spirit empowers believers to live out sexual ethics not by law, but by love and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23).

• Judgment remains (Hebrews 13:4), but mercy is magnified.

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​​Romans 2:12

For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; Reuben sinned without the Law, Absalom sinned in the Law. and the Corinthian Reuben sinned Post Law. The three shall be judged accordingly.

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