Sending Explicit Images and Lust in Christian Relationships
Christian Teachings on Lust and Explicit Images in Relationships
The Christian understanding of lust and its relation to explicit images in relationships is rooted in biblical teachings and patristic interpretations. According to Augustine, lust is a vice that encompasses not just sexual uncleanness but also other disordered desires [6]. The Bible warns against lust, with Jesus teaching that "everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28, not directly quoted but referenced in patristic sources).
In the context of Christian relationships, the early Church Fathers emphasized the importance of controlling lust. Clement of Alexandria advised against indulging in lustful thoughts, stating that one who looks on beauty of person and lusts after it is already committing the act of lust in their mind [4]. This understanding is echoed in the writings of Augustine, who noted that lust takes possession of the whole body and is not limited to physical actions but also includes mental emotions [6].
The sending of explicit images can be seen as a manifestation of lust. Patristic sources suggest that indulging in or promoting such behavior is contrary to Christian teachings on purity and self-control. For instance, Tertullian argued that communities that indulge in licentiousness are prone to various vices, including those related to sexual immorality [7]. The Reformed tradition, as represented by John Calvin, also emphasizes the importance of self-control and modesty, arguing that Christians should not indulge in behavior that is contrary to their calling [3].
In Christian relationships, the expectation is not only to avoid physical adultery but also to cultivate purity of heart and mind. The apostle Paul's statement in 2 Corinthians 11:2, where he expresses his jealousy for the Corinthian church "with a godly jealousy" because he had "espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ," underscores the importance of spiritual purity [1, 2]. This metaphor of the church as the bride of Christ highlights the need for Christians to maintain a chaste and faithful relationship with Christ, which includes avoiding behaviors that could be considered lustful or unfaithful.
The historical development of Christian thought on lust and purity has been influenced by various factors, including the patristic emphasis on self-control and the Reformed stress on the importance of avoiding sinful behavior. The early Church Fathers saw the struggle against lust as part of the broader Christian struggle against sin and the flesh. Augustine, in particular, highlighted the need for wisdom to regulate anger and lust, arguing that these are vicious mental emotions that need to be governed by reason [5].
Sources
- King James Version “[KJV] 2 Corinthians 11:2 — For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
- II Corinthians “II Corinthians 11:2 (Webster) — For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present [you as] a chaste virgin to Christ.”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 27: decreed not only that images were to be used in churches, but also that they were to be worshipped. Every thing, therefore, that I have said, is in danger of suffering great prejudice from the authority of this Synod. To confess the truth, however, I am not so much moved by this consideration, as by a wish to make my readers aware of the lengths to which the infatuation has been carried by those who had a greater fondness for images than became Christians. But let us first dispose of this matter. Those who defend the use of images ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 2: Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria — CHAP. XVIII.--ON LOVE, AND THE REPRESSING OF OUR DESIRES. (part 3): facetiously bidding him pay the image of a reward for the image of an embrace. Accordingly one dreams, the soul assenting to the vision. But he dreams waking, who looks so as to lust; not only, as that Gnostic said, if along with the sight of the woman he imagine in his mind intercourse, for this is already the act of lust, as lust; but if one looks on beauty of person (the Word says), and the flesh seem to him in the way of lust to be fair, looking on”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 19.--THAT IT IS NOW NECESSARY, AS IT WAS NOT BEFORE MAN SINNED, TO BRIDLE ANGER AND LUST BY THE RESTRAINING INFLUENCE OF WISDOM. (part 1): Hence it is that even the philosophers who have approximated to the truth have avowed that anger and lust are vicious mental emotions, because, even when exercised towards objects which wisdom does not prohibit, they are moved in an ungoverned and inordinate manner, and consequently need the regulation of mind and reason. And they assert that this third part of the mind is posted as it were in”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 16.--OF THE EVIL OF LUST,--A WORD WHICH, THOUGH APPLICABLE TO MANY VICES, IS SPECIALLY APPROPRIATED TO SEXUAL UNCLEANNESS: Although, therefore, lust may have many objects, yet when no object is specified, the word lust usually suggests to the mind the lustful excitement of the organs of generation. And this lust not only takes possession of the whole body and outward members, but also makes itself felt within, and moves the whole man with a passion in which mental emotion is mingled with bodily appetite, so that the pleasure whic”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 3: Tertullian — CHAP. XVI.(8)--OTHER CHARGES REPELLED BY THE SAME METHOD. THE STORY OF THE NOBLE ROMAN YOUTH AND HIS PARENTS, (part 2): lust and licentiousness--that nation will be a stranger to incest. If any nature can be found so peculiarly removed from the human state as to be liable neither to ignorance, nor error, nor misfortune, that alone may be adduced with any consistency as an answer to the Christians. Reflect, therefore, on the licentiousness which floats about amongst men's passions(13) as if they were the winds, and consider whether there be any communities which the full”