Journal: Eikon
Volume: EIKON 02:2 (Fall 2020)
Article: Sexuality: On Being Human And Promoting Social Justice
Author: Peter J. Gentry

Eikon 2.2 (Fall 2020) p. 110

Sexuality: On Being Human And Promoting Social Justice

Peter J. Gentry

This brief essay considers the main thesis of the book, Kingdom through Covenant, and the relation of that thesis to human sexuality.1 (Gentry & Wellum, 2018). Understanding human sexuality entails grasping first, what it means to be human, and second, what is the purpose and role of human sexuality.

Being Human

As a foundation we shall start with a definition of “being human” within the context of a Christian worldview, that is, a worldview derived from Christian Scripture, the Old and New Testaments. The biblical teaching on creation determines our understanding of being human. For it is in the creation narratives that we understand, first, the nature of the soul according to the Bible, and second, the differences between humans and all the other creatures made by the creator God.

Eikon 2.2 (Fall 2020) p. 111

What Is The Soul?

The fundamental text describing the soul is Genesis 2:7:2

And Yahweh God formed / shaped the man out of dust from the ground, and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul (nepeš ḥayyâ).

This text provides a description of the creation of humans that complements the text in Genesis 1:26–28. It consists of just three short sentences. The first sentence informs us that, in part, humans are made out of “dust” (Hebrew ‛āpār, i.e. “loose earth” or “soil”) from the “earth” or “ground” (’ădāmâ) and personally fashioned by God, as an artisan or potter would make an earthenware vessel. “Forming” or “shaping,” as Gordon Wenham notes, is an artistic and inventive activity that requires planning and skill (cf. Isaiah 44:9–10).3 One component of a human being, then, is the earth or soil. We can see this statement corroborated by the fact that humans ingest the earth, or soil, to live. Genesis 3:17 confirms this when it actually states that we eat the ground.4 We eat plants, in fact, which are derived from the ground; and later on in Genesis 9:2–3 human beings are permitted to eat animals, which in turn eat plants. Thus, we ingest the soil indirectly. I...