Ben Wilson, LPC

Why is sexual intimacy important?

Sexual intimacy is important as it contributes to a couple becoming ‘one flesh’.

^“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”  ~Genesis 2:24

One flesh is a meaningful image of sexual intimacy. I remember Tommy Nelson saying in a video that he didn't consider a couple married when they said their vows at the wedding. He considered them married after they had sex together after they said their vows at the wedding. 

When a couple joins together in sex there is the potential for spiritual and emotional intimacy as well. Sex, in the proper context, helps a couple to know each other on multiple layers and facets. 

That's our next point, sexual intimacy helps a couple 'to know one another'. The Hebrew word for 'sexual intercourse' is also the word 'to know'. 

“And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.” Genesis 4:1

Ask yourself, is my desire in having sex with my spouse to know him or her more intimately?

I remember telling a friend that sometimes I really just wanted to have an orgasm and wasn't too concerned about connecting with Ann. I just needed her body. He looked me in the eye and said, "It sounds masturbatory." 

Ouch! That was me. I was using my wife. Masturbating with her body. How was she to feel valued and cherished if that was my mood for sex with her? She wasn't. My friend's comment were words of life to me and woke up parts of my masculine soul that had been dormant.