Sunday Series — Mere Christianity: A Conversation for the Common Hall – Book Three, Chapter Five: Sexual Morality

In Episode 295, Lance Smith walks through Chapter Five of C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, one of the book’s most challenging chapters: “Sexual Morality.” Lewis distinguishes Christian chastity from changing standards of social propriety and argues that the problem isn't sex, the body, or pleasure themselves, but the disordered way our sexual appetites can operate.

Lewis affirms the goodness of the body and marriage while calling Christians to faithfulness within marriage and abstinence outside it. He also offers practical encouragement: pursue virtue honestly, ask forgiveness when you fail, get back up, and keep trying with God's help.

But Lewis ends with an even more challenging point: sexual sin isn't the center of Christian morality. Spiritual pride, hatred, cruelty, and the desire to dominate others can be even more destructive. The real goal isn't simply avoiding certain behaviors—it's becoming the kind of person Christ is shaping us to be.

References to items discussed and/or used on this podcast may be found at the following:

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Email Address: bibledifficultiesandanswers@gmail.com

Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. HarperOne, 2001. Available at: https://a.co/d/0eXcvERk