Sex

Sex is defined as all the activities engaged in by two persons that are intended either to produce intense pleasure (including climaxes of such activities known as organism) and/or for the purpose of procreation. These activities include stimulation of a partner's body and concluding in the penetration of the female genitals by the male.

Sex—usually referred to in the OT by the verb, yada', "know"—is recognized in the Bible as a gift from God, given to us humans in His very act of our creation and in His sanction of it by His command to "be fruitful and multiply" (Gen 1:22). From the parameters of this divine mandate, sex is understood biblical as such activities between a man and a woman, and a gift to be exercised only within a marriage. Deviations from such a pattern is not unknown in the Bible, but they are always condemned as "immoral" and/or "un-natural" (Rom 1:26; Jud 1:7); these include, though should probably not be confined to fornication, adultery, rape and homosexual).

Precisely because sex is a gift of God, it is a tragedy that Christians think so little of it, and for a long time the normal word for it was 'carnal knowledge.' Much of it as practiced in the history of our race and as it is now practiced in the world outside the church today is, certainly, carnal, but within the parameters set by Scriptures for its exercise, there is nothing carnal about it. As a gift sex should be good, and celebrated, and good sex rightly belongs to the people of God. Unfortunately, good sex is more celebrated by people who have no deep appreciation of its amazing origin, even if in a manner that is distorted from its original intentions. Misled by bad medieval teachings that the purpose of sex is for procreation only, few Christians find the liberty to appreciate its power as a gift—apart from reproduction—for fun and re-creation, and mutual satisfaction for husband and wife. It is time for Christians to rediscover this great gift of God.

Neither the Eaton's Illustrated Bible Dictionary or the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia have an entry on this subject, so suspect is it.