Does seduction have a role to play in a healthy marriage relationship? - Seduction - TouchPoints

Genesis 2:18-25Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’” This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

God’s original intention for marriage included forming an intimate relationship where there is no shame. This includes knowing, understanding, and meeting one another’s needs. It also involves honoring one another’s desires and limitations. Awareness of our spouse’s needs and desires creates opportunities to unexpectedly and delightfully initiate efforts to meet those needs with playful, shameless, loving seduction.

Deuteronomy 24:5“A newly married man must not be drafted into the army or be given any other official responsibilities. He must be free to spend one year at home, bringing happiness to the wife he has married.”

Proverbs 5:18-20Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love. Why be captivated, my son, by an immoral woman, or fondle the breasts of a promiscuous woman?

Proverbs 18:22The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord.

Song of Songs 2:1I am the spring crocus blooming on the Sharon Plain, the lily of the valley.

Song of Songs 4:1-7You are beautiful, my darling, beautiful beyond words. Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair falls in waves, like a flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead. Your teeth are as white as sheep, recently shorn and freshly washed. Your smile is flawless, each tooth matched with its twin. Your lips are like scarlet ribbon; your mouth is inviting. Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates behind your veil. Your neck is as beautiful as the tower of David, jeweled with the shields of a thousand heroes. Your breasts are like two fawns, twin fawns of a gazelle grazing among the lilies. Before the dawn breezes blow and the night shadows flee, I will hurry to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense. You are altogether beautiful, my darling, beautiful in every way.

Song of Songs 4:15You are a garden fountain, a well of fresh water streaming down from Lebanon’s mountains.

Song of Songs 5:2-8I slept, but my heart was awake, when I heard my lover knocking and calling: “Open to me, my treasure, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” But I responded, “I have taken off my robe. Should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet. Should I get them soiled?” My lover tried to unlatch the door, and my heart thrilled within me. I jumped up to open the door for my love, and my hands dripped with perfume. My fingers dripped with lovely myrrh as I pulled back the bolt. I opened to my lover, but he was gone! My heart sank. I searched for him but could not find him anywhere. I called to him, but there was no reply. The night watchmen found me as they made their rounds. They beat and bruised me and stripped off my veil, those watchmen on the walls. Make this promise, O women of Jerusalem—If you find my lover, tell him I am weak with love.

While the seductive language used by the husband and wife in Song of Songs may not transfer directly into other cultures (or in some cases might do so exactly), the vivid expressions of appreciation for each other’s personality and physical attributes proves appropriate within marriage.

1 Corinthians 7:3-5The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife. Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

The Bible is direct about sexual aspects of marriage without being overly detailed or exposing what might be shameful in public but is delightfully shameless in the intimate space created by a healthy marriage. The God who designed all the sexual intricacies of a marriage relationship included the potential for a lifetime of pleasure.