Gospel Prism

It seems Muslim women in Paris of North African descent are having surgical procedures done so that they can “technically� be a virgin again. The procedure is called “hymoneplasty� and costs between $2000-4000. Is it possible to be a virgin again by sewing? The answer is no if virginity means more than merely having a blood-stained bed sheet after intercourse. According to our Lord, adultery does not begin with the physical act of adultery, but the one that begins at the heart (Matthew 5:28). So too then, virginity is not merely the physical act of remaining pure, but the spiritual act as well and no surgery could ever correct that.

So what hope is there for women (or men for that matter) who have had pre-marital sexual relationships and no longer can see themselves as pure before their God and their fiancé? Can such a person ever be made whole again? Yes, but only in the only one who can purify the soul. I love Ephesians 5:24-27 where Paul writes:

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Paul is writing about the marital relationship and its metaphor to Christ’s love for the church. When I see what Jesus does for the church, that He sanctifies her and washes her and presents her without spot or wrinkle, I am flabbergasted as to how wholly pure Jesus makes the church. He bears the brunt of the sacrifice so that the dirty, impure, wretched, sinful church will be presented as though it had not sinned. That which was dirty will become clean again.

Well, I’d like to go in the other direction then in regard to this metaphor. Because this text is about husbands loving wives as Christ loved the church, then it seems a fair inference to make that through Christ, the impure person can become a virgin again, not by sewing, but by His amazing grace. A woman need not have an operation so that blood would flow through intercourse, but rather accept the blood that was poured out on her behalf by her Savior. What great joy there is in knowing this precious Savior.