The Gospel Coalition Goes To Horny Jail

The Gospel Coalition has kicked off the year with quite the number of cringe takes, but none of these takes bordered on literary eroticism. With the launch of the Tim Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, engaging the culture so far means describing the gospel in graphic sexual euphemisms. That is what Joshua Ryan Butler has done for his piece for the Keller Center. Josh Butler raised red flags with his speaking engagement at the upcoming IF:Gathering.

Butler wrote an article titled Sex Won’t Save You (But It Points to the One Who Will) which was heavily ratio’d on social media to the point where The Gospel Coalition turned off comments. Butler uses sex to point to the gospel in quite graphic language.

I used to look to sex for salvation. I wanted it to liberate me from loneliness; I wanted to find freedom in the arms of another. But the search failed. My college sweetheart dumped me. I found a rebound to feel better about myself—and hurt her in the process. I then fell head over heels for the “girl of my dreams” (at the time) and spent the next five years pining after this friend who didn’t feel the same.

I wanted to feel wanted, yet I wound up alone.

Butler begins by regaling us with his romantic escapades, being forthright with his own thirstiness. He then makes an unbecoming Taylor Swift reference as he states that people look to sex for salvation. Butler extrapolates Ephesians 5 to mean that Paul is talking about consummation (not that he’s wrong) to suggest that he’s discovered something profound:

This should be shocking! It’s not only the giving of your vows at the altar but what happens in the honeymoon suite afterward that speaks to the life you were made for with God. A husband and wife’s life of faithful love is designed to point to greater things, but so is their sexual union! This is a gospel bombshell: sex is an icon of salvation.

From here the article gets a little more graphic.

Generosity and hospitality are both embodied in the sexual act. Think about it. Generosity involves giving extravagantly to someone. You give the best you’ve got to give, lavishly pouring out your time, energy, or money. At a deeper level, generosity is giving not just your resources but your very self. And what deeper form of self-giving is there than sexual union where the husband pours out his very presence not only upon but within his wife?

Hospitality, on the other hand, involves receiving the life of the other. You prepare a space for the guest to enter your home, welcoming him warmly into your circle of intimacy, to share your dwelling place with you. Here again, what deeper form of hospitality is there than sexual union where the wife welcomes her husband into the sanctuary of her very self?

Butler uses a variation of the word deep four times in the article, thrice in this excerpt. But then he goes on to apply this this in even more graphic language. First with generic newlyweds.

The Hebrew language is onto something, however: there’s a distinction between the male and female roles in sexual union. Each brings something unique to the fusing of two bodies as one, and this distinction is iconic. On that honeymoon in Cabo, the groom goes into his bride. He is not only with his beloved but within his beloved. He enters the sanctuary of his spouse, where he pours out his deepest presence and bestows an offering, a gift, a sign of his pilgrimage, that has the potential to grow within her into new life.

Butler describes the literal Hebrew translation “went into” as graphic when it’s sufficiently descriptive but isn’t nearly as salacious as he makes it out to be.

This is a picture of the gospel. Christ arrives in salvation to be not only with his church but within his church. Christ gives himself to his beloved with extravagant generosity, showering his love upon us and imparting his very presence within us. Christ penetrates his church with the generative seed of his Word and the life-giving presence of his Spirit, which takes root within her and grows to bring new life into the world.

He has more to say about the church.

Inversely, back in the wedding suite, the bride embraces her most intimate guest on the threshold of her dwelling place and welcomes him into the sanctuary of her very self. She gladly receives the warmth of his presence and accepts the sacrificial offering he bestows upon the altar within her Most Holy Place.

Similarly, the church embraces Christ in salvation, celebrating his arrival with joy and delight. She has prepared and made herself ready, anticipating his advent in eager anticipation. She welcomes him into the most vulnerable place of her being, lavishing herself upon him with extravagant hospitality. She receives his generous gift within her—the seed of his Word and presence of his Spirit—partnering with him to bring children of God into the world.

The Bible indicates that the current state of Christ and His bride is betrothal, to be consummated in glory on the Second Coming. So Josh Butler has prematurely ejaculated this metaphor used in Scripture. So for this, the internet meme of “Horny jail” is most fitting, and we hereby sentence Josh Butler to Horny Jail.

Horny jail is a public shaming of people on the internet who appear too thirsty in the comment section, and in this case the premature salacious writings of Josh Butler are most deserving.

It’s also worth commenting on the witnessing aspect of this. If you try this one out in the mission field, you might get burned like when Michael Bird tried talking about Jesus having nocturnal emissions. Let’s not be like Side Show Bob and step unto our own rake, as The Gospel Coalition is want to do.