Biblical Sexuality Curriculum

Lesson Outline

• Biblical Sexuality: What the Bible Says About Attraction, Identity, and Relationships

  Written by Jennifer Kvamme, Edited by Skyler Flowers

  • Lesson 1: Sex and Gender in God’s Creation (Gen 1:26-28; 2:18-25)
    • Sexuality is God’s design, and we can trust Him to know how it works best.
    • Covers God’s creation of humanity, gender, marriage, and sex, and the goodness of His plan.
  • Lesson 2: Marriage as a Picture of Christ’s Love (Eph 5:22-33)
    • Marriage is meant to embody the faithful, sacrificial love of Christ for His church.
    • Covers God’s intent for marriage to reflect Christ, and how all of us are invited into the greatest union of all—with Christ Himself.
  • Lesson 3: Christ and Your Body (1 Cor 6:12-20)
    • As Christians, it is important to recognize that our bodies are joined to Christ, and how we use them sexually has great spiritual implications. We’re called to honor God with our bodies.
    • Covers how we Christians should view our bodies and their interconnectedness to our persons, as well as the significance of how we use them (particularly sexually).
  • Lesson 4: Living out Your Resurrected Identity (Col 3:1-11)
    • Whatever we were when we came to Christ, and whatever desires we still wrestle against, in Christ we are new creations, and His Spirit enables us to live out the new and holy identity He has given us.
    • Covers the source of our identity and the importance of finding it in Christ and not in our struggles.
  • Lesson 5: The Cost and Joy of Following Jesus (Heb 12:1-17, 28-29)
    • Fight sin, to the death, because the joy Jesus offers is infinitely worth it—and do so with your eyes on Jesus, remembering that He is the one who gives us victory.
    • Covers the ongoing struggles of temptation and denial, the power of the Spirit, and the infinite treasure we find in Christ when we give up everything to follow Him.
  • Lesson 6: Godly Singleness Honors Christ (1 Cor 7:17-40)
    • Singleness, just like marriage, is a gift from God. It is not to be used selfishly, but for our good and for the good of the world, as we point to the ultimate goodness found in Christ.
    • Covers the value and calling of singleness as we look forward to our eternity joined to Christ.
  • Lesson 7: Sex and Worship (Rom 1:18-2:4)
    • When we disregard God’s design in favor of our own desires, we mar God’s image and commit idolatry. When we disregard our desires in favor of God’s glory, we reflect and worship Him. 
    • Covers temptation, orientation, and sexual choices and their connection to a life of worship.
  • Lesson 8 : Relationships Marked by Holiness and Honor (1 Thess 4:1-8)
    • God’s will for all of us is that we be holy in body and mind, and that all of our relationships are marked by godliness, honor, and selfless love.
    • Covers dating, screens, and how we interact with people as followers of Christ.
  • Lesson 9: Grace Enough for All (Jn 4:1-42)
    • No one needs to be afraid to come to Jesus. He’s not put off by anything in your present or past. He knows it all. Even though sin grieves Him, Jesus loves you deeply and wants to wash you clean and fill you with new life. And He wants us to be conduits of His grace and abundant life to the sinful and wounded all around us.
    • Covers the heart of Jesus for us sinners, whatever our past, and His calling on us to share that grace with others.

Contributors

Rooted’s Scope & Sequence

Don’t know where to start? Check out our Scope & Sequence

All the lessons you need for your students’ entire time in your ministry — from brand new middle schooler to high school graduate. Whether you choose to walk through the Bible chronologically or you’d rather stick with a developmental stage approach, we have both plans written out for you, free of charge! Download the Scope & Sequence Plans for free, and purchase all the included curriculum in the Scope and Sequence Bundle to get started.

LEARN MORE

DOWNLOAD SCOPE & SEQUENCE GUIDE

“Unlike some of the other Student Ministry curriculum we have used that tries to cover the entire Bible in a year, Rooted allows us to carefully and exegetically walk through books of the Bible at our own pace. We truly enjoy the fact that Rooted has many options that allow us to pick the books of the Bible that we want to study for the year. We love how engaged our students have become with the Holy Scriptures, the lesson, and each other.”

James N. | Youth Pastor | Southern Oaks Baptist Church

What will students learn from this Biblical Sexuality curriculum? 

1) Scripture offers a better story and a better hope than the story the world tries to sell them.

When we think about teachings of Scripture that today’s students struggle with, sexuality is somewhere near the top. It’s hard for teenagers to be in a place where they have the minority opinion, and it’s worse when others think their view is harmful and old-fashioned. On top of that, the world has done a pretty good job of marketing its viewpoints on sexuality so that it sounds really good: telling students that they can be whomever they want, love whomever they want, do whatever they want. It’s touted as freedom—and that anyone who disagrees is just holding them back. But it’s an empty promise, as is any fulfillment without Jesus. To the contrary, people who follow the world’s teachings are not happier, freer, or closer. There’s a lot of pain surrounding gender and sexuality.

Jesus also promises freedom and joy—and a much better kind—but it comes on the other side of denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Him. Students need to see the Bible’s teachings on sexuality not primarily as rules and warnings but as an invitation to a relationship with the perfect lover—Jesus—one who offers a truer freedom, a deeper intimacy, and a better “ever after” than any other love story. And they need to know that there’s hope even if their experience of sexuality has been painful, complicated, or filled with shame. 

2) They are in the midst of forming ideas about their identities and the kinds of relationships they want to have, and they’re asking lots of good questions.

The teen years have always been a time for students to try to figure out who they are and how they fit into the world—discovering their identities. It’s also often a time of discovering their own desires and sometimes forming their first romantic relationships. We want to help them think biblically about who they are, how they handle their desires, and what healthy and godly relationships look like. And we want to be able to give gospel-shaped responses to their very real questions, like: “Why does God care what I do with my body (if I’m not hurting anyone)?” “Why does it matter what pronouns I use?” “Why is sex ‘good’ in marriage but ‘bad’ before it?” “Is the Bible really against gay marriage?”

3) They will face temptation and pain, and they need to know Jesus is worth it.

We need to be honest with our students: Following Jesus isn’t always easy. They’re going to face a lot of temptation, and it’s often going to seem really good—and therefore, really hard to pass up. That’s true whether we’re talking about porn on their phones, pushing boundaries with a girlfriend or boyfriend, or experiencing same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria. The temptation is strong to shape their lives around those feelings rather than God’s Word. They need to truly believe that what Jesus offers them is better by far than anything they give up, and that He is capable of satisfying their deepest desires more fully than anything in this life can. They need to know that, in reality, nothing will satisfy them apart from Him.

---