If you are guilty of habitual sexual sin, you may call yourself an addict. You consider yourself powerless over your sex addiction, as a drug addict is powerless over heroin and an alcoholic is powerless over Jack Daniels. Pornography is your “drug of choice.” You require therapy and a 12-step recovery program. Quitting pornography means “going clean,” or “getting sober.” Looking at pornography and masturbating isn’t sin. It’s just a relapse.
But when you read the New Testament, you never find sexual sin described as a narcotic, or lusting after women called an addiction. Instead, the writers of the New Testament describe sexual immorality as voluntary, something you do with your free will. Something you can conquer through obedience and faith. Consider the letter to the Romans, chapter six, in which Paul writes:
“Do not go on presenting the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your body’s parts as instruments of righteousness for God.”
Romans 6:13 NASB
Notice those first two words: “Do not.” Paul doesn’t say, “You cannot help yourself because you are an addict.” He simply says, “do not.” Notice the tense as well: “Do not go on.” Not simply, “don’t sin,” but, “do not continue sinning.” Paul is speaking here of ongoing, habitual sin, not just a one-off event. He is speaking of the man who repeatedly presents a part of his body as an instrument of unrighteousness, an instrument of wickedness.
I am not saying that overcoming pornography or masturbation is easy. “Just stop” is easy to say, but difficult to do. And neither am I saying that therapy and support programs don’t work. Watching pornography releases the neurotransmitter dopamine into your brain, giving you a feeling of pleasure, even euphoria. The more pornography you watch, the more you desire this pleasurable reward of dopamine. Quitting any activity that makes you feel terrific is difficult. But quitting on your own is clearly possible. That’s why Paul commands you to stop. Because he knows you can—and must.
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