Last updated on October 9, 2020
Question:
I feel like it is wrong after I ejaculate. I can’t find any biblical reason to say it is a sin, but I just feel like I have to repent because I sinned after I do it. To me, I feel like ejaculating itself is a sin. Is ejaculating just part of the way God made us and there’s nothing wrong with it?
Answer:
Women have monthly blood flows, whether they like it or not. They have to deal with it because it is a part of being a woman. “When a woman has a discharge, if her discharge in her body is blood, she shall continue in her menstrual impurity for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. Everything also on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean. Anyone who touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. Whoever touches any thing on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. Whether it be on the bed or on the thing on which she is sitting, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening” (Leviticus 15:19-23). I hope it is clear that being unclean does not mean the woman sinned. Instead, God taught the Israelites about healthy living. Bodily fluids, such as blood, can be a breeding ground for diseases, so the person and the fluids were isolated until they could be cleaned up. However, it is common for people to claim that the Bible is against women because every month they have to spend seven days being unclean.
What they miss is to back up a verse. “If a man lies with a woman so that there is a seminal emission, they shall both bathe in water and be unclean until evening” (Leviticus 15:18). A husband is expected to have sex with his wife, but when they have sex, both of them end up being unclean for one day. It isn’t that they sinned, but there is a release of bodily fluids. Notice that this law wasn’t specifically about marital sex. It would also cover fornication and adultery. Not that God approves of fornication or adultery, but the focus of this particular law was on the result, not the cause.
But then back up two more verses. “Now if a man has a seminal emission, he shall bathe all his body in water and be unclean until evening. As for any garment or any leather on which there is seminal emission, it shall be washed with water and be unclean until evening” (Leviticus 15:16-17). Since verse 18 is about sex, verses 16-17 must be about other ways that a man ejaculates, such as through wet dreams or masturbation. Neither are specifically named, but that is because this law was about the result and not the cause. Therefore, just as a woman having her monthly period is unclean but has not sinned, or a husband and wife having sex is unclean but have not sinned, in the same way, having an ejaculation is not a sin.
Notice that I approached this by reasoning from the Scriptures and not appealing to personal emotions. My emotions can be wrong, but God’s Word is the truth.
Men are designed to ejaculate semen. That semen is produced in the seminal vesicles, which can only hold so much semen before some have to be released to make room for new batches of semen. The rate men produce semen varies between men and varies with the stage of life you are in. Young men tend to produce semen faster than older men. The average frequency of ejaculating is about twice a week. There is at least one study that suggests that men who ejaculate at least twice a week are less likely to have prostate cancer when they get old.