Christian marriage is between a man and a woman

2 Replies

bride and groomI’m looking at the affirmations I made about marriage in a sermon last week. I’m up to the seventh affirmation:

Gay marriage is not Christian marriage.

I’ve already discussed this a bit in the comment section of an earlier post. I think that Jesus shows us what marriage is in Matthew 19. There he says that in the beginning, God created two genders, and marriage occurs when those two genders come together.

Let’s be clear. The driving force behind the move to legalize gay marriage in the Western world is not about being right with God. It’s about property and civil rights. That’s one reason I think we need to clear that civil marriage and Christian marriage are not the same thing. If judges and politicians decide to amplify the definition of marriage to include homosexual unions, that doesn’t change what Christian marriage is.

Homosexual marriage existed in the first century. The Greco-Roman world knew of such unions. It’s not a modern invention. (It’s interesting that the Wikipedia article on the history of same-sex unions says: “These same-sex unions continued until Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.”) Yet the Bible is consistent in excluding homosexuality from the definition of a holy life and using heterosexual terms to speak of marriage.

Our society is changing, and our laws will surely change. But none of that will change what the Bible has said.

Affirmation #7: Gay marriage is not Christian marriage.

2 thoughts on “Christian marriage is between a man and a woman”

  1. Gary

    Tim, it could just as easily be said that the remarriage of divorced persons is not Christian marriage. (If it is where does Scripture affirm such marriages?). Yet I would imagine your congregation has divorced and remarried couples who are fully accepted by you and their church family as married in God’s sight.

    We live in a fallen world where the ideal rarely exists at least for long. We have to deal with life as it is not as we conclude it should have been. Every person has been created in the image of our relational God and in such a way that it is not good for us to be alone. God wants each of us to have the opportunity to have a life companion who is suitable or appropriate for us. For heterosexual Adam that was Eve. For gays it is necessarily a person of the same sex. The conservative position on homosexuality ignores these foundational biblical principles and recommends celibacy for gays. Isn’t it strange that Scripture never mentions celibacy in relation to homosexuality?

    Going forward in our society churches will increasingly be evaluated by their stance regarding gays and gay relationships. It is likely that within a decade churches that are perceived to be hostile to gays will be shunned as much as racist churches are today. Of course if the Gospel of Christ demands such a stand then Christians have no legitimate choice but to stand firm and let the chips fall where they may. But what a shame it will be if the refusal to accept gays in committed relationships is not actually required by the Gospel of Christ but might even be opposed to the Gospel. Conservative Christians owe it to themselves and the churches they lead to fully investigate and carefully consider the understanding of progressive Christianity of Scripture and homosexuality. Listen to the YouTube presentation of Matthew Vines or read the writings of Dale Martin, a graduate of Abilene Christian University. I think it is likely that the opposition of conservative Christianity to committed gay relationships will in this century come to be seen as misguided as was the conservative Christian opposition in the 19th century to the abolition of slavery.

  2. Tim Archer Post author

    Hi Gary,

    Thanks for the different perspective.

    A few points:

    • I actually agree with you, to a point, about divorce and remarriage. That’s where I think we clearly see the mistake the church has made in joining hands with the state when it comes to marriage. I do think the Bible teaches the possibility of remarriage, especially 1 Corinthians 7, yet I think that we’ve gone too far.
    • Every person is created in the image of God, and every person bears the stains of the Fall. Our bodies were made “corruptible,” when God’s plan was to have them incorruptible. As such, we are all born with a “flesh” that wages war against God’s Spirit. We each have our own battles to fight. For some it’s substance abuse. For some, it’s sexual sin. The fact that “I was born that way” doesn’t mean that my innate nature reflects what God wants for me.
    • “It is not good for man to be alone” is a descriptor for all of mankind, not each individual person. And it’s certainly not a statement that every human being needs to be in a sexually active relationship. Otherwise, Paul’s teachings on the benefits of a single life would have little meaning. Nor would Jesus’ statements about eunuchs.
    • By condemning the act of homosexual relations, the Bible does teach celibacy for homosexuals.
    • I don’t doubt that society will look down on the church for its stance on homosexuals. What will be interesting to see is how the church will react. When society brought pressure on the church about its pacifistic stance, the majority of churches gave in to society. Will the same happen in this case?
    • Again, I recommend to you Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis by Webb. The comparison with slavery really doesn’t work.

    Blessings, grace, and peace,
    Tim

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