A
Biblical Worldview
In
light of the current controversy over the issue of homosexual marriage and the
opinions that have been flying around, I thought it would be helpful for us to
look at what the Bible says on the subject. In the first part of this post I
will look at how the Bible defines marriage and what the Bible says is the
purpose of marriage. In the last part of this post I will look at what the
Bible has to say about homosexuality. My hope is that this post might bring
about some clarity for those curious what the Bible actually says on these
subjects.
I
will do my best to not show any bias to the right or left side of the political
spectrum but rather write as a Christian who is committed to the sufficiency of
the inerrant and infallible Word of God. Though certain politicians or
sometimes even political parties may line up more closely with a biblical
worldview, the Bible is clear; the Christian is an elect exile, a
citizen/representative of heaven, an ambassador for Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:1,
John 17:14, 2 Corinthians 5:20)… My allegiance is to God first and foremost and
I hope to write in a way that shows that to be the case.
With
that in mind let me address briefly my worldview, just so you know where I am
coming from. I am of the conviction that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible,
all sufficient Word of God; this means many things for me, but the most
important part of this worldview is that I believe that Jesus is who the Bible
says He is and did what the Bible said He did. I believe in absolute truth
because I believe statements that Jesus made such as when He declared Himself
“the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). I believe the Christian
Gospel makes a comprehensive claim to all areas of life and thought. Most
people’s problem with the Bible is that it does not change with the culture,
but in my view this is a good thing because “there is nothing new under the sun”
(Ecclesiastes 1:9), and “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end
is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12).
I
am well aware that I am a sinner saved by grace. I understand that I have a
fallen nature and that my views are not perfect, nor is my interpretation of
the Bible, but nonetheless I will do my best to explain what the Bible says on
these issues as it was intended to be understood. There are many people who
love Jesus and have very different views of what the Bible says on these
issues; that is fine and I am glad they have a right to their opinion, however,
my hope is that after reading this you would see that their interpretation is
hermeneutically detrimental to the text and that a literal interpretation of
what the text says is the right view.
In
this post I will go through quite a bit of Scripture, some of it I will expound
in detail while other passages I will just breeze over or perhaps just let the
passage speak for itself. This post is not meant to be exhaustive but merely to
go over the basic beliefs the church has historically held based on the Bible. With
these things in mind, let’s get started…
What
is marriage according to the Bible?
In
Genesis 2:18-25 God sees that it is not good for man (Adam) to be alone; He
decides to make Adam a helpmate. God makes the woman from a rib of Adam; when
Adam sees God’s creation he says, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh
of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man”
(Genesis 2:23). After this exclamation of joy from Adam the Scripture goes on
to say, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to
his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). This text has
classically been the text that Christians point to for the creation of
marriage. With that in mind I would like to point out three things from this
passage.
- God
is the creator of marriage, not man.
This truth
speaks volumes in a day and age when the culture is trying to redefine
marriage. Marriage is not ours to redefine, it belongs to God.
- God
created marriage to be between one man and one woman.
This combined
with the first truth we pulled from this text shows us that God is the creator
of marriage and only He has any right to define what it is, and He has done so;
marriage is a covenantal union between one man and one woman.
- In
God’s design for marriage the wife is given as a helpmate.
The man is
established by God as the head in the marriage, but not in a way where he rules
and reigns over his wife like some sort of tyrant. The man is to love, lead,
and serve his wife in a way that is for her good and God’s glory. The woman is
to love, submit, and serve her husband in such a way that she comes along side
her husband and helps him to better serve God and their family. God said it was
not good for man to be alone and that he needed a helpmate and God filled those
needs by creating for Adam his wife Eve.
Now
most people are not satisfied with this brief argument, so let’s go a little
deeper. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul unpacks marriage for us in a
way that lines up perfectly with what I just pointed out in Genesis, but he
goes a step further by showing us not only what marriage is but what its
purpose is as well.
Ephesians
5:22-33
22
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the
head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is
himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives
should submit in everything to their husbands.
25
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for
her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water
with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without
blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own
bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own
flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30
because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father
and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32
This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the
church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the
wife see that she respects her husband.
Paul
is unpacking marriage for the church in Ephesus. He begins by stating the roles
of the wife and the husband as God intended them, but then he goes a little
deeper by saying in verse 32, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that
it refers to Christ and the church.”
So what is this mystery that Paul is speaking of? To answer this we’re going to
have to look at the context of the word mystery in Paul’s letter to the church
in Ephesus. In chapter one Paul states that God is “making known to us
(Christ’s church) the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he
set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in
him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:9-10). He goes on to
say that, “In him (Christ) you also, when you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised
Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire
possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14). So the idea
of “the mystery of his will” is tied directly to the Gospel of our salvation.
In
chapter three Paul states, “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs,
members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through
the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6). Here we see why Paul has tied the mystery of God’s
will to the Gospel; now Jew and Gentile are able to repent and believe and
become “partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” In the
Old Testament God’s chosen people was Israel but now through the person and
work of Christ God is redeeming for himself a people from all tribes, tongues,
and nations. Through this mystery God is uniting sinful man to Himself. Before
we apply this to Ephesians 5 let’s look at one more passage.
Ephesians
3:8-11
8
To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to
preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to
light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who
created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God
might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ
Jesus our Lord
Paul
by the grace of God is preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ (the
Gospel), so the church (those who repent of their sins and believe in the
Gospel) might make the manifold wisdom of God (the Gospel) known… So the
mystery is that sinners of all nations are being saved from their sins and
reconciled to God, so that they might display the Gospel and the glory of God
to the world. Now with this in mind let’s get back to Ephesians 5.
Ephesians
5:32
32
This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the
church.
What
Paul is saying here is that marriage is a God glorifying display of the Gospel
to the world. When a man loves his wife “as Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for her,” he is displaying Christ by sacrificially leading, loving,
and serving his wife. In a biblical marriage the husband lays down his wants
and needs for the good of his wife and the glory of God. By leading in this way
he is painting a picture of the way Christ leads His church. Jesus loved his
church so much that He laid everything down and took on our sin by being
crucified and having the wrath of God poured out upon Him in our place. Jesus
modeled perfect sacrificial love for us on the cross and this is the example
the husband is to follow in loving his wife.
On
the other side of this is the wife. The wife is called to submit to the
leadership of the husband, just as Jesus’ church submits to His leadership.
This is not a begrudging submission, but rather a glad submission that comes
from the love that they have been shown. And just as the church is to come
along side Jesus as His ambassadors (I realize that this is not the best way to
word it), so too is the wife to come along side her husband as his helpmate and
partner in the Gospel.
So
marriage is something that is much bigger than the individuals that are in the
relationship. Dr. Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary says it like this in his book Desire and Deceit, “Marriage is not merely
the arena for sexual activity; it is presented in Scripture as the divinely
designed arena for the display of God’s glory on earth as a man and a woman
come together in a one-flesh relationship within the marriage covenant. Rightly
understood and rightly ordered, marriage is a picture of God’s own covenantal
faithfulness.” He goes on to say, “Marriage is to display God’s glory, reveal God’s
good gifts to His creatures, and protect humans from the inevitable disaster
that follows when sexual passions are divorced from their rightful place.”
So
a biblical marriage, a Christian marriage is bigger than husband and wife
because the covenant between husband and wife represents the covenant between
God and His chosen people. Alongside this, the purpose of the marriage is to
glorify God and image the Gospel to the world; as the husband sacrificially
loves and leads his family he’s displaying the love of God to his family and
the outside world, and as the wife gladly submits to her husband’s leadership
seeking to glorify God by partnering with her husband for the spread of the
Gospel and the glory of Christ to be made known in all nations by being
faithful disciples who make disciples, they together paint a beautiful picture
of the relationship between Christ and His church.
What
about people who are not Christians? If the purpose of marriage is to display
God’s covenantal faithfulness to His redeemed people then should a person who
is not a Christian even get married? The answer is yes… Marriage though, unlike
baptism and the Lord’s Table, is a creation ordinance, given to all people
(Genesis 2:23-24). It is good for unbelievers to marry rather than to live in
immorality. Paul’s words to the Corinthian church apply to unbelievers as well,
“But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better
to marry than to burn with passion” (1 Corinthians 7:9). Every single human
being who has reached puberty has to deal with sexual temptation, that’s why
Paul says if you cannot get control over it and you burn with passion then you
need to pursue marriage.
Dr.
Mohler again says in his book Desire and Deceit, “The human sex drive is not the
product of biological evolution or cosmic accident. Our creator made us sexual
beings and put a strong sex drive within us in order to drive us toward
marriage and the goods that are united in the marital union.” So marriage is
the covenantal one-flesh relationship between a man and a woman, designed to
glorify God, image the Gospel, and help humanity flee sexual immorality.
Anything other than this is simply not marriage. God created it for our good
and His glory and no man can redefine it.
What
does the Bible say about homosexuality?
Romans 1:18-32
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For
what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the
things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they
knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became
futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming
to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God
for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the
dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the
truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the
Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to
dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those
that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations
with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing
shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their
error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to
a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all
manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy,
murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters
of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's decree
that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but
give approval to those who practice them.
I have often heard people reference
this passage and say things such as, “if America doesn’t straighten up, this is
exactly what is going to happen.” Well unfortunately this has already happened;
it happened in Genesis 3, which was long before America was even thought of.
This passage is the story of the fall of man. In our first passage from Genesis
2, man is in the Garden of Eden, which just so happens to be paradise. Man is
sinless at that point and in perfect loving relationship with his creator, but it
does not last. In Genesis 3 Adam and Eve sin against God, thereby bringing
spiritual and physical death into the world; this is exactly what God told them
would happen when He gave them their one
rule to follow (Genesis 2:17). Paul
tells us that sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin
(Romans 5:12). Since the fall all of mankind are born by nature dead in their
trespasses and sins, literally slaves to sin (John 8:34, Romans 3:9-12, Romans
3:23, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:1). This is what Paul means in Romans 1 when he
says God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity… All kinds of
impurity are now the result of the fallen heart condition of mankind; today
however we will be primarily focusing on homosexuality.
Romans 1:26-27
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For
their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed
with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and
receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Paul assumes two things in this
statement. First that his readers would understand that God created marriage to
be between a man and a woman, and second that anything outside of this
one-flesh relationship would be unnatural because it would go against God’s
created design. As we established earlier, God created us as sexual beings in
order that our sex drives might push us toward marriage. What Paul means by
“natural relations” is sex between a man and a woman within the covenant of
marriage…
With this understood Paul makes the
point that homosexuality is a sinful result of the fall of man. Because all men
are by nature sinners, all men are now by nature prone to sexual immorality.
This plays out differently for everyone but make no mistake, everyone has
struggled with some sort of sexual temptation. The common argument for
homosexuality today is that the individual was born that way; I am not educated
enough in genetics to argue for or against that, but what I do know is that
they were most definitely born a sinner and that in itself is reason enough to
believe that the individual may very well have been born prone to the sin of
homosexuality. The Bible is clear, all of us are going to struggle with sin,
however that may play out, but no one should embrace their sinfulness as a
lifestyle, instead we must make war against sin by responding to the Gospel in
repentance and faith and trusting in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit
to give us new hearts.
Dr. Mohler in the above mentioned book states, “Since our
sexuality is such an important part of our lives, we are naturally tempted to
think that our profile of sexual attraction is central to our identity. But our
identity must not be constituted by mere sexuality. We are first of all human
beings created in the image of God. Secondly, we are sinners whose falleness is
demonstrated in every aspect of our lives—including our sexuality. Every single
human being who has reached puberty has to deal with some kind of sexual
temptation. For some, that profile of temptation is homosexual; for others it
is heterosexual. The key issue for both is what God commands concerning our
stewardship of sexuality and the gifts of sex.”
Please, make no mistake, no matter what you may have heard from
liberal pastors or theologians; the Bible clearly considers homosexuality along
with all other kinds of sexual immorality, such as any sex outside of the
covenant of marriage, a sin. Let’s consider another passage of Scripture.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11
And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
This passage clearly condemns people who practice homosexuality
along with just about everybody else. With all the crazy people running around
screaming and holding signs that say God hates homosexuals I fear that
Christianity is wrongly perceived to believe that homosexuality is the
unforgivable sin. In this passage we can clearly see that this is not the case.
After Paul says that those who practice homosexuality will not go to heaven he
goes on to say, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1
Corinthians 6:11). This verse shows that homosexuals can change and become
former homosexuals. As with every other sin, the Bible’s solution to
homosexuality is trusting in Christ for the forgiveness of sin, the imputation
of righteousness, and the power to change. It makes no difference if the person
was born this way or not because through repentance and faith in the Gospel
they can be born again, alive to Christ and dead to sin.
There are other passages of Scripture that clearly label
homosexuality as a sin but for time sake we will not get into those. Now let’s
look at the subject from a different angle. Ok, so the Bible says that
homosexuality is wrong, but there are plenty of people who aren’t Christian and
don’t believe the Bible, why should you care what they believe, who they want
to be with, and how they define marriage? To be a Christian is to be a sinner
saved by the grace of God. The Christian knows that the only reason he has been
saved from his sins is because God is rich in mercy. “For by grace you have
been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of
God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The
Christian at one point was in the same state as the rest of mankind, but by the
grace of God he heard the Gospel preached and through the work of the Holy
Spirit responded to the Gospel in repentance and faith. This being the case,
the redeemed man sees the rest of mankind exactly as the Bible says they are,
lost and in desperate need of a Savior. No matter how deep someone may be in
their sin, no one is hopeless because salvation is the work of God, not sinful
man. So the Christian does what he can, sharing the Gospel, praying for others,
and trying to pull people away from sin in hopes that they might turn from
their sins and embrace Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
The Bible is clear; sin is deadly, especially sexual sin. This is
why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other
sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins
against his own body.” As a Bible believing Christian it would be hateful of us
to not try and detour people from their sins. Paul knew that the fallen man
would not understand this.
Romans 1:32
32 Though they know God's decree that those who practice such
things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who
practice them.
Paul knew that man would not only
sin but also give approval of sin. The Christian who embraces the Word of God
as true cannot live this way. God does not take lightly the approval of sin.
Ezekiel 13:20-23
20 "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against your magic
bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your
arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds. 21
Your veils also I will tear off and deliver my people out of your hand, and
they shall be no more in your hand as prey, and you shall know that I am the
LORD. 22 Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have
not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn
from his evil way to save his life, 23 therefore you shall no more see false
visions nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. And
you shall know that I am the LORD."
Jeremiah 23:14
But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit
adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no
one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its
inhabitants like Gomorrah."
So the Christian pleads with the
world around him to flee sexual immorality, as well as all sin, because he
cares about their general welfare as well as their eternal welfare. The
Christian wants to see man live rightly in God’s created order because he cares
about man and because he cares about the glory of God. God has given us a good gift
in sex, when it is enjoyed rightly inside the covenant of marriage.
Conclusion
Hebrews 13:4
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled,
for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
This is what we are after and what
we believe and this is why we care about how a country defines marriage.
Marriage, even marriage between unbelievers is something that is much bigger
than the husband and his wife. Homosexuality, is not a lifestyle that is to be
embraced, it is a sin that is unhealthy for the body and the soul.
Homosexuality is not the unforgivable sin, however a lifestyle of un-repented
sin because of a disbelief in God and His Word is. This is why Christians care
about the morality of a nation. It is our duty to call out as Jesus did in Mark
1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and
believe in the gospel.” To be against homosexual marriage is not hate, it is
love. To stand idle while others around you are perishing is hateful. To
encourage others to turn from their sin and believe in the Gospel is love. With
that, I will close with one last quote from Dr. Mohler. “No act of the will, no
matter how titanic, can solve the problem of sin or offer liberty from the
prison of our temptations. The only way out is through the redemption Christ
has accomplished. The only way to deal with the problem of sin is to trust the
transforming power of the gospel and the renewal that comes to the believer in
Christ. Even then, the struggle with temptation will persist—but not without
hope and healing.”
Final Words
With the current state of affairs,
such as the intolerance of tolerance that currently exists I am well aware that
many will label me as a hateful, narrow minded, bigot. All I can do is hope and
pray that those of you who read this will see my heart and know that I write
from a position of love and not of hate.
All the
Scripture in this post is quoted from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version,
copyright 2000, 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers,
1300 Crescent Street, Wheaton, IL 60187, USA.
All
quotes from Dr. Mohler are from his book Desire and Deceit.
R. Albert Mohler Jr., Desire and Deceit,
(Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2008).
