- All sin is a rebellion and rejection of God
- The bible condemns homosexual practice
- Jesus upholds the biblical view of marriage and homosexuality
- Marriage is all about Jesus
- The Same sex marriage argument is an attempt to undermine the authority of scripture
- Christ saves all who repent
- Our true identity is found in Christ
Sin is a rebellion and perversion from God’s law as found in the created order found in Genesis Ch. 1-2: Man and woman married living in the garden in perfect relationship with God loving God and loving their neighbor as their self.
“There is a clear and understandable revelation from God as to what sin is, and, that the penalty for sin is death; eternal separation from God. If this were not so, the Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection of Christ as our perfect and substitutionary sacrifice is left, quite simply, without meaning. It becomes an empty symbol. The reality of sin and its punishment is central to the Christian message, for the gospel is spoken to those who seek peace: not a surface-level peace, not a peace with society, not a peace with themselves, but a peace with God, the Creator whose law they have rejected and whose way they have spurned....Where as suffering and death was horrible it did not show the extend of the justice we deserve for hurting each other and rejecting and rebelling against our Creator. No bigger price could be paid then God’s own Son therefore no bigger revelation of God’s hatred of sin could be given.” – James White
2. The bible condemns homosexual
practice
When
compared with the biblical pattern of marriage, Homosexuality falls short on
numerous fronts:
- Homosexuality is at odds with God’s design for marriage in Gen. 2:24 between a man [masculine] being united to his wife [femanine] and they [man and woman] will become one flesh.
- Homosexual marriage violates God’s complementary (equal but different) design for marriage. According to Gen. 2 and 3 where the man is given charge of his wife and the woman is placed alongside him as his “suitable helper”
- These gender roles reflect the fact that we are made in God’s image. God is 3 persons. God is ordered. All equal but different. Woman might be over kids but under his and all be equal, like marriage roles.The roles that men and women in marriage are designed to embrace reflect the equality but difference of the trinity. Thus we reflect the glory of God through expressing the roles we have been created for.
- Our value and dignity does not come from ourselves. Just as money is given value because of the country it is created by, Our value and dignity comes from the person whos image we are made to reflect- God. When we replace God as the source of our value, identity and dignity, we lose our value, dignity and identity. We as God’s image bearers are created to mirror Gods character to the world so that all may know how glorious God is. When we fail to image God’s character through homosexuality and sexual immorality which the bible calls “the degrading of their bodies” (Rom. 1:24), we fail to glorify God. R.C. Sproul says it clearly when He says: “As the image-bearer of God, [man] is called upon to reflect and mirror the holiness of God. When we fail to honor the glory of God it’s inevitable that the dignity of man suffers. Our dignity flows out of the fact that we are created in the image of God. If the image of our God is soiled and destroyed and defaced, that defaces us.”
- Homosexuality does not fulfil the duty to procreate as Part of the creator’s plan for this vital social institution. Gen. 1:28.
- Marriage is intended to demonstrate Monogamy, fidelity and durability as Christ he faithful to his bride the church (Christians) regardless of its ongoing struggle in sin. Homosexual relationships on the whole do not prove to be monogamous
“With a male you shall not lie as though lying with a woman; it is an abomination.” (Lev. 18:22)
“And a man who will lie with a male as though lying with a woman, they have committed an abomination, the two of them, they shall certainly be put to death; their blood by upon them.” (Lev. 20:13)
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonourable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 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. 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.… Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:24-27, 32)
Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians 6:8-11 to explicitly teach that homosexual practice along with all other sinful lifestyles, excludes people from the kingdom of heaven:
“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, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 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.”
John Piper explains that “the focus is not on same-sex desire, but on same sex practice. And notice that homosexual practice is not singled out but included with other ways of sinning: idolatry, adultery, stealing, greed, drunkenness, reviling, etc. The point is not that one act of homosexual or heterosexual experimentation condemns you, but that returning to this life permanently and without repentance will condemn you “Men who practice” — who give themselves over to this life, and do not repent — “will not enter the kingdom of God.” They will perish." (Sermon: Let marriage be held in honour by all”)
He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ’Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh‘? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (ESV)
Some
say Jesus himself was sexually tolerant would endorse same sex marriage. Jesus may
have never spoken publicly against many types of evil, such as corruption,
infanticide, bribery and political kickbacks, rigged elections, brutal
dictatorships, but that does not mean that he condones any of them. On
matters relating to sexual ethics Jesus often adopted stricter, not more
lenient, demands than most other Jews of his time. Jesus
said in Matthew 19:
Jesus accepted the model for marriage
and sexual union presented in Genesis 1-2. Jesus understood that marriage was
ordained by God “from the beginning of creation” as the union of a man and a woman, not of a
man and another man, or a female and another
female. A man will only cleave to a
woman in marriage: it is explicitly stated! The creation texts authorized only one
type of sexual union. It would have been a foregone conclusion for him that
homoerotic relationships and human-animal unions, both proscribed in Leviticus,
were unacceptable. “Authentic Christianity takes God’s law, which prescribes the boundries of God’s intended purpose of His creation. The Lord Jesus Himself taught plainly that the Law of God was normative.
Jesus
restored sexually broken people, but he never condones their lifestyle.
To the woman caught in adultery in John 8, he said, “Your sins are
forgiven: go and sin no more”. So he says to all living in the
prison of homosexuality and other addictive, compensatory behaviour.
4. Marriage is all about Jesus
Marriage is ultimately a symbol of Christ and His Church as Ephesians 5:24–32 makes clear:
“Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. . . . “Therefore [quoting Genesis 2:24] a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”
Marriage is a visible symbol of the gospel - Christ laying down his life for His bride, the church. Two men or two women cannot symbolize the gospel, which is the purpose God's design for marriage. John Piper remarks:
“In other words, from the beginning there has been a mysterious and profound meaning to marriage. And Paul is now opening that mystery. And it is this: God made man male and female with their distinctive feminine and masculine natures and their distinctive roles so that in marriage as husband and wife they could display Christ and the church. Which means that the basic roles of wife and husband are not interchangeable.... The husband displays the sacrificial love of Christ’s headship, and the wife displays the submissive role of Christ’s body. The mystery of marriage is that God had this double (of wife and husband) display in mind when he created man as male and female. Therefore, the profoundest reality in the universe underlies marriage as a covenantal union between a man and a woman.” ” (Sermon: Let marriage be held in Honour by all. 2012)
5. The Same sex marriage argument is an attempt to undermine the authority of scripture
Marriage is ultimately a symbol of Christ and His Church as Ephesians 5:24–32 makes clear:
“Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. . . . “Therefore [quoting Genesis 2:24] a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”
Marriage is a visible symbol of the gospel - Christ laying down his life for His bride, the church. Two men or two women cannot symbolize the gospel, which is the purpose God's design for marriage. John Piper remarks:
“In other words, from the beginning there has been a mysterious and profound meaning to marriage. And Paul is now opening that mystery. And it is this: God made man male and female with their distinctive feminine and masculine natures and their distinctive roles so that in marriage as husband and wife they could display Christ and the church. Which means that the basic roles of wife and husband are not interchangeable.... The husband displays the sacrificial love of Christ’s headship, and the wife displays the submissive role of Christ’s body. The mystery of marriage is that God had this double (of wife and husband) display in mind when he created man as male and female. Therefore, the profoundest reality in the universe underlies marriage as a covenantal union between a man and a woman.” ” (Sermon: Let marriage be held in Honour by all. 2012)
5. The Same sex marriage argument is an attempt to undermine the authority of scripture
It is God’s
rights as creator to define our role, our purpose, our value and our identity. He does this through the words of scripture. As James White explains:
“Authentic Christianity, following the normative words of Scripture, allows God to define all areas of human life, including the intensely personal area of sexuality. This flows from the fact that God is our Creator, and as Creator has defined for us how we are to experience the fullness of His will in our lives. Authentic Christianity does not take from God the right of defining sexuality and entrust it to the creature. Instead, it says plainly that the true joy and fulfillment of human sexuality is to be found solely in following God’s decrees and not departing from His will for our lives. Authentic Christianity is defined by the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. It is the radical claim of authentic Christianity that Jesus Christ was the God-Man, the Incarnate Son, the very Creator who entered into His own creation. Authentic Christianity believes Jesus Christ came into the world to do something: to save sinners.”
Paul himself taught that “all scripture is”, not man’s opinion, but “breathes out by God” (2 timothy 3:16). They are God’s immutable revelation to us of his will not man’s ideas about God. Likewise Peter wrote “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter:1:20-21)
6. Christ saves all who repent
One of the biggest misunderstanding is that
God accepts everyone into the kingdom. This is a half truth which is really not
a truth at all. God does accept people from all backgrounds to be saved through
Jesus, but this must be qualified. God accepts those who repent from all backgrounds to be saved through Jesus.
Repentance means to turn from what God deems as a life of sinful disobedience
and rebellion back to God, seeking to be obedient to Him in all things. The means this occurs through is faith. The Scriptures tell us that Christ’s death is sufficient to forgive all sin. Jesus Christ calls all people to repent and believe the gospel (Mk 1:15). A lifestyle
of wilful, un contrite, unrepentant sin disqualifies you for salvation.
Forgiveness
in Christ implies repentance, and repentance implies admission of wrong. The church would fail in its scriptural
mandate if it were exercising tolerance apart from repentance and acceptance
apart from admission of wrong (cf. 1:cor. 5). In fact, if the church were to
soften its denunciation of homosexuality, or remove it altogether, it would
effectively remove the incentive for homosexuals to repent. The message would
be that homosexuality is acceptable, not only in the church, but also before
God.
Salvation
is a gift through believing in Jesus not something we earn based upon our
performance and works however God does not leave those he saves in their sin. The good news of Jesus is that God saves heterosexual sinners and homosexual sinners who trust Jesus by counting them righteous because of Christ, and by helping them through his Spirit to live lives pleasing to him in their disordered brokenness. For some, the Spirit may enable them to live lives of celibacy. Jesus and Paul remained single for the Kingdom. For those suffering Same-sex attraction, whom God does not change, celibacy is a godly heroic option if God does not take the desires away as Jesus says in Matthew 19:12:
"For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it"
"For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it"
7. Our true identity is found in Christ
Same sex activists contend that for an individual with a homosexual orientation to refuse the gay or lesbian label is to deny one’s true self and to live a virtual schizophrenic existence.
“Scripture makes a distinction between intense biological “orientations” people experience and the identity that is available to them “in Christ.” (Robert Gagnon, Scriptural perspectives on homosexuality, Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 2005, vol 24) In other words, we are to draw a distinction between our identity & what we do. For, we are not what we do.
Same sex activists contend that for an individual with a homosexual orientation to refuse the gay or lesbian label is to deny one’s true self and to live a virtual schizophrenic existence.
“Scripture makes a distinction between intense biological “orientations” people experience and the identity that is available to them “in Christ.” (Robert Gagnon, Scriptural perspectives on homosexuality, Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 2005, vol 24) In other words, we are to draw a distinction between our identity & what we do. For, we are not what we do.
For this reason the metaphor of death is often chosen to illustrate the conflict between the worship of God and our self-directed nature. In Mark
8:34-37 Jesus says:
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and
take up his cross and follow me. For whoever
wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and
for the gospel will save it. What good is it for
a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or
what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
“Christian discipleship means no longer doing what we want to do, when we want to do it, and with whom we want to do it. It means following the path that Jesus treads for us, with our whole being and irrespective of any counter-impulses we experience. Mild reform to one’s life will not suffice; nothing less than death to self is required.” (Robert Gagnon, Scriptural Perspectives on Homosexuality and Sexual identity, Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 2005) This is why Paul says in Galatians 2:19-20
“For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Faith is a reorientation of one’s whole life away from self to God. This faith is inspired and motivated by Christ’s own self-giving for us. As we recognize the enormity of his love for us, as well as the import of God’s not sparing his own Son for us (Rom. 8:32), we are “controlled” or “constrained” by this love to a point where we “no longer live for ourselves but for the one who died for [our] sake and was raised” (2 Cor. 5:14-15). In John 10:10 Jesus says “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Giving up self interest for Christ, we find true joy living the way we were designed to live. Where as by nature we are slaves to sin, that is our sinful selfish desires, through becoming a Christian He gives us his holy spirit which gives us new desires and new power to resist these urges and find a greater satisfaction, desire and joy in Jesus Christ.
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