The issue of homosexual marriage cannot be separated out from an overall approach to gender theology. Homosexual marriage and homosexuality cannot be dealt with independently from a total acceptance of all gender-based verses in the Bible – both homosexual and heterosexual, comprising an overall scriptural theology of gender. The real problem the protestant church and large para-church ministries face concerning homosexual marriages is an experiential-based theology, rather than one centered upon the Word of God. In the last thirty years, there has been (as discussed in the previous blog) a pattern of setting aside heterosexual gender passages on the basis of experience. “God made me this way so it can’t be wrong” has long been accepted.
The Bible says in 1 Timothy 2:12 “But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.” But God made her a teacher, men benefit from her teaching, in fact she is a better teacher/leader than the men, therefore it must be all right for her to teach and exercise authority over men.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:1-2 ”In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.” But her husband does not want her to go to our church, yet she is an excellent witness and teacher in our church, at least if she comes to our church she will be ministered to by mature Christians - who knows, maybe her husband will come to Christ. After all, God did bring her to Christ through our church, she is blessed in her walk with God by our church, she wants to come to our church and serve - it must be God’s will for her to attend our church.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11:14 “Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him.” But God has given him such a wonderful ministry through his music. Many people will come to our church and worship if he performs, and God has blessed many churches through his music ministry. After all, it is the norm in the music industry for musicians to have long hair, and long hair allows him to relate to musicians and youth. Despite his long hair and, perhaps, because of it many hear the gospel, come to Christ and worship at his concerts, and God would not bless his ministry if his long hair were wrong.
The list goes on - marriage, marriage vows, divorce, remarriage, gender roles in marriage, gender roles in appearance, gender roles in the church. All of these areas have been set aside by heterosexuals based upon simple arguments of experience. Since good is happening, then the Bible must not be saying what it says, it must instead be saying something else. We don’t know exactly what that is, but we do know good is happening, so it must be OK.
Here, then, is the problem. The Bible clearly states in the area of gender that God created male and female (Genesis 1:27), that this is God’s design for marriage (Genesis 2:24), and that the desire for same-sex marriage and same-sex sexual intimacy is a sin and a personal decision (Romans 1:26-32). Now the problem that the protestant and para-church organizations face is that the homosexual community uses the same reasoning to arrive at their decisions that the heterosexuals have used for decades. “I know the Bible seems to say this, but I was born with this desire, it is how God created me, I cannot be happy with the opposite sex only with my same sex, we are faithful to each other, we go to church and are more faithful to each other than heterosexuals, we do not sin in other sexual ways, we are in every way a well-behaved, model couple, we tithe, serve, worship and are in every way a good church member, God would not bless us if this were sin. We do not know all that these verses mean but they are written to pagans living a debauched lifestyle. We, however, are good Christians, so there is no reason to condemn us or refuse to marry us. Your aversion to us is no different than your previous aversion to other minority groups.”
The heterosexual community has nothing to reply to these arguments, since they themselves use them. Their choice of strict Biblical enforcement of homosexual passages is inconsistent with their cultural and experiential application of heterosexual passages. What is needed is a clear Scripture-based gender theology that will be applied uniformly in all situations - heterosexual, homosexual, bi-sexual, transgender and all situations to come in the future, which the church can neither imagine nor anticipate.
I. Gender Theology is clear First – by creation, there are only two genders and one application (Genesis 1:27 & 5:2). The Bible differentiates between sexual practices or acts and gender. Because one commits adultery, polygamy, fornication, bestiality, homosexuality, pedophilia, cross dressing, etc. does not make him/her doing those things by creation but sinful acts by heterosexuals. Additionally, there exist only two genders and one acceptable application of this theology in terms of sexual practice. One male, one female, joined in marriage, engaging then (and only then) in sexual intimacy. This may be done for mutual pleasure and excitement or for procreation.
Second - the Bible clearly presents a gender-based heterosexual theology and practice in all arenas: Gender-based equality in terms of creation and worth (Genesis 1:27; Galatians 3:28), Gender-based roles are rooted in creation (Genesis 2:18; 1 Corinthians 11:8-9), Gender-based roles in appearance (1 Corinthians 11:14-15;Deuteronomy 22:5), Gender-based roles in marriage (Ephesians 5:23-24; 1 Peter 3:1-2), and Gender-based roles in the Church (1 Timothy 2:12). As a side note, in worship and in mixed-gender fellowship, women may freely share and participate (Colossians 3:16) Additionally, women may freely exercise and express their gifts in relation to other women and children (Titus 2:3-5).
Beyond these situations, the Bible acknowledges and condemns a multitude of deviant and sinful practices outside this single biblical standard, but these are practices of choice and not a result of differing gender creations. Those who engage in these sins are always viewed in the Scriptures as participating or committing an act of sin. Biblical passages never class them as an aberration of creation nor as a created class of people but as a class of people who practice the same sinful actions. Some sinful practices render one so obsessed with the practice that the individual, in many cases, becomes indistinguishable from the practice itself - it is as if it is their very nature. The practice may become uncontrollable and the desire for change, not only lost but painful to experience - this is not unusual or unbiblical. It may be sexual deviance, drug addiction, violence, demonic possession and worship, or any number of sinful life decisions which seem to take on a life of its own, which causes this. It does not, however, change the origin of man or woman by creation.
Comparative study – gender-based heterosexual passages and gender-based homosexual passages appear in the same books of the Bible and in the same time period. As such, they cannot be separated out for literal versus cultural interpretation. Here are but a few of many examples:
- The Law: The law declares homosexual behavior a sin in Leviticus 18:22. The same Law condemns a loss of distinction in heterosexual dress in Deuteronomy 22:5. If the church is going to make an appeal to the law to condemn homosexual behavior, then it will also have to condemn the men in the church who are wearing women’s jewelry, make up, hair coloring and the women who fail to dress in a feminine but, instead, a masculine manner.
- Romans: Romans declares that homosexual intercourse is a grievous sin (Romans 1:26-27). This same epistle also condemns unfaithfulness in marriage (Romans 2:22) as well as the sin of divorce (Romans 7:2-3). The church cannot condemn the sin of homosexuality while turning a blind eye to acts of adultery and divorce.
- 1 Corinthians: Homosexuality in appearance or act is clearly condemned in 1 Corinthians 6:9. Yet in the same epistle, 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 teaches clearly on the sin of divorce and remarriage, as well as distinctive appearance in hair length 1 Corinthians 11:14-15. The church cannot continue to use 1 Corinthians to condemn homosexuality, while turning a blind eye to heterosexual sins such as divorce, length of hair, adultery and immorality among their youth.
- 1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 1:10 classes homosexual acts as clearly contrary to the Word of God. Yet in the very next chapter of this epistle, women are forbidden - by nature of their position in creation - to teach and/or exercise authority over men (1 Timothy 2:12-13). If churches and para-church ministries are going to continue to turn a blind eye in chapter two to women in their ministries teaching and exercising authority over men, they will have great difficulty in appealing to chapter one concerning the sin of homosexuality.
The sin of homosexuality does not exist apart from a theology of gender. God created two distinct genders – male and female. There are no other. All activities outside these two roles fall under the category of acts of sin and not acts of creation. Homosexuality is a sinful activity carried out by an act of the will and not a lifestyle determined by creation or birth. The call of the church for homosexuals to repent cannot be done apart from the teaching on gender theology and the call for all men and women to conform to the holy, eternal, inerrant written Word of God. The church cannot continue to single out homosexual actions as sin and ignore heterosexual gender specific passages. The church cannot continue to use passages of Scripture condemning homosexual behavior, while ignoring passages in the same books and context that define heterosexual gender roles, actions and appearance.
By His mercy, II Corinthians 4:1 Rev. John S. Mahon Grace Community Int.
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