Some “churches” promote full inclusion of every sexual desire, while others hold fast to what God says about sexuality. But what about the options in between obvious heresy on the one side and the historic biblical position on the other? In the middle, lie the more insidious errors because these positions claim to respect God’s Word, affirming its authority, while saying either (1) the act of homosexuality is sinful, but the identity and desire isn’t or (2) that homosexual “marriage” honors God if it’s a committed monogamous relationship.
Ultimately, these “middle ground” positions fail biblically because they don’t come from Scripture; they are an attempt to blend God’s Word and man’s word. Despite attempts to explain away the Bible’s condemnation of homosexual acts and desires, the Bible is clear on this subject.
Scripture doesn’t present us with fuzzy, abstract concepts on marriage and sexuality that the church missed for thousands of years or that you need an advanced education to discover. Rather, it plainly speaks on this issue in creation, the Levitical law, the Gospels, and Paul’s Epistles. Let’s look at an example passage from each category.
Creation
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
At the very beginning of the Bible, we learn that marriage was created by God and designed and defined as a lifelong, one-flesh commitment between one man and one woman. Some will argue that it’s merely monogamy and commitment that make a marriage and that the heterosexual nature of male and female is irrelevant, but that’s arbitrary picking and choosing, and we can’t just pick and choose which parts of God’s design we like.
Law
“You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a woman; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22).
Inclusive Christians will argue that this passage is part of the Levitical law and therefore no longer binding on us today, but it still holds relevance to us today because it is God’s Word, and all Scripture is authoritative, and marriage is grounded in the created order, which predates the law by 2,500 years. Others claim that this passage only forbids homosexual relationships in the context of cultic prostitution (which is not in context), yet the same people aren’t arguing that bestiality is only wrong in the context of cultic prostitution (see the next verse, Leviticus 18:23). It’s an inconsistent hermeneutic!
Gospels
“[Jesus] answered, Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?” (Matthew 19:4–5).
In responding to a question about divorce, Jesus confirms that marriage is defined in Genesis. While some say that Jesus didn’t have a problem with gay “marriage” because he never made an explicit statement about it, Jesus defined marriage when he quoted Genesis and that is him definitively addressing the issue (oh, and all Scripture is God’s Word, not just the red letters, so we look to all of Scripture to see what Jesus says on something!).
Epistles
“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions; for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the males abandoned the natural function of the female and burned in their desire toward one another, males with males committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error” (Romans 1:26–27).
Homosexuality is one of the things God turns a culture that has rejected him over to. But some argue Paul wasn’t talking about the loving homosexual relationships we see today; rather, he was talking about the abusive relationships believed to be prevalent in that culture. These people are reinterpreting God’s clear words in light of our current understanding of that culture, which is a foolishly prideful hermeneutical method. In addition, “desire toward one another” indicates that the passion was mutual.
Beyond twisting the above passages, gay-affirming churches argue that Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” so the church must accept the LGBTQ+ community with open arms. We agree with these churches that we must love our neighbors, but who gets to define love? God must be our authority, and his Word defines it clearly. First John 4:8 says, “God is love,” and Jesus demonstrated the greatest form of love when he gave up his life to take the penalty of our sins (John 15:13). He gave his life to justify and sanctify us, to wash us from sins like sexual immorality, homosexuality, thievery, and drunkenness (1 Corinthians 6:9–11). Love isn’t encouraging people to stay in their sin—love is encouraging them to come to Jesus to be washed! First Corinthians 13:6 says that love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.”
LGBTQ-affirming churches are using their own feelings, experiences, and understanding of morality to form their beliefs. In attempting to blend those beliefs with Scripture, they show utter disregard for what God said because his Word and man’s word are incompatible. They are like Eve who listened to the voice of the serpent when he asked, “Did God actually say . . .”—and like Eve, their pride-fueled disbelief in what God has said led them to disobedience. We must lovingly call these people to repentance and be careful ourselves to stand firm on the clear Word of God, regardless of what we hear from the culture or think and feel in our fallible hearts.
