Does the bible condone gay marriage
The Case Against Christians Attending a Gay Wedding
The case against Christians attending a gay wedding is relatively straightforward. We can lay out the case in three premises and a conclusion.
The Argument
Premise 1: Gay “marriage” is not marriage.
No matter what a government may sanction, the biblical definition of marriage (see Gen. –25, Mal. –15, Matt. –6; Eph. –33) involves a man and a woman. I won’t belabor the point, because I assume in this post that I’m speaking to those who agree with the Westminster Confession of Faith when it says, “Marriage is to be between one noun and one woman” (WCF ). Gay “marriage” is not only an offense to God—sanctioning a kind of sexual activity that the Bible condemns (Lev. ; ; Rom. –27; 1 Cor. –10; 1 Tim. –10)—gay “marriage” does not actually exist.
Premise 2: A gay wedding celebrates and solemnizes a lie.
Whether the service is done in a church or in a reception hall, whether it is meant to be a Christian service or a secular commitment ceremony, a gay wedding declares what is false to be true and calls evil good.
Prem The Bible repeatedly uses the metaphor of marriage to illustrate the relationship between Christ and His church. How does that metaphor speak to the subject of same sex marriage? Does the use of that metaphor render same sex marriage impossible to harmonize with the Bible? Can transgender people fulfill the model of marriage laid out in Ephesians 5? Join Scott for this discussion with Rachel Gilson, author of Born Again This Way. Scott Rae: The Bible repeatedly used the metaphor of marriage to illustrate the relationship between Christ and His church. But how does that metaphor actually speak to the subject of same-sex marri Answer The Bible defines marriage in Genesis as a union between one man and one woman. Jesus Christ upholds this definition of marriage in Matthew , as does the Apostle Paul in Ephesians Any and all sexual activity which takes place outside of this context is treated as sinful, what Jesus calls ‘sexual immorality’ in Mark Further to this, same-sex practice is specifically highlighted as sinful a number of times in Scripture. In God’s Law, for example, condemnations of same-sex practice are given in Leviticus and Further references are made in the New Testament. For example, in Romans , amid echoes to the Genesis creation account, both male and female same-sex verb are treated as sinful. Further references to the sinfulness of same-sex practice can be seen in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy The Scriptures are, therefore, consistent in their prohibition of same-sex sexual activity, across alternative periods of salvation history and within different cultural settings. Although the Scriptures are clear on sexual ethics, they also The Bible and Same Sex Marriage
Rachel Gilson serves on the leadership team for theological development and culture at Cru. She has an MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and is operational on her PhD at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She is the author of Born Again This Way: Coming Out, Coming to Faith, and What Comes Next. Her writing has been featured in Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, and Desiring God.Episode Transcript
What does the Bible say about gay marriage?
The Bible says nothing about gay marriage directly, but it does set down the foundational principles of what constitutes marriagein God’s eyes. Every reference to marriage in the Bible indicates a union of male and female. The first description of marriage coincides with the creation of Eve in Genesis 2. According to that passage, marriage takes place when “a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis ).
In passages that contain instructions regarding marriage, such as 1 Corinthians –16 and Ephesians –33, the Bible clearly identifies marriage as being between a man and a woman. Biblically speaking, marriage is the union of a gentleman and a woman in a lifetime commitment. Primary purposes of marriage are to illustrate the relationship between Christ and the church (see Ephesians –33) and to build a family and provide a stable, secure environment for that family to expand. As families prosper, so does society at large, and solid families contribute to stable soci What does the Bible train about same-sex practice?