Blog Post 10
If the Old Testament isn’t a reliable basis for condemning the marriages of gay couples today, surely the New Testament is, isn’t it? Let’s take a look.
Matthew 19:4-6
This passage does not refer to gay people, but many people use it to condemn the marriage of gay couples. How?
In this passage Jesus affirms marriage between a man and a woman:
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Yes, in this passage Jesus affirms marriage of opposite-sex couples, but is he thereby condemning marriage for same-sex couples? To answer that question we need to look at the wider context.
What is the situation that Jesus is responding to? It’s not a question about whether it’s legitimate for a gay couple to get married. Rather, it’s a question about whether it’s legitimate for a married couple to divorce. Jesus responds by teaching that God intended for marriage to be permanent. So it’s not an appropriate use of the passage to insist that it answers a question that Jesus is not responding to.
Furthermore, in spite of the very clear teaching by Jesus against divorce, the Christian community does permit divorce and remarriage. It makes an allowance for failed marriages in light of human brokenness, and it asks about the most life-giving response to failed marriages. Most Christians now respond by lamenting the breakdown of a marriage and even speak of it in terms of sin, but they still ask what is best within the larger picture of Christian morality. They conclude that sometimes divorce is better than keeping a marriage together—and sometimes remarriage after divorce is better than singleness after divorce.
Given this flexibility in our interpretation of Jesus’ words in Matthew 19, couldn’t we be similarly flexible in our treatment of gay people? Even if some Christians were to see the gay orientation as an example of human brokenness, couldn’t we conclude that for at least some gay people marriage is more life-giving than a life of singleness?
Matthew 19:12
There is no record in the Bible of Jesus saying anything about gay people. However, Jesus did speak about people who had a sexual difference—a sexual difference similar to that of gay people. In Matthew 19:12 we read,
“For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”
Isn’t it significant that Jesus teaches acceptance for a group of people who do not and cannot fit the pattern of male-female marriage and procreation? Is Jesus perhaps teaching that we should do the same?
Thank you Pastor Jim for these blog postings !
You’re most welcome, Joe! Thanks for your interest.