Friday, July 15, 2011

DID JESUS ADVOCATE HOMOSEXUALITY?

This-morning as I was cruising through the headlines, I immediately came across a story detailing California’s new inclusion of “gay” history in the state’s public school curriculum. After reading the article, I scrolled down through the comment thread, which was rapidly expanding, and found the taunt of a pro-gay promoter who was challenging Christians with the fact that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. The responses to the challenge were anemic at best, and prove the difficulty most Christians have responding biblically to this question. To this end, the following is a brief summary that sets the record straight by answering the common misconceptions about Jesus and homosexuality:

Did Jesus advocate homosexuality?

The prevailing pro-gay opinion is that silence, on the part of Jesus concerning homosexuality, is golden. Pro-gay interpreters argue that since Jesus did not explicitly single out homosexuality with some defining statement, then homosexuality is no longer taboo. Erroneously, pro-gay advocates interpret silence on the part of Jesus as approval and a ringing endorsement for everything gay. On the contrary, the silence of Jesus on this matter needs to be considered in light of what we do know. Here are a few defining considerations about Jesus based on what is known. These shed an incriminating light on the stock pro-gay argument from silence:
  •         Jesus was an active agent involved in the act of creation itself (Colossians 1:15-17). As creator, Jesus came to fulfill the creation order, which the first Adam squandered. He did not come to violate creation order (Romans 1:18-32), which would be the case had He endorsed homosexuality or any other sexual sin. Jesus came in keeping with the order (Genesis 1 and 2) He helped establish in the beginning. 
  •         Rather than abolishing the Law—to include Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13—Jesus came to perfectly fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17-19). The whole of the Law is now reinterpreted and filtered through the divine person and finished work of Christ upon the cross. That Christ fulfilled the dictates and demands of the Law does not nullify the moral principles derived from the law. On judgment day unbelievers will be judged in accordance with the Law’s just demands (Revelation 21:8). 
  •         There are many sins that Christ never mentioned or focused on. Rather than concentrating on specific acts of sin, Jesus focused on the nature and origin of sin in the heart of man. Jesus taught that because man is constitutionally a sinner by nature, individual acts of sin are the external result—whatever those individual acts of sin might be. Note the emphasis Jesus placed on the internal condition of man:
“there is nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.” (Mark 7:15)

"But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. 20 These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man." (Matt. 15:18-20)

In other words, homosexuality is one of a multitude of expressions of the sin nature. So rather than listing thousands of sins by name and filling up volumes of books doing so, Jesus dealt with the root of these external acts of sin. That Jesus mentioned “adulteries” and “fornications” covers the wide array of sexual sins that violate the seventh commandment. Just because Jesus did not mention a specific sin by name does not mean that it is acceptable in God’s eyes. Clearly, Jesus placed a significant emphasis on the internal matters of the heart.
  •         As a result of Christ’s first advent, the OT Law took on universal dimensions as it was applied to the gentile nations through the New Covenant provisions of redemption found in Christ. This means the Christian is to love God and then to love his neighbor as himself, which, given the extreme demands of this, is ultimately an impossibility apart from both saving grace and then enabling grace. 
  •         The whole purpose of Christ’s coming was to do what the Law could not do—to save (Mark 10:45 and Luke 19:10). The Law of God is schoolmaster that shows the sinner his need for Christ. The Law only makes the diagnosis of sin. Christ is the only prescription for that sin!
  •         Finally, Jesus upheld and reaffirmed the creation mandate of gender distinction and monogamous marriage when He was queried about divorce and remarriage (Matthew 19:4-6; Mark 10:2-11). Jesus strongly regarded the priority and prerequisite of male-female requirement for marriage as an absolute necessity. He did not alter nor amend the Genesis 1 and 2 ideal one bit. He underscored it along with the necessity of the two cardinal principles of monogamy and a lifelong commitment.
When Jesus made this marriage/divorce pronouncement He said all that ever needed to be said. As earlier noted, Jesus did not speak out on other sexual sins like incest, bestiality, or polygamy, but He did not need to when He reasserted the creation mandate. Jesus’ statement on marriage is one-size-fits-all ruling on all sexual deviations that depart from the marriage ideal.

So in answer to the question, "Did Jesus advocate homosexuality?" the pro-gay advocate is very hard pressed to substantiate that Jesus condoned homosexuality. If He condoned homosexuality, then we might conclude He condoned bestiality, necrophilia, and incest as well. After all, Jesus never uttered a word about these things either.

NOTE: The preceding is an excerpt from my book Same-Sex Marriage: Is It Really The Same?