My first line in the sand that I am drawing is the one about the sanctity of marriage. What is marriage? Marriage means different things to different people, but what you or I think about marriage does not matter. What matters is what marriage is. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary marriage is “the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law.” That definition nails down what marriage might be a little more, but still a dictionary gives definitions to what words mean to people today. History shows us that the meanings of words change, i.e. "neck" used to mean "parcel of land" (as in neck of the woods) or "awful" meant "deserving of awe". These examples show us that we can not trust a dictionary to tell us what marriage is, it can only show us what today's interpretation is.So, where do we go to define what marriage is? Our current system of marriage is a contractual (a covenant) relationship. Where did we get this design for marriage? That's right. From the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and continued in the New Testament. Agree with the design or not, that is where our current system of marriage was based from. What does the Old Testament say?
“Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." -- Genesis 2:18 (ESV)
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” -- Genesis 2:24 (ESV)
Here in Genesis, God establishes the first marriage. There is reason a God that made us man and woman. We compliment each other! Men have their strengths and weaknesses just as women do, but when we marry, our flesh combines as one and we are complete! Now, what does the New Testament say about marriage?
“23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” -- Ephesians 5:23-32 (ESV)Here in this verse, Paul is showing how marriage is more than a just covenant between two people; it is a picture of Jesus' relationship to Church. We husbands have a huge role to play in our marriage! We are to represent Jesus Christ's attributes in our relationship. And wives, you are supposed to treat your husbands like the Church is supposed to treat Jesus. How high and holy an image do our marriages represent! The writer of Hebrews tells us how we should view this:
“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” -- Hebrews 13:4
Here the writer God sees adulterers and the sexually immoral as defilers of marriage. I think we can all agree what adultery is (sex outside of marriage,) but what are the sexually immoral?
"24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.Let me say this LOUD and CLEAR - I do NOT hate homosexuals. I do however believe that God sees homosexuality, bestiality, and adultery as a abominations. Remember, the writer of Hebrews told us that the marriage bed should not be defiled. I think a logical line can be drawn to say that such abominations are a defilement.
"26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error." -- Romans 1:24-27 (ESV)
"A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God." --Deuteronomy 22:5 (ESV)
"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination..." -- Leviticus 20:13 (ESV)
As a Christian, I believe that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant, and sufficient Word of God. Agree with the Bible or not, it is plain that marriage was based on Biblical principles. Careful study and an open mind shows us that marriage is between a man and a woman.
If you see that I have erred in any way, please do not hesitate to tell me. If I have not rightly handled the Bible and used it out of context, PLEASE tell me! I do not want to blaspheme the name of God by misusing his Word.
-- The Wretch
5 comments:
Praise God. That's a good line in the sand.
"Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following." - Psalm 48:11-13.
I appreciate the comment you made about the connection between a "covenant" relationship and a marriage relationship. This is very appropriate. Possibly one of the best ways to illustrate the covenant of God is to liken it to a marriage.
This is certainly the relationship of Christ with the church, yet the covenant is primarily that relationship between the Father and Son. For this reason, while in part it is "contractual" it is by no means limited to this. It is first of all, that unbreakable bond of fellowship between the Father and Son through the Spirit, in which the Father and Son dwell together in communion and perfect harmony.
As we are in Christ through His Spirit which dwells in us also, we too are partakers within this covenant of love. This is why the Spirit is referred to in Romans 8 as the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, "Abba, Father!"
So it is that He is our God and we are His people. To reduce this relationship to a mere contract would miss the entire beauty of it. The reason it is in part like a contract is for the comfort of the believer, because this tells us that like a contract, it cannot be broken, no more than God could cease to be, since it was Him alone who passed through the animals cut in two.
Then we see that the covenant relationship is a blood-bond sealed by Jesus' blood, which is why we are told in Romans 5 that it is by His blood that we are reconciled to God.
What then of places in the Bible where it speaks of people "breaking" the covenant of God? This word is more correctly translated "violating". The hypocrite within the church violates or profanes God's covenant because though he professes to be in Christ, his heart is far from Him. In the same way the uncircumcised foreigners brought into the temple courts (Eze 44:7) profaned and violated God's covenant, just as a husband sleeping with another woman profanes and violates his marriage. But he does not by this break it or annul it.
For this reason marriage is a life-long bond until death (Matthew 5:32, Romans 6), and because of this, though one may divorce on the grounds of fornication (and that alone, and only because of the hardness of our hearts), one who marries a person who is divorced (while their ex-spouse still lives), commits adultery, as does that person. Now that is another line in the sand which sadly few today dare to draw.
- Samuel W.
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I also simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them:
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
My Dad would like to sell me into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for me?
Men are allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15:19- 24. The problem is, how does one tell? most women take offense when asked.
Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?
Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging. "
Crafty, I appreciate your references, but there is much more to those verses than you have referenced. A quick Google search of your post shows that it is a part of a unattributable form letter...you can do better then that. Besides, Matt didn't use those verses in his post. As a matter of fact he didn't even use the words "gay" or "homosexual". His post was on the biblical definition of marriage.
There is much more to understanding the context of OT Law than just copying and pasting them from someone else's form letter, and proper study of the Bible will always make them clear to how and when they apply. You have to understand the context of when and to whom those verses were written. If you are open minded and want to go through Old vs. New Covenant I would certainly be up for a long discussion on the topic.
WS. It goes far beyond matt's post as Matt has known me and my family for years, and this hit a little too close to home for me and hurt me deeply as he paraded his "new controversial blog post" over various internet sites. I have waited a while to respond and when presented with the letter I decided to pass it on.
Matt did quote "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination..." -- Leviticus 20:13. I was simply trying to state that there are many other things that he himself commits on a daily basis. You can construe what you wish out of any other versus the letter quoted. I can see where Matt is coming form in his beliefs and way of life but my point simply was that not everyone follows the Bible to a T and that Church and State in our government is there for a reason.
I had a friend of mine who was a bit taken a back to the blog post forward me the letter she had found. IT not untrue at all what was posted, all the versus are from the Bible, put into simpler terms. I am not saying in any way, I wrote this or that they are my words only. I thought the letter was well research though and am still waiting for answers.
Thank you for your response, I always enjoy different points of view on this subject
1. There is absolutely no biblical basis for rejecting the moral law of the Old Testament.
(a) Matthew 5:13-48; Jesus said that He had not come to destroy the Law, and if He didn't, who did? See verse 17 especially.
(b) Romans 3:31; Paul explains that we uphold the Law.
(c) James 1:23-2:13; James teaches that we must be doers and hearers of the Law. Later he also teaches us not to judge the law but to do it.
(d) 1 Corinthians 3 explains that the two tables of the Law are written in the hearts of believers by the Spirit of God. These two tables are of course the ten commandments of Exodus 20 and repeated in Deuteronomy 5. As they were etched on stone by the finger of God, so they are written in our hearts by the Spirit (including the fourth commandment - Hebrews 4 teaching that the Lord of the Sabbath has changed the day to point to the final eternal rest of the new creation rather than the old; hence the first day of the week - the day of the resurrection, the appearing of the disciples, Pentecost, and the meetings of the early church as in Acts and 2Co). I recommend consulting resources such as the Heidelberg Catechism for a trustworthy further explanation and commentary: http://www.prca.org/hc_index.html Without a doubt the Old Testament must be explained by the New.
(e) It is abundantly explained in Hebrews that Christ has fulfilled the ceremonial and judicial laws and to practice these today would almost be denying that Christ had come.
(f) Antinomianism is not a Reformed position and never has been, and it is a sad day if antinomians are allowed to parade as supposedly Reformed (but this wouldn't surprise me anymore).
2. Even regardless of this entire subject (important as it is), homosexuality (including lesbianism) is thoroughly condemned by Romans 1 and other NT passages. But divorce apart from the cause of fornication is also condemned. And no matter what grounds for divorce, any remarriage while the divorced spouse is still alive is adultery. There are many other sins as well that the Bible condemns and of which we often fall into and must repent of every day by the grace of God.
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