Preamble
In view of the current shifts, particularly in the English speaking western nations, in regard to same-sex marriage we have felt a constraint to release a paper that might resource Christians in thinking the thoughts of God after him in this regard. Be warned though, it is a necessarily comprehensive response – and some – to the main arguments of the pro-homosexual apology.
With the UK government’s Wolfenden Report of 1957, leading to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967, culminating in the Same-Sex Couples Marriage Bill of 2013, and the US Supreme Court’s Obergefell v Hodges same-sex marriage ruling of 2015, the shift in the western nations to full acceptance of homosexuality and imbuing it with full civil rights – including marriage – is virtually complete.
However, to answer whether same-sex marriage should be a civil-right, it must first be asked as to whether it is, in fact, a criminal act.
Behaviours that are not classified by the state as criminal, we are clearly free to do, which denotes that they are also a civil-right; thus with the gradual decriminalisation of homosexuality across the western nations over the decades, it is consistent that same-sex marriage has become an issue of equity and justice—of equality before the law.
Therefore, to answer the same-sex marriage question, we must first discover the biblical ethic in regard to homosexuality itself—that is, its sinfulness and/or criminality.
Issues
To do this and answer the marriage question we need to not only consider the texts that deal with homosexuality, but also consider the role of:
1. Scripture
2. Hermeneutics and Exegesis (interpreting Scripture)
3. Law and Grace
4. Church and State
Confusion in all four of these – and as to how they interface – has led to a revisionist and pro-homosexual theology that has not only overtaken the more theologically liberal denominations, but also more recently significant portions of evangelicalism; and consequently to their acceptance, if not outright advocacy, of same-sex marriage.
Clarifying these four issues, this paper will argue that homosexuality is antithetical to biblically orthodox Christianity. It will show that the church has a divine mandate to teach the state and civil society the ways of God, including his righteous standards, and that the state has a responsibility to uphold justice based on those standards.
Topic: SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: SHOULD IT BE A CIVIL-RIGHT? A Biblical View - David Orton
