CHRISTMAS AND THE "[DIS]RESPECT FOR MARRIAGE ACT"

In the November 30, 2022 “The Sift” at wng.org we read the following:

Twelve Republicans voted with Democrats in the Senate on Tuesday to pass the so-called Respect for Marriage Act. The bill would enshrine a right to same-sex marriage into federal law. Religious liberty advocates say the bill could infringe on the rights of individuals, churches, and organizations to express their religious views on marriage. Some religious liberty amendments were earlier added to gain Republican votes. But the Senate struck down three other amendments seeking more protections for religious liberty before 61 senators voted to pass the bill and 36 opposed it. The House must approve the measure once more before it heads to President Joe Biden’s desk.

 

If the House of Representatives would vote in favor of this bill and if President Biden would sign it, then they will have codified into U.S. law that marriage is defined as something other than procreative in kind (between a man and a woman), a truth that all previous cultures in history have affirmed.

 

Less than a month from Christmas this senate action provides a sharp contrast to the purpose of Christmas. Let me explain. 

 

Hebrews 2:14-15 reveals to us that one of the key purposes for which the Son of God became man (the story of Christmas) was to destroy the devil and deliver those who, because of him, were subject to life-long slavery. Elsewhere Paul clarifies that this involves delivering a person from the domain of sin, Satan, death, and of darkness, and transferring them to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son through the forgiveness of sins in redemption (Col. 1:13-14). When sins are forgiven in Christ, a key tool Satan uses against us—accusation—is removed and he is therefore defeated (Col. 2:13-15; Rev. 12:11). As such, when this work is applied to the person, they are made alive together with Christ (Col. 2:13). This means that they can now function as God originally intended them to, namely to trust in and obey him, the very best life to live (Dt. 10:12-13). 

 

Simply put, the Word of God became flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:14) so that he might live, die, and be raised in the place of sinners so that we can be forgiven, saved, and transformed into the kind of persons who obey and glorify God (John 3:16, 36; Rom. 5:18-19; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 2:20; 5:17-25; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 2:4-10, 24; 3:18). 

 

The way the Apostle Paul words this in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 is that because of Christ our very identity is changed through our being justified, cleansed, and sanctified so that we are no longer chiefly characterized by our sins (and he lists adultery and homosexuality as examples), but we are now new people! We should not be surprised by what Paul writes here. After all, elsewhere, he makes it clear that he believes God created humans with binary sexuality, as man and woman, that marriage consists of a man and woman entering into covenant union before God, and that any deviation from this is sin—the very thing from which Jesus came to save humans (1 Cor. 7:1-2; Eph. 5:21-33; Col. 3:18-19). Paul even asserts that marriage is necessarily between a male and female since from the beginning of time God intended it to give a picture of the gospel in Christ’s saving of and love for his bride, the church (Eph. 5:32). 

 

Jesus is in agreement with Paul. We know this because he affirmed that God created humans with binary sexuality, that marriage is between a man and woman, and any deviation from this is sin—the very thing from which he came to earth to save humans (Mt. 5:27-32; 19:4-6; Mk. 10:5-9). 

 

What we celebrate at Christmas, then, is that Jesus came to save humans from the destruction of sin, i.e. deviation from God’s moral will, which is given to us for our good (Dt. 10:12-13). 

 

This reality has a number of ramifications in regard to the bill the senate just passed.

 

1. Anyone who affirms same-sex marriage, transgenderism, and/or the “rightness” of same sex practice holds to a worldview that cannot be accurately labeled Christian. It is not a liberal or postmodern version of Christianity. As J. Gresham Machen said almost a century ago in his book Christianity And Liberalism about the Liberalism of his day, it is not a version of Christianity, for it is an altogether different worldview, religion, or system of thought.

 

2. The Church across the United States should take a number of steps to counter what will most likely become the law of the land.

a. Pray both for the destruction to adults and children that such a law will engender and for those fellow Christ followers who will not be protected from religious persecution under the law. Though right now Churches (but not individuals, schools, or businesses) would be protected from affirming same-sex unions through the language of the law, it is by no means guaranteed this will continue—especially since same sex marriage will be codified into law and opposing it will likely be seen as a civil rights violation. 

 

b. Move to make a distinction between the true Church and those who profess Christianity but have compromised. Two ways I plan to do this are as follows: First, I will cease using the mere words “evangelical” or “Christian” to define myself. I will be intentional in adding descriptive words, such as this: I am a confessional (I hold to the ecumenical and Reformed creeds of Christendom), Reformed (I hold to the theology of the Reformers, especially the London Baptist Confession of 1689) evangelical. Second, I will no longer perform wedding ceremonies but instead will require couples not only to acquire their license at the courthouse but also to be officially married there. Then, what we will do in our church building is to join them in holy matrimony through a covenant ceremony before God, the church, and their friends. 

 

c. Preach the biblical gospel which makes clear that all are lost sinners who can be saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as revealed in Scripture alone, and for the glory of God alone. Though the preaching of the biblical gospel makes clear that we are not saved by works, true salvation results in works consistent with God’s righteous will. This means that a truly saved person will want to do what God commands (even in the areas of sex and marriage) and they will be grieved when they fall short of his will. To preach a lesser gospel is potentially to set people up to think they are Christians when they are not and someday to see that they are grievously and eternally mistaken (Mt. 7:21-23). 

 

3. The Church across the United States must not give up on praying for and working toward putting lawmakers in office that advocate for laws to reflect the wisdom of God. This would mean those that affirm that marriage is between a man and a woman. Such is part of the good works for which any saved person is zealous to perform (Titus 2:11-14; 3:14). 

 

4. Finally, though Christians should hold accountable politicians who voted for this bill, they should not do so in anger or bitterness. They should speak the truth firmly and in love (Eph. 4:15). 

 

It is a sad day in the United States due to the devastation that will continue to be wrought by laws such as this. It is not a day to celebrate an act that purports to respect marriage but a day to mourn a bill that disrespects marriage. Yet, at the same time, it is not a day for despair. Throughout history people, apart from God’s gracious work in their lives, have opposed him, his will, and his people—hating all three. This time in history is no different. Our Lord and Savior calls us to take light into the darkness of this world and to show them the way to truth and how to flourish (Mt. 5:16; Phil. 2:14-15). And while we do this, we can be assured he will continue to be for us, give us all we need to persevere and enter into our eternal joy, and he will continue to show to us a love from which nothing or no one can separate us (Romans 8:28-39). 

 

Therefore, may we be faithful!

 

Joyfully Following Our Lord With You,

 

Tom

Christianity And Women

Here in what follows is the full transcript of the August 9, 2022 podcast by John Stonestreet and Glen Sunshine that I referenced in Sunday's sermon. It counters the false narrative that Christianity is bad for women. 

Also, for another study that comes to the same conclusions see Alvin J. Schmidt, ch. 4 (“Women Receive Freedom and Dignty”), in How Christianity Changed The World. 

Throughout Church history, church attendance and overall religiosity have been higher among women than among men. That seems to be changing, especially for younger generations. According to new data, the long-existent church gender gap, which shows up in both religious affiliation and church attendance, has now flipped.  

However, the headline is not that more men are connecting with the Church. The story is that more women are disconnecting from the Church. 

 A number of factors have contributed to this demographic shift, not least of which are recent scandals of sexual impropriety and abusive leadership among prominent pastors and Christian leaders. Also, education and ethnicity seem to play a significant role in the religious identification of millennial women. “Among white respondents,” a recent Christianity Today article summarized, “women are 9 percentage points more likely to say that they have no religious affiliation compared to white men,” but “there’s no real difference in the share of male and female nones among Black, Asian, and other racial groups.” 

…In ancient Rome…the vast majority of women were seen as not much better than slaves. 

 Twelve was the legal age for girls to marry in Rome. If not married by 20, women were generally marginalized. Though divorce was available to both men and women, husbands caused most divorces since women rarely had other financial means. Ex-wives and widows were often left destitute.  

 In contrast, Christianity saw women as the spiritual and moral equal of men. Women and men shared the same created dignity, the same problem (sin), and the same solution, Jesus. As result, women in the Christian community had a higher status and more freedom than women in the broader Roman world. 

 The Christian rejection of divorce and sexual double standards, and its insistence on strict monogamy reflected this. Further, women were given more choice about whom and whether to marry and tended to marry later than their Roman counterparts. While widows were encouraged to remarry, the Church provided aid for those who did not or could not. 

 The Church also rejected abortion and infanticide as murder, meaning that women were not subjected to dangerous surgical procedures, and girls were not “discarded.” Thus, there were proportionately more women in the Christian community than in Roman society as a whole. 

Because of Christian attitudes and behavior toward women, more women converted to Christianity than men, and many men who converted did so under the influence of their wives. Eventually, Christianity transformed the status of women in the Roman world….

 Nonetheless, Christianity did more to improve the status of women than any other historical force. Even today, as the Gospel spreads around the Global South, the status and freedoms enjoyed by women are being raised. The treatment of women is just one example of how the Church has been an essential force for good in the world.