Jesus And Same-Sex Marriage — Jeffry McGee

There are several passages of Scripture which address homosexuality, and by logical progression same-sex marriage.  In this brief article I will discuss what Moses and the apostle Paul wrote about the subject and finally what Jesus said about it.

In the Old Testament, Moses wrote that God views homosexuality as an abomination:

“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” (Lev. 18:22).

“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them” (Lev. 20:13).

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul wrote to the Romans that those who practice homosexuality will receive “the due penalty for their error”:

“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.  For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 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” (Rom. 1:26-27).

Furthermore, Paul wrote to the Corinthians that homosexuality is unrighteous and that those who practice it will not receive the kingdom of God:

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:9-11).

But what did Jesus say about homosexuality, and by extension same-sex marriage?  As we shall see, Jesus said a lot about it.

We read that in the beginning God created man and woman for each other, instituting a marriage relationship between them where they become one flesh:

“The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.  But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.  So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.  And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.  Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’  Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:20-24).

The significance of this is that Jesus was in the beginning with God; indeed, Jesus was God.  Therefore, Jesus created the marriage institution between man and woman.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3).

When Jesus spoke about marriage between a man and a woman, He spoke with authority as the One who created the institution and warned man not to change what God created.

“And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?’  He answered, ‘Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”?  So they are no longer two but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’  They said to him, ‘Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?’  He said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.  And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery” (Matt. 19:3-9).

In summary, every example of marriage throughout the Bible is that between a man and a woman.  God created the marriage institution in the beginning and intended for it to remain unchanged.  However, man defiled it through the hardness of his heart.  By defining marriage as between a man and a woman, Jesus condemned same-sex marriage