I hope that all my readers had a great Easter weekend. I had a great Easter vigil celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. It brought me a lot of peace in this time of chaos. I also want to congratulate all of those who entered the Church. I’m honoured to have you as brothers and sisters in Christ.
We often hear that Jesus didn’t say anything about homosexuality. This is often promoted by those who want the church to change her teachings on the subject. This is dishonest as the Bible is clearly more than the Gospels. We also have Jesus Christ saying that marriage is between one man and one women in Matthew 19.
However, we know that Jesus doesn’t tackle the specific issue head on. The Old Testament condemns homosexuality for sure; there is no question about that. Did Christ hold the strict view presented in the OT? In many of the teachings of Christ we see Him strengthening or loosening OT laws. Let’s take a look at two examples where Christ loosens up the OT law, starting with the Sabbath.
In the OT we see a death penalty for violating the sabbath. Exodus 31:15 and 35:2 are clear on this; the one who works on the sabbath is to be put to death. This is carried out in Numbers 15. However in the NT we read Christ loosening the sabbath restrictions in Mark 2:23-28. In verse 27 he says that The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Another example is how Jesus Christ treated OT food laws. We read:
What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.
– Matthew 15:11
When it comes to ceremonial laws such as the Sabbath and the food laws, Christ seems to take them down a few notches. However as the divine Son of God, he has the authority to crank laws up a notch as well. Let’s take a look about sexual sins that he mentions. Keep in mind that homosexuality is a sexual sin, though it’s not mentioned in the gospels.
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
– Matthew 5:28
“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery”
– Matthew 5:31-32
We see in the case of adultery and divorce Christ takes the OT teaching and becomes far more strict. He cranks it up several notches. Divorce is almost entirely banned and adultery can be committed via thoughts and not just the act itself. We can reasonably assume that other sexual sins would have been treated in a similar fashion; homosexuality included. Because of this the argument that Jesus never mentioned homosexuality doesn’t hold water.
Hi Allan,
I Know this might be off topic but it has been nagging me for quite sometime. St.Paul gave the permission to divorce in the case of Inter-Faith couples.Can they just divorce on a whim saying we have grown apart or other flimsy excuse. Aren’t they still united in the covenant of Marriage, the non-christian spouse may not feel that way, the christian spouse may even feel he has got the short end of the stick if he can’t remarry but at the same time St.Paul says in 1 Cor-6:16 ” do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” . If the so called christian can become one flesh after having sex with a prostitute [although technically he or she can be free since the prostitute does have sex with others] then can’t the same be said of the Inter-Faith couples so does the christian has to wait until the non-christian spouse marries some other person?