Welcome, welcome to The Line of Fire. Michael Brown here as always to equip you, to empower you, to help you engage on the front lines as all of us today are in The Line of Fire. Friends, we are together, we have each other, and we have above all our risen Savior who lives in us by His Spirit, who has given us His Word, who has given us everything we need to live godly, overcoming lives in this present evil age.
Together we will see the light of God shine in the darkness and the darkness will not be able to snuff it out. If you want more encouragement, if you want to be uplifted, if you want to be inspired, sign up today for the Frontline Newsletter. We are getting rave reports about this brand new publication that we have just launched, monthly Frontline Newsletter. It's yours absolutely free.
Go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org and sign up today. We have been looking all this month at questions having to do with the Bible, homosexuality, what does the Bible say, how do Christians respond in this world, and our textbook has been the Bible, plus we're using my book Can You Be Gay and Christian yesterday. We talked about some bizarre teaching as if Jesus healed a sex slave of a Roman soldier so they could keep having sex. I have a whole chapter in Can You Be Gay and Christian where I deal with that and other bizarre interpretations that have been put forward as illustrations, illustrations of what happens when you read the Bible through the lens of your sexuality and interpret the Scripture through that lens rather than interpreting your sexuality through the lens of the Scripture.
In weeks after this, this month, we're going to unpack a lot of the social issues, the cultural issues, and talk these things through. Today we want to look at the teaching of Paul. The teaching of Paul. Now here's where things get really interesting. On the one hand, you will have gay theologians, gay pastors, their allies saying, no, no, no, no, Paul's been misunderstood and Paul actually sanctions loving same-sex relations.
Paul's actually for those things. You just have to understand the context. But there are others who have very different views. All these quotes I'm about to read to you are from my book, cited in my book Can You Be Gay and Christian.
Let me read to you what Pim Prank had to say. He's a gay biologist, theologian, and philosopher. He said, to sum up, whenever, wherever homosexual intercourse is mentioned in Scripture, it is condemned. So this is a gay theologian. With reference to it, the New Testament adds no arguments to those of the old.
Rejection is a foregone conclusion. The assessment of it nowhere constitutes a problem. It obviously has to be repeated from time to time, but the phenomenon as such nowhere becomes the focus of moral attention. It is never condemned in isolation, but always in association with other major sins, unchastity, violence, moral corruption, and idolatry. This is a gay theologian making that statement. Listen to what Bernadette Bruton wrote. She's a lesbian feminist, learned professor, who authored an important work on lesbianism in the ancient world titled Love Between Women, Early Christian Response to Female Homoeroticism. She wrote in her book, quote, I see Paul as condemning all forms of homoeroticism. This is a lesbian scholar explaining her views of what Paul taught.
Lewis Crompton, he was a noted scholar of 19th century British literature and a pioneer of gay studies. All right, so pro-gay scholar. In his book, Homosexuality and Civilization, he wrote this. According to one interpretation, Paul's words were not directed at bona fide homosexuals and committed relationships, but such a reading, however well intentioned, seemed strained and unhistorical from a pro-gay voice. Nowhere does Paul or any other Jewish writer of this period imply the least acceptance of same-sex relations under any circumstance. The idea that homosexuals might be redeemed by mutual devotion would have been wholly foreign to Paul or any other Jew or early Christian.
So these are all quotes from either gays, lesbians, or those who would be considered allies. Walter Wink, biblical scholar, biblical scholar, theologian, active in what would be called progressive Christianity, famous for liberal pro-gay anti-war views. In the Christian Century Review, he wrote, the Bible is negative towards same-sex behavior and there is no getting around it. Paul wouldn't accept a non-exploitative homosexual relationship for a minute.
This is Walter Wink. A professor, Dan Villa, debated professor Robert Gagnon, the foremost Christian scholar on the Bible and homosexuality, and he stated, Professor Gagnon and I are in substantial agreement that the biblical texts that deal specifically with homosexual practice condemn it unconditionally. However, on the question of what the church might or should make of this, we diverge sharply. So in other words, the word's clear. What we do with it is a matter of debate.
How about this? What was initially called the GLBTQ online encyclopedia, which I accessed a number of times over the years when researching these issues, listen to what it says. It claimed that it was the world's largest encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer culture.
You ready? The bad news from the Christian Bible is that it condemns same-sex desire and same-sex acts without qualification of age, gender, role, status, consent, or membership in an ethnic community. This may seem less drastic when we recall that Paul outlawed all sex except that between married couples and perverted celibacy to marriage for himself. All right, so you have to realize then, when gay activists, gay theologians, gay pastors, and their allies with all sincerity say, Paul's been misunderstood, Paul affirmed loving same-sex relationships, or Paul was not aware of those, otherwise he would have affirmed them. When they say that and you have so many gay lesbian scholars and allies saying, actually Paul condemned all forms of same-sex relations, you have to realize something's being strained. Verses that are very obvious are being twisted to mean something else. So let's dig in to the word together as we look to see what Paul had to say.
Romans chapter one, Romans chapter one, very, very well known of the key passages that Paul writes. So I'm going to start in verse 18, so we have context here, all right? For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness to men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made, so they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. So because human beings refused to worship God as God, he gave us over to the folly of idolatry, worshiping created things rather than the creator.
That's the way we were going. He gave us over to our vain imaginations. And because we now continued in idolatry and continued to reject God, verse 24, therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forevermore.
Amen. So as we continued in idolatry, God now gave us over to sexual immorality, to dishonoring our bodies one with another, saying, okay, you don't want me? You want the flesh? You want sin? Fine.
I'm going to give you over to it. And now this is what happens. For this reason, as now we continue in sexual sin and idolatry, 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 passions for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. So because we continued in idolatry and sexual immorality, God said, fine, I'll give you over to even more depravity.
And now you're going to switch the very function. And now men are going to be with men and women are going to be with women. So, okay, there's no argument against that. There's no possible way that Paul was not plainly condemning, not just male homosexual practice, but female homosexual practice in the strongest possible terms. How do gay activists respond to that?
Well, one argument is no, no, no. It's not talking about committed, loving same-sex relations. That's not even on Paul's radar here. This is all in the context of idolatry. This is people performing these sinful acts in pagan temples. That's what it's talking about.
Anybody knows that reading the context. Well, aside from the fact Paul doesn't say this is what takes place in idolatrous temples, but this is the history of the human race. Let's keep reading verse 28. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do it ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.
They're gossip, slanderous, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. So this whole litany, this list of sins here is not just what people do at idolatrous temple. This is the state of the fallen sinful human race and rebellion against God. So he's given us over to all these sins. So forget this only about idolatrous temple. Number one, the context doesn't say this is talking about the history of human beings and why we are the way we are. And secondly, it gives this whole list of all kinds of other sins that are just part of normal human life in rebellion against God. This is who we are.
And the argument, this is only about what happens in idolatrous temple, throw that out. All right, we'll be right back with more. Stay tuned for this important announcement. Staying active is essential for your wellbeing.
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Waiting for you there and be sure to sign up for the monthly frontline newsletter when you were there right on the home page. Well there's another argument that gay theologians have and it's this. Look, look.
Here's the deal. Paul is talking about people acting contrary to their own nature. So for a heterosexual man to be with another man, that's contrary to his nature. So God is giving heterosexuals over to homosexuality. For a lesbian to be with a lesbian, that's natural for her.
For a heterosexual woman to be with another woman, that's unnatural. That's what that's what it's talking about here in Romans 1. Now the first thing that should make you suspect about that is that in the history of the interpretation of Romans, to the best of my knowledge, and it's had commentators from every possible angle writing about it, no one came up with that idea before the sexual revolution. That should make you wonder about the validity of the interpretation. Here's the other thing that is really, really important.
And Professor Gagnon has really laid this out in clarity. That Romans 1 has six or seven key touch points that connect it to Genesis 1. Especially if you read the Greek translation of Genesis, the Septuagint.
Read that side by side with Romans 1. You'll see very, very specific phrases that tie back to the creation. Even the things that human beings would worship, that we were given over to these things. Exchanging the truth about God for a lie. Worshipping and serving the creature rather than the creator.
It gives specific instances of that which was created. Exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Birds and animals and creeping things.
Where do you have birds and animals and creeping things? Genesis 1. Then, when Paul talks about the women and the men in verses 26 and 27, he doesn't use his normal vocabulary for women and men. He uses vocabulary that's unique in Paul. For example, in Galatians 3 there's neither male nor female. Or Jesus talking about in the beginning you had male and female.
Those are the terms that Paul uses. Male and female. Not men and women, but male and female.
Why? Because he's going back to Genesis 1. Male and female, he created them. This is not human beings doing something contrary to their own nature. This is human beings doing something contrary to nature. To the way God created us. For a man to be with a man is contrary to nature. For a woman to be with a woman is contrary to nature.
It is contrary to the function of the human being. Look, try to write a note with your elbow. Text me a note with your elbow. You can't do it, right? Walk from 100 steps just on your hands. Walk a mile on your hands, unless you're an acrobat.
You can't do that. The hands weren't made for walking. The elbow wasn't made for texting. God made men for women and women for men. It's simply a matter of biological truth and common sense. And that's what Paul's talking about here. So this plainly says that it is contrary to nature, contrary to God's created order, and part of judgment on the human race.
For a man to be with a man and a woman to be with a woman. You say, but Paul didn't really know anything about loving same-sex relationships. Well, he knew human nature. Did he not? Did he not know human nature?
Number one. Number two, was he not writing by the inspiration of the spirit? You know, people say, well, Jesus didn't know about loving committed same-sex relations.
That was not common in the Jewish culture of the day. He knew human nature. He's the son of God. It says in John 2 24, he knew what was in people. He could look into the hearts of people. He understood what was in the minds of people. And yet he never said, hey, I affirm this or this is okay. No, instead he explained plainly as we saw earlier this week, what God's standards were. In the same way, Paul understood sinful nature, human nature, and he wrote by the inspiration of the spirit.
And here's something more important or additional, I should say, not more important, but additional. These things, long-term committed relations, they exist in Paul's day. And there's even Nero quote, marrying another man, which is a man who's now made to look like a woman. These things existed in Paul's day. In fact, some of the top Corinthian scholars in the world and Paulian scholars in the world have said, you know, Paul's day was very similar to our day. You may not have had gay activists marches down the streets, but you had same-sex relations and same-sex behavior, and not just with promiscuity or pederasty or prostitution.
That's reality. And when Paul talks about marriage, let's go over to first Corinthians chapter seven. I'm going to continue talking about the teaching of Paul next week.
First Corinthians chapter seven. Look at what Paul says. He's talking about questions of marriage and maybe young couples, should they marry or not? Should people remain single?
Okay. So he says this, hey, it would be great. It would be great if everybody could be like me and just be single.
That would be great. But he says, because of the temptation of sexual immorality, for obvious other reasons, but this is what he's dealing with there. Because of the temptation of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. So even if you're same-sex attracted and you say, well, Paul says because of the temptation to sexual immorality, then I need a partner. He doesn't say you need a partner. He says a man should have a wife and a wife should have a husband. That's what Paul says explicitly.
That would have been the perfect place for him to say, hey, whoever you are, you just need someone that you can be with. No, that's not what he says. Say, Dr. Brown, once again, you're strong in the letter, but you're weak in the Spirit. Because Romans 13, Paul says this, this is the summary of the law. Love one another. Love your neighbor as yourself.
And what does he say? Love does not harm its neighbor. That's the essence of love. Love causes no harm to its neighbor. Dr. Brown, when you tell a same-sex couple that God's blessing is not on their marriage, when you tell them that under no that under no circumstances could God bless a same-sex relationship, you are hurting them. When I tell them, say you're a gay ally, when I tell them that Jesus is happy with them because they're committed to each other, they thrive.
And you should see how healthy they are. When the church tells them you are sinners and you need to repent, it messes with them, it hurts them. Love causes no harm to another person. Love affirms same-sex relations.
No, here's the deal, friends. Love tells the truth. And the truth can be painful, but it's the truth that sets us free. You may make someone feel better for the moment. Jeremiah, through the Lord, the Lord speaking through Jeremiah, said, and they superficially healed and treated the fracture of my people saying peace, peace, all is well, all is well, when there was no peace, when nothing is well. That's what you do when you affirm a same-sex couple in their relationship.
You are superficially treated in the womb, you're telling them all is well, when nothing is well. I can introduce you to so many people who are ex-gays, ex-lesbian, some ex-trans, thriving in the Lord, blessed in the Lord, some single and celibate, some in relations with heterosexuals, others changing by the day in so many ways. And I travel around the world, and I've had so many come up to me with a smile after service, Dr. Brown, I'm ex-gay, I'm ex-lesbian, I'm ex-trans, Dr. Brown, thank you for speaking the truth. And they've got that glowing smile because it's the truth that sets you free.
It may be painful, difficult at first, friends, but it is the truth that sets you free. All right, friends, I want to encourage you to join our support team. I think you see the importance of what we're doing.
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