Love Wins and Jesus

The Christian Mommy Blogger is back in the news again. Glennon Doyle Melton isn’t making the current headlines because her husband cheated on her, she divorced him, or because she then began to date former Olympic female soccer player Abby Wambach. No. This time, she’s causing a stir in Christian communities because she married Abby Wambach.

Though these actions are becoming more and more common in today’s moral climate, biblically speaking, they are not normal. They are not the way God intended for us to interact with each other.

Melton, however sees things differently.

She wrote in a 2013 post, “I know my Jesus, I love Him, and I think if he needed me to believe that homosexuality was a sin, He would have mentioned it. … And even the Gospels… well, even though they are gospel to me, I accept that they are also interpretations of what Jesus said and did and meant -we don’t have a single written word directly from Jesus. He could have left us something – he could have left another list of rights and wrongs when He came to Earth, but he chose not to.”

Notice a couple of things about these statements. First, in these words we see humanity’s propensity to fashion a god in our own image. Melton’s Jesus is obviously okay with homosexuality because, to Melton, her Jesus must explicitly state the things he is for or against. And, according to that stance, Melton’s Jesus must be okay with the rape of minors because her Jesus doesn’t explicitly say, “Thou shalt not rape minors.”

Next, Melton’s view of the Scriptures is not surprising. She claims that the simple words of Christ are not even His words; they are only interpretations of Jesus’ actual words made by His disciples. Following her train of logic, we would then be free to appeal to the authority of our feelings when interpreting these supposed interpretations of Jesus, which Melton has a clear propensity to do.

However, the words of Jesus in the New Testament are not merely the interpretations of His disciples, and Jesus absolutely spoke out against all sexual sin, including homosexuality.

For instance, in Matthew 5, Jesus said He didn’t come to abolish the Torah but to fulfill it. In other words, Jesus meant that He came to interpret the Law correctly so that it can be lived correctly. And, in the gospels we see Him both affirm and amplify the sexual morals of the Torah.

Second, in Matthew 15, Jesus expressly declared that all sexual acts committed outside of marriage defile human beings. The term He uses is porneia, which is a general reference to the sexually forbidden behaviors listed in Leviticus 18.

Paul fuses together two words from the Greek translation of Leviticus 18:22, also known as the Septuagint, to coin the term homosexual in his first letter to the Corinthians. Arsenokoitai is actually a combination of the two words, Arsenos and Koiten, which roughly translate as man-bedder. Here in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul echoes Jesus’ words in both Matthew 15 and Revelation 21:8 saying that no arsenokoitai, or anyone who unrepentantly commits any form of porneia, will enter the kingdom of God.

Finally, in Matthew 19 Jesus quotes the Torah again by saying that marriage as God created it is the union of one man and one woman for life. There is not a single positive example of homosexual conduct in the Bible or place it is blessed. And, every single time homosexuality is mentioned in Scripture, it is expressly spoken against.

The early Church clearly spoke out against homosexuality. They also made distinctions between what we would think of as common homosexual practices and more deviant forms such as pederasty and sex cults. These are all unchanging facts that we have to deal with.

This, however, is more than a blog about homosexuality, this is a blog about love.

I realize that some folks may believe that what I have written reads more like hate speech than love. But please, please hang with me a little longer before writing me off as a hate and fearmongerer.

On May 15, Melton wrote her Instagram followers, "My beloveds – please never give up on love. Life could surprise the [expletive] out of you. Trust me – you might just wake up one morning and find yourself smack dab in the middle of heaven. I love my wife. LOVE WINS." 

Just as there is a culture war being waged over sexuality, there is a war being fought over the definition of the word love. So, what does it actually mean to love God? Let’s look at a couple of passages.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days. – Deuteronomy 30:19-20

What you just read is basically a summary statement of the entire book of Deuteronomy. This message is repeated over and over: If we love God, we keep His commands. But surely Jesus, who embodied love would see things differently, right?

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. – John 14:23-24

John 14 is just one of an overwhelming number of places that Jesus identifies Himself with the Lord God of the Old Testament. He and the Father are one. If we love Jesus, we will obey His commands.

How many of Jesus’ commands are we called to obey? He made that crystal clear in His parting words. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).”

Last week I wrote that God’s love language is obedience to the commands of Christ. Based on the Great Commission, if we love Jesus and others, we will teach people the truth about what He said, and then help them to follow Him. And I am confident that you can demonstrate the same obedient love toward Him as the early Christians did because the same Holy Spirit that empowered them empowers followers of Jesus today.

Jesus loved us enough to deny Himself and carry His cross. The early Christians willingly laid down their lives out of devotion to Jesus' commands. May we love Him enough do the same. 

Let him who has love in Christ keep the commandments of Christ. Who can describe the [blessed] bond of the love of God? What man is able to tell the excellence of its beauty, as it ought to be told? The height to which love exalts is unspeakable. Love unites us to God. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love bears all things, is long-suffering in all things. There is nothing base, nothing arrogant in love … without love nothing is well-pleasing to God. In love has the Lord taken us to Himself. On account of the Love he bore us, Jesus Christ our Lord gave His blood for us by the will of God; His flesh for our flesh, and His soul for our souls. … Blessed are we, beloved, if we keep the commandments of God in the harmony of love; that so through love our sins may be forgiven us. – Clement of Rome 95CE, ANF Volume 1, p. 36-37 [CD-ROM]

Simply Jesus Pt. 14: “Whoever Looks at a Woman With Lust for Her…”

I read an article the other day about a professing Christian minister who believes that Christian singles can have sex outside of marriage as long as it is “pleasurable” and “affirming” for both parties.

Yes, you read that right.

The Reverend Bromleigh McCleneghan is married, a mother and an associate pastor for ministry with family in Illinois. This purported ambassador for Christ believes that Christian singles can be faithful to Jesus while having sex outside of marriage, and that it is unfair to ask the majority of people to practice abstinence before marriage because men and women, “need sex”.

She also states, "Plenty of women and men love sex, and need it — we need bodily pleasure, remember — and the abundant life for them will involve seeking out relationships of mutual pleasure.”

Is that how far we’ve fallen as Christians? We are actually now defining ‘abundant life’ as living in direct disobedience to Jesus?

How do we know that McCleneghan’s teaching is completely contrary to Jesus’ way? We should only have to read what Jesus said.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” – Matthew 5:27-28

“The things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” – Matthew 15:18-19

Jesus spoke directly against all forms of fornication and adultery. You can about them in Leviticus 18. That passage is precisely what Jesus was referring to when He said in Matthew 15 that fornication defiles us. (It’s also one of the several ways we know Jesus spoke out against homosexuality and absolutely viewed it as a sin.)

But Jesus doesn’t simply call us to avoid the various physical forms of fornication and adultery; He digs deeper.

He commands us to stop ourselves long before physical actions take place. He tells us to take adulterous thoughts captive and make them obedient to Him, because adultery starts in the heart and mind.

And if you keep on reading Jesus’ words, you’ll find that He says if your eye or hand cause you to sin, you shouldn’t just say, “Hey, I need this in order to have a fulfilled life.” You shouldn’t just say, “Hey, this is the way I’m wired.” No, He says it would be better to cut off your hand or pluck out your eye than to have two hands and two eyes, keep right on sinning unrepentantly, and go to hell as a result.

However, what if you’re speaking with a person who doesn’t believe the Bible should be the ultimate authority on moral matters? (And no surprise, this supposed minister of the Gospel doesn’t believe in the infallibility of the Scriptures.)

One avenue that I’ve found helpful in discussions like these is looking at how the earliest Christians lived out Jesus’ commands. Did they take Him seriously and simply or not? If they took His words at face value and lived them out, there’s an incredibly high probability that that is the same approach we should be taking.

Justin Martyr was a philosopher and evangelist living in the middle of the 2^nd century CE. He boldly ministered during a time when Christianity was outlawed and Christians were widely persecuted due to many false rumors about them and their practices. Though it endangered his life, Justin wrote an apology, an address to the Roman Emperor, describing the beliefs and practices of Christians around the entire known world. Here is an excerpt from that work concerning the sexual habits of Christians in his day:

The teachings of Jesus have transformed our lives. We who formerly delighted in fornication now embrace chastity exclusively. … Concerning chastity, He taught us: “Whoever looks upon a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart before God.” And, “If your right eye causes you to sin, cut it out; for it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of heaven with one eye than to be cast into everlasting fire with two eyes.” … Many men and women who have been Christ’s disciples from childhood remain pure at the age of sixty or seventy years. In fact, I can produce such Christians from every race of mankind. Not only that, but there are countless multitudes of those who used to live in debauchery but have now changed their lustful habits and accepted these teachings. – Justin Martyr 160CE, Vol. 1., p. 254-255 [CD-ROM]

McCleneghan says it’s fine for Christians to have sex outside of marriage as long as it’s pleasurable and affirming for both people. Justin says NO WAY, and quoted the Sermon on the Mount.

McCleneghan says it’s unfair to ask Christian singles to practice abstinence before marriage because men and women, “need sex”. Justin says that abstinence outside of marriage was the norm for the early Christians because Jesus transforms lives.

Which one of those sounds like a sheep, and which one sounds like a wolf in sheep’s clothing?

The New Testament authors told us these days would come. False teachers began to arise within the Church even in their day, but clearly they are out in force in our culture. Please, please cling to Jesus and His teachings tightly, and guard your heart from the seductive and perverted teaching of the wolves.

Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. – Matthew 7:15

I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. – Acts 20:29-30

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. – 2 Timothy 4:3

There will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies. … Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words. … The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. – 2 Peter 2:1-3, 9-10

Certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. – Jude 4

Clement of Alexandria on Effeminacy in 195CE

Luxury has deranged all things; it has disgraced man. A luxurious niceness seeks everything, attempts everything, forces everything, coerces nature. Men play the part of women, and women that of men, contrary to nature; women are at once wives and husbands: no passage is closed against libidinousness; and their promiscuous lechery is a public institution, and luxury is domesticated. …

Such was predicted of old, and the result is notorious: the whole earth has now become full of fornication and wickedness. I admire the ancient legislators of the Romans: these detested effeminacy of conduct; and the giving of the body to feminine purposes, contrary to the law of nature. … What reason is there in the law’s prohibiting a man from “wearing woman’s clothing “? Is it not that it would have us to be manly, and not to be effeminate neither in person and actions, nor in thought and word? …

The apostle very firmly assails them. “Be not deceived; neither adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,” and whatever else he adds to these, “shall inherit the kingdom of God.” And if we are called to the kingdom of God, let us walk worthy of the kingdom, loving God and our neighbor. … For the love meant is the love of God. “And this is the love of God,” says John, “that we keep His commandments.”