When the news came out that same-sex marriage is now the law of the land, I was not surprised.  Our country has been headed down this road for some time now and it is was no surprise to me, and probably to many other Christians, that this was coming.  Our political landscape has been devoid of any fear or reverence for God and His Law, and we have been witnesses to the consequences.  That is why I expected the SCOTUS to rule the way they did.  Their ruling was against our laws, natural law and God’s law.  Again, this is why I was not surprised when it was announced.  Nor was I surprised by the reactions of unbelievers.  Many gay and straight people were celebrating this momentous occasion by changing their Facebook profile pictures to show their support of the decision.  I expect the unbelieving community to rejoice at lawlessness and perversion because they hate God and His word.  What did surprise me however, was how many so-called conservative bible believing Christians jumped on that bandwagon in support of same-sex “marriage” becoming the law of the land.

One of the most used arguments that these Christians use goes something like this, “why are you picking on this sin only?  There are many other sins that we all commit so why single this one out?” My first reaction to this line of argumentation is, “yes you are right, there are many other sins besides homosexuality, but they don’t all have a lobby.”  Those of us who claim the name of Christ are broken over our sin.  We don’t look at homosexuals as lower than us, as a matter of fact; I am no better position than they are before God apart from Christ. It is the atoning blood of Jesus that makes the Christian grieve over their sin, not celebrate it or try and legislate it.  We seek, as believers in Jesus Christ, to live lives that are pleasing in his sight.  The Apostle Paul reminds of this in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8:

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.  For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.  For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

For those who have received salvation through Jesus, Paul now instructs how to walk as new creatures in Christ. This is why the Gospel is so important to the issue of marriage and why Christians who affirm same-sex marriage as being ok with God, need to take a minute and think about how that affects the very nature of the Gospel they say they believe in.

In Ephesians 5:22-32, Paul is writing on the roles of husbands and wives. He compares the role of the husband in relation to his wife, as Christ is to the church in verse 23.  He then goes on to explain how husbands are to love their wives; as Christ loved the church.  The remaining verses use words like, “cleansing”, “without blemish”, without spot or wrinkle”, all words and phrases that describe what the Gospel accomplishes.  Paul then gets to what this marriage between a husband and wife is all about, “this mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church (v.32).”

The marriage relationship is a picture to the world of the glorious relationship between Christ and those whom he has redeemed, the Church! Marriage is not just a political issue; it is a Gospel issue as well. That is why Christians ought to care for what God defines as marriage, because not only does God define what marriage is, he also saw it fit to use it connect it to the Gospel.

Marriage cannot be defined by governments, courts or the individual, but by God alone.  And for the Christian, it is crucial that we are on the right side of this issue.  That doesn’t mean that we can’t love those in the homosexual community, we must.  What it means is that marriage is much more than a political issue or even a civil rights one.  The nature of the Gospel is what matters most.  And to those Christians who are celebrating same-sex marriage, I ask you this.  By what standard do you affirm your view of this issue? Is scripture your authority, or is it wherever the cultural wind blows?  God purposely chose to use marriage, as He defines it, as an outward example of a spiritual reality.  Therefore we can’t allow any other version of marriage to be changed by laws or by popular opinion, but by the never-changing perfect word of God.