The
Book of Genesis identifies the first husband and wife as Adam and Eve, and it
depicts the natural order of marriage, i.e. between a man and a woman. In
Genesis 2:18, God stated, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make
a suitable helper for him” (NIV). Boice (1982) noted, “In these verses we learn
that the woman was for man; she was
made from man; and she was given to man – the greatest of all God’s
gifts” (p. 107). Genesis 2:24 states, “For this reason a man will leave his
father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall become one
flesh” (NIV). The word marriage
occurs forty-five times in the Bible. Boice (1982) observed, “He [God] also
established marriage as the first and most basic of human institutions” (p.
113). Hebrews 13:4 supports this observation, “Marriage should be honored by
all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all
the sexually immoral” (NIV). It is
clear from the account in Genesis that God established marriage as a sacred
union between a man and a woman. Nowhere in the Bible is there a
reference to marriage other than as a union between a man and a woman.
Exodus
20:14 contains the seventh commandment given to Moses by God, “You shall not
commit adultery” (NIV). What is
somewhat interesting about this commandment for those who are liberally minded
in their interpretation of the Bible is that the term adultery expressly applies to sexual relations that occur outside
the marriage of a man and woman, which indicates that marriage, as
intended by God, is to occur only between a man and a woman. For example, Leviticus
20:10 states, “If a man commits adultery
with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and
the adulteress are to be put to death” (NIV).
Note, man and wife!
So you might be
reading this, glancing at the title, and wondering, “Where does the devil fit in with all of this? How does marriage involve
the devil?” Well, marriage doesn’t involve the Devil at all; at least not
in the way God intended it. In order to understand the Devil’s role in
marriage, and in life for that matter, we must first go back to the Garden of
Eden and the fall of man when sin entered the world. Now, I’m no theologian,
but as I read the account in Genesis 3:13, one word in Eve’s response to God’s
question stands out – deceived. Eve
claimed that the serpent deceived her. A question I often ask when discussing
this passage is, “Did the serpent lie?”
The reason I ask this question is because many believe that lying and deception
are one in the same. That is, they are synonymous terms and can be used
interchangeably.
However, that is
not the case. While the two terms are related,
they are not synonymous. For the purpose of this essay I will define deceive and deception as “the intentional misrepresentation of the truth in
order to bring about a desired result or achieve a specific end state.” Whereas
lying is “the deliberate denial of the truth.” When the Serpent told Eve she
would not surely die if she ate of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he
deceived her by misrepresenting the truth about death. He split hairs between
physical death and spiritual death. That has been his game throughout history
and is something against which Christians must be on their guard at all times
because the misrepresentation of the truth is always very close to the truth
itself.
Now, back to
marriage. As discussed above, marriage was established by God as a union
between a man and a woman. Early in man’s history, men and women became
inflamed with sexual desires and had unnatural relations with one another. The
culmination of these relationships is captured in the famous story of Sodom and
Gomorrah in Genesis. Although these cities were destroyed by God, it did not
end Satan’s role in history and the deception he continues to bring to the
world. Unnatural relations continue to this day, and many in the church have
been deceived and support the misrepresentation of the truth. What Christians
must understand is that God provides judgment by giving people over to their
sinful desires, and the lack of mention of certain issues, i.e. same-sex
marriage, should not be misinterpreted as tolerance or acceptance.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.
Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same
way the men also abandoned natural
[italics mine] relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one
another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves
the due penalty for their perversions. Furthermore, since they did not think it
worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved
mind, to do what ought not to be done (Romans 1: 26-28).
Notice women are mentioned first in
this passage. Sproul (2009) stated,
Throughout human history man has been the gender that
seems most brutish, most without consciousness and godliness. The woman has
been the fairer sex, but when Paul wants to describe the depth of the fall of
the human race, he says that even the women exchanged the natural use for is contra naturum, against nature, not
simply against culture, or societal convention (p. 50).
The Devil is alive and well in the
world today and in the church. We must remain vigilant lest we fall into the
trap of humanism, which asserts that man is basically good.
Sproul
(2009) noted, “When the apostle Paul describes the radical corruption of the
human race, he sees the sin of homosexual behavior as the sin most
representative of the radical nature of our fall” (p. 50). In other words, it
represents the depth of our depravity and perversion. “When we become involved
in homosexual practices, we are not only sinning against God but against the
nature of things” (Sproul, 2009, p. 50). Many today believe that homosexuality
is natural; people are simply born that way. However, the Bible is clear that
such behavior is not natural. “It is against nature as God has created it”
(Sproul, 2009, p. 51). Homosexuality is a distortion of the nature of the
relationship God intended between a man and a woman, and same-sex marriage is
an abomination of the union God intended between a man and a woman.
In
years past, particularly in the 70s and 80s when I was growing up, it was
inconceivable to think two women or two men would legally marry openly. It was
even more inconceivable that society would be so accepting of such a marriage.
Over thirty years later, things have certainly changed. Our society has become
increasingly wicked and tolerant to the point of embracing such ideas. What has
really happened is that man has placed his will ahead of God’s and decided he
knows better what is right and acceptable. By placing his will above God’s,
what man has really done is shrug off the need for salvation and a savior. Man
has become his own savior. In this way, man has once again been deceived.
The
Bible contains the history of salvation. One might even argue the sole purpose
of the Bible is to provide the knowledge of salvation in order that man might
repent and be saved from the gates of hell. Salvation is only possible through
repentance and turning from our evil ways. Today many in the church have been
deceived into the misguided belief that God simply loves everyone and will only
punish the truly wicked, whomever they happen to be as defined by the
individual. However, the not-so-bad people will make it into heaven. In fact,
many so-called Christians have taken up arms, so to speak, in support of
wickedness in the name of Christianity. From www.gaychristian.net, “A growing number
of Christians believe the church has made a mistake and that the church's
position [on homosexuality] ought to be reformed.” Supporters of same-sex
marriage malign the Word of God and attempt to distort what the Bible states
about homosexuality by using verses out of context and interpreting them in a
manner that suits their needs. One such argument is that the writings of Paul,
in particular, are based on cultural norms and not on universal biblical
principles. In other words, homosexuality was culturally unacceptable in the context
in which it took place. Therefore, the Bible is not condemning homosexuality
itself, just the context in which it occurred. Another argument regarding the
absence of same-sex marriages in the Bible is also a matter of context.
Essentially, proponents of same-sex marriage posit the reason for its absence
in the Bible is due to the fact “same-sex marriages weren't a part of the
cultures in which the Bible was written, so obviously we wouldn't expect to see
stories of men and women with same-sex partners” (www.gaychristian.net). While
this might sound like a logical argument, it is a distortion of the truth
intended to deceive.
There’s
that word again. Christians must heed the words of Sun Tzu, who said, “All
warfare is based on deception,” for we are indeed engaged in the ultimate
warfare – spiritual warfare. “Deception varies from
simple concealment of trivial information to outright lies and disinformation”
(Wanasika & Adler, 2011). The deliberate attempt to twist and distort
biblical teaching to suit one’s desires is the deceptive folly of the Devil,
and it is his intent to mislead as many as possible.
Christians
must decide if they believe the Bible is the complete, authoritative Word of
God. If they do, they must yield to its teaching. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 states, “All Scripture
is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training
in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work” (NIV).
In other words, it is sufficient for
teaching us everything we need to know about God and salvation. If it is
sufficient, that means it is not lacking in any way. If the Bible doesn’t
address same-sex marriages, it is not because it is lacking in its capturing of
culturally acceptable practices, which is to ‘read into’ the Bible those things
that suit our needs. Rather, it is because of the obvious answer – the Bible
doesn’t support the idea. As Boice notes, “In the Bible, God has given us
everything we need to know.” Many Christians today engage in subjective
hermeneutics. That is, the parts of the Bible they believe are from God are the
parts that bless them. We cannot pick and choose from the Bible out of
convenience in order to support what we want to believe in relation to society.
In December 1973, Time published an article titled “The
Bible: Bible Believers Gain,” that concluded:
The breadth, sophistication and
diversity of all this biblical investigation are impressive, but it begs a
question: Has it made the Bible more credible or less? Literalists who feel the
ground move when a verse is challenged would have to say that credibility has
suffered. Doubt has been sown, faith is in jeopardy. But believers who expect
something else from the Bible may well conclude that its credibility has been
enhanced. After more than two centuries of facing the heaviest scientific guns
that could be brought to bear, the Bible has survived —and is perhaps the
better for the siege. Even on the critics' own
terms—historical fact—the Scriptures seem more acceptable now than they
did when the rationalists began the attack.
What Time was stating
quite simply is the Bible is a reliable book. That is, its contents are
historically accurate. Divine inspiration is a matter of faith and is for
believers. The Bible’s authority is complete and total; it is not partial, nor
is it incomplete in any way. Christians either trust the Bible or they don’t.
There really is no middle ground. As such, if they submit to the Bible’s
authority, which is God’s authority, they must do so completely and avoid
subjectivity in regard to its authority.
Why does all of
this matter, and what’s the “big deal” conservative Christians are making about
same-sex marriage? In 2 Timothy 3:1-4, Paul describes what the world will be
like in the last days.
But mark
this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their
parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without
self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lover
of pleasure rather than lovers of God (NIV).
In verse 5 he goes on to state, “…having a form
of godliness but denying its power” (NIV).
As Boice points out, “Paul isn’t talking about pagan world. Paul would never
say they have a form of godliness. They have a form of ungodliness is what
they’ve got. What he’s talking about is the church. ” In other words, the
problem in the last days is the vices we see in the world will be in the church
so much so that the church will be nearly indistinguishable from the secular
culture.
For all of you
liberal Christians out there, consider same-sex marriage. Why isn’t it
addressed in the Bible? Did God forget to include it in the Bible? How can
homosexuality be treated as an abomination in both the Old and New Testaments
and yet somehow be supported by modern Christians who are unable to cite
chapter and verse in support of it? My friends, if you believe the Bible
supports homosexuality or same-sex marriage, you are being deceived! Don’t you
find it ironic the topic is never addressed favorably in the Bible? Do you
really believe an omniscient and omnipotent God would somehow leave that tidbit
of information missing?
We are engaged in
spiritual warfare, and the stakes are high. In fact, they have eternal
consequences – your soul. The church must stand firm on this issue and not
allow this evil to invade it. Too often today the Word of God is being
denigrated in order to suit the will of man. This is particularly true in
regard to homosexuality and same-sex marriage. It is given full measure and its
due in the Bible, and its handling reflects the will of God. He makes his
intentions known through his will. It is complete and perfect; it is not
ambiguous or vague, nor does it require addition or amendment by man, who was
created by God. He does not require, nor does he need, our assistance in
carrying out his will. His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When we
begin to believe his Word requires anything from us, we walk precariously close
to the edge of blasphemy. Yet our culture persists in its perpetual effort to
incorporate its norms into the Bible rather than incorporate the Bible’s norms
into it.
Dr. Liam Goligher (2013), senior pastor at
Tenth Presbyterian church in Philadelphia, observed, “We are in a culture today
where people will accommodate and tolerate everything and anything except
biblical Christianity. And the danger is, of course, that we allow ourselves to
accommodate to the culture. There is the scorn heaped on our understanding of
human nature and sexual morality.” This is particularly true today as there is
an increased tolerance of homosexuality and adoption of same-sex marriage by
the church and by many who profess to be Christians. As I’m fond of saying,
there are no Christians for same-sex marriage; at least not true
Bible-believing Christians. There are only misguided people who don’t properly
understand the biblical meaning of marriage, or who perhaps are not, in fact,
genuine Christians but believe they are because they’ve been convinced they
are.
We live in a time when society is trying to
impose its will on the church. It is employing the use of superficial,
interpretive logic of biblical texts in an attempt to justify its agenda, which
is really Satan’s agenda. Satan is capitalizing on the many churchgoers who
attend worship service each week but who do not regularly read or study the
Bible. Instead they rely on others to tell them the Bible says and what to
believe about certain issues. Governing bodies of the church, much like
congress, have their own agendas and are not immune to the influence of the
Devil. They cater to the will of society rather than remaining steadfast in the
Word of God. These governing bodies and their agents have corrupted the church
by allowing evil through its doors, and in so doing have mislead many into
believing false teaching. Our culture today is one in which Christians are
pressured into “muting the uncomfortable and disturbing Word of God” (Goligher,
2013). The terrible times Paul mentioned in Romans are indeed here. The church
is under attack externally from its detractors and internally through false
teaching. This attack will continue and its persecution will increase until
Christ returns for his bride. Until that time, Christians must read and
inwardly digest the Word of God, and they must resist the temptation to
accommodate the sinful culture in which they live. Christians must
Preach the
Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage
with careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with
sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around
them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (2
Timothy 4:2-4, NIV).
References
Boice, J. M. (1982). Genesis: An expositional commentary volume 1. Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan.
Boice, J. M. (n.d.). Is God’s word sufficient for this age? Philadelphia, PA: Alliance
of Confessing Evangelicals.
Goligher, L. (2013). Fan the flame. Philadelphia, PA.
Sproul, R. C. (2009). St. Andrews expositional commentary. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
Wanasika, I., & Adler, T. (2011).
Deception as strategy: Context and dynamics. Journal of Managerial Issues,
23(3), 364-378,249. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.library.regent.edu/docview/921536311?accountid=13479
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