September 14, 2022
Our next several Pastor’s Desk emails are going to follow the course of conversation between Jason Farley and myself during Christian Ed as we discuss the issues pertaining to biblical sexuality and its application within the PCA at large.
Q1. How does the scripture present a positive vision for human sexuality?
A. Scripture presents a positive vision for human sexuality in 3 major ways 1: by tying it to mankind’s activity in image bearing. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen 1:27-28)
2. By securing it within a particular covenantal framework - Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed; and placing that covenant at the height of the Creation story see Genesis 2:14-24. Within that covenantal framework, God’s word speaks of sexuality in terms of authority, submission and extension - 1 Corinthians 7:1-5 speaks of mutually held sexual authority within marriage (husbands extend conjugal rights to their wives…and wives are to likewise extend).
3. By employing the marriage covenant and consummation as a metaphor for his redemptive plan: Song of Songs, Ephesians 5:22-33; Hosea 2:14-23
Q2. How does the attraction and act of homosexuality violate both natural and special revelation?
Both the act and the attraction of homosexuality are violations of our God-given nature. When God created us our bodies were created to be used in certain ways (Rom. 6:13). To use our bodies against their natures is sin. Homosexuality is that kind of sin. Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 teach explicitly that it is an abomination. Rom. 1:26-32 and 1 Cor. 6:9 repeat the teaching in the New Testament. Jesus teaches that Adam and Eve in the Garden are the archetype for all marriage (Mark 10:6-9). Adam and Eve are created with both complementary bodies and complementary perspectives. Neither Adam and Steve, nor Amy and Eve would be able to accomplish the tasks that God gave to the human race. It is in the covenantally united embrace of the differences between male and female in a marriage that we can accomplish the God’s mission for the human race.
-Matt Allhands
- Jason Farley
