Some thoughts about Romans 1 and homosexuality
Here are some random thoughts about Romans chapter 1 and homosexuality. This is my effort to find some practical application beyond the fear and shock we all experience when faced with this topic.
This is from January 17th, 2008
• I agree that the homosexual agenda appears to be advancing, and it does offend me, but I am not convinced that my “offense” is making any difference.
o My taking offense will not change anyone
o Other Christians already agree with me
o Simply talking about our “views” and agreeing with each other can lead to self-righteousness
o Our views need to trigger a helpful personal application of Biblical truth. Reminding myself to be a “straight male” is not good application for me… because I already am a straight male. So, I need to look at the issue differently to find some application.
• I am going to form some ideas under the assumption that marriage and gender roles existed from creation to display God’s glory by representing the relationship that Christ has with the Church. Paul makes this clear in Ephesians 5
• I will also assert that the saddest parts of Romans 1 are the statements “exchanged of the glory of God for images”, and the “worship of the creation instead of the Creator”. These verses describe humanity’s general condition. All lost people are incapable of worshipping, or giving God glory. They are robbing Him of the glory he deserves, and homosexuality is one of the worst examples of that.
• God created marriage for humans as a means to display His glory to the world. The display of this glory should not be reduced down to the heterosexual sex that takes place in a marriage. This glory is demonstrated in the complimentary way that the male and female live in marriage, and how husbands are called to lead their families as Christ leads the church. Similarly, homosexuality should not just be offensive because of the fornication involved, but for the way it robs God of his glory by distorting the gender roles that he created.
• Men are uniquely identified in the Bible as being a representative head over other people in ways that women are not identified.
o Eve ate of the fruit first, but Adam bore responsibility for the fall (Rom 5)
o Christ did not sin, but took mine.
o We are not righteous, but we receive Christ’s righteousness. (II Cor 5)
o God requires that husbands and pastors (both male) to lead others (families and congregations) and give an account for them.
o We are all, as humans, responsible for ourselves and will give an account to God, but IN ADDITION, men will also give an account for their wives, families and flocks (Heb 13:17)
o Moms will give an account for how they trained their children, and older women should disciple younger women, but the Bible implies that husbands and pastors (both male) should take responsibility to ensure that such training and disciple-making is taking place.
So – here are some practical ways I can take a practical stand against any hint of a homosexual agenda in my community, home, or church.
• A Biblical view of male headship helps us display to a lost world how Christ:
o is the head of the church and gave Himself for her
o forgives us
o takes the initiative to save sinners.
• Therefore, men should lead their homes by always taking initiative and not taking into account others’ faults. In other words – you may have a horrible wife and unruly children, but Christ took the initiative to restore relationships with horrible sinners – so husbands must take initiative regardless of the current state of their families. That is how Christ loved the church, and it is very masculine. There will be no excuses or finger pointing when married men stand before the Lord.
• The Christian response to homosexuality should not be limited to offense at the actual sex that takes place. We should be saddened by the abandonment of God-ordained gender-roles that He created to display His glory.
• Christian men that really want to take a practical stand against the homosexual agenda should model Christ-like, humble, leadership in their homes and churches, even if it means that some hard changes are in order and they need to get help.
• Any abdication of these God-ordained, gender-specific responsibilities by a male Christian is dishonoring to Christ. It may not appear to be homosexual activity on the surface, but it is one step toward blurring the gender distinctions that God has ordained.
• When we teach our children what it means to be a man or a woman, most of us do not spend 18 years teaching them not to marry someone of the same sex. In most of our homes, that is a given. We should, however, be teaching them why God created gender in the first place. We should be modeling what Christ-like male headship looks like. We should be teaching our sons how to be leaders, and our daughters how to set high standards. That is the best way to guard our homes from the homosexual agenda.
• We really need to show Christ’s love to those caught in this lifestyle. I think that this is an area where churches need to be prepared to get out of their comfort zones. I suspect in the coming years this will be a challenge – to both take a stand and show grace to these people. It is also worth noting that many Christian families are being impacted by loved ones “coming out of the closet”, and we need to be ready to minister in these situations as well.
georgehyland.com blog
Sunday, January 27, 2008
