The Verdict

Does accepting committed, monogamous same-sex partnerships as marriages meet Scripture’s tests?

I turn back to my 10 key questions, derived from Scripture, to test if accepting monogamous same-sex life-partnerships as marriages does good or harm. If the answers provided by the evidence show that overall these relationships do good rather than harm then, I believe, that teaching to accept them as marriage must meet Jesus’s ultimate test for correctly applying Scripture – his law of love (Luke 6:9, Galatians 5:14, and Romans 13:9-10).

If they do meet that test, then this teaching will also satisfy his “fruits” test of true prophetic teaching in accordance with Matthew 7:16-20. At the same time this teaching will faithfully plot the same trajectory of God’s widening mercy that we see in Scripture, for example in Acts 10-15.

Do most gay people have similar sexual desires to straight people which can lead to sexual immorality or other sin?

See especially part 2.

2. Do most gay people share the same general need to do life with a marriage partner?

See especially part one

3. Or do all gay Christians, at least potentially, have the gift of celibacy?

See especially part four.

4. Can and do same-sex partnerships fulfil Scripture’s essential purposes for marriage? Equal, compatible soulmates, helping and supporting each other, permanently covenant-bonded in a close kinship union, within which sex can be enjoyed to help cement the relationship and help discipline and control sexual desires and providing a suitable place to bring up any children of the relationship?

See especially parts one, three and five.

5. Is there anything fundamental about sex and marriage that same-sex couples can’t fulfil without harming themselves or others, including any children of the relationship?

See especially parts two and three.

6. When gay Christians struggle with their sexual desires does God always heal them “straight” so they can enjoy heterosexual marriage or gift them with celibacy?

See especially part four

7. If not, how does that fit our picture of God in Jesus and his promises to his people?

See especially parts four and five.

8. Can and do people in same-sex partnerships become Christians and bare spiritual fruit?

See especially parts six and seven.

9. Can and do churches which promote same-sex marriage thrive and grow?

See especially part six and seven.

10. Does supporting same-sex marriage have a positive or negative effect on the gospel’s reach?

See especially parts six and seven.

So, based on the all the evidence, I believe any fair-minded judge or jury should find beyond any reasonable doubt that accepting same-sex marriage overwhelminlg promotes good and prevents harm to people. Conversely, opposing same-sex marriage overwhelming harms people and does them no good. Therefore, I am assured that the revisionists’ interpretation of Scripture - to accept committed, monogamous same-sex partnerships as marriage – clearly meets Jesus’s ultimate test for correctly understanding and applying Scripture: the test of Christ's love and at the same time fully satisfies the test of producing good not bad fruit and is entirely consistent with Scripture’s trajectory of God’s ever-widening mercy.

I believe that on this issue the particular words of Scripture that the Holy Spirit is highlighting for the church today are from Isaiah 43:19:

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

We have seen the Holy Spirit do “new things” before - with the emancipation of slaves and women, whom the church for centuries had treated as second or third class citizens, citing Scripture in support of these injustices, just as they have in their mistreatment of LGBTQ+ folk.

I believe the new “new thing” the Holy Spirit is doing is embracing LGBTQ+ folk and their life-partnerships. And to do this, I believe, requires the church not simply to grudgingly accept and tolerate such relationships. I believe the Holy Spirit is calling us to support, encourage and celebrate committed, monogamous same-sex partnerships as part of God’s good gift of marriage that he’s given to us all – for everyone not content to be single and celibate, so that they might “have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

I believe this is the “new thing” God is doing today. But do you perceive it?