Sexuality and Marriage: Explanation by James White

 

WE AFFIRM that God created mankind male and female and that this divinely determined distinction is good, proper, and to be celebrated. Maleness and femaleness are biologically determined at conception and are not subject to change. The curse of sin results in sinful, disordered affections that manifest in some people as same-sex attraction. Salvation grants sanctifying power to renounce such dishonorable affections as sinful and to mortify them by the Spirit. We further affirm that God’s design for marriage is that one woman and one man live in a one-flesh, covenantal, sexual relationship until separated by death. Those who lack the desire or opportunity for marriage are called to serve God in singleness and chastity. This is as noble a calling as marriage.

WE DENY that human sexuality is a socially constructed concept. We also deny that one’s sex can be fluid. We reject “gay Christian” as a legitimate biblical category. We further deny that any kind of partnership or union can properly be called marriage other than one man and one woman in lifelong covenant together. We further deny that people should be identified as “sexual minorities”–which serves as a cultural classification rather than one that honors the image-bearing character of human sexuality as created by God.

Article X of the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel encapsulates two thousand years of basic Christian belief on the nature of sexuality and marriage. For the vast majority of generations of Christians down through the ages there would be nothing at all controversial about these assertions, and past generations would have wondered why we even took the time to include it.

But we live in 2018 and the revolution in Western culture is undeniable. That revolution has extended to such behaviors as homosexuality or “gay marriage” or transsexualism the very status of “human rights,” so they must be addressed by any statement speaking to the topic of justice in light of biblical norms and revelation.

In direct contrast to the spirit of the age the statement affirms the goodness of the so-called “male-female binary.” Maleness is not something that is “toxic,” but something good and right and necessary in God’s design. Likewise to be a female is to be created by God with a good, proper, and beautiful purpose. Rather than being ashamed at being so “backward,” we should be openly celebrating these good elements of God’s creation.

We do not show love to confused, or even rebellious, individuals who transgress God’s creative categories of male and female. Though a tiny percentage of people are genetically impacted by medical conditions that lead to gender ambiguity, the vast bulk of “transsexuality” is a matter of the mind and heart, not the body. But our gender is determined by God’s will in our creation, and is not subject to alteration based upon our feelings, wants, or desires. There has rarely been a time in history when mankind has displayed such an open and wanton rebellion against God’s right to rule over humanity than in the modern transsexual movement.

In the same vein God has the right, as Creator, to not only make His creatures male and female, He has the right to determine the proper parameters within which that divinely-ordained sexuality is to be expressed. Due to the fall of man into sin, some experience disordered and confused attractions for the same sex. A small percentage experience these desires from their earliest memories, while the large majority are impacted by later sexual experiences resulting in a disturbance of normal sexual desire. The consistent teaching of Scripture is that homosexual behavior is opposed to God’s will and destructive of human flourishing. The Apostle Paul identified numerous sinful behaviors in writing to the church at Corinth, among them the sin of homosexuality, but then he wrote, “and such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). The verb is inarguably past-tense which is why the Statement, in the denial portion, rejects the terminology of “gay Christian.” As offensive as it is to cultural elites today, the Bible offers hope in the gospel to those who will repent and seek God’s ways with their whole heart.

If God, as Creator, fashions mankind as male and female, and then orders the expression of that sexuality as He sees fit, it follows necessarily that His institution of marriage is the logical outcome of the preceding exercises of His divine rights. Marriage is, in fact, a divine institution, biblically revealed to have been designed by, and established by God directly without human cooperation or assistance. No governmental entity existed when God ordained marriage, and, therefore, no later governmental institution has the right to alter, change, or make void, that institution. It is rooted firmly in the created order of male and female, is oriented toward the fulfillment of both the man and woman, together, and toward the raising up of families with children who have in their parents models of how they should live in the future. There can be no question that the most radical and foundational changes in Western culture that have led to the greatest denigrations of human dignity all stem from the collapse of a culture-wide focus upon the sanctity and propriety of Christian marriage as taught in the pages of the Bible.

The truly radical nature of the revolution in morality and ethics sweeping Western culture today is seen most fully in the adoption of so-called “same-sex marriage,” a phrase that would have puzzled every generation of humanity globally only a few decades ago. It is, of course, a massive redefinition of the term and the institution based upon a revolution in worldview. Utter human autonomy is now the watchword of the social elites, so that any person is what they think themselves to be. The resulting moral and ethical chaos is all around us. Biological males using bathrooms for women resulting in children either living in fear using the facilities or simply having to “wait to get home.” Female athletes left panting in a distant second and third by a “transgender female” who is actually biologically male winning the gold medal in record fashion. Children being adopted into same-sex families, purposefully being denied the model of a father and a mother in relationship to one another. Surgical and chemical mutilation of healthy bodies of both little boys and girls all because of either real (and rare) gender confusion or due to “copy cat” socially-encouraged experimentation. Parents refusing to “gender” their children but to “leave it to them to figure out.” Governmental entities allowing for birth certificates with “other” as a gender option. The proper, good societal roles of mothers and fathers mocked and ridiculed and identified as being “backward.” The list goes on and on and on. Each society that embraces these revolutionary concepts finds it impossible to stop the acceleration into utter moral and ethical anarchy.

The source of all of this chaos–chaos that is damaging to human happiness and flourishing? As the Statement puts it, it is a refusal to “honor the image-bearing character of human sexuality as created by God.” Our secular age has rejected the Creator and therefore has no room for “image-bearing” or transcendent value or objective truth. The downward spiral only spins more tightly as it descends to disaster. God’s Word calls us to the upward spiral of life that is based upon the gospel and God’s revelation of His purposes in creation. The Scriptures are clear and compelling in their teaching in this vital area, and we would do well to pay very close attention and heed their admonitions.

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James Robert White is a Baptist theologian, the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries, an evangelical Reformed Baptist Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona and a Christian scholar.  He is the author of several books.

How to Glorify God in Business Success

 

We talk often about glorifying God when things are hard, glorifying God in suffering and loss and even in death. Philippians 1:20 is a key text for us, one we’ve addressed now over thirty times on the podcast, for good reason.

But what about glorifying God when things in life are good — and especially when your business is flourishing? That’s our question today from a listener named Matt. “Hello, Pastor John. Thank you for this podcast! How should a Christian Hedonist who is successful in business and a prominent leader speak in front of others about their story? It seems like many ‘Christian business leaders’ make their success story all about themselves and then mask it all in a thin Christian wrapper. So what is the best way to authentically and humbly recognize a position of leadership and success, but to speak of it in a way that makes God look great?”

I really appreciate this question, especially the way it’s phrased there at the end, because I think that is the goal of everything in life: to make God, Christ, look great. But I am going to push it back one step. Matt asks about how a successful person in a leadership position may speak so as to make God look great. I’m going to push it back and say that almost everything hangs on how a successful person in a leadership position thinks and feels about his success and leadership. I really do believe that if a person’s thinking and feeling about his success and his work and his relationships and his leadership are deeply biblical and spiritual, then the speaking and all the more or less subtle forms of communication will take care of themselves.

Let me try to explain what I mean by right thinking and right feeling when it comes to one’s success and leadership. There are five ways to think and, I think, five ways to feel about our life’s achievements, if God has given us success and given us (therefore) leadership.

Patterns of Right Thinking

First, you will think rightly about the nature of what success is. You will not assume the world’s definition of success, though there will be overlaps. Essential to your definition of success will be your goals in life. These will not be identical with the world’s goals. Success is reaching goals; that’s what success is. And so, choosing life goals is prior to seeking success. Yours will include pleasing your Creator and the Lord of your life, getting in sync with his goals in the world. This will involve doing good for people in the hope of showing Christ’s supreme worth. This will imply pervasive integrity, honesty, justice, generosity, the true good of clients and customers and employees and community.

Second, you will think rightly about the fact that absolutely everything that makes this business flourish is a free and undeserved gift of God, including the raw materials, the skill of employees, the social conditions, the weather, the managerial successes and processes, and your own life abilities, disciplines. Acts 17:25 says, “[God is not] served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” Life and breath and everything are a gift of God. You will think rightly about that.

Third, you will think rightly about the relationship between hard work and divine blessing. You will know God is decisive in all blessing, but you will not make the mistake of thinking that he does not use human means and human giftedness. “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord” (Proverbs 21:31). Both. Your preparations are essential, but God is decisive. Or 1 Corinthians 15:10: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” So yes, you worked. Yes, you are gifted. Yes, that’s crucial. But all of it — all of it — is owing to grace.

Fourth, you will remember that God is sovereign and governs the world for his wise purposes. The smallest turn of affairs is ordered by God. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father” (Matthew 10:29). Every sparrow dies, and it dies by God’s will. “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” (Proverbs 16:33). This conviction is essential to right thinking about success.

Fifth, you will think rightly about the fact that as an undeserving sinner, not only is every good thing that comes to you a gift of God, but it comes to you, as his child, undeserved, and owing to the purchase he made by the blood of Christ. Most Christians don’t make this connection between the death of Christ and the blessings they receive in this life. They think only in terms of forgiveness. But consider Romans 8:32: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” In other words, everything that comes to God’s undeserving children is owing to God’s not sparing his Son but giving him up for us. Every gift that we have from God in our business life, in our leadership, comes with a price tag: the blood of Jesus. We need to think rightly about that.

Patterns of Right Feeling

Now, what about feeling? If you’re going to speak about your successful business and your leadership in a way that makes Christ look great, you will need to be transformed into the kind of person, from the inside out, who actually feels the greatness of Christ — not just knows it, but thinks it and feels it, and all the things that go with it.

First, you will feel thankful for everything. Ephesians 5:20: “[Give] thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” If you take those two texts together, it says “for all things” and “in all things.” Few feelings are more winsome, humbling, others-oriented than thankfulness. This cannot be pretended; it is a feeling. It is a feeling before it is words. Do you really feel thankful? That will make a huge difference in how you talk.

Second, you will feel not just thankful for all good things; you will feel undeserving — really undeserving. This is huge. Do you? Your understanding of sin will be existential in your business life. You will know that every morning that you wake up, and you don’t wake up in hell, is a good morning, an undeserved morning. If your doctrine of sin does not bring you to this point, you need to return to thinking rightly about the issue of sin and go deeper into Scripture. We must pray. This doesn’t come naturally. We must plead with God that the truth of our own fall and nature as children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3) will cause us to feel undeserving of every single good that comes to us.

Third, you will feel amazed. This is the upside of undeserving when grace rises to meet every degree of guilt we feel. The feelings of thankfulness and being undeserving now overflow with amazement, as if a million-dollar check landed in your mailbox every single morning — only better. The grace of God is amazing.

Fourth, you will not feel proud but humble — not just think it but feel it. This makes all the difference. First Corinthians 4:7: “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” Or here’s James 4:13–16. This is spoken directly to businessmen and women:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.” . . . Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

In other words, it’s arrogant to say, “I’m going downtown today to do some business.” You don’t know if you’re going to make it downtown. The sovereignty of God and the grace of God over every detail of our lives, James says, cancels boasting and causes us to feel humble.

Fifth, you will feel an overflowing joy that inclines you to love other people and be generous with them. Second Corinthians 8:2: “In a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy . . . overflowed in a wealth of generosity.”

If you have these five aspects of right thinking and these five aspects of right feeling about your success and leadership, there will be an overflow of right speaking to make Christ look great.

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 John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Come, Lord Jesus.

Ministering to the Incarcerated

Dr. R.C. Sproul once recounted his first experience with visiting a maximum-security prison in Minnesota. R.C.’s friend was preaching in a ratty old auditorium to about four hundred of the most hardened criminals in the state. He noted that it was a frightening experience. After he left, Dr. Sproul offered the following reflection:

As I left the confines of the prison, I carried a profound sense of satisfaction, for at least on one occasion I fulfilled the direct mandate of Christ to visit those who are in prison (Matt. 25:36; Heb. 13:3; 1 Peter 3:19). Since that initial visit, I have had many other experiences in prisons and considerable exposure to inmates, as we regularly hold seminars for them.

Most Americans are unaware that nearly one out of every one hundred people in the United States is incarcerated. Most of us have never known someone who has been incarcerated. Because of this, churches can easily overlook prison ministry. Out of sight, out of mind. Dr. Sproul saw firsthand the necessity for prison ministry. He came away from that initial visit with a sense of gratification that he remembered those in prison. It is important that the church also minister to those who are incarcerated because Scripture commands us to show compassion to and to remember and receive the imprisoned.

COMPASSION

Jesus calls His people to show compassion to those in prison. Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:36—“I was in prison and you came to me”—are commonly used as a proof-text to care for those incarcerated. And so they are. But how are we to do so? Let us remove our twenty-first-century Western understanding of imprisonment and consider its broader context. Jesus also states, “I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me” (v. 36) and “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (v. 40). Jesus emphasizes that the Christian’s compassion for those in need reveals his inward righteousness. In other words, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked do not make one righteous. But instead, those who are truly righteous in Christ, those who have experienced Christ’s compassion in their own lives, desire to show compassion for those in need, the hungry, the thirsty, and the imprisoned—especially with respect to other believers in those situations.

Even today, many inmates lack the necessary food, water, or clothing in prison. The incarcerated need our compassion. Those in prison need the physical, emotional, and spiritual support of in-person visitation or written correspondence. One of the ways that Christ calls believers to provide evidence of holiness in their lives is through exercising compassion for those imprisoned. To care for the incarcerated is to live in obedience to Christ. Jesus says in verse 40, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” By ministering to incarcerated brothers and sisters, we minister to Christ. We must recognize that the church behind bars is nevertheless part of the invisible church of Christ. 

REMEMBER

Jesus commands His church to remember those in prison, especially those who are imprisoned on account of their faith. The author of Hebrews writes to Christians, many of whom were under persecution at the time: “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Heb. 13:3). Throughout the New Testament, we read of the mistreatments and sufferings of Christians (Heb. 10:32–34) and wrongful imprisonments (Acts 5:18; 16:25–31; 28:14–15). Rather than encouraging the church to avoid those in prison, they ought to remember them. Further, we ought to think of ourselves as if we were imprisoned with them. As members of the same body, we are to consider the church behind bars no differently than we consider the active members of the local congregation to which we are committed. As John Calvin wrote, “There is nothing that can give us a more genuine feeling of compassion than to put ourselves in the place of those who are in distress [incarcerated].”

Are there no elect in prison? Surely God’s people are there. So let us consider the church behind bars not as a dying church but as a part of the church, the one body of Christ. The incarcerated are some of the most intentionally forgotten people in our society. Just because the general public cannot see the incarcerated church does not mean that it does not exist. On the contrary, incarcerated Christians are members of Christ’s body. Remembering the incarcerated should be considered a part of building and edifying the local church. The church is blessed as it counsels, reaches, teaches, and preaches to those behind bars. Christ would have His church learn how to sympathize with their Christian brothers and sisters who have been transformed by the power of the gospel behind bars. In most cases, it is only a matter of time before they physically join a local church.

WELCOME

Jesus commands us to welcome those who share our faith in Him, and this includes believers who have been imprisoned. Consider the book of Philemon, a story of reconciliation and restoration. A friend of the Apostle Paul named Onesimus had stolen from his master, Philemon, and escaped. While on the run, Onesimus met Paul and was saved under the Apostle’s ministry, and Paul sent him back (reentry) to Philemon. Philemon was a Christian, and Paul urged him to “receive [Onesimus] as you would receive me” (Philemon 17)—as a fellow partaker of the same grace of the gospel. Paul further explained to Philemon that Onesimus was now more valuable as a Christian than he had been beforehand. If only the church today was as welcoming to those who have come to faith in Christ while in prison as Paul urged Philemon to be toward Onesimus.

More than ten thousand men and women are released back into society every week in the United States. Inmates who eventually leave prison will reenter our society. Ninety-five percent of the approximately two million incarcerated in America will return to a neighborhood near you. They shop in the same stores, drive on the same roads, and visit the same libraries. They may even live on the same street. One of the most significant challenges that those reentering society face is not knowing where and how to resume their lives. They must also deal with the strain that they have placed on their families. The penitent ex-convict who has received God’s forgiveness needs a family to welcome him home. The church can meet this need. The preaching of the gospel to inmates affects every community where inmates go when they are released. Transformed men and women often become blessings to the church just as Onesimus became one.

It is important that the church minister to the incarcerated because Scripture commands us to care for, remember, and receive the imprisoned. To that end, here are a few ways that Ligonier is seeking to equip churches and believers to carry out the task of ministering to those in prison:

Dr. Sproul’s reaction to his first prison visit serves as an excellent reminder that we are carrying on the legacy and burden that was impressed on the heart of Ligonier’s founder so many years ago. Ligonier’s prison outreach exists to reach the incarcerated with the knowledge of God and the hope of the gospel. We accomplish this by emphasizing the need for a right understanding of who God is and how this leads to a right understanding of ourselves. Right theology leads to right living, and the Lord uses the teaching of His Word to set souls free from the prison of sin (Isa. 61:1). Ligonier supplies good biblical and theological resources to correctional facility chaplains and inmates to help incarcerated men and women rebuild their lives on the solid foundation of Scripture.

Ligonier serves prison chaplains by providing them with credits to obtain discipleship resources for effective prison ministry. We also offer chaplains complimentary bulk subscriptions to Tabletalk magazine. We are eager to supply access to many Ligonier teaching series and the Ligonier Connect online learning platform that can be broadcast throughout the facility’s closed-circuit television systems or uploaded onto the electronic devices that some inmates can access. In addition to these resources, Ligonier covers the cost of admission for all correctional chaplains and their spouses who want to attend Ligonier’s national or regional conferences.

Ligonier provides inmates with access to a wide range of free resources. Over the past four years, we have directly served more than fifteen thousand inmates across America. We receive more than 150 letters each week from inmates requesting resources. In response to such correspondence, we provide free copies of the Reformation Study Bible in a format that complies with most correctional facilities’ standards. We have also given many inmates complimentary subscriptions to Tabletalk. In addition to these resources, we offer inmates a request form for them to obtain books written by Dr. Sproul, our Ligonier Teaching Fellows, and other authors that are available in our online store. Our Ask Ligonier service provides inmates with a platform to ask biblical and theological questions and to receive answers from well-trained staff members.

Ligonier is honored to minister to those in prison, and our supporters make this work possible. There are other ministries and churches doing good gospel ministry in prisons as well. Whatever the avenue we choose, let us as the people of God work to make sure that incarcerated men and women can access the hope of the gospel.

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Michael Dewalt is chaplain outreach coordinator at Ligonier Ministries and discipleship and outreach coordinator at Midway Presbyterian Church in Powder Springs, Ga.