June’s Dobbs Supreme Court ruling effectively overturned Roe v. Wade and set off a firestorm of abortion-focused protests, debate, and fresh political campaigning across the United States. However, the contention has not stopped with abortion but has now spread to the marriage issue, reigniting the debate over whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
The re-emergence of this issue to the national spotlight was largely catalyzed by Justice Clarence Thomas’ statement in his concurring opinion to Dobbs that the past ruling on same-sex marriage in Obergefell is “demonstrably erroneous” and that the Supreme Court has “a duty to correct the error” established in that case. Since then, the United States House and Senate drafted and passed the so-called Respect for Marriage Act on a bipartisan basis and President Biden signed it, effectively enshrining the recognition of same sex “marriage” into Federal law.
The supporters of this bill argue that it provides necessary protection in the event that the Supreme Court overturns its previous Obergefell ruling and individual states cease granting same sex unions legal recognition as marriages. Meanwhile, opponents of the bill believe that it exceeds the Federal Government’s constitutional and biblical bounds by redefining that which it has no jurisdiction over. At the same time, this legislation also threatens to undermine religious liberty for those who believe it is an abomination for homosexual relationships to be defined as marriage.
With the contemporary American church becoming increasingly divided on the issue of whether the government, much less the church, should sanction same-sex marriage, it is important that we – as principled followers of Christ – set aside our partisan allegiance and personal experiences and evaluate the Federal legalization of same sex marriage on its Biblical and Constitutional merits. This article focuses on its Biblical merits and a future article will analyze the law’s Constitutional merits.
Key Questions
Given that Obergefell and the Respect for Marriage Act fully equated same sex marriage with opposite sex marriage in the eyes of the law, we must answer three more questions to assess it on its biblical merits:
- How does the Bible define marriage?
- Do homosexual relationships fall into God’s definition of marriage?
- What is the role of the civil government in defining marriage?
The Biblical Definition of Marriage
According to Scripture, marriage is a life-long covenant relationship, instituted by God, between one man, one woman and God, for the purpose of companionship, godly children and taking dominion. Genesis 1 & 2 along with Malachi 2 clearly lay out these principles, necessarily excluding same sex relationships from God’s definition of marriage. While you could technically have a marriage that fails to fulfill its God-ordained purpose, a marriage at a bare minimum requires one man and one woman joined in covenant before God.
The importance of marriage is demonstrated in the fact that God’s first command to mankind was addressed not to an individual but to the family unit:
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
~ Genesis 1:27-28
We see in this passage that God created Adam and Eve as two distinct genders – male and female – which reflected their created biological sex and bound them together as the first married couple. He then proceeded to bless this family (and all subsequent families) with the responsibilities to multiply, fill the earth, and manage and harness the creation for their good and the glory of God.
Jesus also reaffirmed the clear heterosexual definition and sacredness of marriage by referencing the first married couple when He said:
“Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”
~ Matthew 19:3-6
Furthermore, He asserted that no human agency has the authority to alter what God has already established concerning marriage. In so doing, He made unequivocally clear that marriage is an exclusive three-party covenant between a biological male, a biological female, and God.
The Role of Civil Government in Defining Marriage
Marriage is defined and described throughout Scripture exclusively as a covenant relationship involving a man and a woman, even in the cases of its perversion (i.e., polygamy, incest, believers marrying nonbelievers, Jews intermarrying with Gentiles, etc.). Furthermore, its purpose is clearly connected to procreating and raising children. Meanwhile, homosexual acts are described exclusively in both the Old and New Testaments as abominable in God’s sight and incur His wrath. Therefore, we can deduce that homosexual relationships fall outside of God’s definition of marriage.
This means that civil government – as God’s ordained minister of good (Romans 13) – has no authority to define homosexual relationships as marriage. Moreover, it violates its charge to punish evil and reward good by equating an abomination to God to the sacred image of Christ’s relationship with the Church. As Isaiah 5:20 says:
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
To the degree that it is necessary for a civil government to define marriage in pursuit of fulfilling its God-given duties, it only has the authority to do so in accordance with the law of the King of kings.
Why It Is Important That We Get This Right
Scripture illustrates the severe consequences that follow when societies cast off God’s definition of marriage in favor of pursuing sinful homosexual desires.
Jude 6-7 makes it clear that the widespread homosexuality of Sodom and Gomorrah was abominable and incurred God’s fierce wrath:
And angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling place, these He has kept in eternal restraints under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these angels indulged in sexual perversion and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
We also see this pattern of homosexuality inciting God’s severe wrath leading to the complete destruction of the offending society when He commanded the Israelites to destroy every living person in Canaan (Deuteronomy 7:2). The Lord made it clear that they were to do this because the land was polluted by the Canaanites’ sexual and spiritual wickedness (Leviticus 18:24-28), including rampant homosexuality which He called an abomination (Leviticus 18:22).
In fact, this issue is so important to God that He enshrined a strict code of sexual morality in the law of Moses, forbidding the abominable practices of the Canaanites, to include homosexuality.
The New Testament reaffirms that homosexuality is a gross violation of God’s moral law and brings with it grave consequences.
Perhaps no passage states this more clearly than Romans 1:18-2:2:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…for this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged natural relations for that which is contrary to nature, and likewise the men, too, abandoned natural relations with women and burned in their desire toward one another, males with males committing shameful acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error… although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them…And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.
1 Corinthians 6:9 further emphasizes the importance of separating ourselves from sexual wickedness, including homosexuality:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 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 Timothy 1:9-10 also affirms the idea that homosexuality is a perversion of God’s moral law:
Realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and worldly, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, homosexuals, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.
Conclusion
The testimony of Scripture is clear: marriage is defined by God in both Old and New Testaments as being a covenant between a male, a female, and God. Christ explicitly affirmed this definition as well. Moreover, Scripture explicitly and implicitly condemns same sex unions as being in violation of God’s definition of and purpose for marriage. In fact, from the beginning of history to its ending, Scripture is clear that God has and will continue to pour out His wrath on people that redefine and pervert marriage, including those who engage in or promote homosexual behavior.
Given that government is established and given authority by God as His minister of good for the praise of those who do what is right and the punishment of those who do wrong (Romans 13), it readily follows that government lacks the sovereignty to redefine marriage. Civil government – as God’s minister – is obligated to support God’s definition of marriage. Otherwise, we ascribe to it jurisdiction that is reserved for God alone – a practice that God does not look favorably upon. Furthermore, Scripture is clear that a nation which redefines marriage and/or promotes its perversion invites God’s wrath.
From this we conclude that Obergefell and the Respect for Marriage Act are Scripturally illegitimate, as they seek to force governments to recognize and promote as marriage that which God calls an abomination. Even worse, they threaten the welfare of our society by incurring God’s wrath on our nation. As Psalm 94:20 says:
Can a throne of destruction be allied with You, one which devises mischief by decree?
May God have mercy on the United States of America and grant us repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth before we suffer the consequences of our rebellion.
Written by contributing author Samuel Smith
About the Author
Samuel Smith was born in Dallas, Texas but spent the majority of his childhood in Cairo, Egypt where his father was involved in Christian ministry. Following high school, he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering and mathematics from the United States Military Academy at West Point and then served as an active duty commissioned officer in the U.S. Army.
Today he lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with his wife and four children. He is a former major party nominee for State Representative and currently runs an investment research business. His mission in life is to educate others about God’s design for government and has written a book to that end called Government for the Christian.