When I googled the question: “Can a Christian be Homosexual?”, a link to a page by a fellow named Matthew Vines was among the top on the list. Mr. Vines is of the view that homosexuality should be allowed in the Church. A link to his page can be found here: The Gay Debate: The Bible and Homosexuality.

Mr. Vines makes several points. This is a response to his third point (in bold). Click on the links to view my response to them:

• Despite growing up in a loving, stable family, devoid of abuse, living an abstinence-until-marriage lifestyle, and desiring to have a family of his own someday, he has concluded that he is gay.
• Traditional “anti-gay” views of the Church have forced homosexuals to be lonely, which is against God’s design.
• The Old Testament Law does not apply to Christians, which means that references to the law in regard to homosexuality being evil are no longer valid.
• The concept of sexual orientation is new, so the Bible cannot shed light upon this subject as ancient forms of homosexual acts were offensive or abusive, not examples of two people coming together in a committed relationship.
• “Gay people have a natural, permanent orientation toward those of the same sex; it’s not something that they choose, and it’s not something that they can change.”
• Certain compound words around the New Testament references to homosexuality are really meant for the economic sexual exploitation of homosexuals.
• The Church has been really harmful toward people of homosexual orientation and it needs to become more accepting of homosexuals and not so condemning.
• Being different is not a sin and being “gay” is not a sin either.

Another view that Vines puts forward is that the Old Testament law does not apply to Christians, because of Jesus’ sacrifice and fulfillment of the law in the New Testament. This means (from Vines’ perspective) that references to the law in regard to the evil of homosexuality are no longer valid. This is not true at all and Biblically inaccurate.

It is true that whenever the Gentiles were let into the Christian fold that there was some controversy over whether or not that the Gentiles had to first become Jews before they could be considered Christians and therefore be required to follow the Old Testament law. In Acts 10 and 11, Peter has an experience, first a vision of unclean animals and a tablecloth and a voice saying “kill and eat.” Peter being a Jew said, “I have ever eaten what is unclean!” The voice said, “Do not call unclean what God has made clean.” He saw the vision three times and then was soon greeted by messengers from a God-fearing Gentile. Peter went with the messengers and spoke to the Gentiles about Jesus. The Holy Spirit came upon them as they believed, proving that God wants Gentiles as much as Jews, to follow in His ways. Peter shared his experiences with the Church and Christianity spread to the Gentiles through the efforts of various missionaries. One of these was a former persecutor of the Christians, Saul, who became known as Paul.

Over time, this debate over how much law the Gentiles should follow, if any, caused a dispute between Christians. The Bible records the account of the first Church council in Jerusalem to discuss this very issue in Acts 15. The apostles and presbyters (elders), “in agreement with the whole church,” decided to send the Gentile churches a letter which concluded with the following words:

“28 It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, 29 namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right. Farewell.” (Acts 15:28-29, NABRE)

The Interlinear translates “unlawful marriage” as “fornication,” and other translations/versions translate it as “sexual immorality.” My question then becomes what then did the Gentiles use as their guide to know what was right or wrong in regard to proper marriage and sexual conduct? Did they simply go by what they felt?

James, one of the apostles that spoke during this council said in Acts 15:21: “For Moses [the Law], for generations now, has had those who proclaim him in every town, as he has been read in the synagogues every sabbath.” 

This means that the Gentile Christians had already heard the law or at least heard about the law and saw the observance of the law in the witness of faithful Jews who were living in these towns. In fact, Paul on his missionary journeys would go into the synagogue first to speak with the Jews about Jesus. If he met hostility there, then he would go to the Gentiles. Thus, I think the answer to my own question, “where did the Gentiles go for the guide to sexual purity?” It was to the law itself, which some of them already knew about and had tried to follow.

I don’t say this, so that we should turn to the law for life, because it doesn’t really work that way. Paul speaks of rule and law followers (those following the law simply because it is a rule to follow) in great detail in Galatians. In fact the law’s purpose is to bring about the knowledge of right and wrong. It gives us God’s standard. Sometimes the law goes into such detail that a person can begin to be tempted with sins he never had thought of before (see Romans 7), but the law can’t free us from sin. Following the law will never prove to God that we are good enough to be considered righteous on our own. That is why we need to believe in Christ, because it is only through Him that we can have freedom from sin. 

However, the law can be used as a measuring stick for our own righteousness, showing that we don’t measure up. Thus, if a person who thinks they are homosexual or has been an active homosexual reads the parts of the law that deal with that issue and finds themselves condemned… welcome to the club. Because, we all stand condemned. And as I have said, following rules will not earn your salvation. Jesus’ righteousness covers over our unrighteousness, if we believe in him, we are under grace and our wrongdoings forgiven. Should we continue in our sin? Pauls answers “Of course not!” (see Romans 6). While we cannot overcome sin on our own, we can do it by Christ living in us through the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:5-23, 8:9-11).

So I am sorry Mr. Vines, grace does not give you a license to practice homosexual marriage, not even under the New Testament, because the conclusion of the apostles and the early Church was that the parts of the law regarding proper sexual behavior still applied to the Gentiles. There has not since been any such universal revelation in the Church to repeal that fact.