GOD IS LOVE. . . AND OTHER THINGS
On June 26, 2015 the US Supreme Court issued
their ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that
all 50 states “are required to grant a marriage license to same-sex couples and
recognize valid same-sex marriages.” The aftershocks of this ruling are sure to
reverberate through the political landscape for years to come. For the church
though, the political issues are of secondary importance. What is of primary
importance to the faithful is how do we faithfully confess what the Scriptures
teach and offer a rational and Biblical defense for marriage as God instituted
it in Eden? Over the next few months I will use this venue to explore some of
the arguments made in support of homosexual marriage which marshal the
Scriptures to their side. Far from being an academic exercise, this is intended
to help you defend the faith in your own vocations to which the Lord has called
you.
The
first, and arguably the most difficult, defense of same-sex marriage happens
when someone quotes 1 John 4:8, “God is love.” When this Scripture is used to
defend homosexual marriage two things are happening simultaneously. The first
is that love is being defined in a different way than it is used in the rest of
the Scriptures. The second is that this attribute of God (love) is played off
against another attribute of God, His holiness. What is significant about both
of these tactics isn’t just that they deconstruct language and God at the same
time. The real significance is that these two tactics remove Christ and His
cross from “God is love.”
God’s
love in the Scripture is always manifesting in a saving action. The most
well-known passage in Scripture, John 3:16, shows us this. “God so loved the
world.” But how did God love the world? “That He gave His only-Begotten Son
that whosoever
believes
in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” God reveals His love
chiefly in the Incarnation of Christ. The Incarnation is for a specific purpose
as well. St. Paul writes in Romans 5:8, “God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.” God’s love is revealed in Christ dying for our sins.
The love of God is found in Christ Jesus
crucified to atone for sins. God’s love is such that He “desires all men to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4) What is the
truth? Jesus says, “I am the truth.” (John 14:6) God loves sinners enough to
cast His wrath upon Jesus so that sinners may repent and believe the Gospel of
Jesus. The love of God is found only in Christ Jesus.
When “God is love” is used to defend sinful
action, the word ‘love’ is being said but the meaning is changed to ‘tolerant.’
The meaning of the word is changed while the same word is used. Functionally, a
new word is being made. It is spelled L-O-V-E but is means something entirely
different. The God of the “God is love” crowd is not a God who loves sinners
enough to die for them. Their god is an idol who dismisses their deviancy and
winks at their sin. The ironic truth is that such a god would be horribly
unloving! Their god does not truly love you enough to condemn you so that he
might justify you, to kill you so that he can make you truly alive. Love is not
toleration of abhorrent or self-destructive behavior. Ask any parent. Love does
not mean allowing children to do whatever they want. Otherwise cake and
jellybeans would be for breakfast, followed by playtime on the highway.
The second thing that the ‘God
is love’ defense does is to play off one attribute of God against
another. God is most certainly
love, but it is a real love which saves from sin, not a toleration which leaves
sinners to their destructive ways. 1 John 4:8 is absolutely true. God is love.
But God is also holy. Doesn’t the Lord say in Leviticus 11:45, “You shall
therefore be holy, for I am holy.” This imperative is continued in the New
Testament epistles. Holiness means to be set apart for sacred purposes. To be
holy means to be pure from the taint of sin.
God is holy and therefore must
judge sinners for their lack of holiness. To claim that God is love (read:
toleration) negates God’s claim to be holy. Neither are their degrees of
holiness. God is either holy or He is not. He either condemns wickedness, as
Psalm 5:4 says, or He condones it. While we’re at it, we can also mention
another attribute of God: justice, which is closely related to holiness. The
justice of God is what demands punishment for sin since sin is a violation of
God’s holiness. The ‘God is love’ crowd do not have a god who is just, just as
they do not have a god who is holy, just as they do not have a god who loves
because in their mind there is no punishment for sin. To this crowd, there is
no sin for God to condemn. Neither is there is any need for Jesus, the cross,
and the Gospel.
The entire point of Christ
crucified for sinners is that the justice of God against sinners be satisfied. The
author of Hebrews writes that “without shedding of blood there is no
remission.” (Hebrews 9:22) Blood must be shed to atone for sin. It should be our
blood. But in mercy God the Father puts forward His only-Begotten Son. God the
Father sacrifices His Isaac so that we don’t have to die eternally in Hell. In
God’s justice Christ dies with our sins so that all who trust Christ’s
atonement are credited as righteous. St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him
who knew no sin
to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him.”
Using 1 John 4:8, “God is love,” to defend homosexual
marriage (or any sin for that matter) is a far graver offense than simply
misusing Scripture. Using this passage to defend such things uses the Scripture
to make another god entirely. If God tolerates sin at the expense of His
holiness He ceases to be God. The god of the ‘God is love’ crowd is not the God
of Holy Scripture but an idol that resembles the desires of their own hearts.
They desire a God who will leave them alone and make no demands on faith or
life. They do not want a God who condemns so they have no need for a God who
saves from sin.
It seems so benign (and even pious) to quote Scripture in
defense of any position. But we must not be intimidated by just any use of
Scripture. That is what Satan did to our Lord in the wilderness in Matthew 4 to
tempt Jesus to sin. In those temptations Satan twisted the Scriptures and in so
twisting them he made a false god to lead Christ astray. The old evil foe still
works in the same manner today as he deceives many, even Christians, into
mishandling the Scriptures. Homosexual marriage is not Satan’s ultimate goal.
This issue is one of many tools with which to tempt people make a god in their
own image, more like their own sensibilities than the God of Scripture, which
always ends up as a Jesus-less god.
God is love. This is most certainly true. He is also holy
and just. Each of these attributes lead us to Christ crucified for sinners, THE
manifestation of God’s love for all sinners, homosexual and heterosexual alike,
that all may repent of their sins and believe the Gospel of the forgiveness of
sins.
