Though we may be greatly distressed by the rise of the LGBT agenda, Gavin Peacock argues that we should seize the moment
Recently Eugene Peterson hit the headlines in the US with his affirmation of same-sex marriage.
Peterson has been a prolific Christian author and his books on spirituality and his Bible translation The Message have been widely read over the past few decades.
However, The Message contains ambiguous interpretations on certain key passages, which hint at a lack of certainty on the inerrancy of the Scriptures. Peterson has subsequently retracted his affirmation of same-sex marriage and affirms a ‘biblical view of marriage’. But there are still ambiguities. Just saying that one has a biblical view is not enough. Exegetical arguments need to be made. Consequently, Peterson leaves us with some of his own pastoral inconsistencies unaddressed.
Eugene Peterson was pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland for 29 years, before retiring in 1991. Denny Burk, president of CBMW (The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood), makes this point: ‘How does he square this “biblical view of marriage” with admitting practicing gay people into church membership? How is his view of marriage consistent with bringing openly gay persons onto his ministerial staff? These are the pastoral practices of one who affirms homosexual relationships, not of one who opposes them.’
I hope Peterson will make exegetically sound statements about marriage, sex and sexuality and answer these lingering questions. Nevertheless, his rhetoric continues to show that we live in difficult days and the need for biblical clarity on sexuality is essential and urgent – in and out of the church. It remains true that before we hope to engage with the world we must get our own house in order by upholding the truth.
The Bible & the cultural bite point
In every age Satan’s assault is the same – to deny the veracity of God’s Word, thereby denying God. This was the case from the beginning, when the serpent approached Eve and in essence asked her: ‘Did God really say?’ If the devil can convince that what God says is not true then people will not believe God and will not trust Christ, the glory of God will be trampled and people will not be saved.
Biblical wisdom is the ability to discern the times according to the fear of God. During a time of national turmoil, the nation of Israel was served by the men of Issachar; men, Scripture tells us, according to 1 Chronicles 12.32, ‘…who understood the times and knew what Israel should do’.
We are all to some extent the product of our culture. But we need to understand the times we live in and to identify where the Word is being assaulted.
Biblical sexuality is where the battle for the authority of the Word of God is raging in our culture. If you like, the battle is the bite point. The bite point (as Tim Chester has articulated) is where the gospel challenges the culture, offers truth and calls for repentance. The bite point is where the gospel is most starkly different from the surrounding culture, thus providing an evangelistic opportunity.
Speaking about Martin Luther and his confrontation with culture about the key issues of his time, Elizabeth Rundle Charles wrote: ‘It is the truth which is assailed in any age which tests our fidelity. It is to confess we are called, not merely to profess. If I profess, with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages, the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point.’
Combining the thoughts of Chester and Charles: the bite point is where the battle for the authority of God’s Word rages most clearly in culture, so that the church cannot simply profess Christ, but must confess Christ.
To be even more specific, complementarity is the biblical and historically Christian position on marriage. So the church must articulate and embody complementarian understanding of manhood and womanhood.
Marriage and the watching world
The church must conserve the truth of biblical gospel-displaying marriage even as it commends biblical gospel-displaying marriage to a watching world. And there is no better time for Christian marriages to display the grace of the gospel than in a culture which is redefining marriage.
When we embrace biblical Christlike headship and submission we explain the gospel (Ephesians 5.22-33). A husband, who sacrificially loves, protects and provides for his wife shows that Christ is a leader who dies on the cross for his bride, the church, and is worthy of trust from everyone everywhere. And a wife who gladly, intelligently submits to her husband and follows him, as the church follows Christ, shows that submission to and trust in Christ is not begrudging duty, but it is delight. That is biblical marriage: one man and one woman portraying a picture of the gospel to the world. That’s glorious. That’s worth defending and displaying for the sake of God’s glory and human flourishing.
Marriage is a mission moment
The mission of the church is to make disciples, by preaching the gospel, baptising them and gathering them into churches to be taught. But disciples must be equipped for mission by having a gospel-centred understanding of all things. They enter the world for mission, not as politicians, but as cross-shaped theologians, able to recognize the bite points where the battle rages, bold to enter in and lovingly speak the truth of the gospel.
Homosexual marriage is not the real issue. Sin is the issue. Grace is the need. Same-sex marriage is a sin issue in a key area of life, which makes it a gospel opportunity.
So we must not lose heart and we must not become bitter. At the very worst of times, when Satan seems to have the upper hand, God is using it for victory. Just look at the cross. This means that the current redefinition of marriage is the perfect opportunity to present the culture with real marriage and the gospel it pictures. The light shines most brightly in the darkness. Marriage is a mission moment. On the flip side, the issue of marriage and sexuality will prove a threshing moment in the visible church defining who is evangelical and who is not: because ultimately this is about the glory of God and the inerrancy of his Word.
There is no hiding from this. This moral revolution is coming upon us quicker than we know and the repercussions are endless. We cannot ignore it or turn down the volume and hope we can do missions without engaging robustly here. Love demands it. To be clear on all other fronts and yet to side step this is to dishonor Christ. This is where the battle rages. And where the battle rages the loyalty of the soldier is proven.
Gavin will be speaking at the CBMW UK conference with John Stevens of FIEC on Saturday 21 October at Highgate Road Chapel, London, NW5 1BU and it is a free event. Contact admin@highgateroadchapel .co.uk if you wish to attend.
