A Response to Bishop Sano’s ‘Call to Biblical Obedience’– Part Three

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 10:54 pm by Ben Witherington

A Response to Bishop Sano’s ‘Call to Biblical Obedience’– Part Three 2015-03-13T22:54:34-04:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I want in this particular post to talk about Bishop Sano’s understanding of Mt. 19.12. First of all here is the context—–

Vs. 3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’[b]? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”
11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

As I said in a previous post, the Bible has nothing to say about ‘sexual orientation’, but it is clear enough about sexual behavior. It calls for fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness, as Mt. 19 says and our UMC Discipline reiterates. And this brings me to Bishop Sano’s mis-use of a text like Mt. 19.12.

Jesus is talking about exactly two options: 1) fidelity in marriage defined clearly as heterosexual monogamy (notice the clear reference to God creating us male and female); and 2) being a eunuch.

Now eunochoi in antiquity were most certainly not gay or lesbian persons. They were persons who: 1) either had a birth defect in regard to their genitals, 2) were castrated by others, or 3) even made themselves eunuchs by self-castration. In other words we are dealing not with people who engaged in non-heterosexual sexual activity, we are dealing with people who had been incapacitated from engaging in normal sexual activity at all!

Mt. 19.12 has been seized on by the gay community because it refers to people who were ‘born that way’. Unfortunately, they ignore altogether the rest of what Jesus says in that verse– namely that some eunochoi have been made that way by others or even by themselves! All the gay and lesbian persons I know would be very upset with the notion that somebody else made them gay, or that they made themselves gay. To the contrary, their argument is that they’ve always been this way, since birth. The fact that Jesus mentions three ways to become a eunuch absolutely rules out the notion that he is talking about homosexual persons on the basis of the logic of the gay community itself.

Sometimes Isaiah 56.3-5 is brought into the discussion at this juncture. This text is important because it refers to a situation in the future where eunuchs could be included within Biblical worship, whereas previously they had been excluded because they were not ‘whole’. This text can indeed be used to suggest that people who might have previously been excluded from worship can now be included and welcomed. This of course has nothing to do with sexual behavior, it has to do with inclusion in worship. It could be used as a basis to say that Christian worship should be ‘welcoming’ to all persons, regardless of their physical conditions, abnormalities, handicaps.

It says absolutely nothing about whether Israel or the church should be affirming of certain previously banned sexual behaviors, nor does it imply anything about that. What is interesting about this text is what we are told the eunuch says about himself, namely ‘I am a dry tree’. That is, because of the condition of his genitals or lack thereof, he cannot ‘be fruitful and multiple’, he cannot produces the sperm (usually euphemistically called ‘water’ in early Judaism) that could make him fruitful. Clearly enough, this text is not a discussion about gay men whose equipment is working fine or about any sort of gay or lesbian behavior.

Returning to Mt. 19, the basic exegesis of Mt. 19.3-12 makes perfectly clear that Jesus is not talking about gays or lesbians when he mentions eunuchs, and indeed the only sort of marriage he endorses here is heterosexual monogamy.

Clearly, marriage is only under discussion when Jesus refers to heterosexual monogamy. It is not under discussion when he refers to being eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom. In fact, not only is Jesus not enunciating a more broad definition of marriage and divorce here, he is actually suggesting a more restrictive view than was current in early Judaism, which is precisely why his disciples protest— “if that is the way it is between a man and a woman, it’s better not to marry.’.

Notice as well where that retort comes— just before Jesus’ comment on being eunuchs. Jesus is saying “if you can’t handle a Biblical marriage, then you should remain single and chaste (like eunuchs, for the sake of the kingdom’). In other words, the traditional exegesis of this whole passage is right—- Jesus defines marriages as heterosexual monogamy and the only alternative he allows is celibacy in singleness. Period.

This of course may be an inconvenient truth for some in our UM Church, but it is a truth which Jesus himself has enunciated. So quite to the contrary of what Bishop Sano has suggested, Jesus is not inaugurating a radically different view of: 1) marriage, and 2) sexual morality than was common in early Judaism. To the contrary, he has intensified the traditional view of marriage by in effect saying Moses’ permissions for divorce do not apply as the Kingdom is breaking in (see Mark 10 and 1 Cor. 7).

Christian ministers should not be celebrating gay or lesbian couplings because by the Biblical definition they are not Christian marriages. A relationship which does not involve both male and female has no sanction from Jesus not least because it has no possibility of involving both husbands and wives who have at least the constitutional potential to become mothers and fathers. Marriage, Biblically speaking, has as one of its essential components (though not the only one) the ability to fulfill the creation order mandate to populate the species.

A relationship that by its very nature cannot create a coupling that turns male and female into both husbands and wives and potentially into parents is not a Christian marriage. And while we are at it, every child ought to have the right to have a father and a mother, and needs them— hopefully their birth parents, but if not, good adoptive mothers and fathers.

It is understandable that in a narcissistic and ‘my rights are paramount’ culture, people might think about marriage simply in terms of one’s own satisfaction and desires, but what should have been thought of first is the consequences of a relationship, including the consequences for the children, if there are any. In regard to the issue of ‘welcoming’ and ‘affirming’ these are two different issues. All persons are welcome to come to the church as they are. No one is welcome to stay as they are since we are all sinners. Everyone is expected to change, and no one should expect to have their sin baptized and called good by the church.

Finally, sometimes Acts 15 has been used as a basis to ‘canonize’ radical diversity in the modern church. This comes from a very poor reading of Acts 15. There was certainly a spectrum of opinions on whether Gentiles needed to become Jews in order to be fully considered followers of Jesus, but this was a matter of praxis (do they need to be circumcised, keep Kosher food laws, keep the sabbath). James, a moderating figure, concluded this was not necessary, but he did indeed impose on Gentiles four stipulations— namely staying away from idols, idol temples, meals in idol temples where the supposed deity presided (and so it was a religious meal), and to stay away from porneia, in other words any and all forms of sexual immorality. In early Jewish literature this would include same sex, sexual activity. In other words, the Acts 15 council decision provides the opposite of a sanction for justifying modern contradictory opinions on the issue of homosexuality.

In my next and final post on this matter, I am going to suggest a way forward beyond the current impasse in the United Methodist Church.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 18, 2014

Wright's Paul and the Faithfulness of God-- Part Twenty Five

Next Post

March 19, 2014 Dirt----- a Poem

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz