It is interesting that when it comes to pushing the envelope of acceptable societal mores, Christians, and Christianity, are the ones to whom that test is most consistently presented. The latest example of this involves a “gay” couple that is suing a Colorado bakery for discrimination for refusing to bake for them a cake for their planned wedding ceremony.
My opining on this matter is not necessarily to address the legal or societal aspects and ramifications of this situation. I make no pretense to be an expert on civil litigation, nor am I a sociologist, and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. My objective in writing this particular commentary is solely to address from a theological perspective a question that has arisen over the course of continuing discussion and debate about the aforementioned case, which is: “Would Jesus Bake a Cake for a Gay Wedding?“
The answer to this question is quite evident to me – no, He wouldn’t. But, allow me to endeavor to present a biblical apologetic as to why I say so.
1. Jesus is God.
One cannot attempt to answer the question posed above apart from considering an even more important one: “Who is this Jesus about whom the question is being asked?”
The Bible is unambiguous in its response to this question, as we see, for example, in the following Scripture verses:
John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Colossians 1:15-17, “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him [Jesus] all things were created, both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He [Jesus] is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Colossians 2:9, “For in Him [Jesus] all the fullness of Deity [God the Father] dwells in bodily form.”
Titus 2:13, “…looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus…”
John 20:27-28, “Then He [Jesus] said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him [Jesus], “My Lord and my God!”
Which brings me to my next point…
2. Being God, it is Jesus who created marriage.
Having established by the above scriptural references that Jesus is, in fact, God, it is both logical and biblical to say that, being God, it is Jesus Christ who created marriage.
It is in Genesis 2:24 that the word “wife” appears in the Bible for the very first time. The word refers to the woman whom God had formed specifically for and whom He brought specifically to Adam in Genesis 2:22-24. The word wife is distinct from the word woman in that it establishes that the woman, who had not yet been given a name, was not only Adam’s companion but the person to whom he was now married. (Note: It was Adam who gave his wife the name Eve in Genesis 3:20.)
Adam and the woman God gave him were not merely occupying the Garden of Eden as co-habitants as if to keep one another company, but as husband and wife. Jesus addressed the matter of Adam being alone by giving him not simply a companion to assuage his lonely condition, but a spouse; and that spouse was a woman, not another man. As such, the joining together, in either a civil or religious ceremony, of two people of the same gender in “holy matrimony” is neither holy nor matrimonial, for such a thing is not marriage to begin with as defined by the One who created the institution.
So, try as we might to redefine marriage, its definition has been determined by God Himself and is as unchangeable as the entirety of His word.
And my final point…
3. God’s standards do not require the consent of society.
As stated earlier, the Bible is all too clear that marriage is a God-defined, God-ordained, heterosexual union between a man and a woman.
This is clearly expressed by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:2, which reads, “But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.” Notice the verse does not say “each man is to have his own husband, and each woman is to have her own wife.” The biblical ideal is that sexual intercourse is reserved for the marriage relationship and for that relationship only.
This is not rocket science, but it is theology. The only difference between the two is that rocket scientists fully accept God’s boundaries concerning the laws of physics, whereas society, in all its brazen, chest-thumping hardheartedness, simply refuses to accept the same when it comes to marriage, having collectively decided that it knows better than God when it comes to that subject.
And, therein lies the heart of the problem: mankind simply refuses to accept God’s standard for marriage.
Marriage is the joining together of one heterosexual man and one heterosexual woman as an earthly representation of the everlasting and unchanging covenant between Jesus Christ and His church. As such, the similar joining together of two individuals of the same gender is not marriage but homosexuality, and homosexuality, by God’s standard, is sin.
Like all of God’s Word, the issue of “gay marriage” isn’t a matter of whether or not we agree or disagree with God, as if we and God were equals which, of course, is most definitely not the case. It is a matter of belief or unbelief; of acceptance or rejection of the marital boundaries which God has established for mankind.
It’s as simple as that.
You can disagree all you want, but that doesn’t change God’s standard.
Conclusion
So, understanding what marriage is and, perhaps more importantly, what it is not, how could it ever be that Jesus, who is God, and who created not only marriage but all that exists or has ever existed in the universe, would contribute, in any way, shape or form, in facilitating, acknowledging or celebrating any man-made “union” that is inherently anathema to His own commandments and precepts? To do so would make Jesus a hypocrite, having contradicted Himself in this matter.
No, my friend. Jesus would not bake a cake for a gay wedding.
What Jesus would do is lovingly entreat these men in the same manner as He did the woman who was caught in the act of a different sin, adultery, saying to them, “Go. From now on sin no more.” And, having repented of their sin, Jesus, just as He did for the thief on the cross in Luke 23:42-43, would welcome these two men into the family of God, where they would remain with Him for all eternity.
Think about it.
DBH
