As you probably have noticed, there has been a lot of talk about
the recent Supreme Court decision and I wanted to throw my two cents into the
ring. I think the best way to describe my view on the Supreme Court decision is
to look at what the book of Ephesians says in chapter 2 verses 1 through 10.
1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
I would like to look at this in two parts to formulate my opinion. First off, let me start by saying that I believe what the Bible says to be inherently true. How the Bible describes the life of Christ and what He did in both life and death is how I want to model my life. That’s what it means to be a Christian after all-attempting to mimic the life of Christ to the best of your ability. So, when the Bible makes a claim, I believe it to be true.
Now, to break this passage up a little bit, I want to start by looking at verses 1-3 with a special emphasis on verse 3. I don’t want to spend a ton of time here because I think the more relevant matter of this passage is the latter portion but there are some definite truths here that need to be addressed. The first is that, “you were dead in the trespasses and sins.” Paul is talking to a Christian audience here; he is talking to people who are trying to follow Christ. He says, “you”. He doesn’t say people around you- he says you. He is directly addressing his Christian audience with the truth that they were sinful just like the rest of the world (they still are sinful, but we will get to that in a bit). He then goes on to address the fact that everyone has lived in sin. Everyone. There is not a man or woman or child spared in his address here. Paul emphasizes this next point, so I believe it is important to emphasize as well. He says, “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh… like the
rest of mankind.” We all lived in sin. That’s all there is to it. Paul, a spiritual giant so to speak, asserted that he was among the worst of sinners.
Why is this important? it gives no man, woman, or child-regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, size, shape, or any other platform or potential difference-ground to stand on when they try and condemn people outside of Christ for their actions. (Within the body of Christ there is a little bit of a different dynamic, but that is a topic for a different time). As a Christian, you have no right to point fingers at other people’s sin because without Christ, you would be just as lost as the next person. You have done nothing to deserve to sit upon the throne of judgement. That is the position of God the father and God the father alone. Now, this is where the beauty of it all comes into play. “But God,…” These may be one of the most wonderful set of two words in the entire Bible. I say this because it often indicates a shift in tone in the passage. Often times, a scene of total depravity or despair is displayed right before these words and then these words appear and God brings restoration or redemption.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” God loved and cared for us enough to reach down and save us from the sin within us. He loves having relationship with us and wants that for everyone. He loved us enough to die so that our sin, that repulsive, disgusting, soul killing sin within us, would no longer be a barrier to Him. (The aforementioned sin is in reference to sin of every kind and is not directed at any sin in particular). As Paul goes on to say, there is nothing we have done, no amount of good deeds, charity, love, kindness, selflessness, spirituality, or anything else- that could have caused any one of us to deserve this gift of grace and forgiveness. God’s mercy (not giving us something that we deserve which, in this case, is separation from Him) is the only thing that Christians have to boast about. They cannot boast in anything from the aforementioned list of good things because apart from Christ, none of those things would have come to be. They would still be a part of the sinfulness of the world.
Tying these points together, there is a very evident inability for Christians to justly persecute, condemn, or otherwise criticize people for their sin, whatever it may be. Ultimately, without Christ, Christians are in the same place as the rest of the world, broken with sin and separated from God. Now, I don’t say this to put Christians on some sort of pedestal saying that they are above everyone else or better than everyone else or more valuable than anyone else. That is simply not true because of what Paul said earlier about Christ giving us a gift that we did not deserve. This gift is offered to everyone and anyone may accept it. That’s the catch however, people have to accept it. This gift is readily available to anyone who would have it! You have to recognize the sin that is in you (and in everyone else in the world) and call on Christ, through prayer, to forgive you of your sin. He wants to do this! He wants nothing more than for you to turn to Him so that the relationship can be restored.
As Christians, Christ wants us to show his love for the world. We are called to love the world and why wouldn’t we? We were once a part of the brokenness of the world. Why would we not want the rest of the world to see the beauty of God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love when all of those have had such an impact on our lives? We should be responding to sin in people of the world with the same attitude that Christ had; a loving acceptance of the person. What did Christ do when the Pharisees brought him the adulteress? He told them to let the one who is without sin to cast the first stone. (John 8:1-11) What did Christ do when the Samaritan ran into him at the well even though she was full of sin? He told her to come to Him for living water (eternal life). (John 4:1-45) He didn’t tell the Pharisees to kill the obvious sinner in front of them. He didn’t send Samaritan away because she was too sinful. He showed them love which is exactly what we should do as Christians.
Now, do I think that homosexuality is a sin? Yes, look at the intent of marriage mentioned in Ephesians 5. Romans 1 also address homosexuality as one of the many sins of the Romans. A lot of people say that homosexuality is not mentioned in the Bible, more specifically the New Testament, but that is not true. Am I going to condemn, mock, ridicule, or otherwise humiliate someone who practices homosexuality? Absolutely not! That is not my place in the slightest. The only thing I can do is love that person as Christ loved them. Christ loved them to the point of death. Christ loved me to the point of death. Christ loved you to the point of death. I have no room for judgement for these people, or anyone else.
This ties into my view of the Supreme Court decision because I don’t think it is my place to tell people how to live. Do I agree with the lifestyle? No, but I’m not going to let a law/decision get in the way of my ability to show you love. To quote Paul again:
1 Corinthians 9:20-23: “To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings."
Going along with what I had mentioned earlier, it is not my place to condemn people for their sin. I am responsible for my sin, not the sin of others, especially not those outside the point people towards the only true hope that we have in this world and that church. As Christians we are called to show love as Christ loved us and to would be Jesus Christ.
In regards to the Supreme Court’s power to make such a decision, I think that they may have overstepped their bounds a bit. The Supreme Court displayed a very large amount of power with that decision. The consequences of such a display of power may be of power between the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branches of the seen in the future but only time will tell. It is my opinion that the balance government has been shifted towards the Judicial branch with this decision. The to extrapolate it to include marriage. It seems as though they almost revised Constitution does not address the issue of marriage, nor should it in my opinion, yet the Supreme Court, an office of 9 unelected officials, has decided the Constitution without the other branches which is where the overstep of power comes in. I believe that they should have left this a matter for the states.
