Monthly Archives: February 2019

What’s the Real Issue with the Archbishop of Liverpool’s approach to Sexuality?

Reflection.

A short while ago Paul Bayes, the Archbishop of Liverpool, commented on the Sunday programme that God never changes but what we define as holiness changes from generation to generation.  Just as the Church of England had changed its views on slavery, divorce and remarriage, it could change its attitude towards sexuality, making it far more welcoming to the LBGTI community.  For many this was a curious and surprising statement to come from someone who identifies himself as an Evangelical!

So what’s the real issue here?  At first the argument might appear intriguing, but actually the abolition of slavery was always far more in line with the teaching of scripture in the first place.  For example, if we look at Deuteronomy chapter 15, even when slavery was allowed there were ethical guidelines, slaves were to be cared for and after seven years freedom was granted.  Also the practice of kidnapping or ‘man stealing’ is forbidden in scripture (Deuteronomy 24:7), so that acts as a damning indictment of the horrendous cruelty of the slave trade to the Colonies!  The practice of divorce was recognised in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 24:1-4, rather interestingly with an emphasis on protecting woman from the actions of irresponsible men!  Jesus commenting on this in Matthew 19: 3-9 shows that lifelong marriage with one partner is the ideal, but does not rule out divorce for acts of sexual immorality.  The word for sexual immorality here is ‘porneia’ which includes homosexual acts.  So on close inspection the Archbishops argument doesn’t stand up as the Church has generally become more in line with scripture in these areas!

But is there any argument for a redefinition of holiness at a human level?  I would argue no, on the basis of several scriptures.  The first is Leviticus 19:2: ‘And the LORD spoke to Moses saying.  “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy”’ This phrase has been used twice before in the book  (and is cited in 1 Peter 1:16) and is amongst some of the rather strange laws that we find in Leviticus.  If these laws seem strange to us, John Richardson rather usefully explains they are: ‘the equivalent of an Israel football shirt in a world where everyone else was wearing Gentile colours.’[1]  The key thing to remember is the word: ‘holy’ means to be ‘set apart’.  In other words even if many of these laws have run their course in the fulfilment of Christ’s work (as is explained in Matthew 5:17-18)  the Lord’s people are closely identified with him and his nature and are called to be separate from the worldliness around them.  Secondly, Romans 1:18-25 shows that the order of the world as it was first created has been subverted by man’s sin so much that in some cases men and women have given up natural sexual relations. I’m well aware that we are all sinful beings who need the love and forgiveness of God as provided by Jesus’ substitution for our sins on the cross, but even then nowhere in the Bible do we find homosexuality complimented and held up as an ideal in the way marriage between a man and woman is!

I think it’s appalling that Archbishop Paul Bayes has suffered abuse on social media over his views on sexuality.  That is hardly the definition of Christian love and we should seek to make our Churches welcoming, even when we are seeking to correct unscriptural thinking.  So can I argue for a firm and gracious response when we seek to defend scripture!  Let’s pray  for eyes to be opened to the truth of scripture when we see error.  Also let’s pray for those who seek to uphold the Evangelical faith in our Churches and witness to its saving power.  Lastly, I once heard Hebrews 13:8 summed up as the Bible in a verse: ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.’  That should be our motto and defence of the Gospel as we contend for its truth in an ever changing world!

[1] John Richardson, What God has made clean, if we can eat prawns, why is gay sex wrong? (New Malden, The Good Book Company, 2003) 12.

Songs of Ascents: Psalm 120

Scriptural Thought for the Month
Deliver me, O Lord!

This month we start a new series on the ‘Songs of Ascents’.  I tend to think of the ‘Songs of Ascents’ as pocket sized psalms as with the exception of Psalm 132 they are very short.  The Hebrew term can mean: ‘marching song’[1] or: ‘going up’[2] and it’s likely these psalms were sung during the pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem.   It’s thought there are 15 of them as there were 15 steps to ascend to the temple.

But Psalm 120 may strike us as an unusual psalm as we generally think of psalms starting in a negative light and changing at some point to end on a positive note.  But Psalm 120 doesn’t and we find the writer in a similar situation at the end of the psalm to the one he was in at the beginning!

A while back I was talking to a former elder of the church I grew up in.  Both of us could recount situations where we’d counselled people only for them to go off and do exactly the opposite of what we’d advised.  The worst of it was that sometimes, when challenged, they would respond by saying we’d told them to do it!  The upshot was we often felt there were people talking about our supposedly bad advice behind our backs.  The Psalmist seems to have a similar problem as he appeals to the Lord to save him: ‘from lying lips’ and: ‘from a deceitful tongue’ (v1).

The nature of the problem is highlighted in verse 1.  The phrase: ‘I called to the Lord’ has a past and present tense in the Hebrew which suggests the problem has been going on for some time.[3]  Perhaps, every now and again, the psalmist thinks that the malicious gossip has died down only for it to resurface again!  Yet he prays confidently expecting the Lord to intervene.  He may be troubled, but he knows that when deceitful things are said behind his back there’s very little he can do about it.  So instead the Psalmist looks to the Lord to vindicate him by asking the rhetorical question: ‘What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? (v3).  There’s a sense that even if he’s under attack, the: ‘shape arrows’ (deceitful talk), which are aimed at him, are, in actual fact, being turned back on his attackers (v4)!  As Christians we will undoubtedly find ourselves in the same kind of situation from time to time, but the wisdom of the Psalmist is to leave it with the Lord rather than continually worry about a situation we can do very little about!

Yet the Psalmist is realistic enough to know that he appears isolated.  After all, the Lord is not under any obligation to act as a ‘Fairy Godmother’ and wave a wand so all our problems disappear.  The mention of Meshech and Kedar in verse 5 is interesting as both places are far apart and outside the borders of Israel.  As the Psalmist can’t literally be living in both and as they were barbarous and pagan places, I suspect the Psalmist is experiencing a sense of spiritual loneliness which is typified in verse 7 where he wants peace and yet those against him are for all out war!  In other words the slanderous attacks on him may be coming from people he would expect to be on his side!

In the end this might seem a very strange psalm for Pilgrims to sing as they’re going up to the temple in Jerusalem.  Surely they’d want something a bit more uplifting.  But basically it reflects the Pilgrims / Christians experience.  We, just as they were for being zealous, will be singled out for ridicule and slanderous things will be said about us and our faith!  But what a joy it was for them to come together in pilgrimage, as it is for us today in fellowship, with God’s people!

Would you like to listen to a sermon on this passage? Deliver me, O Lord!

[1] Eric Lane, Psalms 90-150, The Lord Reigns (Fearn, Christian focus, 2006) 143.

[2] James Montgomery Boice, Psalms volume 3, Psalms 107-150 (Grand Rapids, Baker Books 1998) 1068-1069.

[3] Craig C. Broyles, New International Biblical Commentary, Psalms (Pleabody, Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers Inc, 1999) 447.