March 15, 2004, Vol.4, No.6.
Two new articles every two weeks.
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us.
THIS ISSUE: "Gay
Marriage, Polygamy,
and the Authority of Christ" (see
below)
and "The Authority of
Christ"
Gay Marriage, Polygamy,
and the Authority of Christ
by Keith Sharp
Last month (February 2004) the President responded to the
widening fracas over "gay marriages" by proposing a
constitutional amendment to ban them. He did not mention specific
language for such an amendment but endorsed the 1996 "Defense
of Marriage Act," "which defines marriage for the purposes
of federal law as the legal union between a man and a woman."
("The Christian Science Monitor." Feb. 25, 2004) No,
I'm not leading up to a political message nor am I primarily
concerned in this lesson about the sin of homosexuality. Rather,
I want us to think how this law marvelously illustrates the nature
of authority.
How can it be said that a constitutional amendment will "ban
gay marriages" when it doesn't even mention them? In fact,
if the proposed amendment follows the language of the 1996 law,
it will not explicitly forbid anything. It will simply define
the bounds of legal marriage in the United States. Anything which
does not fit this description - a legal union between one man
and one woman - is not marriage. Thus, by implication, legally
recognized marriage in America will not include a union between
two men, between two women, between one man and a plurality of
women, etc. The law does not have to tell us everything that
is not marriage. By setting the bounds of marriage, every other
kind of relationship is excluded from being marriage.
That is the nature of authority. When the one in authority
tells what is allowed, everything which contradicts this is implicitly
disallowed. Authority is exclusive. It implicitly forbids everything
inharmonious with what it explicitly allows.
The Lord Jesus Christ declared, "All authority has been
given to Me in heaven and on earth." (Matthew 28:18) When
the Father raised up Jesus from the dead, He
seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far
above all principality and power and might and dominion, and
every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that
which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave
Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body,
the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:20-23)
 Thus,
our obligation is to "do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through Him." This includes
"whatever" we "do in word or deed." (Colossians3:17)
To do things in His name is to act by His authority (cf. Acts
4:18). We must have authority from the Lord Jesus Christ for
all that we do and say.
Thus, when the Lord defines what he wants in any area, that
delineates what we have the divine permission to do in that regard.
All that does not harmonize with what the Lord allows is implicitly
forbidden.
This principle is also stated negatively. "Whoever transgresses
and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God.
He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and
the Son." (2 John verse 9). The American Standard Version
has the phrase "goeth onward" rather than the term
"transgresses." The "doctrine (teaching - KS)
of Christ" certainly includes His nature (verse 7) but also
includes all truth that comes through Christ (verse 4). Thus,
if we go beyond what the Lord teaches us to do and say, we do
"not have God."
Last week I accepted the invitation of a friend to attend
a Bible class at the Holy Covenant Church of God in Watertown.
A student asked the teacher if polygamy is sinful. The teacher
stated the New Testament didn't condemn it but sidestepped by
asking why a man would want more than one wife. Now I'm sure
that's going to slow down a Mormon fundamentalist in the Utah
mountains or a Muslim in the Middle East!
Polygamy is a sin. You see, Jesus defined marriage in the
same way the Defense of Marriage Act does, but He went a step
further. The Lord declared, "for this reason a man shall
leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the
two shall become one flesh." (Matthew 19:5) Lord, what is
marriage? Two people, a man and his wife, become one flesh. That
leaves out homosexual unions, polygamy, and any other perversion
of marriage. Why? Because the Lord stated what He accepts, and
anything contradictory is implicitly forbidden.
I said the Lord went a step further than the federal government.
Yes, He also forbade divorce "except for sexual immorality."
(Matthew 19:9) How soon do you think that will make its way into
the constitution?
If homosexuals had an ounce of respect for the authority of
Christ, they would repent. The Word of Christ explicitly condemns
this abomination (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
But how do we know polygamy is a sin? Because the Lord defines
marriage as the relationship between one man and one woman. Polygamy
is excluded, not because the Scriptures explicitly forbid it,
but because it does not harmonize with what Christ allows. To
reject the exclusive nature of divine authority is to open the
door to polygamy.
But that principle, the exclusive nature of divine authority,
is true in every other area of life. We must have authority from
the Lord Jesus Christ for all that we say and do in all facets
of life. To act without His authority is to sever ourselves from
God. What He has not authorized, we dare not do.
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