I have often criticized homosexual behavior on the count that it is either fornication or adultery, which would condemn the behavior whether or not homosexual sex was itself labeled (which it is). However, many gays have made comments to the effect that since I do not see gay marriages as biblical, that I have no right to find fault with their promiscuous behavior. It is a weird sort of logic, I think an analogy is in order. It is much like saying, "since cocaine is illegal according to law, I must break the law to do cocaine". The desired goal is wrong, and the means to get it are wrong. In short, both are wrong. There is no such thing as a "gay marriage" in the Bible. There are over 50 uses of the word marriage and its variants in the Old and New Testaments, and not one of them speaks of a union between two men. Nearly all of them relate either to the marriage of a man to a woman, or to the marriage between Christ and the church.
Marriage was instituted by God when he said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him" (Gen. 2:18). It is important to note that God created Eve from Adam, and when Adam saw her he exclaimed, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. . " (Gen 2:23) Furthermore, "A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen. 2:24). God's plan is clear, one man and one woman. It is foolish to think that Moses merely "forgot" or "neglected" to mention gay "marriages", or that we are free to come up with creative alternatives to God's sanctified plan of the joining of two people to one flesh.
Jesus reiterates this plan in Matthew 19:4-
When asked a question about divorce Jesus answered, "Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh'? Consequently, they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."
Why does a man leave his mother and father? To join in marriage
And who shall a man marry? A *wife*
Jesus goes on to deny divorce for any reason but sexual immorality.
Upon hearing this, even his disciples were shocked at the severe limitations (in their eyes) Jesus had just put on marriage. "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry," they replied.
Jesus is blunt, this is the ONLY way for marriage. There is no gay marriage, there is no adultery, there are no concubines, there are no divorces (accepting the one He stated). The only alternative He lists is to live the life of a eunuch. Abstinence or a marriage in which a man is joined with a woman, so that the two may become one flesh. With this realization, all the arguments about interpretation become less important, for if there is no such thing as a sanctified gay marriage, all homosexual sex is either fornication and adultery. And while I have met some gay Christians who do not believe fornication to be a sin, and at least one who does not believe adultery to be either, most Christians still think fornication and adultery are sins.
Marriage is a serious issue in the Bible, it is part of God's plan for the human race and for most of us as individuals. It is not something that we, mere men and women, should tamper, fiddle, adjust, alter, reconceive, dismiss, improvise, or change from God's plan.
Hebrews 13:4 "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulters God will judge"
Sex belongs in marriage only, a marriage in which a man is joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh. Time and time again the biblical authors quote that passage, it is timeless. Also importantly, it excludes any notion of same sex marriages in God's plan.
1 Corinthians 7:2-4
"But because of immoralities let each man have his own *wife*, and likewise also the wife have her own husband. Let the husband fulfill his duty to his wife and likewise also the wife to the husband."
Another aspect of the marriage debate is the other purpose of marriage, to represent Christ's love for His church.
