A favorite argument for advocates of marriage redefinition is that Jesus is on their side. Being experts in biblical studies and theology they have determined that since Jesus didn’t explicitly prohibit homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” that He, obviously, is for it.

These armchair theologians have somehow deduced a meaning from Scripture that nearly every pastor, every theologian, every academic, and every expert denies as impossible. But, apparently gaining some insight from the Holy Spirit that others have not been blessed with, they are adamant in their belief that Jesus supports the homosexual lifestyle.

As someone that has studied the Bible for a couple decades and regularly reads through it, I find it hard to believe that anyone reading the pages of Scripture can find support for homosexuality. A cursory reading of the text, whether Old or New Testament, reveals a universal consensus that homosexual behavior is sin. Only through a strange twisting of any particular text could anyone hope to find anything less than a condemnation of homosexual actions.

Nonetheless advocates of marriage redefinition, desperate to gain the support of evangelical Christians, present Jesus as supportive of their cause.

It seems the argument from silence, largely considered the weakest of arguments by academia, is all marriage and biblical revisionists need to encourage their misguided understanding of Jesus and the Bible. Because Jesus didn’t explicitly state his opposition to homosexuality they believe He, therefore, wholeheartedly endorses it. I wonder how these folks will justify adultery and co-habitation in light of the fact that Jesus did address those issues and call them sin?

Andrew Walker of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has a well-written piece at The Federalist about this topic. Walker takes one of Jesus’ only comments on marriage, found in Matthew 19, and breaks it down to show us how Jesus affirmed the traditional norms of marriage and, therefore, showed His opposition to anything not adhering to those norms.

Walker writes:

“Consider one such passage in Matthew 19. In verses 4-6, Jesus determines the content, duration, and purpose of marriage. In this episode, Jesus responds to a question about divorce by asking “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together let not man separate.

“In this one passage, Jesus affirms the norms of marriage. By stating that it is man and woman who enter a marriage, Jesus affirms the content and complementarity of the sexes in marriage.

“By insisting only one man and one woman enter a marriage, not one man and two women, Jesus affirms the exclusivity of marriage where two marital partners are to be sexually bound and exclusive to one another.

“When Jesus insists that marriage is for life, he affirms the duration of marriage, which is permanent.

“Finally, by echoing the ‘one flesh’ union of Genesis 2, Jesus is putting the purpose of marriage on full display: That men and women would unite comprehensively together in marriage through a physical, spiritual, and emotional bond that is oriented to and fulfilled by the creation and rearing of children.”

In this one passage we have a clear teaching from Jesus on exactly what marriage is and the bonds that accompany it. To deny anything less than the traditional definition and picture of marriage is to be a revisionist seeking to change not just centuries of societal understanding, but biblical teaching as well.

It is, as Walker and many others have said previously, intellectually dishonest and biblically errant to promote homosexual behavior and same-sex “marriage” under the guise of “Jesus supports it.” Such a claim is a heresy that cannot be supported biblically. Jesus, being God, created marriage and created the first man and woman and placed them in the bonds of holy matrimony. He reaffirmed what has come to be the traditional view of marriage in his comments to the Pharisees in Matthew 19.

As Walker makes clear, marriage revisionists “need Jesus on their side” to accomplish their goal of erasing traditional marriage norms. Such efforts are undoubtedly taking place:

“To undo the norms of marriage as the union of a man and woman, marriage revisionists need Jesus on their side. They must recast the narrative of biblical Christianity, one that begins with a solitary man and woman comprehensively uniting to each other (Gen. 2:24) and culminates with Christ preparing a wedding feast for his Bride, the Church (Rev. 19-7-9). The attempt to redefine Christianity, particularly its sexual ethics, are well under way …”

Any attempt to cast Jesus in the role of same-sex “marriage” crusader falls flat. It simply cannot be extracted from the biblical text or the life of Christ. Marriage redefinition advocates would be more credible (and honest) if they would abandon such efforts and quit pretending that their intentions are pure. Deliberately distorting the Bible and the life of Christ is not honest or pure and well-studied Christians (1 Pet. 3:15) will be prepared to rebuff such arguments and not fall for flimsy exegesis.