The Supreme Court of the United States ruled by a five to four vote on Friday that the United States Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage. But nothing has changed. Eighteen hundred years before there was a Supreme Court, Jesus, God Himself, said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife (or woman, A.K.), and they shall become one flesh” (cf. Matthew 19:5). He also said that this has been God’s intention from the beginning. Who has the right to redefine marriage for the rest of us? Not a group of people who think they know more than God nor a handful of Supreme Court justices.
In his dissenting opinion, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the Constitution had nothing to say on the subject of same-sex marriage. He is right about the Constitution, but the Bible does have something to say about it and with more authority than the Constitution. When God said that same-sex, physical relationships are “shameless acts” committed by men and women with “debased” minds and “ought not to be done” (Romans 1:26-28), He made this a moral issue. His word stands, and by it we will be judged. This has not changed.
So marriage will remain marriage as only God can and did define the institution He created. No government decision or law or appointed judges can ever change it. They also cannot dictate what Americans think or how Christians will react. We will react with love, the same love we had for the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who practice homosexuality, thieves, greedy, drunkards, revilers, and swindlers before the Supreme Court made such a wrong-headed decision (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). We want them washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we will tell them so. With the love of God we will preach the truth about the necessity of faith, repentance, confession, and baptism into Christ for the remission of sins. The need for such preaching has not changed.
We do not look to men’s laws to uphold our beliefs. We wish they would, but, because we cannot control men’s hearts and minds by laws, we look to God to strengthen us for whatever happens. We were complacent and living in what we thought was a “Christian nation” and got lazy. We didn’t have to fight for matters of faith. Christians need to stop looking to government to fight our battles for us anyway. The church you read about in the Bible thrived in spite of being born under an immoral government. Rome didn’t and couldn’t change the mission. And, today, it’s our job to win souls by preaching the gospel, not to win court cases (cf. Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15, 16).
The world around us is lost, dear friends. People have been blinded by Satan(2 Corinthians 4:4). That has not changed. Yet, it seems the world needs the gospel now more than ever. Pray that God will strengthen us for whatever situations arise and keep on fighting for hearts and minds in this world. Our hope is not in government, certainly not now. Our hope is in God Who never lost a battle. That has not changed.