In a recent interview with the Huffington Post, President Jimmy Carter offered his opinion saying, “I believe Jesus would approve gay marriage”.
How can you know if he is right? Read what the Law of Moses said about the practice of homosexuality:
“You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination”, Leviticus 18:22 ……. As well as ……. “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them”, Leviticus 20:13
What many do not realize is that Jesus claimed to be the fulfilment of the entire Jewish Law, which or course includes the above prohibition. Jesus said:
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill”, Matthew 5:17
Jesus’ words endorse the Law. The obvious ramification, therefore, is that he agrees with its condemnation of the practice of homosexuality.
After claiming that he was the fulfilment of the Law, Jesus then said:
“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven”, Matthew 5:19
Regretfully, President Carter, along with many others, is presumptuously annulling the clear teachings of the Law, fulfilled and endorsed by Jesus. When Jesus took this law out of the way, nailing it to the cross, as we read in the letter to the Colossians 2:13-14, he did not then set us free to indulge our temptations. Much to the contrary, as Jesus died to free us from sin, we are to die to sin as 3:1-7 of that same letter teaches.
Jesus also defined marriage in Matthew 19:3-9 as being between one man and one woman and warned of changing that plan through divorce. If divorce is a change in God’s plan, what of homosexual marriage?
One can of course choose to disagree with God’s judgment against the practice of homosexuality. No one, however, can rightly make the claim that Jesus endorsed it.