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Does 1 Cor 7:2 exclude gays and lesbians from marriage?
by Grant
Rick Brentlinger Answers -The words used to describe marriage in the Bible are used to attack gays and lesbians. When God describes Adam, a male and Eve, a female, in Genesis 2, He leaves NO ROOM for any other kind of relationship, like two men or two women, according to anti-gay Christians. When God says in 1 Corinthians 7:2, that every man should have a wife and every woman should have a husband, He leaves NO ROOM for any relationship except one man with one woman, according to anti-gay Christians. "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." KJV, 1 Corinthians 7:2The anti-gay crowd argues that the language God used excludes two men getting married or two women getting married. If God had wanted us to believe that its okay for two men or two women to marry, He would have said so. How can gays answer that?1. We answer with a question: Is that a thoughtful way to interpret scripture? If it is, then the Bible clearly says, usury (charging interest to your brother) is wrong, Leviticus 25:36-37, Deuteronomy 23:19. To be consistent in dealing with verses which express gender, we MUST take God's use of words at face value. Gender is important and if God uses a word indicating gender, then we'd better take it in a strictly literal way. Let's apply the "logic" of the anti-gay crowd to other verses and see how it works out. It is wrong and sinful to charge your BROTHER interest but it is not wrong to charge your wife, sister, daughter, aunt or grandma interest. Just as God carefully pointed out that marriage involves him and her, male and female, He also carefully limits His prohibition on charging interest to males. The "logic" the anti-gay crowd uses against gays and lesbians who want to marry a same sex partner, also "proves" from the Bible that in ancient Israel, it was okay to charge interest to any female Israelite as long as you didn't charge interest to men. Obviously, that is a goofy way to understand the Bible. God isn't that silly and we should not be that silly. God was not saying that Israelites could not charge interest to males but could charge interest to women. And God was not saying in 1 Cor 7 that only men and women could marry. 2. Another example in the New Testament is Romans 5:12. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" Romans 5:12, KJV Using the "logic" of the anti-gay crowd, this verse teaches us that WOMEN are NOT sinners. We pay careful attention to the gender language God uses in Romans 5:12 (as the anti-gay crowd does in 1 Cor 7) and discover that sin ONLY passed on to all men. Obviously sin did NOT pass on to any women because God only mentions men. If God wanted us to believe that women were also sinners, He would have said so. Do you see how silly their "logic" is when we apply their "logic" the way they apply it? We can draw some conclusions from what the Bible actually says instead of what it is presumed to teach. Thoughtful Conclusions1. In the Bible, God blessed marriages different than the Adam and Eve marriage. It does no injustice to scripture to believe that today, God blesses gay marriages which are within the Biblical moral framework, committed, faithful, non-cultic. 2. We do not have the right to interpret verses like 1 Cor 7 in a strictly literal way (male-female only) and then refuse to interpret other verses in a strictly literal way, like verses about usury or a verse like Romans 5:12. 3. God's grace allowed Him to bless Abraham and Sarah even though their marriage was an incestuous brother-sister marriage (Genesis 20:2, 12). Most modern Christians, including gays and lesbians, would never accept incestuous marriages today. Yet incestuous brother-sister marriages were culturally acceptable in ancient times and God affirmed and blessed that cultural situation and left us a clear record of His blessing in scripture. Common sense and personal experience tell us God blesses gay and lesbian partnerships which are committed, faithful, non-cultic. So to answer your question, No, 1 Cor 7:2 does not exclude gays and lesbians from marriages which God will bless. Is it possible there are gay couples in the Bible?
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