Does a “lifestyle of sin” automatically exclude one from grace? Can a practicing homosexual be a Christ follower? What about a practicing adulterer? Why does the church say “Yes” to one and “No” to the other? Let me explain.
I think everyone knows how the church generally feels about the idea of homosexuality. With passages from the Old and New Testaments saying that it’s an abomination against God, it’s generally not an accepted practice within Christian circles. No one can be a true Christ-follower if they consciously choose to sin against Him from the very depths of their soul and even go as far as to say it’s “okay with God”, right?
Well in Matthew 19 Christ tells us that someone who remarries after a divorce caused by anything but sexual immorality (not functionality, not personal satisfaction, not even physical abuse) is committing adultery. Think of all the people in the church that had disfunctional marriages and have since remarried, had kids and are now happy families. The church may think of them as wonderful stories of God’s grace, redemption and blessing but in the scripture Jesus clearly calls them adulterers.
So the question is, do we as believers now extend that same grace to homosexuals or do we retract it from people that have remarried after a divorce that didn’t involve sexual immorality — even someone who marries a divorced person where the divorce didn’t involve sexual immorality?
31 Responses to A Question of Grace