God’s creation ordinance of marriage is between one man and one woman and any other type of civil union that may be called “marriage’ is not marriage in a biblical sense. Same-sex relationships that claim to be “marriage” are not biblical marriage even though these spurious relationships are sanctioned by the state. The revealed word of God speaks of homosexuality and same-sex relations as an abomination to God (Lev. 18:22). Scripture refers to homosexuality and same-sex relations as unnatural acts, ungodly and sinful (Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Tim. 1:9-10) and nothing more than he unscriptural and immoral concupiscence of the gratification of the sexual senses. Unfortunately, some courts and governments have usurped God’s name for the creation ordinance between one man and one woman, marriage, and applied it to civil same-sex unions that are an offense to God.
Though marriage is an ordinance of God, yet there is also the institution of civil marriage. Civil marriage is established by the various political jurisdictions which impose civil obligations on the parties, for example, responsibilities of support as well as certain property rights that are peculiar to the civil marital regime. The state or political jurisdiction determines what constitutes a lawful marriage, how the ceremony is to be solemnized, and who can officiate the ceremony, etc. However, no civil jurisdiction can force a Christian to violate his or her biblical beliefs regarding marriage. Civil government should respect the conscientious convictions of its citizenry, including Christians.
For most of the history of the United States, civil marriage was only between a man and a woman. However, in 2015, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the Obergefell v. Hodges case that same-sex marriage cannot be banned in the United States and that all same-sex marriages must be recognized nationwide, finally granting same-sex couples equal rights to heterosexual couples under the law. This decision was an abomination and an affront to God.
In spite of this Supreme Court decision, this does not change God’s ordinance of marriage. But it does require citizens to recognize the now legal right of others to engage in a civil pseudo-marriage between same-sex couples. Citizens must recognize same sex “marriage” in civil matters but have no obligation to accept such civil unions in the church because such unions are contrary to the word of God. Christians should obey civil authorities (Rom. 13:1-4) except when submission to such authority requires the Christian to compromise the truth of the word of God. In such situations, Christians must obey God, not civil authorities (Acts 5:29).
Jesus speaks of marriage in Matthew 19:4-6, “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.” (See also Mark 10:6–9). He does not include any other relationship. Scripture makes it clear that one man and one woman come together in the marital bond within which they engage in sexual intercourse in order that they may be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28). This marriage covenant provides the God-created framework that supports the raising of children in the care and guidance of the Lord.
God makes it clear in His sacred Word that homosexuality, sodomy, fornication, and so-called same-sex marriage, which is neither sex nor marriage under God’s law, are transgressions against Him and thus sin which requires contrition and repentance.
