Does Jesus’s Love Supersede Bible Scripture?
Let’s examine adultery, divorce, and homosexuality.
What happens when a scripture or command fails to love?
Jesus’s Love
Jesus is love. He always exudes love. He cannot stop loving. Jesus’s love is like the sun: an ever-present, warming light.
Every aspect of love is contained in Jesus. To be near Jesus is to experience love, and to love is to experience Jesus.
If we don’t want love, then we don’t want Jesus. If we don’t want Jesus, then we don’t want love.
Love is the most essential thing we can do (just ask Jesus). Love is the greatest and only command.
Since we are supposed to love all others (including our enemies), we should examine every situation with the question, “How would Jesus love in this situation?”
Love is love. When we show compassion to a stranger or an enemy, we demonstrate Jesus’s love.
Love doesn’t differentiate the recipient — because Jesus doesn’t differentiate the recipient.
Love wins.
Bible Scripture
The Bible is an amazing book — fraught with controversies and wonder.
First of all, the scriptures were written by men. There is a context to what the writer wanted the reader to understand. Some scripture informs our decisions; much of scripture does not.
Second, there are several “Bibles.” The Catholic and Orthodox versions have more scriptures than the Protestant versions. And the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints adds even more scriptures.
Protestant scriptures have hundreds of versions — all with different interpretations.
Conservative Protestants (a.k.a. Evangelicals) believe God inspired authors to write the Bible. Some Evangelicals believe that every verse is inspired, and therefore they believe their Bible to be infallible (or inerrant) — incapable of possessing error. They also believe their Bible does not contradict itself. Some conservatives believe their Bible is literal — what it says is exactly what it means. And Evangelicals believe in “Sola Scriptura” — the presumption that only their Bible is fully credible and trustworthy.
Liberal Protestants (a.k.a. Progressives) believe their Bible is very valuable but not necessarily inspired, infallible or inerrant. They point out various possible errors and contradictions in their Bible. Furthermore, Progressives believe context greatly matters and that not all scripture is relevant today. They do not believe that their Bible is the only reliable source of truth. For example, Progressives believe that truth can also be found through science, human experience, universal virtues, and personalized inspiration from the Holy Spirit.
What happens when Evangelicals condemn a particular behavior (because of their interpretation of the Bible), but Progressives approve of that behavior (because of the context)?
War!
So how do Jesus-loving Protestants provide love to each other when they differ on the rightness of a certain behavior?
Let’s see how Jesus dealt with certain behaviors that were condemned. And we will do so by looking at three categories of people: 1) those who have committed adultery, 2) those who have gotten divorced, and 3) gays.
Adultery
Adultery is one of the Big Ten commands that God first provided to His people, the Jews. This command was well-known and unmistakably clear. There even is an extremely harsh penalty for both adulterers: death!
What happened when Jesus came upon an adulteress? The pious Pharisees and Scribes wanted to stone her to death. Her adultery sin was clear, and death was legal.
But Jesus stopped the execution. He chose to love the adulteress.
Clearly, Jesus broke from scripture. He felt compassion for the person and then mercifully released her.
Love won.
Divorce
Jesus told His disciples that divorce should never occur. Even more, Jesus endorsed that a divorcee could not remarry another person — because both would then be guilty of adultery.
That said, what happened when Jesus came upon a woman divorced five times (i.e., the famous “woman at the well”)? Jesus loved her. He offered her living water. She was so overcome with love that she told the entire town about Jesus!
Love won.
Homosexuality
The Bible contains five verses that appear to condemn homosexual anal sex. Leviticus calls it an abomination and that both men must be killed.
Some Evangelicals (who tend to view scripture as literal) believe that gays are a despicable group who violates God’s law every time they engage in anal intercourse. Thus, some Evangelicals think that gays should be barred from leadership positions in culture and church (regardless of whether they have been promiscuous or celibate). Some Evangelicals demand that gays should work toward changing their sexual attraction, remain celibate, and stop referring to themselves as “gay.”
Progressives view scripture in the context of, “What were the despicable behaviors involving men with men, at the time of Leviticus and Paul’s writings?” Historians agree that the egregious behaviors were related to straight men of power raping men of lesser status (i.e., enslaved people, prostitutes, pubescent boys, and conquered soldiers). That behavior was truly an abomination. And yet, such behavior was not related to man with man love.
Most Evangelicals further believe that marriage is only intended by God to be between one man and his one wife. Thus, most Evangelicals do not affirm gay marriage. They cite Genesis 1:27 (i.e., “in the beginning the Creator made them male and female”) and Genesis 2:24 (“a man will leave his father and mother, and the two will become one flesh”) as biblical proof of the one-man, one-woman presumption.
Progressives believe that there is no biblical definition of “marriage.” They claim that “historical” or “traditional” marriage would actually affirm polygamy. Furthermore, Progressives note that nowhere in the Bible is gay marriage condemned. Also, Progressives point out that the above Genesis 1:27 and 2:24 verses are used by Jesus to condemn divorce (Matthew 19:8–9) — not to exclude same-sex marriages. Thus, Progressives embrace the “law of love.” Two gay men who are in love have just as much right to marry as do a man and a woman in love.
But how did Jesus respond when He encountered gays or gay marriages? Of course, no such example appears in the Bible. So, we are left with Jesus’s all-inclusive, universal love.
Would Jesus love a gay man? Absolutely! Would Jesus rejoice at the marriage of two gay men who are deeply committed to each other?
I say a resounding “Yes!”
Love won.
Conclusion
Jesus is love. Jesus loves love. Jesus rejoices when He sees love.
And whenever we are in doubt about how to apply a scripture,
love wins.
Dr. Mike Rosebush (Ph.D., Counseling Psychology; he, him, his;) is the creator and editor of GAYoda, plus a writer for Backyard Church. A short synopsis of Dr. Rosebush’s life can be found at I Lived the Most Unusual Gay Christian Life Ever. He may be contacted at mikerosebush75@gmail.com.
