I am a follower of Jesus. I think you should be one too and would love to talk with you about it, but if you don’t want to talk about it, I still hope we can maintain our friendship.
I have grown up around the world, lived in a variety of places with a wide range of people from a whole host of backgrounds. In all that time, I have learned how to understand and be understanding, how to love and share with people who see things different than me.
The reason I begin this way is because I want to give my view on a difficult issue of current cultural importance. From the title of this blog, you know my topic. I do not intend to answer all objections to traditional Christian views of sexuality. I simply want to deal with one: it has been said that Jesus does not mention homosexuality or gay marriage anywhere. Such a statement is misleading. For though Jesus never says the words “homosexuality” or “gay marriage,” he does give his definition of marriage.
In Matthew 19:4-5 Jesus says:
4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
I have no idea how this applies to politics. I know, for my part, it doesn’t change anything between me and you no matter what your beliefs. I simply want to point out that this is what Jesus said marriage is, and as his follower, this is what I believe…
Reflection and Choice 
6 responses to “How Jesus Defined Marriage”
nice
Congratulations. Now tell your fellow Christians to stop espousing their religion in the political sector.
An elegant response to people who misrepresent our Savior. I’ve also heard someone suggest that Jesus never mentioned homosexuality (among many other topics) because His ministry was to the Jewish people. The Jews had the law. Their problem wasn’t sexual sin or murder or overt rebellion — it was the lack of love and sacrifice and the distortion of religious practice.
Mr. Jones, I have heard people say that we should take steps and measures to get the government entirely out of the business of defining marriage. What would your thoughts on such legislation be?
I don’t get it. Read the whole passage: the Pharisees did not ask Jesus, “What is your definition of marriage?” There would be need to ask such a question because in 1st century Palestine the only form of marriage in existence was “heterosexual.” What Jesus offered instead was his halakhic teaching on divorce, since that is the question the Pharisees did pose to him. And Jesus was unambiguous and scriptural in his response: don’t do it. So, as I too seek to follow Jesus, appealing to Matt 19:4-5 as His definition of marriage (which it is not) while ignoring it as His teaching on divorce (which it is) seems like a flawed argument to me, at best, and hypocritical at worst.
Gee, the Bible also says that Jesus told John, “the beloved disciple” that Mary was now his mother (mother -in -law). Sounds pretty unambiguoius to me.