From Idolatry to Immorality
Writing on the state of Western civilization a little more than a decade ago, English journalist Melanie Phillips observed, “Society seems to be in the grip of a mass derangement.” There’s a “sense that the world has slipped off the axis of reason,” causing many to wonder, “How is anyone to work out who is right in such a babble of ‘experts’ and with so much conflicting information?”
As I reread this book recently, I was struck by what’s missing. Phillips writes as an agnostic but observant Jew, and many of her points are profoundly helpful. Noticeably absent from her analysis, though, is any biblical recognition of how the world could’ve gone so haywire (à la Gen. 3)—in the realm of human sexuality.
The subject of sexuality, as described and prescribed by Scripture, is not just difficult—to address. It is also unpopular and, in large measure, offensive. I come to it with caution and, I hope, with a measure of compassion, but also with the conviction that God’s Word and way are absolutely perfect—and that he knew exactly what he was doing when he put humanity together. Thankfully, one of the passages that speak most pointedly about how God’s wrath is revealed against sin (Rom. 1:16–28) is preceded and followed by the amazing offer of God’s grace.
Living in a Runaway World
Paul’s argument in Romans 1 unfolds from his great declaration in verse 16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Why is the gospel for everyone? Because everyone needs the gospel. We are born in the same hopeless and helpless situation: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (v. 18).
Simply put, mankind lives in a runaway world. Some of us like to suggest God is hiding, but we have been the hiders since nearly the beginning of time (Gen. 3:8–10). We “suppress the truth” he’s shown us about himself (Rom. 1:18). We deny he’s made himself clearly known in the universe we inhabit—that “his eternal power and divine nature” (v. 20) are evident all around—and, as a result, we’re utter “without excuse” (v. 20) when we refuse to worship him or thank him. When we refuse to know God as he’s revealed himself, we don’t give up on worship—we just worship something or someone else.
When we refuse to know God as he’s revealed himself, we don’t give up on worship—we just worship something or someone else.
This brings us to human sexuality—not because it’s a hobbyhorse or because we get some (perverse) sense of satisfaction out of being controversial but because that’s what comes next in God’s Word. If we simply choose the parts of the Bible we like and reject the parts we don’t, we don’t really believe in the Bible; we believe in ourselves.
Why would we ever want to consider a passage like Romans 1 unless we believed Scripture is God’s Word, unerring, and speaks life-giving truth—even in our 21st-century Western world? We’re not at liberty to rewrite the Bible to accommodate godless perspectives on abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, transgenderism, and the like. We’re not free to tamper with God’s Word.
As we continue reading Paul’s inspired words, it’s clear that we struggle to know who we are, having broken our connection with the Creator—who made us purposefully for himself. As the apostle goes on to explain, when men turned from God toward idols, including the idol of self, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies among themselves. . . .
God gave them up to dishonourable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. (Vv. 24, 26–27)
The exchange of the normal, natural function of human sexuality for that which is contrary isn’t the first “exchange.” Paul has already described mankind as exchanging “the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (v. 23)—the exchange of the Creator God for created idols. We have also “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (v. 25)—the exchange of knowledge for ignorance.
And because we refuse to trust and worship him, God gives men and women up to their “dishonourable passions.” He gives them up to something contemporary society regards as an alternative lifestyle but that the Bible pronounces to be an abominable perversion. Idolatry thus leads to immorality—and the immorality gets deeper as it goes.
From Idolatry to Immorality
Such is the state of our society today. How did we get here? Reflecting on the past several decades of Western culture reveals a strategy at play among those driving the revolution.
First, there have been efforts to make sure the broader society sympathizes with their struggles—both of a personal and societal nature. (And Christians surely ought to lead the world in sympathy, but only of the Christlike sort.) Second, there was and is a clear desire to normalize homosexuality and transgenderism through media and individual platforms. And third, there has been and continues to be a concerted effort to demonize those who oppose the revolution. Dissenters will be cancelled at a high cost.
The West and America, in particular, aren’t in the mess Phillips describes because we’re immoral—not ultimately. We’re in such a mess because we worship modern-day Baals rather than the living God. The moral squalor and brokenness of our culture is merely the clearest evidence of “the wrath of God” being “revealed from heaven” (v. 18). The actual immorality isn’t the cause; it’s the evidence. It’s what happens when we turn it in upon ourselves.
The evidence is all around us. When Paul describes both men and women giving up “natural relations” in favour of those “contrary to nature” (Vv. 26–27), he uses the word “natural” to describe the material order as God intended it. (In fact, the words he uses for “women” and “men” are actually “female” and “male” in Greek—a deliberate echo, I think, of Gen. 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”) Anatomy, physiology, biology—all of them, even without theology—testify to God’s perfect plan, the violation of which leads to chaos, sadness, and despair.
Anatomy, physiology, biology—all of them, even without theology—testify to God’s perfect plan, the violation of which leads to chaos, sadness, and despair.
Homosexual practice, then, isn’t simply an alternative lifestyle. It’s rebellion against God: I will decide who I am, what I am, what I’m doing, and with whom I’m doing it. It’s not the greatest sin, but it’s clear evidence of a society’s defiance of God. When a culture reaches a place where even manhood and womanhood—gender itself—are deconstructed and reconstructed according to individual agendas, that culture is in deep trouble.
We also see this disintegration on a personal level. When longings are no longer filled by God, who has made us for himself, the longings don’t go away. We still have to answer the yearnings of our hearts for peace, fulfilment, joy, satisfaction, and sexual gratification.
We can easily jump to conclusions about what he meant when we read Paul’s words about men and women “receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (v. 27). I find William G. T. Shedd’s observation helpful: “The recompense is the gnawing unsatisfied lust itself, together with the dreadful physical and moral consequences of debauchery.” We don't stand on morally neutral ground when we reject God as the answer to our longings. We become, in Paul’s words, “consumed with passion.”
Gospel for the Whole World
For the Christian, all of this presents quite a challenge. As John Stott did so masterfully, we must have one foot firmly planted in the world of the Bible and the other planted in our own context. On the one hand, we’re called to refute false ideas—remembering Jesus’s warning that “if the world hates you, know that it had hated [him] before it hated you” (John 15:18)—even as we treat those who hate us with honour. On the other hand, we have this good news to share: Jesus was delivered up to the cross so men and women might be delivered from sin and born again to everlasting life. In him, broken lives are made new.
So how do you honour God, obey his Word, and love your neighbours, friends, and family members who have decided to embrace this path? Some people have decided the way to respond to our culture’s broken understanding of human sexuality is by admonition—to simply stand up and keep declaring, “This is terrible, this is terrible, this is terrible.” Others have decided they won’t say anything at all. Neither is a possibility for a Bible-believing Christian.
In my experience, those who reject God’s plan for their sexuality are reviled or affirmed by those around them. By contrast, Christians should say, “We will not treat you in either of those ways. We will not revile you, but we cannot affirm you.
And the reason we won’t revile you is the same reason we can’t affirm you: because of God’s Word, because of his love, because of his grace, because of his goodness.” It’s not easy to speak about his wrath. But I’m glad that when I address it, I know it’s wrapped in the amazing news of his grace.
It’s not easy to speak about his wrath. But I’m glad that when I address it, I know it’s wrapped in the amazing news of his grace.
Writing to the Corinthians, Paul urged them, “Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9–10).
If we’re clear-eyed and honest, we’re all described somewhere in this list. What’s the answer? The next sentence: “Such were some of you. But you were washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (v. 11).
The hope for the greedy, for the immoral, for all of us is the same hope. And the answer is the same: the cross of Jesus Christ. He was given up on our behalf so we might enjoy all the beauty and goodness found in him.
This is what we mean when we say the gospel is for everyone. It’s a gospel for atheists and agnostics, for Jews and Gentiles, for Hindus and Muslims, for the lost and the lonely, for the happy and the successful, for the homosexual or transgender person, for those who experience gender dysphoria and those who don’t—ultimately, for anyone who humbly casts aside any other identity and loses his or her life for Christ’s sake (Matt. 16:25). It’s a big gospel for a big world.
Alistair Begg
