Ron is a Gay Christian Network member who believes gay Christians are called to celibacy. The following is a sidebar to his argument for celibacy.
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The Drama of Faith
[continued from the main essay]
If we are to properly grasp the Good News revealed in Scripture, it is necessary to examine in greater depth the relationship between the Old Covenant and the New.
The Judeo-Christian drama of salvation begins with Abraham. God reveals himself to Abraham and says, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves” (Genesis 12:1-3).
God selects Abraham and the Jews to be His “chosen people.” Here we begin to see what has been called “the scandal of particularity” in action. God appears to Abraham – and not to others. God makes the people of Israel His “chosen people” – and not any other nation. But – and this is equally important, Abraham is not chosen merely for his own sake, but so that he will be a blessing to others. And the Jews are chosen not simply for their own benefit, but for the benefit of all nations.
But above all, God did not choose Abraham because of his own intrinsic abilities. Abraham and Sarah were old and barren. But “by faith,” the author of the letter to the Hebrews writes, “Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:8-10). The Apostle Paul takes up the same theme in his letter to the Romans. Abraham “did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised. That is why his faith was ‘reckoned to him as righteousness’” (Romans 4:19-22). And “by faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore” (Hebrews 11:11-12).
Nevertheless, faith placed heavy demands on Abraham. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your descendants be named.’ He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Hebrews 11:17-19).
Isaac lived, and through him Abraham’s descendents multiplied. They dwelt in Egypt, and in time the Egyptians enslaved them “and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field; in all their work they made them serve with rigor” (Exodus 1:14).
And so God chose another man, this time to be the liberator of His people. And “by faith Moses, when he was born, was hid for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict” (Hebrews 11:23). Thus Moses, God’s chosen liberator, was saved by his parents’ faith. “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the first-born might not touch them. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land; but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned” (Hebrews 11:24-29).
God spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend (cf, Exodus 33:11) and revealed to him the Law. After presenting the Law to the people, Moses said, “See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in His ways, and by keeping His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice, and cleaving to Him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20).
“The law of the Lord,” says the Psalmist, “is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the ordinances of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19:7, 9-11). Yet, for all the beauty and delight in the law, fallen men and women cannot obey. David writes, “They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God. They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one” (Psalm 14:1-3).
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” God asks through the prophet Isaiah. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of assemblies – I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood” (Isaiah 1:11-15). Though the Law commands sacrifice, God makes it very clear that it is not the ceremony He desires. “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:16-17).
On a certain occasion, the Pharisees ask Jesus, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?” Jesus replies, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me’” (Mark 7:5-7; cf. Isaiah 29:13). On another occasion, the Pharisees see the disciples picking grain on the Sabbath, and say to Jesus, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” Jesus replies by reminding them that on one occasion when David was hungry, “he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat.” Jesus also points out that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless. He concludes by quoting the prophet Hosea, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (Matthew 12:1-8; cf. Hosea 6:6).
“Think not,” Jesus tells the people, “that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20).
How does He fulfill the prophets? God spoke through Ezekiel, saying, “I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will requite their deeds upon their own heads, says the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 11:17-21). Thus the prophets foretold that God would give us a new heart, a heart able to obey the law. And in the fulfilling of this prophecy, the law itself would be fulfilled.
Indeed, David himself, revealed the old heart’s struggle to obey the law when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged for her husband Uriah’s murder. Confronted with his sin, he could only cry out, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51:10-12). The Apostle Paul writes, “For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.” In light of this, he cries out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:17-24).
And so, in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ does not cast off the Law, but reveals its true significance—the heart of the matter. Another Psalmist promises, “I will run in the way of your commandments, when you enlarge my heart!” (Psalm 119:32). The obedience demanded in Sermon on the Mount is only possible to a disciple whose heart has been enlarged by the Holy Spirit: Christ condemns not just murder, but anger and hatred (Matthew 5:21-26); not just adultery but lust in the heart (5:27-30). He demands greater fidelity to marriage (5:31-32). He forbids swearing, but demands greater fidelity to one’s word (5:33-37). He forbids revenge, but commands us to ‘go the extra mile’ (5:38-42). He commands us to love our enemies (5:43-48). He forbids showy displays of piety (6:1), almsgiving (6:2-4), prayer (6:5-15), and fasting (6:16-18).
These commands seem impossible, and indeed they are, for those without faith. Indeed, we can only obey with “the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5), an obedience which is seen in Abraham’s life, but which is perhaps best illustrated in Mary’s obedience in the Incarnation.
The Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she, though a virgin, would bear the Son of God. Mary objected (quite reasonably) that virgins can’t have babies. Gabriel did not tell Mary that in that case, she’d better just try very hard, or God would be mad at her. Nor did he suggest that she help things along by seducing Joseph. Rather, the angel assured her that “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35). Christ was to be born by the power of God, not by Mary’s human efforts. And she, accepting the angel’s word in faith, replied, “let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
The difficult commandments of the Sermon on the Mount are a kind of annunciation. They tell us what, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are to become. If we try to obey God’s will in our own strength we will fail, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8).
It is only by the crucifixion of the old self that we are able to be born again, to be born from the waters of Baptism and by the Holy Spirit (cf. John 3:1-21). This new birth comes “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
Mary prophesied that all generations would call her blessed (Luke 1:48), and as we acknowledge her blessedness, we discover God’s blessing on us. We are no more able to regenerate ourselves or fulfill the law by our own power than Mary was to give birth to Jesus by her own strength. But when we humbly accept the commandments and say to the Spirit, “let it be done to me according to your word,” then Christ is born in us: the Spirit helps us in our weakness, and we experience “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ” (Romans 3:22).
“There is therefore now no condemnation,” Paul teaches the Christians at Rome, “for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Romans 8:1-9a).
Those who belong to Christ live by the Spirit, and by the Spirit, the “just requirement of the law” will be fulfilled. Paul teaches that, “if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law” (Galatians 5:18). He then defines the divide between those who live in the flesh and those who live in the Spirit more clearly: “Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:19-25).
We must therefore be careful not to exaggerate the differences between the Old Covenant and the New. In His criticism of the Pharisees, Jesus draws directly on the themes of the prophets. Not only does He claim to be the authentic interpreter of the prophets, but He also calls the Pharisees the “sons of those who murdered the prophets” (Matthew 23:31). And He insists that the New Covenant does not abolish the Old, but through faith and the Holy Spirit gives us a way to fulfill it. We are not “under the law,” yet the law is not useless, for “through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). And so we might paraphrase Augustine and say that the New Covenant lies hidden in the Old and the Old Covenant is unveiled in the New.