Task force report omits Scripture on homosexuality
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, January 18, 2006
If you expect a clear Biblical statement on the overarching issue – the ordination of practicing homosexuals – in the final report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity, you won’t find it.
None of the Biblical texts about homosexuality, which have been debated for decades in the mainline Presbyterian Church, are cited.
While the 56-page, 22,000-word report does include about two dozen references to Scripture – which are cited as authoritative – the report suggests that the issue of homosexuality is too “diverse, subtle, and complex” for a Biblical debate.
“The theological and biblical literature on human sexuality in general and same-gender sexuality in particular is diverse, subtle, and complex,” the report says, beginning on line 521. “It could not readily be divided into the two categories – either approval or disapproval of same-gender relationships and practices – that are assumed to anchor much of the conflict in the Presbyterian Church (USA) today.”
Nonetheless, the task force says that it framed its theological material and recommendations within a classical understanding of Scripture. Ironically, under that view, for two millennia Presbyterians and other Christians have regarded Biblical admonitions against homosexual – and adulterous – behavior as authoritative.
But another irony seems to be the task force’s acceptance of other Scriptures as authoritative within the context of its “discernment” and “consensus” models for those parts of the report in which the panel takes a clear stand – especially on unity.
For instance, beginning on line 51, it cites Ephesians 4:5-6 – “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” – as a basis for unity.
But the report does not mention later passages in that same chapter of Ephesians that call on Christians to grow in maturity, “no longer blown here and there by every wind of doctrine,” and to act no longer as those who have “given themselves up to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (Ephesians 4:14, 19).
Beginning on line 68, the task force quotes from verse 16 in the first chapter of Romans – “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for everyone who believes.”
But the report omits the concluding argument in Romans 1 that addressed disbelief and disobedience: “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desire of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another … Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lusts for one another. Men committed indecent acts with one another, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion” (Romans 1:24-27).
None of the passages cited in the report is drawn from the Old Testament, including condemnation of homosexuality in chapters 18 and 20 of Leviticus. Also absent is any reference to Jesus’ affirmation of the far-reaching scope of the moral law of God, as in Matthew 6:27 ff. where lust is equated with adultery.
Reflecting their own commitment to group discernment and disdain for “power” models, the members of the task force quote passages that they regard as egalitarian. They cite I Corinthians 1:18-2:13 as an authoritative rebuttal against those who would “define power as domination over others.” But there is no reference to Paul’s admonition to the Corinthians about an adulterer – “hand this man over to Satan” (1 Corinthians 5:5).
Beginning on line 249, the task force report cites 1 Peter 3:15 – without including the text – as the authority for its statement that, “In a world of divisiveness and violence, it is essential for those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord to show the reason for the hope that is within us by dealing differently with one another (1 Peter 3:15), for in Jesus Christ, the church has been called to a transformed way of living.”
But there is no reference to the preceding verse: “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance” (1 Peter 3:14).
A phrase from Romans 12:10 – “outdo one another in showing honor to others” is quoted on line 555, but the beginning of that chapter is not – “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
The idea of outdoing one another in showing honor is also included in the task force’s proposed Authoritative Interpretation that would allow presbyteries and sessions to decide whether the constitutional “fidelity/chastity” ordination requirement in the Book of Order is essential. In effect, the task force is calling on Presbyterians to resist filing disciplinary actions against presbyteries and sessions that ordain and install practicing homosexuals as ministers, elders and deacons.
Near the conclusion of its report, beginning at line 1359, the task force quotes from the priestly prayer of Jesus that is recorded in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John: “And chief among his petitions in our behalf was his prayer that ‘we may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.'”
But there was no reference to another part of that prayer: “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). As task force members say in their report, contrary to classical interpretations, some portions of Scripture are too “diverse, subtle and complex.”