The Bible and Heterosexual Marriage
February 11, 2005Alabama state Rep. Alvin Holmes promised on the floor of the House to give $700 to any person who could show him a biblical passage stating that marriage is to be between man and woman. When someone took him up on the offer, citing several passages, he reportedly replied:
Anybody could have any interpretation they want of the Bible but that’s not my interpretation.
He has apparently now upped his offer to $5,000, apparently growing in his confidence that he can deny the handbook on Absolute Truth. I thought I’d take an amateur’s stab at this one.
Check out these passages:
Genesis 2:18 18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him.”
Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 . Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill.
Genesis 2:23-24 23 “At last!” Adam exclaimed. “She is part of my own flesh and bone! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of a man.” 24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 . Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill.
Matthew 19:3-6 3 Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for any reason?” 4 “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’ 5 And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ 6 Since they are no longer two but one, let no one separate them, for God has joined them together.”
Mark 10:5-9 5 But Jesus responded, “He wrote those instructions only as a concession to your hard-hearted wickedness. 6 But God’s plan was seen from the beginning of creation, for ‘He made them male and female.’ 7 ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, 8 and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, 9 let no one separate them, for God has joined them together.”
Jeremiah 29:6 Marry, and have children. Then find spouses for them, and have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! (surely a fair reading would be that the command to procreate implies heterosexual unions)On this point, see also: Genesis 1:28 28 God blessed them and told them, “Multiply and fill the earth and subdue it,” and 9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Multiply and fill the earth.”
1 Corinthians 7:1-2 1 Now about the questions you asked in your letter. Yes, it is good to live a celibate life. 2 But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.
Ephesians 5:31 31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”
