Lauren Ducommun

Rebecca McLaughlin has written another gentle yet insightful and truth-filled book addressing one of the most controversial topics within our culture at the moment. Does the Bible Affirm Same-Sex Relationships addresses 10 claims people make to show how the Bible affirms same-sex relationships, and McLaughlin’s discernment and analysis of these arguments are both helpful and encouraging. This book is not meant to condemn but to point to Christ in whom all sinners–that is, everyone–can find eternal life. 

McLaughlin first addresses how our views on sexuality can’t simply just be a second-order issue. She says, “…the question of whether the Bible allows for same-sex sexual relationships cannot be set aside as a secondary issue on which Christians can agree to disagree.” The model of marriage and what Jesus says about marriage are both covered in this chapter, providing a biblical big picture for the rest of the book.

She goes on to address the following arguments:

• Was Jesus silent on same-sex relationships?
• Was God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah for gang rape, or same-sex attraction?
• The Old Testament forbids both eating shellfish and engaging in gay sex, so why are you okay with shrimp and not okay with same-sex?
• Paul wasn’t condemning all same-sex relationships, but only ones that exploit others.
• Paul was only condemning excessive lust, not same-sex orientation.
• The word “homosexual” wasn’t use in Bibles until 1946, so Paul was only referring to men who are molesting boys.
• Just as we see a trajectory from the Old Testament to the New that moves in the direction of the abolition of slavery, even though it doesn’t get there, so we see a progression from the Old Testament to the New that moves towards affirming same-sex marriage, even though it doesn’t get there.
• Not offering a Christian who experiences same-sex marriage will just yield to bad fruit (forced celibacy, temptation, etc.)   

I found this book helpful to understand what may lead people to think the Bible affirms same-sex relationships or marriage. I was not familiar with a lot of these claims, and was thankful for how McLaughlin shared excellent explanations that are rooted in Scripture. 

As a side thought, I was especially struck with how if one erases the distinction between male and female — the different roles that men and women are called to — it trickles down and affects one’s view of marriage. McLaughlin writes, “If there is no ‘male and female’ in the church, this opens the door to sex difference not mattering in marriage.” This was a helpful connection to make, as I’ve seen the shift in people’s thinking and theology once they embrace the idea that men and women have the same roles in all things. If we simply affirm these unbiblical claims and let them take fruit in our churches, this is one example of how the flow of thought can affect theology within the body.

I hope to read this book with my kids when they are teenagers. As the book states — these claims sound compelling — so it’s vital we understand what the Bible says about them as we engage with our culture. McLaughlin, as always, models kindness and viewing all people as image bearers of God, pointing all of us to Christ.

Favourite Quotes:

“Christian marriage is designed to help us to wrap our minds round Jesus’ exclusive, sacrificial, neverending, flesh-uniting, life-creating love for us. Marriage, rightly understood, is not a distraction from the gospel–it’s a declaration of it.”

“When it comes to sexual sin–as with a hundred other kinds of sin–Jesus looks into your heart and mine and finds us both unquestionably guilty. But, at the same time, Jesus looks into your eyes and mine and tells us that we’re unimaginably loved.”

“I want to make the case that deep, enduring, sacrificial love between believers of the same sex is not only affirmed but commanded in the Bible–but that it finds its right expression not in the exclusive bond of marriage but in the inclusive bonds of friendship.”

“In modern Western culture and within the church, we’ve drained the blood from same-sex friendship.”

I received this book from The Good Book Company in exchange for an honest review.

Does the Bible Affirm Same-Sex Relationships?
by Rebecca McLaughlin
The Good Book Company, 2024
128 pages