DeYoung responds with “Yes and amen.” (p. 98) All of us do need
to be forgiven. But membership in heaven, and in the church, is made up of repentant sinners. As Jesus said
repeatedly, “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
He points out that instead of removing the call for
repentance for those who engage in same-sex behavior, we should “labor for a
church community where lifelong repentance is the normal experience of
Christian discipleship.” (p. 99) In other words, yes, we are broken people, we
all need God’s grace. And we all need to repent of our sins, whatever they
may be, and receive both the forgiveness of God and the inner change that comes
as the Holy Spirit works in our lives.
QUOTES
It’s strange that some Christians would treat homosexual activity as an imperfect but allowable choice or simply less than God’s best when we would never speak so dismissively about the sin of ethnic prejudice, economic exploitation, or violence against women…We are justified by faith alone through grace alone in Christ alone. And this grace that grants us faith will invariably be a grace that causes us to change. (p. 101)
All of which is to disagree with those who think unrepentant sexual sin is consistent with Christian discipleship and to agree with the author of Hebrews, who taught that without holiness no one will see the Lord (12:14) (p. 102)To order Kevin DeYoung’s What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? click the title.
