Packer: Homosexuality Strikes at the Heart of the Gospel

There have been few Christian leaders over the past 60 years who have articulated a more robust, clear-headed and courageous case for historic evangelical Christianity than British theologian J.I. Packer. Biblical studies, soteriology, theology proper, ethics, church history—name the Christian worldview sub-category—and J.I. Packer has written and lectured extensively on it. Dr. Packer represents a trustworthy voice among evangelicals.

During an interview earlier this year, Dr. Packer demonstrated his customary stalwart commitment to the authority of Scripture on the topic of homosexuality and "same-sex marriage." Dr. Packer argues that the embrace of homosexuality is a first-order Gospel issue that Scripture addresses with unbending clarity. Dr. Packer is an Anglican and his assertion of biblical authority represents a prophetic call to a church that is seething with controversy over issues of sexuality even as the Lambeth Conference continues this week in Kent. Below is a transcript of the interview in Q&A format. Audio is available at Between Two Worlds.

Q: Why is this such an important issue?

Packer: Because it denies something that is integral to the Christian Gospel. That is, whereas the Bible says that same-sex unions are off-limits as far as God is concerned and that the Gospel requires anyone involved in them to repent of that involvement and to abandon it, this point of view against which we are standing treats gay marriages and gay unions as a form of holiness and encourages, affirms and blesses them rather than saying to them, as we believe the Gospel requires us to say, ‘Look, this is the wrong track. You are required to abandon it. And we in the Christian fellowship will help you to not yield to your besetting temptation and that is God's way for you.'

We are obliged by the Gospel to say that because the apostle Paul in proclaiming the Gospel to the Corinthians that they mustn't be deceived...He gives a series of life patterns of which living in a homosexual relationship is one and he says those living in [these types of relationships] won't inherit the kingdom of God. In other words, they don't qualify for the salvation in terms of the Gospel that God has revealed.

Q: So, to bless that behavior is a direct contradiction of Scripture? Can there be any compromise on this issue?

Packer: I don't think so because the Scripture teaching that is being denied is an element of the Gospel itself—that is, God's message about how we sinners can be saved. If you refuse to repent at some point where the Gospel requires you to repent, you are not walking according to the Gospel, and Paul says your soul is in danger. I don't want to believe that, but I dare not disbelieve it. It is apostolic teaching. It is the Word of God. So, I help gay people not to get into gay relationships.

Q: Is this a direct attack on Scripture?

Packer: I believe so, though to explain that takes a moment. The folk who are affirming gay sex as a form of holiness, they are understanding the Bible in a very different way from that in which the rest of us think it asks to be understood. That is, God uses language to tell us things, and the Bible is the language that is used. The Bible is personal communication from the Creator to us creatures. And in personal communication, you speak and write to be understood. You don't communicate in code. You don't say one thing in a way which is intended to be understood as meaning its opposite. God is, we believe, straight-forward and the Bible, in that sense, is straight-forward. And Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 is straight-forward.

There is a little more data in 1 Corinthians 6. Paul ends the chapter by saying to the Corinthians, "And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were justified, you were sanctified by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"—that means by the ministry of Christ, for we do believe that from His throne Christ ministers directly to us through the Gospel—"and by the Spirit of our God." In other words, there you have, implicitly, a promise, and explicitly, a declaration that the Holy Spirit enables people who have a besetting inclination, which they know is off limits and therefore is that against which they want to stand. The Spirit of God enables them to stand and that is the center of the transformation of lifestyle which the Gospel brings. If anything, this is a first-order question right at the heart of the Christian message.