Written by T. M. Suffield |
Saturday, October 26, 2024
For Adam to be our head he must be our ‘father.’ If he isn’t the father of all he cannot be the head of all. That’s the logic of it, that’s why genealogies matter so much in scripture: we’re bonded to one another. Federal heads are always related by lineage. It’s not divine fiat, it works on ordered rules. God comes to reshape these familial ties by making the Father our father and Christ our brother.

I was chatting with a friend about Genesis 1 and whether the earth is young or old the other day. I don’t find it a particularly interesting question, not because there isn’t an answer (there must be) and not because it’s not important (the truth is always important) but because there are so many more interesting things to say about that chapter of Scripture.
I’ve touched on some of them before, but we could include: creation ‘from the head’, the patterns of seven, the baptism of the land, the third day trees, the constraining of chaos, the ‘dragons’ on the fifth day, the sixth day trees, the ten times God speaks, creation through division, and more besides.
Even most of those are fun details we’re supposed to notice and meditate on in light of the rest of the scriptures, the narrative itself is worthy of much reflection on its own terms. God is the creator. God spoke creation. He didn’t slay a dragon and make creation from her corpse (this is a Babylonian creation myth), he spoke it into being. Creation is ordered. It’s spoken from nothing. It took a ‘week.’ He rested when he was done. It would take us a long time to reach questions that might relate to modern scientific ideas of the age of the earth.
I briefly outlined my own position with my friend, which I don’t hold that strongly, while expressing respect for those with convictions different to mine. I mostly expressed that I don’t find it that interesting a question and pointed to many of the more fun things in the text that I’ve alluded to above. There was one point I wanted to stress as important though, concerning Adam.

It is biblically and theologically necessary for Christians to believe in Adam as first, a historical person who second, fathered the entire human race.
Mike Reeves
I agree. Adam was a real man, now dead (and I assume in the presence of Jesus). More than that though, he was also the first human, and the father of all mankind. I think each of these convictions is important.
What does the Bible say.
This is, in part, a matter of trusting the Bible. We should read according to genre, of course. We should read carefully to see that the text says what we think it says. My argument is that the Bible always assumes Adam was a historical man, and the first man.
We start where we always should, with Jesus. Jesus taught that the first man and woman were made by God and were married. In his discussion of divorce in Matthew 19 he turns to Genesis 1 as clearly answering their question.
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When the light of Scripture searches our hearts, we’re exposed as guilty. We’ve fallen short of the glory of God. We sin because we are sinners, and we deserve to reap the judgment in the darkness we love. But, grace upon grace, light shines into the world. There is hope in the ruins because Christ has entered the ruins. And where Christ is, there is light. 

I don’t presume to know what your year has been like. But this I know: life is not easy. Every year has its hardships, its losses, its unmet expectations. In a fallen world filled with sinners, some manner of difficulty is not only reasonable, it is part of our day-to-day existence.
Don’t you see how every part of our world is in need of rescue? There’s nothing the curse of sin hasn’t touched. There’s no one unaffected by it. Broken families are everywhere. Loneliness abounds. Medical maladies seem overwhelming, and ultimately there is no medicine to stop death. Political and social tensions run hot and, especially in the United States, there’s pent-up anger that seeks outlets of every sort.
The only hope for a world in ruins is the redeemer of sinners. John tells us in the Fourth Gospel, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). That’s what we need—light that the darkness can’t overcome. This light is Jesus. He is the “true light, which gives light to everyone” (1:9).
What John has in mind is the incarnation of the Son of God. Jesus is the light, and the incarnation is how he came into the world.
Jesus shines in the world which was made through him (John 1:10). He was before all things, and he entered the world to redeem all things. What we need for the darkness is redeeming light, yet no one deserves this light.
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Heterosexuality is not the cure!  Christ’s love and love for Christ is the cure.  This is not merely Christians’ wishful thinking.  Is it not possible for a believer to be a new creation in Christ?  Is it not possible for us to say to fornicators, adulterers, idolaters, homosexuals, and sodomites: “of such were some of you” But you were washed, sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God? (1 Cor 6:9-11).

Within the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), debate and controversy has troubled the church resulting in votes on Book of Church Order (BCO) amendments primarily, although not exclusively, on the question of church officers identifying as a “Side B gay Christians.”
The origins of this identification are unclear but by some accounts comes from the Gay Christian Network which attempts to walk a fine line between professing gay Christians who do not see their sexuality as sinful as “Side A,” and those who by contrast see their desire as sinful and therefore seek to control their desires in celibacy as “Side B.”  At best, this identity is confusing even for those professing it.  The advantage is that “Side B gay Christians” identify with both the gay community and the Christian community. The motivation for some, as expressed by Greg Johnson, is this allows for care over those who are gay.
This raises many questions that are generally not the focus of the discussion and debate.  By not addressing the core questions, the presbytery votes on the BCO amendments presented larger questions that continue to loom on the horizon that threaten the peace of the church.
Why is this precise definition of “Side B gay Christians” so important?  As explained by its proponents, it is an attempt to provide a compromise between the objective of attempts at “conversion therapy” of gays to become “ex-gay,” and those who struggle with same-sex attraction and consider their being gay as unchangeable, yet believe they are forgiven in Christ.  “Side B gay Christians” identify with both communities as a result.
As Christian leaders, teaching and ruling elders are charged with protecting the “peace and purity” of the church, is it Christ-honoring to officially have church officers living with such a compromised identity straddling two communities as distinct from one another as the church of Christ and the gay community?
At what point are we as Christ’s church ignoring the admonitions to: “avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless” (Titus 3:9); and “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife (2 Timothy 1:23)?”
This whole question has resulted in strivings about interpreting God’s law that has resulted in strife and division threatening the unity of Christ’s church.  At best, the use of the term “Side B gay Christians” is defined by psychology and cannot be explained definitively from God’s Word.  The term “gay” only became popular since the 1960s where the term sodomite was not comfortable to be used to identify oneself.  Yet biblically, the practices of gays are defined as sodomy.
Why is there the need to defend the “Side B gay Christian’s” identity? Such a designation calls into question the possibility of what Thomas Chalmers called the “expulsive power of a new affection.”  The most effective way to kill our sin is by finding greater joy in Christ.  Do “Side B gay Christian” advocates not have any hope in that reality?  Christians need to repent of the practice of “conversion therapy” as the cure for same-sex desires; Christ is the only hope.  To withhold the hope of the joy and delight that Christ changes one’s desires, is a great sin in and of itself.
Heterosexuality is not the cure!  Christ’s love and love for Christ is the cure.  This is not merely Christians’ wishful thinking.  Is it not possible for a believer to be a new creation in Christ?  Is it not possible for us to say to fornicators, adulterers, idolaters, homosexuals, and sodomites: “of such were some of you” But you were washed, sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God? (1 Cor 6:9-11).
Why does TE Greg Johnson thrust these discussions on us?  He should back away from writing books such as Still Time to Care, in which he alleges that those who disagree with him do not care about homosexuals.  Why does the church need to affirm his questionable definitions?  Is he so self-righteous in his care for gays that he judges others and finds them not as caring?  Can he not receive correction and trust Christ as his defense?  The warning of Titus 3:10-11 is sobering.
It is also sobering to read Proverbs 6:16-19.  Is Greg Johnson sowing discord among his brethren?  I do not presume to know.  Yet I sense that we as a church of Jesus Christ are being asked to affirm his identity and beliefs.
May God restore the peace and purity of His church with in the PCA.  We need to pray more diligently for this to be so.
Dr. Douglas Kittredge is a Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is pastor emeritus of New Life in Christ PCA in Fredericksburg, Va.