Church of Scotland and Marriage
Al Mohler demonstrates his usual
perceptive insight in analysing the Church of Scotland’s Theological Forum
report on marriage and sexuality. He cuts to the heart of the matter – the abandonment
of sola scriptura, and the
substitution of an ephemeral word of the living Christ subjectively experienced
Listen here:
For those who would like the
transcript
But now switching from the United
States and the situation in the United Methodist Church, we go to Scotland and
a recent report that was leaked out of the Church of Scotland. It was leaked in
recent days, and then the Church of Scotland went on to release officially the
draft report from a special theological forum. Once again, the issue at the
center is the authority of Scripture. The presenting issue or catalyst for the
discussion and the report are the issues related to sexuality. The Church of
Scotland has been one of those churches that has of late been trending in a far
more liberal direction. Once the report of the theological forum had been
leaked and public conversation began, the Church of Scotland moved up its
timetable to officially release the draft of the report. On its own website,
the Church of Scotland declared,
“The Theological Forum has published its latest report on ‘An
approach to the theology of same-sex marriage.’ The report will be considered
by Commissioners to the General Assembly in Edinburgh next month.”
The church then acknowledged the fact that the report had been
leaked and they said,
“In light of the report appearing in the national press, the
Principal Clerk has authorized its immediate publication to allow
Commissioners, members of the church and members of the public to understand
fully the content and context.”
According to the statement from the Church, the General
Assemblies being asked to consider two key issues.
Number one,
“Authorize the Legal Questions Committee to undertake a further
study on the legal implications of conducting same-sex marriages and report
back to the General Assembly [of the Church of Scotland] in 2018.”
Second,
“Invite the Church to take stock of its history of
discrimination at different levels and in different ways against gay people and
to apologize individually and corporately and seek to do better.”
Now in terms of that second statement, there are certainly ways
that Christians and Christian churches have sinned against gay people. But
you’ll notice that in the context here holding to a biblical understanding of
sexuality, holding to biblical authority, holding to a biblical definition of
marriage, all of these are basically included in what is described here as
merely “a history of discrimination at different levels.”
Simply the fact that the language is employed in this way serves
as a powerful signal of the direction the report is taking. But it’s actually a
good deal more interesting than even you might expect. One of the interesting
things in the statement from the church is that what the forum is calling for
is “constrained difference.” That is to say, the Church of Scotland is going to
try to avoid further schism. There have already been several conservative
departures from the denomination by calling for the existence of two
polarizingly opposite positions in the church, those who on the basis of
conviction cannot recognize marriage as anything other than the union of a man
and a woman and others who are determined to go ahead and recognize and perform
same-sex weddings. But this “constrained difference” to which the church says
it’s committed means that those who are biblical conservatives by remaining in
the church are in their own way endorsing others within the church who do defy
the authority of Scripture on LGBTQ issues and most particularly on same-sex marriage.
Like so many reports in this kind of denominational committee,
the report indicates one side of the argument and then the other side of the
argument, but it begins with the use of Scripture and the authority of
Scripture. The report makes a distinction between conservatives who are
according to the report committed to the written text of Scripture and to more
liberal persons who make a distinction between the written text of Scripture
“and the living word of God, the latter being associated with Jesus Christ who
speaks to us in our hearts and consciences.”
That’s a breathtaking argument. It affirms the abandonment of
Scripture, claiming instead a different source of revelation, an even higher
source of revelation, which is personal religious experience, which is claimed
to be in the Spirit of Christ. The most devastating aspect of this report is
the juxtaposition between what’s identified, again these are the actual words
of the report, “as the living words of Scripture” and what’s identified as “the
living word of God,” that is Jesus Christ who speaks to us in our hearts and
consciences. Now they went on to say,
“According to this argument we owe our allegiance to Jesus
Christ, the Word made flesh, rather than adherence to the literal words of
Scripture.”
Now that’s a stunning statement. Once again, you have the living
Christ set over against the words of Scripture. That is a juxtaposition that
the Lord Jesus Christ himself most fundamentally did not allow, and faithful
Christianity cannot allow that distinction. But it’s a key distinction for a
church or for a segment of a church that is determined to undermine and
overthrow biblical authority. And make no mistake, that’s exactly what this
report calls for. Another thing we need to note here is that this theological
forum in the Church of Scotland represents something of a breathtaking honesty,
because nowhere in this report did they try to make any argument that what they
identify is that literal words of Scripture, otherwise known as simply the
words of Scripture, can in any way be construed as to affirm same-sex marriage
or homosexual behavior or relationships. It seems they at least in honesty have
given up that argument, but the argument they now use is one with which we are
familiar: just abandon the words and grammar of Scripture in order to instead
follow what is claimed to be the living Word of God, which comes to us
internally
.
Now one of the key issues in the Reformation is the Roman
Catholic Church’s affirmation of a two-sourced theory of revelation, that is
Scripture and tradition as interpreted by the church. But here you have the
Church of Scotland birthed in terms of John Knox and that same Reformation that
once stood resolutely for the theology of the Reformation, including Sola
Scriptura, that now denounces effectively the very idea of Sola Scriptura by
adopting its own two-sourced theory of revelation, which means the words of
Scripture and also a higher authority, which is what is claimed to be the
living word of God, which is an inference that comes from the church by its own
experience and intuition.
For the last few days, I’ve been in London, England and during
the course of these days I found myself at Bunhill Fields, that is the cemetery
where John Bunyan and so many Puritans are buried, and right across the street
Wesley Chapel. We can only imagine that John Wesley would be absolutely
appalled that the authority of Scripture in this way would be undermined by so
many in his church that this would even be a live question. And when it comes
to the Church of Scotland, we do not have to wonder what the reformer John Knox
would say about this debate and this report in terms of his own church. He
would be mincing no words, and nor should we.
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