“Your Quarrel, Sir, Is With My Creator”

D. L. DeBord

“If you have a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator” (Pete Buttigieg at 2019 LGBTQ Victory Fund speech).

That was Pete Buttigieg’s response to the historic and conservative position against homosexuality. Vice President Mike Pence was the lightning rod of that attack. and he was also the lightning rod drawing the wrath of Lady Gaga who kindled her wrath against the idea that Mike Pence’s wife would teach for a school which did not allow homosexual teachers. Gaga said, “You [Mike Pence] are wrong. . .You are the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian. I am a Christian woman, and what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice and everybody is welcome. So you can take all that disgrace Mr. Pence and you can look yourself in the mirror and you’ll find it right there.” This position has also been argued for, at length, by Matthew Vines in God and the Gay Christian.

Perhaps, one of the most interesting aspects of Buttigieg’s position is that he advocates for practicing homosexuals to be be people of faith---the new liberal Christian faith. As Dr. Albert Mohler pointed out, Buttigieg is “declaring himself to be identified as a Christian, as openly Christian, as he is openly gay. He was also presenting himself as a Christian alternative to a more secular Democratic Party.”

Buttigieg, and the new liberal “Christianity,” would have us to accept homosexuality because they were “made that way.” This new liberal Christianity holds that people are made the way God wants them to be. We should not be expected to change or conform to the Divine standard. If some are made homosexual (or with any other trait that the Bible condemns?), then they are to be accepted and their lifestyle is to be accepted. It is a new version of “Christianity.” This new gospel teaches, “ the fact that there is a Creator” and that “sexual orientation is basically something that God has created” and we should all accept it.

Are We Born Perfect?

The argument from the new liberal left is that God made us as we are supposed to be and we should not change or be expected to change. Are we made perfect? Just think about that for a moment. There is no question that we aren’t made adorable and even good. But we know that we are not made perfect. God alone is perfect in all his ways (Ps. 18:30; Matt. 5:48). Consequently, he “cannot be tempted with evil” (Js. 1:13).

We are different. We are not made perfect like God. We are by our very nature imperfect. We can be tempted with evil (Js. 1:14; 1 Cor. 10:13). Our ability to be tempted is why we are told to flee from temptation (1 Cor. 6:18-20). Humanity has struggled with sin since Genesis 3. Sometimes we forget that all sin is disastrous. The first sin took shape as Adam and Eve cheated on their divinely imposed diet. Sometimes we want to excuse our own sins as small and highlight other sins as huge--especially homosexuality which the Bible does describe as sin (Rom. 1:26-27), but all sin separates us from God and the divine ideal.

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Paul listed several activities which are sinful and keep us from God. He wrote: “Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Homosexuality was listed right along with the greedy, drunkards, thieves, and the otherwise sexually immoral. Some of these are “socially acceptable sins.” But none of these are Divinely accepted sins. Any of those activities are short of God’s glory. We should not highlight one sin above another. Each is an act of rebellion and a manifestation of our imperfection highlighted by God’s perfection.

Does the Expectation Excuse?

We should expect sin, but we should not excuse sin. As Christians pursue sanctification, we mess up. We stumble. We sin. It is important that we all know that we all sin. We aren’t perfect. All sinners, no matter what sin they struggle with, should be shown compassion, love, and discipline.

So, should we accept our sinful inclinations? Should we allow ourselves to practice that which the Bible says we shouldn’t do? The KJV gave the paraphrase “God forbid” (Rom. 6:2). The actual Greek words “μὴ γένοιτο” mean “not” and “to be.” So Paul’s answer to whether or not we should continue doing that which is forbidden is “do not let that come into existence.”

The expectation that all people will sin does not excuse any sin any of us commits. This is why the word “repent” occurs at least 56 times in the New Testament. The reality that we sin does not make sin acceptable. In Romans 6 Paul addressed this same question. After looking at the universal problem of sin in Romans 1-3, Paul highlighted the greatness of God’s gift of grace. When we properly understand God’s amazing grace, we are expected to ask “shall I continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Rom. 6:1). That’s how amazing grace is!

Should We Be Expected to Change?

Biblical Christianity is based on the resurrection of Christ. That resurrection came about because of sin. It was for the sins of the world that Jesus suffered (Is. 53:5; Heb. 9:28). Jesus was “raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). We see the resurrection tied to our salvation again in 1 Corinthians 15:17 when Paul wrote, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” The resurrection is the way God changes us.

We were lost. We were dead in sin. God made us alive in Christ and dead to sin through the resurrection. Paul reminds us that we cannot continue ue in sin that grace may abound because Christ has been raised and we have been raised.

The resurrection teaches us that we aren't perfect. We need to change. We can't expect to continue in any sin. We need to be changed. We need the resurrection. We will continue to struggle. We need grace from God for all our sin. We need compassion from our fellow man as we struggle. We continue to need the risen Savior. We continue to strive for holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

Jesus’ Resurrection and Moral Order

How does the resurrection shape morality? We have to remember that the resurrection is the beginning of the “παλιγγενεσίᾳ” we see in Matthew 19:28. This is translated as “the regeneration” (KJV; NKJV; NASBU); “the renewal of all things” (CSB); and “the new world” (ESV). BDAG defined the word here in Matthew 19:28 as, “the renewing of the world in the time of the Messiah.”

This Messianic renewal begins with those who are renewed in Christ. The sinner is transformed in Christ into a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17). Therefore, “the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” This newness is not only the removal of sin, but the institution of the Christian moral order. This new moral order from the resurrection is part of the reason why Paul said “we persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11). This new moral order is why “the love of Christ controls us” (2 Cor. 5:14). This new moral order is why “they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Cor. 5:15). The resurrection shapes human relationships (2 Cor. 5:16) and the redeemed’s relationship with God (2 Cor. 5:18-19).

The resurrection morality also places the “new creation” at the front lines in the battle. This is why “we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20). God continues “the regeneration” of Matthew 19:28 through his ambassadors. Paul described how God is making his appeal through his redeemed creation to redeem creation (2 Cor. 5:20). Christians are the “righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Paul has used this phrase “the righteousness of God” to describe his reconciling of the world to himself through Christ (Rom. 3:5; 3:22; 10:3). The phrase is also found in James 1:20 with the same thrust of God reconciling the world. God has made his people righteous so that his righteousness might spread in the world. This is confimed by Paul’s next words in 2 Corinthians 6:1, “And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” He continued to describe the work of the new righteous creation as “giving no cause for offense” (6:3) as “servants of God” (6:4). These righteous servants are to wield “the weapons of righteousness” (6:7) to spread the good news of the resurrection and the susbsequent morality.

Should this Morality Be Involved in Shaping Public Policy?

“None indeed that acknowledge a God, did or can question God’s right, though they may question his will and actual exercise of his right. He is the creator, and therefore is the sovereign Lord and Ruler. The world is his family, and, as a master, he hath an undoubted right to govern his own family: he gave all creatures their beings, and therefore hath a right to enact their laws, appoint their stations, and fix their ends. It is as much his property and prerogative to rule, as it is to create