You are here
Logic of Dean of St. Paul's Attack on Reform: Canterbury Is Also 'Sectarian' on Marriage
By Julian Mann
Special to Virtueonline
www.virtueonline.org
February 28, 2015
In calling Reform 'sectarian' for believing that sex is only right in heterosexual marriage, the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London, Dr. David Ison, must logically include the Archbishop of Canterbury's stance in the same negative light. That is because Justin Welby clearly stated at a recent visit to a Church of England school in Birmingham: "Marriage is between one man and one woman for life and sexual activity should be confined to marriage - that's in the Church of England's laws."
That Dr. Ison described Reform as sectarian is clear from his article on Accepting Evangelicals' new platform called without apparent irony, 'Good Disagreement':
"There have been a number of ways of responding to Reform's view. One is to explore the ways in which scriptural interpretation, church doctrine and ethics has varied over the centuries and between evangelicals, including in differing attitudes towards marriage, divorce, contraception and gender relations. Although this illuminates the ways in which past and present cultures influence what Christians believe (on all sides), it doesn't usually change the mindset that the current sectarian evangelical cultural definition of what is scriptural, and church teaching where compatible with this, is absolute."
But, by his own logic, if Reform is sectarian for believing that the biblical definition of marriage as between one man and one woman for life applies equally to all cultures, then so is Archbishop Welby. So are the majority of Anglicans in the world who uphold this definition.
Dr. Ison's treatment of Holy Scripture in his article also calls for orthodox Anglican refutation:
"One important passage here (about Christian disagreement) is Romans 14-15, reflecting 1 Corinthians 8, which is principally about eating meat in the context of the offering of animals to pagan deities, and how converts to Christian faith may be endangered by apparent compromise with idolatry. Idolatrous worship is not at the heart of Christian disagreements about sexuality, but the principles to which Paul appeals are relevant...These principles apply to all, of course: Paul's strong/weak dichotomy can be read both ways, and it's worth reading the passage through from both perspectives, i.e. seeing those who discriminate against gay people and women, and those who do not, as in turn 'the strong' and 'the weak' -- not least because a minority will tend to cast itself in the role of the 'weak' and so be blind to its own power over others."
Dr Ison acknowledges that Paul's teaching about idolatrous worship is not 'at the heart of Christian disagreements about sexuality'. But he then tries to argue that a worthy reading of Paul's principles in Romans and 1 Corinthians buttresses his view that gay people and women are being discriminated against by sectarian evangelicals.
In view of Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 6v9-11 that homosexual practice is wrong for all Christians and in Romans 1v24-27 that its presence in human society is evidence of God's judgement on rebellious mankind, it is clear that Dr Ison has no biblical mandate whatsoever for making his application. It goes against the flow of both the Pauline letters he cites.
The Apostle Peter's admonition to his Christian readers in his second letter is particularly pertinent in the teeth of this kind of treatment of Paul's teaching:
"Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures to their own destruction" (2 Peter 3v15-16 - NIV).
It is clear from Peter's exhortation here that Christians will not 'grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ' (2 Peter 3v18) if we embrace a conception of 'good disagreement' on human sexuality that relies on the distortion of Paul's infallible Apostolic teaching.
Julian Mann is vicar of the Parish Church of the Ascension, Oughtibridge, South Yorkshire - www.oughtbridgechurch.org.uk
