My wife interrupted some work I was doing last night to see part of an interview with Rick Warren. Mr. Warren has come under fire by the homosexual community for his refusal to bless their lifestyle choices. I find it interesting that anyone who dares to say that same-sex marriage is wrong is instantly labeled as someone who is controversial. Though he holds a position that has been characteristic of most societies for the last 5,000 years, political correctness now seems to dictate that he be regarded as odd or somehow antagonistic.

The interviewer challenged him regarding his understanding of the Bible’s teaching about homosexuality. Was not the prohibition against same sex relationships on the same order as the prohibition against eating some kinds of seafood?

What’s interesting about this question is that it admits that the prohibition against same sex relationships is actually in the Bible. Some would not want to admit that, redefining the terms to indicate that what we perceive as a prohibition is not one. At least the questioner did not try to use verbal acrobatics to play language games with the text.

Rick Warren’s response offered a classic look at the kinds of laws we find in scripture. Some of them, he asserted, are Jewish ceremonial laws. Some are Jewish civil laws. Some are moral laws. So what do we do with these three categories of law?

The civil and ceremonial laws were uniquely given to the Jewish people in the Old Testament as part of God’s plan for creating a distinct society that was to represent God to the world. (See Genesis 12:3.) Jesus, in declaring all foods clean, asserted that all the ceremonial laws were fulfilled in him and therefore no longer in force. With the destruction of the theocratic kingdom in 70 AD, there was no longer a nation to which these unique civil laws could apply. Modern Israel is not a theocracy, but a secular state. (Some of the principles behind these civil regulations, such as provision for the widows and orphans, are instructive for any government today.) The last category of moral law is trans-cultural. It is permanent, reflective of the desire of God for all people in all places. Much of this pre-existed the giving of the law in the time of the exodus and is reflected in the teaching of Christ.

I may not be required to put tassels on the corner of my garments, but I am commanded to remember the Lord as the one who gives me the ability to produce wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18). I may eat rabbit, but I’m not to engage in sorcery or attempt to consult the dead (Deuteronomy 18:11).  If I raise animals I do not need to set aside the firstborn, but I am expected to confine my sexual behavior to the monogamous heterosexual pattern God established.

Rick Warren’s full answer to the question was undoubtedly edited. But he handled a common challenge with admirable thoughtfulness and care.