Q

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul comes on strong about homosexuality in Romans 1. He’s against it: “Men on men did shameful things to each other” (1:27). The questions Christians face is this: Is God against it? As you understand the debate, why do some Christians say that Paul was not necessarily speaking for God? And why do other Christians say they feel uncomfortable with that take on the Holy Bible?

A

Notes from the footnotes in the Casual English Bible: “Christians are so divided over how to understand what Paul says about homosexuality that church denominations have split over this very topic. Some say they believe Paul is speaking for God when Paul writes this letter and others like it. Other Christians say they doubt that God would want blamed for what Paul wrote, and that Paul was expressing his personal opinion rather than revealing something God told him to say. These Christians argue that Paul would have been surprised that his letters ended up in the Holy Bible, and that if he had known it would turn out that way, he might have made some changes in his letters.”

Many Christians say that the contact they have with friends and family members who are gay suggests to them that this is not a lifestyle most people choose. It comes with the package. And since God gave them the package, it would seem unjust of God to condemn gay folks for being who they are. What’s troubling about this is that many Christians were raised to believe that everything in the Bible is intended as a message from God, even if it is simply a statement someone wrote in a letter. Other Christians question that way of thinking. They wonder why we should expect that everything someone like Paul would write in a letter was in perfect harmony with what Jesus would have taught, though this is a topic Jesus did not bother to address. They also wonder why Christians who embrace Paul’s stance against homosexuality oppose him on other matters of behavior:

• “I don’t let women teach. And I don’t put them in positions of authority over men” (1 Timothy 2:12 Casual English Bible).
• “In all the churches where believers meet to worship, women need to worship silently. They aren’t allowed to talk” (1 Corinthians 14:33-34 Casual English Bible).
• “I’d like the ladies to dress modestly and mildly. Not too showy. Keep it respectable. Don’t go crazy playing dress-up. No need for expensive clothes, fancy hairdos, or jewelry made of gold or pearls. Let the ladies dress like women devoted to doing good things for others” (1 Timothy 2:9-10 Casual English Bible).
• “A church leader needs to do a good job of running his own household. And his kids need to act respectfully and do what he says. I mean, come on, if a man can’t manage his own family how can he manage God’s church, full of families?” (1 Timothy 3:4-5 Casual English Bible).

Reprinted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Romans. For more on this topic, see 100 Tough Questions about God and the Bible.

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Q

Paul says that people who give into the lure of sex sins “are no different than someone who worships idols” (Ephesians 5:5). Why do you think Paul would have considered that a fair parallel, sex sins to idolatry?

A

In Bible times, idolatry and sex took place together. Some religions featured religious prostitutes. The idea was that if you wanted to pray for something, like a good crop of wheat or a baby son, you would go to your worship center with a sacrifice and you would have sex with a temple priestess as a way of entertaining and pleasing the god in the hopes that the god would give you what you wanted. A Greek historian named Herodotus (about 484-425 BC) wrote “The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have intercourse with some stranger at least once in her life” (The Histories).

Reprinted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Ephesians

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Q

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul says God has equipped people with different gifts. He mentions several in Ephesians 4:11. “He spread gifts around, too. He equipped people to serve him as apostles, prophets, preachers, pastors, and teachers.” What are some of the unsung gifts you’d add to the list?

A

• In the church: Nursery workers. Handymen and women who fix things in the church and for friends, neigh­bors, and on mission trips. Folks who come early to make coffee for folks in the church.
• Outside the church: Folks who make Hallmark movies, our mothers might say. Cops who protect and serve rather than intimidate and bully. The guys and gals who plow and clean the streets. Donut bakers; can’t forget those early birds killing us with sugar and kindness.

Reprinted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Ephesians

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Q

Paul has some harsh things to say about nonbelievers in Ephesians 4:17-19. How do you react to what he said?

“I’m going to tell you something, and it comes from the Lord. Don’t live like an atheist or any other nonbeliever. They are hopelessly stuck trying to figure things out with their tiny little minds.

The lights are out inside their heads. They’re clueless. They know nothing of God because they’re morally ignorant. And they’re ignorant because they’re stumbling around in the dark, and they’re too stubborn to admit it.

They’re not ashamed of anything anymore. They’ll dive into any nastiness, sexual sin, or greediness with no regrets.”

A

It’s probably not the way you’d want to talk to nonbelievers face to face. But if you’re trying to explain the clue­lessness and hopelessness of people who don’t believe in God, you might want to throw the hard punches and tell it like it is, with the most explicit and descriptive language possible.

Reprinted from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Ephesians

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Q

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul told the Christians, “You have been saved by kindness” (Ephesians 2:5). What do you think he meant by that? And have you ever seen anyone saved by kindness?

A

The Greek word is more often translated as “grace.” It’s sometimes hard to translate that into today’s English because “grace” can mean a lotSaved by kindness of different things. It’s a prayer before a meal. It’s a sense of poise and dignity. It’s quiet courage in the face of hostility. But when it comes to describing the grace of God to human beings, author Stephen M. Miller says one of his favorite definitions is this: “Grace is God accepting us where we are in our life, yet being unwilling to leave us there.” God kindly adopts us into his family, lifts us up out of difficult circumstances, and leads us down the road to a better place.

Excerpt from Leader’s Guide & Atlas for Ephesians

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