This post looks at the teachings of SBC pastor J D Greear on sexual sin, comparing them to 1 Corinthians 6:15-20; MacArthur’s Bible Commentary explanations are used to explain scripture.
Greear stated his beliefs about sexual sin in the one-minute video below.
There is a vast difference between Greear’s stance and that of the Bible. I am speculating that this difference derives from the SBC’s having incorporated Marxist’s ideologies via Resolution 9, whereby they deemed that CRT and intersectionality could be used “as an analytical tool subordinate to scripture.”
According to James Lindsay, an expert on Marxism, it subordinates everything in its sphere; therefore, scripture will be dominated by CRT in the SBC. Greear’s teaching indicates that the domination has already begun to occur.
While watching the video, note how flippant pastor Tim Keller is when he is speaking about homosexuality not being a sin. As he directly contradicted many passages of scripture, he acted as if anyone who believes in the Bible is wrong, not politically correct, uncool…. And when he joked about it, the audience of church goers laughed as though they wanted to be pc like him.
Pastors Keller and Greear would have you believe their words instead of scripture.
Jesus said of such people:
Mat 15:7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
Mat 15:8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
Mat 15:9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
The apostle Paul said of such people:
2Th 2:11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,
2Th 2:12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The above scripture elevates God’s word to the highest authority; current trendy evangelicalism apparently elevates man’s word to that position.
Greear referenced the gospel in the above brief excerpt, those who understand the biblical gospel message, know that Jesus called everyone to repent of their sins and believe the gospel message. The scripture in this post indicates that homosexuality is a sin, as is adultery, lying, stealing…. These all must be repented of and forsaken if we would enter heaven.
SCRIPTURAL TEXT:
Verses 9-14 included for additional context, they were the subject of the part 1:
1Co 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
1Co 6:10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
1Co 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1Co 6:12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.
1Co 6:13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
1Co 6:14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
Scripture for this post:
1Co 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
1Co 6:16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”
1Co 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
1Co 6:18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
1Co 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
1Co 6:20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
MACARTHUR BIBLE COMMENTARY
Bible Verse:
1 Corinthians 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
Commentary:
members. The believer’s body is not only for the Lord here and now (1Co_6:14), but is of the Lord, i.e., a part of His body, the church (Eph_1:22-23). The Christian’s body is a spiritual temple in which the Spirit of Christ lives (1Co_12:3; Joh_7:38-39; Joh_20:22; Act_1:8; Rom_8:9; 2Co_6:16); therefore, when a believer commits a sexual sin, it involves Christ with a harlot. All sexual sin is harlotry.
Certainly not! [Never, in the ESV] These words translate the strongest Greek negative—”may it never be so.”
References MacArthur used above:
1Co 6:14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
Eph 1:22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
1Co 12:3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
Joh 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Joh 7:39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Joh 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Act 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Rom 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
2Co 6:16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Bible Verse:
1Co 6:16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”
Commentary:
one flesh. Paul supports his point in the previous verse by appealing to the truth of Gen_2:24 that defines the sexual union between a man and a woman as “one flesh.” When a person is joined to a harlot, it is a one-flesh experience; therefore, Christ is spiritually joined to that harlot.
Reference:
Gen 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Bible Verse:
1Co 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Commentary:
one spirit with Him. Further strengthening the point, Paul affirms that all sex outside of marriage is sin; but illicit relationships by believers are especially reprehensible because they profane Jesus Christ with whom believers are one (Joh_14:18-23; Joh_15:4, Joh_15:7; Joh_17:20-23; Rom_12:5). This argument should make such sin unthinkable.
References:
Joh 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Joh 14:19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
Joh 14:20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Joh 14:22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Joh 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Joh 17:20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
Joh 17:21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Joh 17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
Joh 17:23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Rom 12:5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Bible Verse:
1Co 6:18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
Commentary:
Every sin … is outside. There is a sense in which sexual sin destroys a person like no other, because it is so intimate and entangling, corrupting on the deepest human level. But Paul is probably alluding to venereal disease, prevalent and devastating in his day and also today. No sin has greater potential to destroy the body, something a believer should avoid because of the reality given in verses 1Co_6:19-20.
Bible Verse:
1Co 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
Commentary:
not your own. A Christian’s body belongs to the Lord (1Co_6:13), is a member of Christ (1Co_6:15), and is the Holy Spirit’s temple. See notes on Rom_12:1-2. Every act of fornication, adultery, or any other sin is committed by the believer in the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, where God dwells. In the OT, the high priest only went in there once a year, and only after extensive cleansing, lest he be killed (Le1Co_6:16).
References:
1Co 6:13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
1Co 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
Rom 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Rom 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1, 2 Note: [You’ll have to look up the references on these two verses]:
beseech. This Greek word comes from a root which means “to call alongside to help.” Jesus used a related word, often translated “Helper,” in reference to the Holy Spirit (Joh_14:16, Joh_14:26; Rom_15:26; Rom_16:7). This family of words later came to connote exhorting, encouraging, or counseling. Paul was speaking as a counselor to his readers, but his counsel carried the full weight of his apostleship.
therefore. This refers to the last refrain of his doxology of praise in Rom_11:36. Since all things are for His glory, we must respond by offering ourselves for that purpose.
mercies of God. The gracious, extravagant, divine graces Paul expounded in the first eleven chapters, including God’s love (Rom_1:7; cf. Rom_5:5; Rom_8:35, Rom_8:39), grace (Rom_1:6-7; Rom_3:24; Rom_5:2, Rom_5:20-21; Rom_6:15), righteousness (Rom_1:17; Rom_3:21-22; Rom_4:5-6, Rom_4:22-24; Rom_5:17, Rom_5:19), and the gift of faith (Rom_1:5, Rom_1:17; Rom_3:22, Rom_3:26; Rom_4:5, Rom_4:13; Rom_5:1; Rom_10:17; Rom_12:3).
present your bodies a living sacrifice. Under the old covenant, God accepted the sacrifices of dead animals. But because of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, the OT sacrifices are no longer of any effect (Heb_9:11-12). For those in Christ, the only acceptable worship is to offer themselves completely to the Lord. Under God’s control, the believer’s yet-unredeemed body (see note on Rom_6:6, Rom_6:12; Rom_7:5; cf. Rom_8:11, Rom_8:23) can and must be yielded to Him as an instrument of righteousness (Rom_6:12-13; cf. Rom_8:11-13).
reasonable service. “Reasonable” is from the Greek word for “logic.” In light of all the spiritual riches believers enjoy solely as the fruit of God’s mercies (Rom_11:33, Rom_11:36), it logically follows that they owe God their highest form of service. Understood here is the idea of priestly, spiritual service, which was such an integral part of OT worship.
Romans 12:2 Note:
do not be conformed. “Conformed” refers to assuming an outward expression that does not reflect what is really inside, a kind of masquerade or act. The word’s intent implies that Paul’s readers were already allowing this to happen and they must stop.
this world. Better translated, “age,” which refers to the system of beliefs, values—or the spirit of the age—at any time current in the world. This sum of contemporary thinking and values forms the moral atmosphere of our world and is always dominated by Satan (cf. 2Co_4:4).
transformed. The Greek word, from which the English word “metamorphosis” comes, connotes a change in outward appearance. Matthew uses the same word to describe the transfiguration of Jesus (Mat_17:2). Just as Christ, briefly and in a limited way, displayed outwardly His inner, divine nature and glory at the transfiguration, Christians should outwardly manifest their inner, redeemed natures, not once, however, but daily (cf. 2Co_3:18; Eph_5:18).
renewing of your mind. That kind of transformation can occur only as the Holy Spirit changes our thinking through consistent study and meditation on Scripture (Psa_119:11; cf. Php_4:8; Col_1:28; Col_3:10, Col_3:16). The renewed mind is one saturated with and controlled by the Word of God.
good … acceptable … perfect. Holy living of which God approves. These words borrow from OT sacrificial language and describe a life that is morally and spiritually spotless, just as the sacrificial animals were to be (cf. Lev_22:19-25).
Bible Verse:
1Co 6:20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Commentary:
a price. The precious blood of Christ (see notes on 1Pe_1:18).
glorify God. The Christian’s supreme purpose (1Co_10:31).
References:
1Pe 1:18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
1Co 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
The video used in this post was a trimmed version that I recorded from the YouTube site, Reformation Charlotte.
STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS:
To see another brief video by the above pastors and 3 others who teach similar man-centered ideas; and bios on each of them, click the following link.
https://sheeplywolves.com/evangelical-pastors-who-affirm-homosexuality/