In a previous article, I discussed the position taken by the Catholic Church on LBGTQ people.  Here, I will examine the different approach taken by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on an issue that has been a source of sharp divisions within the Christian world.

As explained in the previous article, the Catholic stance relies on a list of biblical verses referring to homosexual behavior to give a sense of consistency throughout the Bible in the treatment of homosexuality as disordered.  Those verses are interpreted through the lens of the teaching of the Church, and I hope I was able to show that a Bible reader can, with good reasons, disagree with that interpretation.

In a document approved on August 19, 2009, A Social Statement on Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust, the ELCA presents a different approach.  Instead of listing biblical verses referring to sexual activity between people of the same sex, it relies on higher principles dictated by the logic of the Gospel of Christ.  From that perspective, the Lutheran approach is similar to the one I offered in opposition to the Catholic position, with some differences that I will explain.

Lutherans, like Catholics, emphasize the importance of their “rich theological tradition.”  But they read the Bible somewhat differently:

“Our starting point is the foundational understanding that we read and understand the Bible in light of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This ‘good news’ of the Gospel that we are freed from captivity to sin (justification by grace through faith on account of Christ) allows us to respond to God’s mercy through love for and service to the neighbor (our vocation in the world).”

Clearly, Christ and his contribution provide the guiding principles for understanding the rest of the Bible:

“Solus Christus (Christ alone) insists that the purpose of Scripture is to reveal Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world. Scripture is to be interpreted through the lens of Christ’s death and resurrection for the salvation of all.”

That understanding leads to the conclusion that the Christian mission is primarily to love and serve one’s neighbor rather than to judge him.  Indeed, none of us can earn our salvation by doing all the right things:

“Sola gratia (grace alone) affirms that we are saved by grace alone. As with solus Christus, sola gratia means that there is nothing a person can do through his or her action that will create a right relationship with God. Only God’s grace can do that.”

Recognizing our inadequacies, we respond by putting our faith in God:

“Sola fide (by faith alone) affirms that, through the hearing of God’s Word, the Holy Spirit ignites faith (trust) in God within us.”

It should be noted here that the word faith, as used in the document, is understood as trust in God, its meaning in the New Testament, rather than the acceptance of a set of beliefs about God’s nature, an idea later promoted by church theologians under the sponsorship of the Roman Empire.

The focus on sola Christus, sola gratia and sola fide leads to a different understanding of sin:

“These three emphases also tell us that sin does not have to do simply with the keeping or breaking of rules or laws. Rather, we sin when we turn away from God and look to ourselves. Sin turns us toward obsessive self-concern, with disastrous consequences for ourselves and others.”

In my previous article, I had drawn a similar conclusion from Jesus’ Golden Rule which redefines our understanding of the purpose of the law.  Therefore, I stated that I could not see how same-sex sexual activity violated the Golden Rule, or Jesus’ greatest commandments to love God and neighbor.  The ELCA would most likely not go as far as I do, even though it relies on the same principles.  The ELCA statement emphasizes that reliance on God’s grace frees us from constant guilt about our sinfulness, enabling us to pursue, with confidence, our calling to serve our neighbor:

“In other words, because we are radically freed in Christ, we are called in that freedom to love and serve our neighbor as Christ loved and served us (Galatians 5:1, 13). Only in the freedom from preoccupation with the self and the burden of unworthiness before the perfection of God’s law can such concern for the neighbor become possible.”

But unlike the Catholic Church, the ELCA does not seem willing to declare that homosexuality is (or is not) sinful.  Instead, it focuses on the fact that our salvation does not depend on our ability to live a sinless life:

“In emphasizing that salvation is not a reward for morally approved behavior, Lutheran theology teaches that salvation is by God’s grace alone and not dependent upon human action. We receive in trust, as Paul declares, ‘the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe’ (Romans 3:21–22).

Justified by faith, Lutherans understand that, because of God’s gift, their freedom in Christ leads to a vocation of responsible and humble service to the neighbor (Romans 13:8–10).”

The ELCA statement also emphasizes that Christians should adopt God’s attributes of love and compassion rather that dwell on ideas of retribution:

“God’s mercy and compassion instill in us the capacity to empathize with others as ‘the love of Christ urges us on’ (2 Corinthians 5:14). They teach us to walk with each other in joy, humility, and tender care.

The love of God and neighbor, fulfilled by faith alone, are the two commandments by which Christ taught us to measure and interpret every other commandment in Scripture (Matthew 22:36–40).”

The Catholic interpretation of Genesis 1 assumes that creation is a final act that establishes males and females as the only two human possibilities in the divine order.  Furthermore, the fall of mankind in Genesis 3 is viewed in terms of the concept of original sin: mankind was perverted by sin, and homosexuality is a product of that perversion.

The ELCA makes no mention of original sin and interprets the first three chapters of Genesis differently.  Referring to both Genesis 1 and 2, it emphasizes God’s goodness and his intent to enter into a relationship with humankind:

“Christians believe that God is the creator of all that is and that this ongoing handiwork is good, good, and very good! (Genesis 1:31). Both narratives of God’s creative activity in the book of Genesis (Genesis 1 and 2) reveal God’s goodness and desire for close relationship with human beings as integral to the ongoing handiwork of creation. In Genesis 1, this desire is expressed in humanity’s creation—male and female—in the image of God. In Genesis 2, that close relationship is revealed as God scoops up and breathes life into earth to form humankind. As a mark of personal confidence, the Creator even entrusts to human beings the task of naming and tending the inhabitants of the earth God so clearly loves. The tender love and goodness of God’s creative activity includes sexuality and gendered bodies (Genesis 2:23–25).”

The story in Genesis 2, in particular, is seen as evidence of God’s intent to establish a meaningful relationship of trust between males and females:

“Just as both creation narratives reveal how God intends a relationship of trust with humanity, so also the creation of male and female (Genesis 1) and the companionship of Adam and Eve (Genesis 2) reveal that human beings are created for trusting relationships with each other. In these narratives of God’s creative activity, we understand from the beginning that love and trust are at the heart of God’s relationship with human beings. We also understand that creation is God’s ongoing activity and not yet complete.”

The story of the fall in Genesis 3 is seen as a willful violation of God’s trust:

“The biblical narratives also depict how people violate God’s trust, turning away from God (Genesis 3). They want to be like God. They make excuses and apportion blame. They hide from God. They cover their nakedness. The full breakdown of relationship enters, complete with curses and exile, as depicted in the betrayal of brother against brother (Genesis 4). The relationship of trust with God and each other, entailed in the image of God, is broken. People sin; that is, human beings resist their own God-given identity and destiny.”

But God remains faithful and invites mankind to a future in which relationships of love and trust are restored and replace the violence, discrimination and injustice that characterize fallen mankind.  The focus should therefore be, not on the past, but on the future and the new creation promised by God:

“For believers, it is hope in God’s future, not in an idealized past, that inspires participation in God’s changing, open, and inexhaustible creation.  Christians believe that God’s promised future includes the transformation of the whole creation (Romans 8:19–25). Guided by this vision, Christians anticipate and live out the values of God’s promised future concretely in the present.”

The biblical verses quoted above are reproduced here for convenience to show that the hope for a new creation has a biblical foundation:

“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Romans 8:19-25)

The ELCA, in agreement with the apostle Paul, acknowledges the usefulness of the law in helping humans become conscious of their sinfulness.  However, “Lutherans reject the notion that we can perfect either ourselves or society” by following the prescriptions of the law.  The ELCA document does not define the law as the Law of Moses.  The law is assumed to include civil law, which is seen as a tool to provide “order in society to support the maintenance of peace and justice in this imperfect world. The function of the civil law is, in a sinful world, to protect from harm all those whom God loves, particularly the most vulnerable.”  In other words, Lutherans see the law as a useful tool to maintain a measure of order in a fallen word, but do not see it, like more conservative Christians, as the ultimate expression of God’s will.

Calvinists assume that the Ten Commandments are God’s perfect revelation, and that Jesus, far from bringing anything new, merely provided the best interpretation of the commandments.  Lutherans, on the other hand, believe the Ten Commandments simply point the way to what really matters, which is defined by the Gospel:

“When asked to summarize what God requires in the law, most Christians will turn first to the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1–17) as God’s guide for their own behavior and that of others. What is distinctive about these commandments for Lutherans is that we understand them in light of faith, which confesses God as creator and redeemer of the world. Thus, in addition to revealing human sin, they constrain wrong behavior and point the way for us to serve the neighbor and care for the world.”

The Christian vocation remains to love and serve the neighbor, rather than to strive to obey the prescriptions on the law.  Lutherans deal with human sexuality within that context, recognizing that their salvation does not depend on compliance with the prescriptions of the law:

“Thus, we recognize that this church’s deliberations related to human sexuality require our best moral discernment and practical wisdom in the worldly realm, even though these matters are not central to determining our salvation. We also understand that in this realm faithful people can and sometimes will come to different conclusions about what constitutes responsible action.”

Lutherans recognize the complexity of human sexuality and do not, like the Catholics, assume that it only serves the purpose of procreation:

“Sexuality especially involves the powers or capacities to form deep and lasting bonds, to give and receive pleasure, and Sexuality can be integral to the desire to commit oneself to life with another, to touch and be touched, and to love and be loved. Such powers are complex and ambiguous. They can be used well or badly. They can bring astonishing joy and delight. Such powers can serve God and serve the neighbor. They also can hurt self or hurt the neighbor. Sexuality finds expression at the extreme ends of human experience: in love, care, and security, or lust, cold indifference, and exploitation.”

The emphasis remains on forming relationships based on trust.  Lutherans believe, like many other denominations, that such relationships can best be established within marriages between males and females.  However, they do not exclude other possibilities. Indeed, they believe that science and other fields of study are legitimate sources of knowledge in addition to Scripture and the teaching of the Church.  Therefore, they learn from new developments in the current understanding of human sexuality:

“We are sexual beings from the beginning of our lives. The ancient psalmist envisioned the divine mystery of our embodied lives long before science investigated our biological and genetic complexity: ‘For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb’ (Psalm 139:13). The realities of our sexual bodies are visible in physical features and powerful in less visible characteristics. This means much more than that we are born with male, female, or sometimes with ambiguous genitalia. Our cells carry sex chromosomes, and our endocrine systems infuse our bodies with hormones. In ways that are still not fully understood, we develop strong gender identities at a very early age. While there is still much to be learned about the biological complexity of human beings, we have come to understand that this complexity suggests a variety of sexual orientations and gender identities. Sexuality and gender are features of each person’s very being. This is both a discovery and a gift, and a perplexity and a challenge at all life stages and in all relational situations. The medical and social sciences continue to explore how the range of human sexual identities and behaviors are understood, cared for, and regulated in various cultures and religions.”

In the above, it is clear that Lutherans differ from Catholics by their acceptance of the concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity.  In my examination of the Catholic approach, I suggested that Paul’s statements in Romans 1:24-27 had to be reinterpreted if it became clear that homosexuality is a natural phenomenon.  Indeed, Paul’s entire argument was based on the fact that such relations are unnatural, a belief probably common among first-century Jews but invalidated by today’s more advanced knowledge.  Again, the ELCA does not go as far as I do and stops short of making a pronouncement on whether homosexuality is sinful.  As noted earlier, the ELCA, perhaps in an attempt to maintain unity in the Church and avoid the sharp divisions seen in other denominations, simply accepts the differences of opinion among its membership on the LBGTQ issue.  Accordingly, its position on lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships is expressed in the statement below.

This church recognizes that, with conviction and integrity:

• On the basis of conscience-bound belief, some are convinced that same-gender sexual behavior is sinful, contrary to biblical teaching and their understanding of natural law. They believe same-gender sexual behavior carries the grave danger of unrepentant sin. They therefore conclude that the neighbor and the community are best served by calling people in same-gender sexual relationships to repentance for that behavior and to a celibate lifestyle. Such decisions are intended to be accompanied by pastoral response and community support.
• On the basis of conscience-bound belief, some are convinced that homosexuality and even lifelong, monogamous, homosexual relationships reflect a broken world in which some relationships do not pattern themselves after the creation God intended. While they acknowledge that such relationships may be lived out with mutuality and care, they do not believe that the neighbor or community are best served by publicly recognizing such relationships as traditional marriage.
• On the basis of conscience-bound belief, some are convinced that the scriptural witness does not address the context of sexual orientation and lifelong loving and committed relationships that we experience today. They believe that the neighbor and community are best served when same-gender relationships are honored and held to high standards and public accountability, but they do not equate these relationships with marriage. They do, however, affirm the need for community support and the role of pastoral care and may wish to surround lifelong, monogamous relationships or covenant unions with prayer.
• On the basis of conscience-bound belief, some are convinced that the scriptural witness does not address the context of sexual orientation and committed relationships that we experience today. They believe that the neighbor and community are best served when same-gender relationships are lived out with lifelong and monogamous commitments that are held to the same rigorous standards, sexual ethics, and status as heterosexual marriage. They surround such couples and their lifelong commitments with prayer to live in ways that glorify God, find strength for the challenges that will be faced, and serve others. They believe same-gender couples should avail themselves of social and legal support for themselves, their children, and other dependents and seek the highest legal accountability available for their relationships.

Although at this time this church lacks consensus on this matter, it encourages all people to live out their faith in the local and global community of the baptized with profound respect for the conscience-bound belief of the neighbor. This church calls for mutual respect in relationships and for guidance that seeks the good of each individual and of the community. Regarding our life together as we live with disagreement, the people in this church will continue to accompany one another in study, prayer, discernment, pastoral care, and mutual respect.