The Church of England recently approved a landmark decision to offer blessings for same-sex couples. Following a vote by the three houses of bishops, clergy, and laity within the General Synod, the church issued a historic joint statement from Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York. They declared that, for the first time, the Church of England will publicly and joyfully welcome same-sex couples, with Cottrell noting that these relationships can now be acknowledged and celebrated through a formal blessing.
Despite this shift, the language surrounding the decision remains complex due to a specific clause stating the motion does not propose any change to the existing doctrine of marriage. The church maintains that marriage remains a union between one man and one woman, asserting that these new blessings are not a departure from that core belief. For those navigating marriage and ministry insights, understanding this theological distinction is essential.
Archbishop Angaelos of the Coptic Orthodox Church highlighted the potential for confusion, suggesting that the difference between a blessing and Holy Matrimony may be viewed as a mere technicality by the global community. This ambiguity creates significant practical marriage challenges regarding how the church communicates its values and maintains doctrinal clarity in a changing social landscape.
Yep, it sure will.
And it will also sound like heresy.
How can you simultaneously celebrate and bless a marriage in the name of God while maintaining that it is not, in fact, a biblical marriage that God would endorse? That isn’t just doublespeak. That is a form of blasphemy. You can only bless what God has affirmed should be blessed, and only celebrate what God has affirmed should be celebrated. Homoerotic activity, much less gay marriage, is morally wrong. That may not be a cultural truth, but it is a biblical truth.
To be clear, this is not about the loving acceptance of gay men and women, married or not. Christians should exhibit love and acceptance toward all people, and churches should welcome anyone who wishes to explore the Christian faith.
But acceptance is vastly different than affirmation.
Following the decision, the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), which claims to represent 75% of Anglicans worldwide, planned to meet to “take decisive steps towards re-setting the Anglican communion.” This will include official advice for churches to split and survive without Church of England funds. So, it would appear that the Anglican communion, like the United Methodist Church, will soon separate into conservative and liberal groupings.
Such divides grieve the Holy Spirit, but not because of the divide—but because of what forced it. And this is forced. The decision of the Church of England leaves other Anglican communions, such as the GSFA, with little choice.
It takes courage to stand with Scripture in a culture hostile to its moral compass. Sometimes it takes even more courage to stand up to your own religious peers when they are the ones capitulating to that culture. So, I would remind my brothers and sisters in the GSFA to stand firm, as well as bring to mind the words of someone who also had to take a stand against his peers. Standing before the Diet of Worms, when asked to recant his ideas fueling the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther made his convictions clear:
Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason – I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. Amen.
And that is our call. Not to have our consciences captive to the world,
… but to the Word.
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This article originally appeared on ChurchAndCulture.org and is reposted here by permission.