This morning, I found out that Sam Allberry has been disqualified from ministry by the elders of the church where he was serving due to what they called an “inappropriate relationship”. In addition to serving at this church, Allberry was a frequent contributor to The Gospel Coalition (TGC) and Desiring God (John Piper’s site). To my surprise, I found out today that Allberry was also a frequent chapel speaker at Cedarville University. Allberry is an advocate for the idea that same sex attraction (SSA) is a result of the fall of man and is therefore simply a temptation, not a sin. He taught, even on the Cedarville campus, that one could live with SSA as a faithful Christian, as long as he did not go into lustful thoughts and actions. He himself claimed that this was his testimony.
To give proper context, Allberry taught this primarily to those who profess to be Christians, so the scope of this blog is not to talk about these things among unbelievers, for in their case repentance of SSA would do no good without finding forgiveness for all of their sin through the blood of Christ. Since this was Allberry’s primary audience when speaking on SSA, that is the context in which I will speak of these things also. So first, it behooves us to define who a Christian is according to God’s Word.
A Christian is a new creation according to 2 Corinthians 5:17, and that is represented by old things passing away and new things having come. Christians are not what they once were, rather they are someone who has died to sin, and has been called to live to righteousness according to 1 Peter 2:24. Paul says in Galatians 5:24 that “those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Legacy Standard Bible). Romans 6:6 says that “our old man was crucified with [Christ], in order that our body of sin might be done away with.” The descriptions we see in Scripture is that we are made a new person, a new man or woman, when we are made alive in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, and our old person has died, it has no power over us any longer.
Allberry is correct to say that SSA is the result of the fall of man, however, he is wrong to forget that the Christian no longer remains under the power of that fall. We were slaves to sin prior to coming to Christ, but when we are given new life in Christ, we are freed from that power. Now, this does not mean that we are completely sanctified at the moment of salvation, but it does mean that we are called to continual sanctification throughout our lives by the renewing of our mind. We are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies so that we obey its lusts according to Romans 6:12.
We must further bear in mind the greatest commandment, which is to love the Lord our God with all that we are, which means that as we are sanctified, we will love all that He loves more and more and hate all that He hates more and more. If SSA is the result of the fall of man, then God must hate SSA, which means we must learn to hate it as well.
Now, again, this does not mean a Christian will not struggle with this, but this does mean a Christian should never be made to feel comfortable while they continue to experience SSA. They experience SSA because they have more sanctification to go, because they do not fully and truly agree with God’s designed order for mankind, because they are still in need of sanctification. Allberry’s teaching caused men and women to be confused into thinking that they should surrender the idea that they can have victory over SSA, or even should bother trying to have victory over it.
Allberry has been redefining desire with the word “attraction”, and then claiming it is a totally different animal, whereas Scripture would not differentiate between attraction and desire. Perhaps if we look at this another way it will help us. If a man confessed that he has an attraction toward little children, do we think he should repent of such an evil attraction, or do we think he should just make sure not to think about or act upon that attraction? The grotesque nature of that particular sin likely rises up a vitriolic reaction that makes you angry that anyone would be attracted to little ones.
Now, some might say the latter illustration is more destructive than the former, but to say that is to say that God hates one but is okay with the other, while God would call them both an abomination. Rather, we should teach people that they not only should repent of their actions, their thoughts, but all their desires and attractions for anything that is not lining up completely with the ordained will of God for them. Certainly, this is a struggle for all of us in varying areas of our lives, but the Christian life is a struggle, a battle, a fight, which is why we must die daily. We all stumble in many ways, in varying ways, but to teach people to just surrender in any area is to set them up for failure in that area.
I find it sad that organizations many faithful Christians trust gave this man a platform to speak his error to a greater audience. We are susceptible to this error, however, because we are sliding with the culture and we do not even know it. As sin becomes more rampant, more common, as sin creeps into our families, and as we get to know people who sin in certain ways and find them to be nice people, we find sin less revulsive. This is true of all sin, not just homosexuality, but we are more susceptible to sins the world approves of heartily, often in a misguided effort to deny the words of Jesus that the world will hate us.
Allberry’s fruit is being called an “inappropriate relationship” by the elders at his church, and perhaps there is another evidence of why Allberry was able to be so easily promoted. The men who rightly disqualified him refused to call the sin what it is and instead chose language that is acceptable and diminished his sin. That fruit, however, is evidence of the bad root that Allberry taught and believed. Those with discernment are saddened by his fall, but they are not surprised, because when you are comfortable with attractions in your life that God calls wicked and an abomination, then the world, the flesh, and the devil will use that wide inroad into your life to lead you further down the path of sin.
The new creation is one who loves God and all that God loves, and we must not adopt the false teaching of surrendering ourselves to sinful attractions. We must never forget that the Christian life is a struggle, a battle, that we wage with spiritual warfare by the grace and power of God. The false teaching of surrendering to ungodly attractions is an error that will do much damage to the body of Christ. I pray these institutions that have platformed these views would be brought out of their grievous error and repent.
This article came from Norton Baptist Church. Click here to see this article, Click here to visit their Website
