To call oneself a gay Christian calls attention to the importance of being same-sex attracted.  Why is it so important to self-identity by an admittedly sinful desire?  1 Corinthians 6:9-11 clearly teaches that unrighteous desires and behaviors no longer identify us once we are in Christ.  This is not to say, of course, that Christians do not still wrestle with putting off their old nature (Colossians 3:8-10; Ephesians 4:22-24) and putting on the identity of their new nature in Christ.  But the old nature no longer defines us!

As I read the Missouri Presbytery’s dismissal of the allegations against TE Greg Johnson at their July 21, 2020 stated meeting, I grieved at the Presbytery’s unwillingness to admonish and censure TE Johnson for dishonoring Christ and His work of redemption.

As a Christian, we are accepted by our “holy, holy, holy” God as forgiven and righteous through the person and work of Christ.  Any modifier or adjective to further define a believer in Christ is both placing a further identity equal to or more important than who the believer is in Christ.  If we place an ethnicity, a denomination, a religious practice, a gender, or any other kind of designation in front of the identity as Christian then such an adjective emphasizes that the designation is as important as what Christ has accomplished to redeem us.  To do this is divisive to the unity of the church and disturbs Christ’s church.  The name Christian united two diverse groups – Jewish believers and Gentile believers (Acts 11:26).

To call oneself a gay Christian calls attention to the importance of being same-sex attracted.  Why is it so important to self-identity by an admittedly sinful desire?  1 Corinthians 6:9-11 clearly teaches that unrighteous desires and behaviors no longer identify us once we are in Christ.  This is not to say, of course, that Christians do not still wrestle with putting off their old nature (Colossians 3:8-10; Ephesians 4:22-24) and putting on the identity of their new nature in Christ.  But the old nature no longer defines us!

Is it not shaming our Savior when we attach a sin-identifying label to His name?  Why is it so essential to identify with any label much more with a controversial designation?  Is it out of the delusion that if by identifying as a gay Christian one can influence others in that community to become Christians by their kinship with this social group?  Such a strategy desires to overcome the sinful nature of unbelief by a faulty self-promotional means. Identifying as a gay-Christian eventually results in succumbing to many other compromises as well.

Coming to Christ requires humbling ourselves to receive a mercy that it totally undeserved.  It involves forsaking a self-centered life to a Christ-centered life.  Trying to lure people into Christ’s kingdom by our wisdom is an offense to Christ who is “vital” to our faith.  The mystery and wonder of regeneration by the Holy Spirit disappears in the face of such a self-righteous strategy of evangelism.  The result is what we are seeing in the Missouri Presbytery.

TE Greg Johnson and the Missouri Presbytery are divisive to the peace and the purity of the PCA.  The may soon come when the church must discipline this Presbytery, or many more pastors and churches will leave the PCA because of the shameful silence in this matter.  I believe those of us who desire for this matter to be adjudicated must keep pursuing the issue to resolution by the General Assembly and not prematurely give up and leave the PCA.  Otherwise we too are guilty of giving the PCA over to the corrosive influence of culturally sensitive religion devoid of God’s revealed wisdom.

May God purify us and increase our hunger and thirst for righteousness not ashamed of identifying with the offense of being in Christ.

Dr. Douglas W. Kittredge is a Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is a Pastor at New Life in Christ Church in Fredericksburg, Va.