Smith calls the Synod’s action a “narrowly dogmatic decision.” He wants the University to say that “these are the sorts of questions on which Reformed Christians disagree and therefore room should be made for such disagreements at a Reformed Christian university. This doesn’t compromise our Reformed Christian identity.”

James K. A. Smith, professor of philosophy at Calvin University (previously Calvin College), has now completed the circle of heresy on sexuality matters by coming out in favor of ending a male-female requirement for marriage, including church ceremonies.

He argues that Calvin University should divorce itself from the Christian Reformed Church because “in 2022, the synod …—the governing body of the denomination—adopted a report on human sexuality which stipulates that ‘homosexual sex’ violates the definition of ‘unchastity’ in the Heidelberg Catechism.” Is Smith so history-challenged that he thinks that any of the Reformers would have thought otherwise?

Smith adds, “I don’t want to debate the merits of Synod’s stance on human sexuality. (Actu, technically, as a faculty member I can’t publicly debate the merits of their decision.)” He doesn’t have to debate it. We already can surmise what his stance is, given his current actions. One suspects that the only thing that prevents him from saying more is the concern that he would be removed from Calvin University

Smith calls the Synod’s action a “narrowly dogmatic decision.” He wants the University to say that “these are the sorts of questions on which Reformed Christians disagree and therefore room should be made for such disagreements at a Reformed Christian university. This doesn’t compromise our Reformed Christian identity.”

I. Support for “Gay Marriage” is not “Christian,” let alone “Christian Reformed”

Complete nonsense. Try substituting adult-consensual incest for homosexual practice, which is the closest analogue from Scripture. Could a Reformed Christian university take an agree-to-disagree approach on such issue and in any reasonable sense remain “Christian,” let alone “Reformed Christian”?

Jesus treated the male-female prerequisite for marriage enshrined in the creation texts of Gen 1:27 (“male and female he (God) created them”) and 2:24 (“For this reason a man may … become joined to his woman [wife] and they [the two] shall become one flesh”) as the foundation for all sexual ethics, including the limitation of two persons to a sexual union (marriage) at any one time (Mark 10:2-12; parallel Matt 19:3-7).

One can’t even be Christian in any normative sense when rejecting this foundation for sexual ethics, let alone “Reformed Christian.” For it would be a rejection of Jesus’ Lordship on a profoundly important matter to him. Not just an ancillary matter on sexual ethics but the most important matter.

II. Long Time Coming: Smith’s 2017 Claim That Support for Homosexual Practice Is Not Heretical

This has been a long time coming for James. In 2017 he wrote that the word “heretical” should not include affirmation of homosexual practice but be limited to beliefs at odds with the ecumenical councils and creeds of the Church (Nicaea, Chalcedon). Yet this was a false step.

The Greek term hairesis can refer to a “course of action or thought” and “system of philosophic principles,” or “those who profess such principles,” “sect” (LSJ). Those promoting homosexual unions develop a system of thought and principles, as well as a course of action, that promotes the subversion of the foundational element of Jesus’ sexual ethics.

The first council of the church, the Jerusalem Council as treated in Acts 15, included in its Apostolic Decree a demand that Gentile converts abstain from porneia (“sexual immorality”). According to 1 Tim 1:8-10, “law is not laid down … for … the ungodly and sinners, … killers of fathers and mothers, murderers, the sexually immoral (pornoi), men who lie with males (arsenokoitai), … and whatever else is opposed to sound teaching [or: doctrine] that accords with the glorious gospel.” Affirming “men lying with a male” is opposed to “sound doctrine.”

That’s why throughout the NT believers who engage in immoral behavior are warned that, should they persist in a serial-unrepentant manner, will be excluded from the kingdom of God (including incest, adultery, homosexual practice, and transgenderism, per 1 Cor 6:9-10).

III. Long Time Coming: Smith’s 2021 Protest against Calling Homosexual Practice and Transgenderism Sin

In 2021 Smith, in response to students setting up a table on the common lawn with a sign reading “LGBTQ is sin. The Bible says. Change my mind,” posted a picture of himself wearing a pink “You Are Loved” T-shirt, captioned “At @ Calvin Uni, ALL students are welcomed, affirmed, and loved. To our LGBTQ students always, but today especially: # YouAreLoved.”

They are loved, but that love includes telling them the truth, namely, that continuance in homosexual behavior and transgenderism leads to exclusion from the kingdom of God eternally. Failing to warn about such grave matters is not an instance of love.

IV. Conclusion

Calvin University should remove all faculty supportive of the homosexual and transgender heresy, for such support leads students to affirm behaviors that leads to a loss of eternal life for many and a denial of what Jesus treated as foundational for all sexual ethics.

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