In Jesus the Bridegroom, we unlock the meaning of male-female marriage. In Jesus the eternal King, who came “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45), we find the wrecking ball for slavery and the best foundation for human equality. Scripture’s trajectory isn’t toward abolishing slavery and affirming same-sex marriage. It’s a boomerang trajectory that brings us back to the beginning when humanity lived in an unhindered love relationship with God and with each other—but makes it so much better.

Last summer in Australia, I discovered that my 5-year-old is better at throwing boomerangs than I am. In theory, boomerangs hit their “target” by returning back to the thrower. Mine, however, didn’t; it acted like a normal stick.

I share this story because one of the most seemingly persuasive arguments in favor of affirming same-sex marriage for believers suggests there’s a trajectory in Scripture from the Old Testament to the New that, if followed, finds its target in affirming same-sex marriage. Instead, I want to argue the trajectory of biblical sexual ethics is less like a stick whose target is away from its thrower and more like a boomerang that comes back to the one who threw it—only we discover the thrower is Jesus himself.

Trajectory Argument

Rather than trying to reinterpret the Bible’s prohibitions, many who affirm same-sex marriage acknowledge that the New Testament does prohibit same-sex sex. But, they argue, Christians can nonetheless embrace same-sex marriage because the trajectory from the Old Testament to the New is one that (if continued) ends in validating same-sex marriage.

Proponents of this view often point to the consensus among Christians that slavery is wrong, despite the multiple New Testament texts that seem to endorse slavery. If we can say the New Testament points us toward the abolition of slavery, even though it doesn’t quite get there, the argument goes, we can likewise argue it points us toward same-sex marriage, even though it doesn’t get there. This comparison packs a rhetorical punch because of the appalling history of race-based, chattel slavery in the United States, which many Christians on both sides of the Atlantic tried to justify from Scripture.

So is it true that the Bible’s movement is toward rejecting slavery and embracing same-sex marriage? Let’s begin at the beginning.

Beginning of Humanity

The Bible’s first chapter declares that human beings, male and female, are made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27). This is the first foundation for universal human equality and the first blow to the idea that some humans should be enslaved because they’re innately inferior. All humans are God’s image-bearers. The only differentiation in this text is between male and female, both of whom are called to rule over creation and to “be fruitful and multiply” (vv. 26–28).

In Genesis 2, we focus in on one man and one woman, brought together in a “one flesh” union, which is the prototype for future marriages: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (2:24). Marriage is defined as one man and one woman, permanently bonded.

We read that “the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (v. 25). But in Genesis 3, sin enters the world and undermines both the man and woman’s shame-free relationship with God and their shame-free relationship with one another. From then on, we see sin of all kinds—including sexual sin—portrayed in the Bible. We also see slavery, even at the beginning of the story of God’s people.

Beginning of God’s People

When God calls Abraham and promises to bless him and give him offspring similar in number to the stars, Abraham is married to one woman. But since Abraham and Sarah are old and infertile, Sarah suggests that Abraham take her Egyptian servant Hagar as a functional second wife (16:1–4).

This isn’t what God commanded. It shows a lack of trust in God. In the cultural terms of the day, however, it would’ve been a status upgrade for Hagar. This whole scenario is completely alien to us. We assume women should always choose their husbands and that polygamy is wrong. In ancient Near Eastern culture, by contrast, women almost never chose their husbands, and polygamy was normal for wealthy men.

We see Hagar’s sense that she’s received a status upgrade when she gets pregnant and starts to look down on Sarah. Sarah reacts so harshly that Hagar runs away. But the Lord finds Hagar in the wilderness, tells her he has listened to her affliction, and makes promises to her that echo his promises to Abraham (vv. 9–11). Remarkably, Hagar becomes the first person in the Bible to give God a name: “She called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen him who looks after me’” (v. 13). So in the Bible’s first slave narrative, an Egyptian servant is personally seen and cared for by the Lord.

In an ironic reversal of Hagar’s story, the second slave narrative is that of Abraham and Sarah’s great-grandson, Joseph, who’s sold to slave traders by his brothers and then bought by an Egyptian commander, Potiphar (37:25–36).

Unlike in American history, slavery in the ancient world wasn’t associated with one racial group, and slaves could become quite high status, which we see when Potiphar puts Joseph in charge of all his affairs (Gen. 39). But when Joseph refuses to sleep with Potiphar’s wife, she claims he tried to rape her, and he gets thrown in prison. God nonetheless is with Joseph, and his story ends with him as Pharaoh’s right-hand man, rescuing his own family from starvation. Once again, God vindicates the enslaved.

Exodus begins with all the Israelites living as slaves to the Egyptians. But God listens to the Israelites’ affliction (Ex. 3:7), just as he listened to Hagar’s (Gen. 16:11), and he rescues them. From then on, the story of God’s people is a story of emancipated slaves.

Old Testament Law

When God gave his people laws, he kept reminding them they were once slaves and should therefore identify with the enslaved (e.g., Ex. 20:2; Deut. 5:6; 15:15). In the ancient world, people often sold themselves into slavery as an alternative to destitution. But God’s law made man-stealing and slave- trading a capital offense (Ex. 21:16). It also prescribed significant protections for all slaves, including a day of rest (e.g., 20:10; 21:1–32), and guaranteed freedom in the seventh year for Israelites who sold themselves into slavery (Deut. 15:12–15).

When it comes to the Old Testament laws regarding sex, we see explicit prohibitions on adultery (e.g., Ex. 20:14) and on men having sex with other males (Lev. 18:22). We also see restrictions on divorce and on using women sexually without marrying them (Deut. 21:10–14). But while polygamy is never commanded and often portrayed negatively, we don’t see polygamy prohibited.

So, what movement if any do we see between the Old and New Testaments when it comes to sex and slavery?

Slavery in the New Testament

As Kyle Harper and others have shown, during the time in which Jesus was born, at least 10 percent of people living in the Greco-Roman empire were slaves. Some sold themselves into slavery. Some made enough money to buy their freedom. Some were subjected to hard labor and physical abuse. Others were skilled professionals, like doctors or accountants, earning more money and living more comfortably than many free people. But it was generally assumed that slaves were there to serve their masters.

Read More