“He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, he will give eternal life, but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.” (Romans 2:6-8)
As a young boy scout, and as a proud member of the local scouting troop, I remember the term “scout’s honour” which signified one was acting or speaking with utmost honesty, sincerity and to a high moral standard. Honour seems to be no longer a virtue in contemporary western society; the individual no longer seeks to be honourable – rather, the highest virtue is to obtain validation by being ‘recognised’. This is a result of human identity now defined from an internal state of being one discovers, then expresses (sometimes called expressive individualism), and requires others to recognise. Charles Taylor describes this romantic notion of identity as being anchored in personal feelings to which we must be true, otherwise we are not being authentically ourselves. Thus, the governing moral compass is what ‘feels right’, not necessarily what is honourable.
Having lost the virtue of honour, we necessarily also lose the meaning of profane, which signifies the opposite. According to the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary, profane means:
1 : to treat (something sacred) with abuse, irreverence, or contempt: desecrate
2 : to debase by a wrong, unworthy, or vulgar use
The virtue of showing honour towards God is right at the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer, Our Father, who art in heaven; Hallowed by thy name. Hallowing his name means to honour and reverence him but also glorify him by living in obedience to his commands. The opposite of this would be profaning his name. This was the mark of pagan culture according to Paul, which results in a progressive degrading in the intellectual, spiritual life of the community and increasing moral decadence.[i]
In the biblical sense, a person could also profane themselves – so, for example, a woman engaging in prostitution would be profaning herself (Leviticus 21:9). The Israelites could profane the sanctuary by sacrificing their children to idols (Leviticus 20:3, Ezekiel 23:39), or by stealing (Proverbs 30:9b).
In the New Testament, there are warnings regarding profane behaviour. Esau is regarded as unholy or profane for his behaviour (selling his birthright), and this is associated with sexually immoral behaviour (Hebrews 12:16). In his commentary on Hebrews, Donald Guthrie writes,
“His foolishness in exchanging his privilege as the eldest son for a single meal is so glaring that he has become a type of all who put material or sensual advantage before their spiritual heritage.”[ii]
The truth is, in short, that in contemporary culture, personal emotional preferences and desires are what govern people, and not God’s revealed will, as set out in the moral law, for ordering community. God’s order produces life and blessing and results in God receiving glory, whereas to be in opposition by living outside is to be in disorder. This produces death, sterility and a curse, and the result is a profaning of God’s name. As he says, “…I have set before you today, life and blessing, death and curse – therefore, choose life…” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
First Timothy 1:8 -10 which is Paul’s restatement of the 5th to 9th commandments, also associates the profane with lawlessness, disobedience, and being unholy and profane.
“Knowing this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral…”(1 Timothy 1:9,10)
Further, Paul’s mention in the same passage of “whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine” shows the unquestioning acceptance of the moral law (apodictic commands) as the basis of Christian doctrine and essential for those in pastoral oversight.
In a positive sense every Christian is called to be conformed to the image of Christ, and Christ embodied the law perfectly – thus we are to embody it as well if we are to be Christlike[iii].
The Law is made of whole cloth – It must be realised that the decalogue and all apodictic law is a cohesive system where one law is inseparable from the others, not merely a group of individual and independent laws. James says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” (Jas 2:10)
Thus, even if by some skilful ethical reasoning we could disregard the prohibition on adultery or homosexual behaviour, say, on the basis that we were virtuous in all other respects, we would still be in a state of lawlessness. The consequence of lawlessness is, as Paul states, the dishonouring of God’s name – his character is misrepresented and degraded before unbelievers. “…the name of God is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you.” (Romans 2:24)
The prophet Amos deliberately links prostitution and incest as behaviours that profane or desecrate God’s name. He is echoing the Deuteronomic and Levitical prohibitions stating that immoral sexual behaviour desecrates God’s name and desecrates those who engage in it. “…a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned.” (Amos 2:7)
This is partly, although not exclusively an allusion to pagan practices of same-sex erotic behaviour – specifically the Canaanite fertility cults involving male temple prostitutes. These were ways in which pagans attempted to manipulate their gods, believing in the divine power of fertility [ie. that there was spiritual power in sexual activity]. Portraying God in the same way was implying that he too could be manipulated.
The prophet Hosea described God’s relationship with his people through the image of marriage – God being the faithful husband and Israel choosing unfaithfulness by chasing after idols. This image is taken up by Paul in Ephesians Chapter 5 where he asserts that the faithfulness of heterosexual marriage is an earthly expression of God’s faithfulness towards his people and also expresses the exclusive nature of the relationship. The differentiation between male and female is also emphasised through the imagery, God reflecting the husband and the church reflecting the wife. This precludes any same-sex reading of the marriage relationship.
It can thus be seen that sexual behaviour is certainly not ‘just an ethical matter we can agree to disagree on’, but strikes at the very heart at what it means to represent the nature of God, and whether we are profaning or desecrating his holy name.
He cannot be unfaithful and he cannot be manipulated – but that is what Christians involved in immoral behaviour portray. Contemporary culture may recoil at the comparison but biblically speaking it is bracketed together with child sacrifice and sacral prostitution – no less. They are regarded by the Lord as an ‘abomination’ . These are all believed to be mechanisms of manipulation. The pagan god, Molech was believed to offer security and protection against enemies in exchange for offering up a child. There are allusions to this practice among the Israelites- for example in 1 Kings 16:34. Speaking of rebuilding Jericho the writer states,
“In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of Abiram his firstborn and set up its gates at the cost of his son Segub…”
2 Kings 16:3 and 2 Chronicles 33:6 specifically mention Kings Ahaz and Manasseh sacrificing their sons by fire in the Valley of Hinnom.
The holiness code of Leviticus defines what it means to be holy in the sense of being set apart as God’s people. Thus Lev 19:2 sets the basis and the boundaries for communal behaviour, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, you shall be holy, because I the Lord your God am holy.”
Thereafter follow instructions regarding right sacrifice, concern for the poor and the sojourner, the maintenance of justice, and right dealings with one’s neighbour.
Also included in the code were other areas of behaviour that profaned God’s name, among which were the practices of divination and witchcraft (Lev 19:31)[iv]. Here again we encounter the issue of manipulation. The allure of being able to have power and control over your circumstances, or over people – this is the dark side of human nature, and this is what divination, the occult, and witchcraft offer. Contemporary film and other media offer a dangerous buffet based around the theme of witchcraft and presented as entertainment. The recently released movie “Wicked: For Good”[v] is a prime example. The title presents us with the commonly believed falsehood propagated by new age circles that occult power is acceptable if you use it for ‘good’.
Teenagers and even younger viewers may be captivated by the movie’s storyline, but behind it lurks a malevolent agenda. Witchcraft is never ‘good’ and certainly not performance art that is ‘good and true’. (Philippians 4:8)
As human beings, we are the pinnacle of God’s creation. The Psalmist describes his work so poetically and beautifully – “Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour” (Psalm 8:5). We have status, dignity and honour by virtue of creation. We are not self-creating, nor do we need validation. We honour people, not by recognising their self-defined identities – that would be false witness – but by treating them with respect while speaking the truth in love.
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[i] Romans 1:21-23.
[ii] Donald Guthrie, The Letter to the Hebrews, IVP, 1983, p258.
[iii] James R. Wood explains this as an essential aspect of Christian spirituality, see https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/law-make-you-christlike/
[iv] Covered more fully in Leviticus 18-20.