The cat is finally out of the bag! After the long months of LLF discussions and assurances that all points of view would be given proper respect, our bench of bishops have finally made a decision. Or have they? Although they have stated that gay couples will not be able to marry in church, they have nonetheless offered them the chance to have their relationship given God’s blessing in church. Even the average eight year-old cannot fail to spot such blatant contradiction!
At no point has the bench even mentioned any safeguards that might be offered to orthodox clergy to prevent them becoming victims of public criticism or downright hate or violence for following the clear teaching of Holy Scripture and the universal tradition of the Church Catholic on the subject of Christian marriage. Not only is the bishops’ stance a clear indication that they have no idea where they are going, but more seriously, that they have no respect for the final authority of Holy Scripture in all matters of faith and conduct. This has therefore become a matter of Gospel significance for all orthodox clergy and people.
Many of them are determined to stay within the Church of England and fight for Biblical truth from within, praying that the Lord will Himself intervene and bring the Church back to godly truth and righteousness. Fair enough! However, others, maybe the more courageous ones, are saying that by straying into core Gospel territory and turning wrong into right, the Church has finally crossed the line into institutional disobedience and they must therefore look for alternative ways to keep the Gospel flame alight.
We have to look into Holy Scripture and the tradition of the Early Fathers if we are to find answers.
In the Old Testament the people of God are constantly straying from the Lord, and the prophets are constantly calling them back. Too often their words fell on deaf ears. Things got so bad that Elijah found himself alone in the desert where the Lord asks him bluntly, “What are you doing here Elijah?” The prophet goes into a long catalogue of grumbles and finally complains that he is the only godly prophet left. Then the Lord puts him straight at Horeb. Things are nowhere near as bad as he thought. “I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and any mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19)
God has a faithful remnant, even here in England! Elijah’s job is not over and there are millions more people who need to be called to repentance and faith in Jesus and there are quite a few believers who are desperate for spiritual sustenance, care and encouragement.
But then we seem to have quite different advice from St. Paul as he addresses disobedience, moral collapse and half-heartedness in Corinth, Galatia and Colossae. When one examines the text of 1 Corinthians 5 more closely, it is clear that the Apostle’s strictures must apply to the local church to whom he is writing. If someone in their local congregation is living a manifestly godless life, then the rest must break fellowship with that person.
If we accept that the Old Testament prophets’ teaching on the faithful remnant and St. Paul’s withdrawal of fellowship in the local church from manifest sinners are equally the words of God, then we have to somehow marry them together. By doing so we must at all costs avoid factionalism (1 Corinthians 1, vv. 10-11), yet maintain totally Christian standards in the local church’s life and witness.
In the first couple of centuries of its existence, the Catholic Church had to face heresies like Gnosticism, Sabellianism and many others, often promoted by bishops who held office within the Church. St. Cyprian, the martyr Bishop of Carthage from 248 to 258 gave shape to the teaching that where the Catholic bishop is, there the Church will be too. Time and time again over the next couple of centuries, the people were called upon to abandon heretical bishops and, instead, as St. Cyprian insisted, place themselves under the care and authority of orthodox (i.e. Catholic) bishops.
All this leads to the inevitable conclusion that in present circumstances, even if the blessing of gay marriage in church is accepted by General Synod, it will be possible to stay within the Church of England in good conscience, provided that nobody is forced to transgress the teaching of the Scriptures in their local situation. However, we should realise that this may prove very difficult indeed when a faithful priest and his people find themselves being assailed by constant verbal and ultimately maybe even physical aggression, enthusiastically stirred up by highly organised pressure groups within social, printed or broadcast media. Those who take this path, which at present may seem the easier, must do so out of conviction, with their eyes wide open to where their stand might take them and the persecution they might be called upon to face. In order to take on this hefty challenge, they must do so in total confidence in the guidance and care of the Lord and in the protection of His holy angels. If things get nasty they might well be needed!
Where however, there is no local church maintaining a clear-cut Gospel proclamation and heresy is being embraced, then it seems perfectly reasonable that, where the diocese will not allow them to do so, they can start a new church that will. This is surely where the ANiE comes in, planting churches in places where the Name of Jesus is not known and making them thoroughly legitimate and Anglican through proper authorisation from the orthodox archbishops of GAFCON and the Global South, both of whom have now clearly stated that they will readily come to their aid if needed. This will need to happen over large swathes of England if they want to follow the founders of the Church Pastoral Aid Society in 1836 in taking “The Gospel to Everyman’s Door”.
What we cannot do is allow ourselves to criticise those who take an opposite decision to our own. We are all one in Christ and, like good rugby players, we must bind together and push to make sure a good and effective scrum keeps possession of the Gospel ball and takes the play forward into the unbelieving world. As the Lord Himself said, the harvest truly is great, but the labourers will always be few.
