The book in your hands is for people seeking to understand what the Bible says to Christians of every generation and cultural placement about marriage, family, and sexual responsibility. This book is not a political appeal to bind Christian morality through law. It is an appeal, instead, for Christians to live the distinctive life to which God has called us in Christ Jesus.

Paul’s rhetorical question in 1 Corinthians 5:12 still rings in our ears: “While we are not responsible for what outsiders to the faith may do with their lives, do we not have a duty to those people who are members of our congregations of believers?” The ink is dry on the critical issue of what Christians are to regard as marriage. The ink is dry on the fidelity Christian husbands and wives are expected to exhibit toward each other. Equally, the ink is dry on the present-day disputes around same-sex behaviors.

With love and respect for those in our culture who adopt and live to other standards, the norm for Christian behavior is fixed within a tradition that is more than 3,000 years old. While denouncing homophobia and verbal or physical abuse against the LGBTQ+ community, Shelly makes a cogent case from Scripture, history, and reason for Christians to honor God’s design for sex and marriage.

Rubel Shelly, educated at Harding School of Theology (MA, MTh / NT Theology) and Vanderbilt University (MA, PhD / philosophy), has devoted his adult life to local church ministry and university instruction. He is the author of a resource volume to this book, Male and Female God Created Them: A Biblical Review of LGBTQ+ Claims (2023), also published by College Press.