John Shelby Spong is Not My Liberator

John Shelby Spong is not my liberator.  

An advocate for the rights of those living homosexually for quite some time, in a recent manifesto, Bishop Spong declares that he will no longer debate nor pay any heed to those who would deny 'justice' to those who identify as gay or lesbian by calling homosexuality sinful.  

Justice.  God is a God of justice.  He demands it for the sin of man.  God cannot overlook sin- or He wouldn't be just.  

But God is also a God of mercy.  In His mercy, God met His demand for justice Himself.  He gave His own Son as a propitiation of His wrath to save people from it.

Romans 3:23-26 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation" [propitiation is the absorption or the appeasement of the wrath of God] "by his blood, to be received by faith.  This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

This is God's justice.  I sinned homosexually.  Jesus suffered and died for that sin, removing the wrath of God from me.

This is God's mercy.  God drew me to His Son and to His work on the Cross.  He called me to repentance, gave me faith, and freely forgave me from that sin.

This is God's freedom.  Having been washed, sanctified, and justified, in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit of God  (2 Corinthians 6:11), I now boldly approach the throne of grace, receiving the mercy and grace in time of need of a sympathetic High Priest who has been tempted in every way I have been and yet did not sin (Hebrews 4:14-16), enabling me to walk by His Spirit so that I may no longer gratify the desires of my flesh (Galatians 5:16).

Bishop Spong has been denying people the Gospel of Jesus Christ for decades.  This leaves us enslaved to sin.  (Romans 6:6).  In addition, we are enslaved to what overpowers us (2 Peter 2:19)- and homosexuality is very overpowering. 

John Shelby Spong is no liberator; he is an enslaver.  He boldly stands for my right to remain in my sin.  Jesus Christ sets me free from it.