I was on Facebook the other day (I know, don’t judge), when someone shared a news article about the potential that the Supreme Court will revisit their ruling on same sex marriage.

As you can imagine, the comment section had a few voices supporting reversing the ruling and sending it back to the states, while the overwhelming majority were the “Love is love” and “It’s not my business what two people do in the privacy of their home” crowd.

But of the most irksome arguments that kept popping up was that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality, and that should be the end of it. This is an argument that I see liberal Christians and secular-minded folk make all the time.

And it’s wrong.

Just because it wasn’t recorded in sacred scripture, doesn’t mean Jesus didn’t address it. Absence of evidence doesn’t equal evidence of absence.

As Catholics, we know that scripture is vital to our faith, but we also recognize the teachings of the Church as equally vital. And even Bible-only Christians have to appeal to the Church in many cases, even if they don’t want to admit it.

John writes in his Gospel:

But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written.

As Catholics, we know that for a good few hundred years, there was no official canon of scripture. That happened at the Council of Trent from 1545 to 1563.

We also know that even if a canon had been codified earlier, most people couldn’t read, and that the bulk of church teaching was spread orally.

This oral tradition (starting with the apostles) influenced many of the early church fathers, who spoke clearly on same sex relationships.

Here are just a few:

Tertullian’s work De Spectaculis, condemned the pagans for promoting sexual immorality, including homosexual acts, said,

For all impurity, all immodesty, all fornication, all unnatural and shameful acts, and all idolatry are condemned by God.

Augustine of Hippo, in City of God, Book XIV, chapter 23 writes:

Those shameful acts against nature, such as men with men, which should be committed by no one, are everywhere and always to be detested and punished…Even those who tolerate them in others are guilty of the same crime.

Basil the Great, in his work Canonical Letters, Canon 7 wrote,

He who is caught in sodomy, if he persists in it, shall be subjected to penance for fifteen years, weeping and lamenting at the entrance of the church, and shall entreat the faithful as they enter to pray for him.

Finally, Ambrose of Milan says,

Men with men, committing shameless acts, are condemned by both divine and human law, for such acts corrupt not only the body but the soul as well.

Now I get it, none of these quotes say anything about same sex marriage per se, but I think it’s safe to say that wasn’t an issue back then, the way it is today. That’s why it’s important to have a teaching magesterium to address topics like same sex marriage, IVF, and other situations that come up in modern society instead of relying solely on sacred scripture.

Now, maybe you’re a liberal Protestant Christian who says, “Well, that’s coming from the Catholics.”

Okay, fine. Let’s look at what the protestant reformers had to say about this.

Let’s start with the father of protestantism, Martin Luther, writing in Lectures on Genesis

Sodom was smitten because of the sin of the flesh…that unnatural sin by which men abuse men.

John Calvin in is work Commentary on Romans 1:26-27 says,

Paul calls it a shameful passion when men burn with lust toward men…so monstrous that it ought even to be named.

Methodist founder John Wesley, in his Notes on the New Testament, on Romans 1:26-27 writes,

The unnatural lusts of men with men are the vilest of affections…and the surest sign of God’s wrath.

It’s true that the Gospels don’t record Jesus saying anything against homosexuality or same sex marriages, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t either. As mentioned, evidence of absence doesn’t equal absence of evidence.

Paul had plenty to say about the sins of the flesh, including homosexuality, and Paul met with the apostles to ensure his preaching was in line with what they had received from Jesus.

There is a clear teaching on this matter from the apostles to Paul to the Church fathers through the protestant reformers. Scripture doesn’t record Jesus saying anything about abortion, but I’m willing to bet many of the liberal-leaning Bible Christians are opposed to the practice.

And to be fair, most mainline protestant churches hold to the view that marriage is between one man and one woman.

People can still make arguments about why they support same sex marriage (most of which are appeals to emotion), but the argument that Jesus said nothing about it, and therefore it’s okay, isn’t one of them.

And besides, marriage shouldn’t be adjudicated by the state, but that’s a topic for another post.