Dear Members and Friends of our ELS:

From time to time our church body has felt the need to issue a public statement. Such an occasion arose at this year's convention. In view of recent attempts in parts of our country to legalize homosexual unions and to declare them "marriages," our synod felt it necessary to issue the following statement: 

We confess that Scripture condemns homosexuality and extra-marital relations (fornication and adultery) as sin. Nevertheless, when an individual caught up in such sins truly repents, the forgiveness of the Gospel is to be fully applied.  We confess that the divine institution of marriage is to be heterosexual, in which, according to God's design, a man and a woman may enjoy a life-long companionship in mutual love.  We teach on the basis of Holy Scripture that marriage is the only proper context for the expression of sexual intimacy and for the procreation of children.  See Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 18 and 7:2-9, John 4:17-18, 1 John 1:9, Genesis 1:27-28 and 2:18-24, and Matthew 19:4-6.

These words are not new. They are found in our 1992 booklet "We Believe, Teach and Confess." More importantly, the teaching is not new. Nor should it be. God's Word does not change. We grieve to see many church bodies today no longer upholding the sanctity of marriage, permitting sexual unions contrary to Scripture, and even instigating the ordination of homosexuals into the public ministry. 

The religious and secular scene around us-including the high rate of live-in relationships and divorce-presents us with an opportunity to teach what God says constitutes a true and blessed marriage. When the Pharisees tested Jesus on the subject of marriage and divorce, Jesus directed the attention back to where it was supposed to be. He said: "But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate" (Mark 10:6-9).

One of the best teaching tools is instruction by example. If you find yourself in the blessed estate of marriage, you are in this not only for yourself as a couple but also as a "teacher" to your children, to your friends and fellow churchgoers and to society at large. 

How does it go with our marriages as means of instruction? Is there is a tendency to become inpatient with one another; a tendency to mistrust; a tendency to worry about financial matters in the home and health concerns in the family? No matter what sins may hinder a marriage from being what God wants it to be, we have this tremendous refuge and strength: God says, "Come now, let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). God has put our sins on His own Son. Doesn't His great love and forgiveness move us to want to exercise  the same forgiving spirit in our family relationships in order to present the marriage estate as a distinct blessing from God?