Why sex outside marriage is a salvation issue

LGBT campaigner, Jane Ozanne has resigned from the Church of England Synod, in part over their failure to address whether sex outside of marriage is a salvation issue. Yes it is, says John Stevens, and to say otherwise is to deny people the opportunity to repent of their sin and receive eternal life

Recently, the Church of England General Synod voted (by a very narrow majority) to allow a trial of prayers to bless same-sex relationships. This compromise, a typical Anglican fudge, has, unsurprisingly, satisfied no one.

On the one hand, many evangelicals believe it amounts to a rejection of biblical authority and the authorisation of heresy within the Church. On the other, those who have argued for the full inclusion of LBGT+ people do not think it goes far enough, and the Church of England remains institutionally homophobic and abusive towards gay people.

As a consequence of the vote, Jane Ozanne, one of the most vociferous campaigners for the Church to conduct same-sex marriages, has resigned from General Synod. In an interview with Pink News she said that she “can no longer in all conscience, stay in an institution which continues to condone the abuse of [LBGT+] people.”

Critiquing the trial of prayers of blessing, she called it “a very small, begrudging step” that “doesn’t address the core issue [in the Church], which is whether sex outside of marriage is a salvation issue.”

The central question

Ozanne has, perhaps unwittingly, crystalised the crucial issue that faces not just the Church of England, but all churches and evangelical Christians. While much of the debate about same-sex relationships focuses on arguments about equality, inclusion, abuse and harm, the root issue is whether sexual behaviour is a salvation issue.

This determines whether attitudes towards same-sex relationships is a secondary matter on which evangelicals can reach different conclusions in conscience, or whether it is a primary issue which determines whether people are to be accepted as Christians at all.

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