When Culture and Scripture Collide, Who Has the Final Word?

One of the most important questions a Christian can answer is this:

What is my ultimate authority?

Is it my personal experience?

Is it the culture around me?

Is it the opinion of an expert?

Is it what feels right to me?

Or is it the Word of God?

For Christians, the answer should be clear.

Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16–17:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

Scripture does not merely encourage us. It teaches us. It corrects us. It rebukes us. It trains us.

That means there will inevitably be times when the Bible disagrees with me.

There will be times when Scripture disagrees with the culture.

There will be times when Scripture disagrees with what society has decided is acceptable.

There may even be times when Scripture disagrees with the conclusions of people considered experts in their fields.

The real test of whether we believe in biblical authority comes when Scripture tells us something we do not want to hear.

The Question of Sexuality

Few issues demonstrate this tension more clearly today than human sexuality.

Increasingly, churches and denominations are affirming same-sex relationships and ordaining pastors who are openly practicing homosexuality.

The question Christians must ask is not first:

What does our culture believe?

It is not:

What does my personal experience tell me?

It is not even:

What position would be most socially acceptable?

The first question must be:

What has God said?

From the beginning, Scripture establishes God's design for marriage.

Genesis 2:24 says:

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Jesus Himself affirmed this pattern in Matthew 19:4–6 when He spoke of God creating humanity male and female and joining husband and wife together in marriage.

The New Testament also speaks directly about same-sex sexual behavior in passages such as Romans 1:26–27, 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, and 1 Timothy 1:9–10.

Some Christians today argue that these passages have been misunderstood or that they only refer to abusive, exploitative, or pagan sexual practices.

That argument deserves to be heard and examined carefully.

But ultimately, every interpretation must still be tested by Scripture itself.

When the Bible's teaching on sexuality is considered as a whole—from creation, to Jesus' teaching on marriage, to the writings of Paul—the consistent biblical pattern is that sexual intimacy belongs within the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman.

If that is what Scripture teaches, then Christians do not have the authority to redefine it.

This Is Bigger Than One Sin

It is important to say something else clearly.

This is not about treating homosexual sin as though it were somehow uniquely sinful.

The same biblical standard applies to everyone.

Adultery is sin.

Pornography is sin.

Sex outside of marriage is sin.

Lust is sin.

Sexual immorality is sin whether it involves heterosexual or homosexual behavior.

A pastor openly living in adultery should not be excused simply because the relationship is heterosexual.

A church that refuses to confront heterosexual sexual immorality while loudly condemning homosexuality is not faithfully applying Scripture either.

The issue is not whether one particular group of people is worse than another.

The issue is this:

Will we submit every area of our lives to the authority of Jesus Christ and His Word?

Scripture Must Also Correct Me

Biblical authority becomes dangerous when we only use it to point at everyone else.

Before I ask whether Scripture corrects the culture, I must ask whether I am willing to allow Scripture to correct me.

My attitudes.

My relationships.

My pride.

My anger.

My use of money.

My sexuality.

My speech.

My priorities.

My theology.

Everything must come under the authority of God's Word.

If I only believe the Bible when it agrees with me, then the Bible is not really my authority.

I am.

And that is the deeper issue facing the church today.

Compassion and Conviction Belong Together

Faithfulness to Scripture should never become an excuse for cruelty.

Every person is created in the image of God and deserves to be treated with dignity, compassion, and love.

Jesus was full of both grace and truth.

The church should be too.

We should welcome people.

We should listen to people.

We should love people.

We should walk patiently with people.

But love does not require us to call something good that Scripture calls sinful.

In fact, if we truly believe that God's commands are good, then refusing to speak truth is not ultimately loving.

Christian love does not mean abandoning conviction.

Christian conviction does not mean abandoning compassion.

We need both.

Who Has the Final Word?

The pressure on Christians will continue.

Culture will change.

Public opinion will change.

Experts will disagree.

Personal experiences will vary.

But the Christian cannot build his or her faith on something that changes every generation.

Jesus said in John 17:17:

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”

That leaves us with a very simple but very serious question:

When Scripture and culture disagree, who gets the final word?

For the Christian, the answer must always be:

God does.