Contrary to a Homosexual’s Claim, We Don’t Live Under Caesar

["Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are Gods.”]

by:Gary DeMar 

A pro-homosexual advocate wrote the following about the Kim Davis case in a Facebook post, being critical of the stand she has taken and those who support her:
“Read the Gospel ‘Render unto Caesar . . .’ [Matt. 22:21] and Jesus' commandment to love [Matt. 19:19; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; also Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8]. Then read the Constitution, specifically the Supremacy Clause and the First Amendment in [their] entirety. Come with something more valid next time. Peace out.”
Don’t you love it when someone appeals to the Bible to criticize a disputed point and then dismisses the Bible on the disputed topic? It happens on a regular basis.

Read more: "'Judge Not!' Impossible."
He appeals to “render unto Caesar” and “love your neighbor as yourself” in an attempt to silence opposition to same-sex marriage while ignoring passages that condemn same-sex marriage, all of which come from the same Bible!
First, we don't live under Caesar, although it seems we are moving in that direction. We live under the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state where we reside. Inn principle, these are our “Caesars.” Elected officials and judges also live under these governing documents they took an oath to uphold.
Second, neither the United States Constitution nor the Kentucky Constitution supports same-sex marriage. The Kentucky Constitution specifically forbids it; therefore, Kim Davis was rendering to the existing authorities as per Matthew 22:21: “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are Gods.” I suspect that Kim Davis, in addition to keeping the oath she took to her state’s “Caesar,” believes she was also rendering “to God the things that are God’s.”

Third, as to the First Amendment, it states that "Congress shall make no law. . ." The First Amendment was designed to keep the national law-making body (Congress) from passing a national law that would (1) establish a national religion and (2) prohibit the free exercise of religion as well as guaranteeing the freedom of speech, press, and assembly as well as give all of us the right to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Fourth, Congress did not make a law declaring that the states are required to acknowledge same-sex marriage, and that's the issue in this controversy. Neither the Executive nor Judicial branches can make law. In addition, Kentucky has not changed its constitution on the same-sex marriage provision. It’s still the law in Kentucky.

Fifth, the commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself" is originally found in Leviticus 19:18. Jesus and the other New Testament writers are quoting the Old Testament. The passage is sandwiched between Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, two specific passages that prohibit same-sex sexuality, and by logical extension, same-sex marriage. This means that a person can love his neighbor and still be against same-sex sexuality.
I can love my neighbor even when he or she steals, but that does not mean I can ignore the commandment “You shall not steal” (Ex. 20:15; Lev. 19:11). Loving one’s neighbor does not cancel the demands of the law for my neighbor. Consider what the apostle Paul writes:

He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need (Eph. 4:28).

Loving one’s neighbor means not ignoring a sin but finding a righteous remedy.
There were people in the Corinthian church who engaged in same-sex sexuality and other sexual sins (1 Cor. 5:1-2; Lev. 18:8; Deut. 22:30; 27:20). They were loved and restored based on the law:

[Y]ou yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:8-11).

When all the Bible is considered, it’s easy to see that loving one’s neighbor does not mean abandoning what it says about same-sex sexuality. There is not a contradiction.