It is difficult to look at our culture today without being overwhelmed by the moral decay we see all around us. Conditions are worse, it seems, than they have ever been before. But the world in which Jesus and the apostles lived was every bit as bad, and the gospel they preached still has the same power to saved souls and transformed lives that it had two thousand years ago.
Imagine a world in which in which sexual immorality is promoted, available, and accessible, a world in which adultery in common, prostitution legal, drunkenness normal, and theft a constant threat, a world in which most children rebel against their parents and fornication and incest are rampant, God is openly hated, the justice system rarely works for the innocent, and Christianity is illegal. Imagine a world in which homosexuality is out of the closet, is publicly recognized, and enjoys promotion and protection from the government. This is not an imaginary world, nor is it a glimpse into the future. It is a description of the world of the NT. Jesus lived in this world and the gospel was cradled in this kind of society. It is at this point that Solomon should be heard: “there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl 1:9). Homosexuality has not taken God by surprise, but God’s nature is to take homosexuals by surprise with the saving truth of the gospel. —Richard L. Holland, “Christian Parenting and Homosexuality,” The Master’s Seminary Journal (Fall 2008), 230–231.
