The Family of God and Healing Same-Sex Attraction
By Kristin Johnson

(Theology Matters; A Publication of Presbyterians for Faith, Family and Ministry Vol 14 No 3 • May/Jun 2008. Placed on web with permission from the Executive Director of Presbyterians for Faith, Family and Ministry)

THE HUMAN FAMILY AND THE FAMILY OF GOD

There is no better metaphor to describe the Church than the one the apostle Paul used. He described the Church as the “people, body, and dwelling” of God. The Church is the family and “home” of God because God calls us his sons and daughters: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (I Cor. 6:18). Jesus described those who follow him (the Church) as his own family: “Who are my mother and brothers?” And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Mark 3: 33-35). 

The image of God is described in relational terms as male and female (Gen. 1:27) and as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (John 16: 5-11). God created a people for himself through the family of Abraham in which the Messiah, Jesus, came into the world, and later God “adopted” Gentiles into this family of God—not through a human bloodline—but through the blood of Jesus.

In love he predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ…. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s children; and since you are his children, he has made you also heirs. (Eph. 1:5; Gal. 4:6-7) The idea of “family” is not just a social construct but a theological truth.

It is God’s Word of creation that upholds the basic humanity of family, and it is God’s work of covenant love that outlines the contours of family as the form of humanity that reflects his own image and likeness. We view the privilege of parenting and pleasures of human love and sexuality as the social and spiritual realization of God’s divine purpose for marriage and family. From the perspective of the church, as the new family of God, the human family is liberated from its own failures and fears, and each person is affirmed as having a place in the kingdom. Through Jesus Christ, the brother to whom we are connected by grace, we are all brothers and sisters. We are family.

We cannot escape the fact that we as human beings are connected to other people. Who we are and what we do affects the people God has put into our lives. This is especially true in the context of our families. A person’s identity is formed in the family of origin. In fact, until puberty it is hard to think of ourselves apart from our family. It is here we pick up the majority of our attitudes, beliefs, and values. Our self-concept is shaped by what we believe our parents think of us.

Because of this reality, it is imperceptive to think that same-sex attraction in an adolescent or adult has not been shaped in some way by the dynamic in his or her family of origin. In turn, if broken familial relationships contributed to a person’s unwanted same-sex attraction, it would follow that restored familial relationships via the family of God would contribute to his or her healing.