Intermarriage
Matthew Benoit
January 2011
Introduction
“Now these
Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with
all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” Acts 17:11
“You
are required to believe, to
preach, and to teach what the Bible
says is true, not what you want the Bible to say is true.” –R.C. Sproul
~~~~~~~
Before beginning, I want to express that my hearts
desire is to love and serve God as he desires to be loved and served. I believe
the Bible is his Holy, unerring, and infallible word. I want to obey his
commands no matter what the cost. That being said, my belief concerning
intermarriage is not what it is because it is popular in our culture, or anything
of the sort. I believe what I do about intermarriage, because I believe with
all my heart that it is what the Bible teaches about the issue. I do not write
the following with a spirit of contention, but with a spirit of contrition,
longing to see God glorified as he ought to be glorified. It is not my belief that those who
teach falsely in this area or who believe that different races ought not marry
are not Christians. I believe they certainly may be, but that their vision has
been clouded by their tradition. It is my hope to be an instrument of
defogging, a biblical windshield wiper, to clear the eyes of those who read
what I’ve written so that God will be worshipped according to what his Word
says about him and his commandments. If his Word teaches that different races
are not to intermarry, than that is what I will believe, but if it teaches
otherwise, then I challenge the reader to examine their tradition in light of
the Scriptures, and to stop examining the Scripture in light of their
tradition. So I continue with the spirit of the Berean Jews, let us examine the
Scriptures to see if these things are so.“To the law and to the testimony, what
saith the Scriptures?”
I’ll begin in part 1
by looking at some places in the Old Testament where The Israelites are told
not to intermarry with the other people around them. Next I’ll explain why they were told not to intermarry. In
part 2 I’ll examine some places in the Old Testament where intermarriage
occurred and was honorable and acceptable, and we will see how the family of
Jesus descends from a mixed-race background. I will conclude in part 3 by
briefly examining what two specific passages in the New Testament have to say
about intermarriage, 2 Corinthians 16:4
and Galatians
3:26-29. I will demonstrate throughout that when the Bible
speaks about intermarriage, it is consistently talking about mixing holiness
and unholiness, belief and unbelief, light and darkness, those who are
Christ’s, with those who are the Devil’s. Intermarriage is not blacks and
whites or Hispanics and Asians or Americans and American Indians.
I
entreat the reader to continue through the length of the work, reading the
examples, cross-references and footnotes I provide, as they will be aids to
understanding, and the paper makes it’s point as a whole, not in parts. I’ve included the selected passages in both the King James Version as
well as the English Standard Version. As well as italicizing Scripture
quotations, I have also underlined, emboldened and colored all references to
Scripture as a visual aide.
May Christ be glorified by my words and
thoughts, and may he protect your eyes from reading anything I say that is not
in accordance with his Word.
