Thanks for reading. Your response is very well-written, but I have to respectfully disagree with the analysis. Paul was radical for his time in calling slave masters to imitate Christ. Yet that doesn’t negate how the passages uphold the status quo of Roman era slavery. It certainly doesn’t negate how American slave owners abused those passages to perpetuate their status quo.

Paul’s use of Genesis 2:24 in Ephesians 5:31 perfectly illustrates my basic point: Christians apply creative interpretations to the bible to make its teachings relevant to their time, place, and culture. Paul is Exhibit A. He frequently interprets Old Testament passages in very creative ways, even if he has to take them out of their original context and/or language to do so.

We all pick and choose which scriptures to “weight” more than others, which scriptures to apply and which to ignore, and so on. In my view, the important things are how and why we do so. I choose to interpret the bible in ways that help me better love God and others. I might be wrong on some specifics or in general, but I trust God with it.

https://medium.com/backyard-theology/lgbtq-and-the-bible-be743db60913