Dr. Jared Moore has been a friend of Evangelical Dark Web, appearing late last year to react to his debate with Preston Sprinkle, one of the primary proponents of Side B theology. Moore made waves throughout 2023 by sparking debate over concupiscence and calling out errors in Doug Wilson.
Being a subject matter expert and a fighter for the reformed position on concupiscence, Moore published his book, Lust of the Flesh: Thinking Biblically about “Sexual Orientation,” Attraction, and Temptation. Throughout the book, Moore provides the ammunition from both Scripture and tradition that can allow believers to deal biblically with the issue of lust.
Moore’s book contains ten chapters, with four of the first five chapters undergoing an exegesis on his proof texts, beginning with Adam and Eve’s willing lust in Genesis to the New Testament epistles. After laying out his analysis, Moore then confronts various false teachers by name, including Nate Collins, Robert Gagnon, and even Catholic doctrine on concupiscence. Readers will learn that the historical teaching and Protestant confessions make evident that sinful desires are inherently sinful. Side B proponents teach that same-sex sexual attraction can be sublimated, which is a psychological term defined as diverting sexual energy into nonsexual activity, which is as preposterous as it sounds.
Highlights
It is not that Jesus is without the capacity of sexual attraction to a wife, but rather, that the father did not bring the Son a female bride for marriage, like He did for Adam. Instead, to fulfill His original design for marriage, the Father brought the Son a perfect, holy bride who was born out of His Son’s bloody side, and He united her to Him eternally, not temporarily, like marriage in this life. (Pg. 46).
This was one of the more profound nuggets within Moore’s work and serves as a highlight of his teaching capabilities. Essentially, Moore is comparing the creation of Eve out of Adam’s side with Christ being pierced on the cross, which in the Septuagint is the same word pluera found in Genesis 2:21. Since the Genesis passage is the creation of marriage as an institution, it is a fitting picture to Christ that His Bride was born out of His pierced side the way Adam’s bride was born from his flesh.
Moore counters the argument presented by egalitarian Njay Gupta and A.J. Swoboda that Jesus expressed doubt towards God during the Cry of Dereliction (Matthew 27:45-46).
After all, should Jesus had said, “Father, please pour out your wrath on Me?” What is the alternative to asking God why He has forsaken Him in that moment? Should Jesus have praised God for forsaking Him? No. Jesus should not want to be forsaken by His Father. Jesus cries out as He does because He does not want to be forsaken by His Father and He wants to do His Father’s will. Both are morally right and holy. (89)
This is refuting an unusual argument that is posited by liberal theologians that Moore tackles with prejudice. While the passage being a quotation of Psalm 22 is common knowledge, Moore employs a thorough Trinitarian understanding so that believers will not stumble when a liberal theologian attempts to muddle the truth with doubt.
Conclusions
This book is friendly and digestible to all believers, and even a mature disciple has something to gain from Moore’s teachings. If there was one complaint about the book, it would be that it was poorly edited (at least in print form). Ironically, the series editor is Owen Strachan, but the provost of a seminary should have done a better job.
Concupiscence is an often overlooked subject and the word itself is unknown to most laymen, seemingly discarded from the Christian lexicon outside of theologically interested persons. Making the term in vogue is necessary for teaching proper theology and proper discipleship, and to that, the Church is blessed to have Jared Moore.
3 Responses
To put the cookies on the intellectual bottom shelf, if you are discussing this with a lay person, the concept of homosexual lust is as easy as the understanding of Covetousness. Covetousness is breaking one the 10 commandments and is more familiar to people. Everything belongs to God though we might be stewards of it for a time. So if one desires another man’s wife, to sexually have her, one has Coveted her as she was given to him by God. If one Coveted an unmarried woman lusting after her sexually, she belongs to God not having been given yet in stewardship to another man. The same is true of homosexual desires. If one man desires sexually another man he has coveted what is not his, (and can’t be his in any moral manner). If the man desired (by the homosexual) either belongs to a woman in marriage this breaks the commandment against Covetousness. Or if the man desired sexually belongs to God, as he is not married, this breaks the commandment against Covetousness as well. Sexual desires outside of marriage are Covetousness. Since Gay Marriage is an equivocation fallacy there is no possible way to have homosexual lust, sexual desire for another of the same sex, without breaking the commandment against Covetousness.
Moore said, “It is not that Jesus is without the capacity of sexual attraction to a wife…” If Moore is saying the HOLY Son of God did possess the capability to be sexually attracted to any woman, I take exception to that. That’s utterly ridiculous. The Creator can, if He wants, desire sex with His own creation??? Nonsense. I’ll give Moore the benefit of the doubt here. It’s folly to make Jesus human, with human tendencies just exactly in the same sense, in every sense we are. He was 100% human BUT also 100% God. He was nothing like us; He certainly did not think like us. He was divinely perfect in every way….but donned in flesh.
But similarly, I once heard a well known southern baptist pastor (on his radio broadcast) make the absurd statement saying that Jesus was capable of sinning. How foolish. But Scripture says, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” There are many other such passages, but here’s where I think he goes astray; when the bible says Jesus was tempted in all things just as we are and yet was without sin it does not mean He was tempted internally, but externally. Satan came to Him from the outside to test Him, but internally there was no temptation to sin; none whatsoever, “for God CANNOT be tempted by evil and neither does He tempt anyone…”
Brother, with that answer, it sure appears that you *didn’t* read the book.