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I have read through the thread that a recent "contraversial" post evoked, and I agree with the administrators' decision to close it, as it was getting out of hand.
But I did want to add a brief note on this verse, which is often used as a Scriptural justification for homosexual relations. I can imagine many ways in which Jonathan's love for David "was wonderful, passing the love of women" without having anything to do with sex.
In Matthew 5:20, Jesus says, "...except your righteous shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Then he went on to describe how his disciples' righteousness was not to be legalistic, like the Pharisees' and Sadducees', but is to be a truly different kind of righteousness based on love and justice. In the same way, Jonathan's love for David was pure, untainted by jealousy and utterly self-disregarding; how many women love their husbands that way? That is how Jonathan's and David's love for each other surpassed "the love of women."
But I did want to add a brief note on this verse, which is often used as a Scriptural justification for homosexual relations. I can imagine many ways in which Jonathan's love for David "was wonderful, passing the love of women" without having anything to do with sex.
In Matthew 5:20, Jesus says, "...except your righteous shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Then he went on to describe how his disciples' righteousness was not to be legalistic, like the Pharisees' and Sadducees', but is to be a truly different kind of righteousness based on love and justice. In the same way, Jonathan's love for David was pure, untainted by jealousy and utterly self-disregarding; how many women love their husbands that way? That is how Jonathan's and David's love for each other surpassed "the love of women."
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