Evangelicals & The “Bible Not Mentioned Abortion Gay Marriage” Argument

Is It True the Bible Does Not Mention Abortion or Gay Marriage

Evaluating the Argument That the Bible Does Not Mention Abortion or Gay Marriage

Some dare argue that the Bible does not mention abortion or gay marriage, and therefore Evangelicals should remain silent. But that conclusion misunderstands how Scripture establishes moral categories.

Image of Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico

A recent claim circulating online from the new rising darling of the Democratic Party, Senatorial candidate James Talarico, appeared on the CBS late-night show, The Late Night with Stephen Colbert, to argue that abortion and same-sex marriage are “not mentioned” in the Bible. This trope, birthed and gleefully founded by Lucifer himself, has reared its ugly head again.

The implication is clear: if the Bible does not use modern terminology, then it offers no moral clarity. This Satanic induction rhetoric is part and parcel of his playbook, and the True Church of Jesus Christ will not be caught unaware of his wiles.

Talarico's argument may sound compelling in a social media clip, but only to those who are not really seeking to fulfill God's mandate to rightly divide His Word of Truth.

Arguments like this collapse under serious biblical examination, but this is the very problem we face in America. Most, especially those professing Christ exhbit no real appetite for serious biblical examination.

The Category Error

Genesis 2:24, emphasizing the proper mode of marriage

The Bible does not contain the word “Trinity.”

It does not contain the word “racism.”

It does not contain the word “pornography.”

It does not contain the word “fentanyl.”

Yet no serious Evangelical would ever argue Scripture is silent about the moral realities underneath those terms. Yet this is precisely the outrageous claim of Talarico, and even to make matters worse, those ill-informed comments have buoyed his candidacy for a Senatorial seat here in the great state of Texas.

The Bible speaks in moral categories, not 21st-century policy vocabulary, as if the Bible was ever properly understood to be an exhaustive treatise.

If moral authority requires modern terminology, then Scripture becomes functionally irrelevant to every contemporary issue. That is not how historic Evangelical Christianity has reasoned.

Marriage Is Defined — Not Undefined

Jesus grounds marriage in creation order — male and female.

The phrase “gay marriage” does not appear in Scripture. But marriage itself is explicitly defined. Editor's note: I now commit to no longer referring to marriage when it has in view "same-sex marriage." I will now only refer to it as "so-called same-sex marriage. or use "air-quotes."

Genesis 2:24 states:

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Jesus reaffirms this structure in Matthew 19:4–6, grounding marriage in creation order — male and female.

Marriage in Scripture is not presented as a blank category awaiting cultural redefinition. It is rooted in biological complementarity, covenantal permanence, and one-flesh union.

If marriage is positively defined, and it most certainly is, then alternatives are necessarily excluded.

This is not partisan rhetoric. It is a commitment to textual reading.

The Unborn in Scripture

Scripture consistently speaks of the unborn as known and formed by God.

The word “abortion” does not appear in most English translations. But Scripture repeatedly affirms the moral status of the unborn.

Psalm 139:13–16 describes God’s intimate knowledge of the child in the womb.

Jeremiah 1:5 declares: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”

Luke 1:41–44 records John the Baptist leaping in the womb at the presence of Christ.

The unborn are not treated as impersonal tissue. They are described as persons known, formed, and recognized by God.

Additionally, Proverbs 6:16–17 lists “hands that shed innocent blood” among the things the Lord hates.

If the unborn are human — and Scripture treats them as such — then intentional destruction of that life falls under God's perfect moral prohibition.

The issue is not vocabulary, and it never was.

The issue is moral coherence, and Satan uses those held under his sway to promulgate the lie.

Hermeneutics, Not Hashtags

Biblical authority precedes cultural vocabulary.

When someone says, “The Bible doesn’t mention it,” what is often meant is, “The Bible does not use the language I prefer,” exactly what we see from Talarico. It would come as no surprise from the bible-believing Christ-follower that Talarico's public statement has gone viral and catapulted Talarico into national prominence.

But Evangelical Theology has always reasoned from:

• Creation order

• Natural law

• Moral law

• The imago Dei

If we abandon that method, Scripture becomes silent on bioethics, digital exploitation, artificial intelligence, and modern warfare.

No serious theologian argues that.

The question is not whether Scripture uses the term.

The question is whether Scripture provides moral principles that apply.

Historic Protestant orthodoxy has always answered in the affirmative.

The Deeper Concern

The deeper issue is authority. If Scripture is allowed to define categories, then culture must conform. If Evangelicals allow the culture to define categories, then Scripture is reduced to inspirational commentary. That is the dividing line and where the Evangelical Church must resolutely plant its flag and decree that is the hill upon which there is no retreat, all day, errday and twice on Sundays.

Evangelicals must decide whether the Bible governs moral reasoning — or whether modern framing governs biblical interpretation.

This is not about anger. It is about intellectual honesty.

If Scripture defines marriage, affirms unborn life, and prohibits the shedding of innocent blood, then claiming it says “nothing” about these matters is not a textual conclusion. It is a rhetorical strategy. And rhetoric cannot overturn revelation.

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With fear & trembling,

Ricky V Kyles Sr. DEd.Min.