(Watch Pastor Piper's full message from last Sunday here.)

Pastor John Piper writes in response to the Star-Tribune attempting to say he "opt[ed] out" of the fight to protect marriage when he preached against same-sex marriage last Sunday:

"[The Star-Tribune] got two parts wrong.

First they say, “Key Minnesota pastors opt out of marriage fight.” I didn’t opt out. I opted in. What is at stake more than anything else is the meaning of marriage and how important it is for the common good and for the glory of Christ. That was the main burden of the message. Marriage is the sexual and covenantal union of a man and a woman pledging life-long allegiance to each other as husband and wife. There is no such thing as so-called same-sex “marriage.” That is clear in God’s word.

The second mistake is to say that I “have not encouraged members to take a stand on the issue.” That is, in fact, the opposite of what I was saying in the last two points of my message (points 7 and 8).

The aim of point 7 was to help our people know how to vote on the marriage amendment."