by Dinesh Natorajan
Introduction
In today’s culture, one of the hot button issues is the conflict between the traditional Christian view of homosexuality as sinful and the idea that homosexuality is something good to be embraced by modern culture. As Christians, we look to the authority of scripture, which is God’s word to us, to determine what is morally acceptable rather than rely on what is popular and acceptable in current society. So what does the Bible have to say about this?
Homosexuality in the Old Testament
A search of the Bible will lead us to Old Testament passages such as Leviticus 18:22 that describes homosexuality negatively. This idea is further expanded in Leviticus 20:13 which prescribes the death penalty for practicing homosexuality.
Now there are more verses that we can look at. However, the issue is not about whether the Bible has verses that are negative towards homosexuality or not. It clearly does. Therefore those who hold the view that homosexuality is not a sinful act, do not deny that there exist verses in the Bible that portray homosexuality negatively. Rather they attempt to explain that the Bible meant something different and try to justify why these verses does not apply to us today.
A typical argument would be that the prohibition of homosexuality in Leviticus is not about the actual homosexual act itself, but rather it is about preventing the Israelites from participating in pagan fertility rituals. These rituals included sexual rites such as homosexual acts with temple prostitutes. Therefore, it is argued that, in the modern context of loving and committed homosexual relationships, this prohibition is no longer relevant, since homosexuals today are not practicing prostitution nor idolatry.
Before we accept that, we need to know if the reason the Old Testament forbids homosexual acts is because of idolatry or because homosexuality is by itself morally wrong. To answer that we need to look at two things. Firstly the Old Testament laws, while no longer directly applied, are still relevant to Christians today. It is always teaching us something and we are called to respond to scripture. Secondly, when we are not sure of what scripture is teaching then we continue looking at other parts of scripture to shed light on the topic for us. We do not interpret scripture but it is scripture that interprets scripture for us.
Homosexuality in the New Testament
In the New Testament, Romans 1:18-32 talks about how humanity has exchanged the glory of God for other things due to our sinful nature.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. …
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” (Romans 1:18-19, 24-28)
We see that as a result of this we continue to exchange good things for sinful things; the truth is exchanged for a lie, worship of God is replaced with worship of idols and natural sexual relationships were exchanged as well. Homosexuality is described as unnatural, shameful, a product of a depraved mind and ought not to be done.
Now those seeking to affirm homosexuality will argue that Romans 1 is actually referring to the Roman culture of conducting orgies where they will exchange sexual partners and participate in homosexual relationships. Therefore they argue that this passage condemns sexual unfaithfulness in general and does not actually condemn homosexuality in a loving and committed relationship.
However this ignores the fact that the passage specifies homosexual relationships as an example of an “exchange”. The Apostle Paul is using the theme of “exchanging” to highlight how homosexuality is an exchange of “natural relations” for those that are “contrary to nature”. The action of males and females rejecting God’s original design of sexuality and choosing homosexual partners is used here to illustrate the sinful condition that comes from rejecting God. Having rejected God, humanity now rejects God’s purposes and designs as they choose to ignore God’s design for sexuality.
This passage therefore, is not talking about sexual unfaithfulness in marriage. By intentionally singling out homosexual acts, it teaches us that there is something inherently and morally wrong about homosexuality. Homosexuality is therefore something that the New Testament clearly forbids as a sinful act even when it is practiced in a loving and committed relationship.
God’s Design for Sexuality
If we seek to understand what is God’s original design for sexuality, we see that Jesus himself clarified in Matthew 19:4: “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female.”
Jesus is clarifying the biblical principle that man and woman are created to complement each other. The purpose of marriage is about bringing two different but complementary parts together as one flesh.
Therefore this question on homosexuality is not merely about determining Christian rules for sex but rather it is about the question of how we live. Are we living in obedience to God’s purposes or are we going to reject God’s authority to tell us how to live?
Conclusion
As Christians we cannot choose to reject what God says and still claim to be obedient to God. Romans 1:32 tell us that to do these things and give approval to those who practice them would mean that we are ungodly and unrighteous (c.f Romans 1:18). Therefore we are to not engage in homosexual activities nor approve of those who practice them. However we should be careful as well about differentiating between someone who is deliberately living in sin and someone who is struggling with homosexual feelings and approach them differently.
Knowing what the Bible says about sin and applying that in a loving and correct way to ourselves and others are two different things and needs to be done with wisdom without compromising the word of God.
For further reading on this subject, check out Sam Allberry’s article at https://www.livingout.org/the-bible-and-ssa