The Bible and Homosexuality - A Christian Understanding

Of all the hot button topics currently being discussed in the United States and Europe, one of the most contentious is homosexuality. It is an extremely complicated topic, especially when discussing the cultural implications. Biblically too, there are many arguments about homosexuality. Some of them are ridiculous arguments by biblically and historically ignorant individuals about “a woman and her rapist” (See http://www.gotquestions.org/Deuteronomy-22-28-29-marry-rapist.html), polygamy (http://www.gotquestions.org/polygamy.html) and a variety of other objections designed to negate arguments against homosexuality by Christians. I hope that the articles I have linked will provide at least a cursory understanding of those other passages, because I simply do not have the time to discuss all of them here.

Nevertheless, the existence of these things does not in any way nullify the plain fact that the Bible condemns homosexuality in both the Old and New Testaments.

OLD TESTAMENT:

“You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.” Leviticus 18:22

“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.” Leviticus 20:13

NEW TESTAMENT:

“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 created things 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.” Romans 1:24-27

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

I would like to make a distinction between the Old and New Testaments here. The Old Testament, especially the Levitical laws that I am cited above, were specifically for the nation of Israel, at a specific time. There are many sins leading to the death penalty cited in the Old Testament for which the punishment in the New Testament time is emphatically not death. Of course, there is always the larger understanding that death in general is a consequence of sin, and in that sense, the punishment for sin is always death, regardless of the sin (Romans 6:23). We can have a longer discussion about the various portions of the Old Testament – moral law, civil law, etc. at another time. However, my point is that Christians ought not go around promoting the death of the sexually immoral, because that is no longer how these things are handled by God in the New Testament. The last citation in 1 Corinthians ought to make this clear in that “such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” v. 11 If Christians were supposed to put to death those who are engaged in that lifestyle then those who have been forgiven in the Corinthians passage would not exist!

Moving forward then…As Christians, if we believe that Scripture really is the Word of God, we cannot say to homosexuals that what they are doing is ok. To do that is to deny on its face the crystal clear teaching of the Bible. Also, it is a terrible witness! It may be easier to cave to the culture in accepting homosexuality (and a myriad of other sins), but what does that say about what we believe? It is malleable, moldable… to sum up: It Isn’t True. If we don’t even believe in what we claim to believe (The Bible), then how can we possibly expect to be a good witness to those around us?

We do not respect politicians or leaders in other spheres of our lives who flip flop on issues. Why should people in the world respect us and our positions if we do not stand firm on our convictions? The Bible puts it this way: “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” Ephesians 4:14

Alright, we have done two things so far. 1) We have determined that homosexuality is a sin. 2) We have established that our convictions must be firm when it comes to our position as Christians on homosexuality (and every other sin!). Now we must decide what we ought to do about it. How do you handle situations in your life where you must interact with homosexuals? They may be close friends, family, coworkers or classmates.

First of all, every individual is different. I will not ever prescribe a one-size-fits all approach to anything. However, I will provide you with a singular goal in whatever you do: Do it all for the glory of God. In other words, develop a relationship with them to such a degree as they know that you are genuine and care about them. If the topic of homosexuality comes up, let them know where you stand – using the Bible (you can of course bring it up too). This will more than likely include you telling them that their lifestyle is sinful, so prepare yourself for that in advance. The relationship may dissolve because you took a stand. Do not be afraid. Always, speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). However, recognize that “This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:19) As Christians, we are commanded to, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15) This also means to those we know who are caught up in a homosexual lifestyle.

If the response is not good, remember that Jesus said “If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: “A servant is not greater than his master.” If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” (John 15:18-20) But if someone you are talking to repents and turns to Christ, rejoice that you have a new brother/sister in the Lord and point them in the direction of a good, Bible-believing church where they can be taught and grow.

Always remember when you are talking to homosexuals in your life that “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” Their sin is not unique, or more sinful then other sins in your own life. Homosexuality is not a special sin! Also, it is a sin that can be overcome through the power of God.

This leads to the next obvious issue: are their people who struggle with homosexuality in the church? Yes, just like there are those who struggle with lying and committing adultery and thievery, etc in the church. Does that mean that we ought to allow a continued lifestyle of homosexuality? No. No more than we allow serial adulterers, liars, etc to maintain good standing in the church. If someone is caught up in a sinful lifestyle in the church, then church discipline is to be enacted on them, and if they refuse to repent, they are to be removed from the fellowship, and treated like an unbeliever. The purpose of this discipline is to encourage repentance and a restoration to fellowship with the body of Christ. Nevertheless, even if the person is removed from fellowship, it simply means that we do what we would presumably do with every other nonbeliever….witness to them! We don’t ostracize, make fun of, or treat poorly, those who are in a sinful lifestyle.  We do tell them that what they are doing is sinful according to Scripture, and give them the gospel and pray for them in the hopes that the Holy Spirit will enliven their hearts and give them faith and repentance leading to salvation. This is the ultimately hope for every sinner – and it is the hope of every Christian – that our sins have been forgiven in Christ if we are his children, and some day we will struggle with sin no more when we join him in ultimate resurrection.

I hope this post will help equip you to better deal with the culture at large and the issue of homosexuality as a Christian. I understand that I only scratched the surface of this topic, and did not talk about the issue of “gay marriage” at all. I am hoping to write a new post about that soon, so stay tuned. Suffice it to say for now that I tend to believe that it is not within the realm of the government to condone marriage at all, so regardless of what the Supreme Court decides in the coming weeks, I do not base my definition of marriage on the government anyway. Enough of that though...it’s a topic for a later time.

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below. I am considering setting up a separate e-mail account for this blog so that private conversations can be had, but I haven’t done it yet. If your comments contain vulgarity or derogatory language, I will not allow them to be posted, as everything is filtered before it is allowed to be seen in the comments section. I am saying this only because this topic is so emotional, not to be insulting to my readers. Thank-you for taking the time to read!

Sincerely,

~Lady Robinson