Homosexuality and Christianity

1.  The two creation stories in Genesis speak of God creating man and woman and they indicate that woman is to be the husband of man.

2.  The purpose of sexual relations is procreation; this of course is not possible with two parties of the same gender.

Gen 1:27-28  So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  28  God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply. . . ."

Gen 2:21-24  So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.  22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23  Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken." 24  Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.

1.  This is primarily an argument from silence.  These texts say nothing prohibiting homosexual relations.  Heterosexuality may be the dominant form of sexuality, but it does not follow that it is the only form of appropriate sexuality. 

2.  The second argument would consider heterosexual relations immoral if conception was not an expected outcome.

The Bible uses the town of Sodom as a model of sinful behavior.  The sin of Sodom was one of homosexuality.

Gen 19:1‑9 (NRSV)  The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. . . .   They turned aside to him and entered his house. . . .4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; 5 and they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them." 6 Lot . . . said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men. . . ." 9 But they replied, "Stand back!" . . . 11 And [the angels] struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house. . . .

A parallel story occurs in Judges 19.

1.  What was happening in Sodom was an attempted homosexual gang rape.  The problem is rape, not homosexuality.  This bears no relationship to positive homosexual relationships.  If they were attempting a heterosexual gang rape would we conclude that the Bible was opposed to all heterosexual relations?

2.  Lot, the hero and positive moral agent in this narrative, offers his two daughters to be raped instead of the two men.  Can this story be relied upon to teach us sexual ethics?

3.  When later Biblical authors refer to the notorious sin of Sodom, they never mention homosexuality.  Ezekiel 16:49 - Ezekiel 16:50

⁴⁹“‘The sin of your sister Sodom was this: She lived with her daughters in the lap of luxury—proud, gluttonous, and lazy. They ignored the oppressed and the poor. ⁵⁰They put on airs and lived obscene lives. And you know what happened: I did away with them. 

(See Isaiah:10-17, 3:9, Jeremiah 23:14, Zephaniah 2:8-11)

When Jesus referred to the sin of Sodom, he was passing judgment on towns that refused hospitality to his traveling disciples.  Luke 10:12.

The Leviticus holiness code clearly opposes homosexuality:

Lev 18:22 (NRSV)  You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Lev 20:13 (NRSV)  If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.

How do we decide which texts have authority and which texts do not?

Lev 19:19‑28 (NRSV)  You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your animals breed with a different kind; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; nor shall you put on a garment made of two different materials.

Lev 19: 27-28  You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

Lev 21:5 (NRSV)  They shall not make bald spots upon their heads. . . .

Lev 20:9  All who curse father or mother shall be put to death.

The concern about “men lying with men” may spring from a need to protect male gender superiority.  It was essential for the stability of the culture that men remained dominant.  A child who cursed his parents could be put do death, for such an act threatened the social order.  Adultery was similarly punishable by death, because it was an unlawful use of a woman, who was a man’s property.  Homosexual acts were problematic because the man took the woman’s role and was penetrated. 

Paul, in three of his letters, explicitly condemns homosexuality.

1 Cor 6:9 (NRSV)  Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites (makalos – soft) (arsenokoitēs - ?). . . .

1 Tim 1:10 (NRSV)  fornicators, sodomites (arsenokoitēs - ?), slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching

The primary question is what Paul understood by the terms we interpret as homosexuality.  Malakos means soft or effeminate.  Arsenokites is harder to interpret.  Because it is made of two words arsen (male) and koites (bed) some people have assumed it refers to homosexuality.  But just like “understand” is not directly related to “under” or “stand” we can’t derive the meaning of arsenokites from “man” and “bed”.  Unfortunately this word is used with little context and is not used elsewhere by Paul.  By looking at how the word is used in Greek culture, it more likely is related to some form of male prostitution.  There is strong evidence that Paul was referring primarily to the practices of pederasty (an older "active" man with a younger "passive" boy) and male prostitution.   There is no evidence that Paul was condemning committed, mutual same-sex relationships marked by fidelity and love.

Romans 1:18 - Romans 2:1

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. ¹⁹For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; ²¹for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. ²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools; ²³and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

²⁴Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, ²⁷and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.

²⁸And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. ²⁹They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, ³¹foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³²They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.

¹Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. 

1.  Paul’s agenda in this passage is to condemn idolatry not sexuality (v. 23).  He condemns people who put idols in the place of God.  Because of their idolatry, God gives them up to degrading passions.  While it would be easy at this point to condemn those people lost to the “degrading passions,” Paul does not let the reader off the hook.  He then includes a broader list of sins that proceed from idolatry, like covetousness, malice, envy, strife, deceit, craftiness, etc.  This list of sins that springs from idolatry includes us all.  Then Paul says in the 2^nd chapter, “¹Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.”   In other words, we are all guilty of idolatry, guilty of putting other things before God.  Consequently our lives are out of whack and we need the grace love of Christ. 

2.  There is no evidence that the “degrading passions” in vs. 26-27 is a description of committed, monogamous same-sex relationships.  Paul may have been more concerned with:

     a.  Temple prostitution.

     b.  Male gender dominance.  Strict gender roles were important for Hebrew and Greek culture.  Paul describes the hierarchy of God-Christ-man-woman in 1 Cor. 11:3-16 and his concern that these roles be sustained.  ¹⁴Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him, ¹⁵but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory?

  The concern about women participating in unnatural intercourse could be a concern that a woman is taking the dominant sexual role w/ a man.  The concern with men having sex with men could be that a man is being penetrated and consequently taking the role of a woman.  

     c.  Hebrew and Stoic concerns about moderation vs. excess.   The out-of-whackness of idolatry leads to an excess of passion.  It is possible that Paul is not concerned about wrongly ordered desire but rather inordinate desire.