Homosexuality & Marriage
I. On Its Head
The United States Supreme Court has declared same sex marriage legal in all 50 states. Some hail this as a good thing, some bad. What's a Biblical perspective?
God declares the purpose of government is to terrify evil doers.
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. (Romans 13:3)
For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. (Romans 13:4)
In its decision to declare homosexual marriage a “fundamental right,” the Supreme Court has completely missed its God-given purpose. Instead of being “an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil,” they have exalted vileness among the sons of men. And, as the Scripture says, the wicked will prowl on every side (Psalm 12:8).
II. Homosexuality Is Evil
A. In The Beginning
God has not made Himself unclear. In the first book of the Bible in the first mention of homosexuality, the Lord shows His utter disgust for the practice. In Genesis 13:13 we read,
the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD.
A few chapters later we find their “exceedingly wicked” behavior.
Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them."1 (Genesis 19:4-5)
The men of Sodom wanted to “know”2 the two Men,3 Lot's guests. In other words, they wanted to have homosexual sex with them, “men with men committing what is shameful” (Romans 1:27).
The book of Jude comments on this encounter and calls it sexual immorality and going after strange flesh.
as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 7)
Jude reveals the inhabitants of Sodom, Gomorrah, and the people of the cities around them, have continued in the afterlife physically “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” Their suffering has never stopped. They were destroyed with fire, and they have ever since, for thousands of years now, been suffering in fire. It's no wonder Jesus said,
Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and bodyin hell. (Matthew 10:28)
Note their initial destruction.
Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heaven. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. (Genesis 19:24-25)
the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. (Genesis 19:28)
The final lake of fire is “the lake which burns with fire and brimstone”(Rev 21:8). The Lord gave the Sodomites a taste of their eternity at their death. “Turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes” He,
condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly (2 Peter 2:6).
The people were ungodly, and one clear manifestation of their wickedness was their homosexuality.
Before this, the Lord said to Abraham,
Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and seewhether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know. (Genesis 18:20-21)
What did the Lord (the two Men) go down and see? They saw Lot's house surrounded “by the men of the city” demanding to “know” the Men (have sex with them).
And they said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them." So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. But the Men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door. (Genesis 19:9-11)
Notice what the Lord says immediately after this encounter.
Then the Men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city-- take them out of this place! "For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it." (Genesis 19:12-13)
The “outcry against them” is confirmed, and the order for destruction is soon to take place.4
A similar account to Genesis 19 is found in Judges 19. In Judges 19 men of Gibeah, called “sons of Belial” (Judges 19:22 KJV),5 demand to have sex with a man of the Tribe of Levi. The old man caring for the Levite says,
No, my brethren! I beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage. Look, here is my virgin daughter and the man's concubine; let me bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing! (Judges 19:23-24)
This old man saw it as a “vile thing!”
B. In The Law
Death was the order for homosexuals.
If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. (Leviticus 20:13)
In Leviticus 18 homosexuality is listed with a whole host of other sins: uncovering the nakedness of near of kin, those near in relations, or during menstruation, adultery, bestiality, etc.. Leviticus 18:22 reads,
You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. (Leviticus 18:22)
Everything listed in Leviticus 18 is considered an “abomination” to God and are clearly practices He has always hated. The end of the chapter makes this quite clear. Immediately after forbidding bestiality it says,
Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 18:24-30)
The words, “these abominable customs which were committed before you” make it quite evident these matters were all considered by God sinful and evil before He gave the Israelites His law via Moses. These are not prohibitions particular to the law. They are evil practices condemned in the law.
C. In The New Covenant
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
What is translated in verse 9 as “homosexuals” is translated by the KJV as “effeminate.” It is the Greek word μαλακοὶ (malakoi) and is literally the word “soft.” It is found three other times in the NT, all three times for “soft” clothing (Matthew 11:8 [2x]; Luke 7:25).
What is translated in verse 9 as “sodomites” is the Greek word ἀρσενοκοῖται (arsenokoitai). It is a compound word. The first part, ἄρσεν (arsen), means “man” (e.g. Galatians 3:28 KJV) or “male” (e.g. Matthew 19:4 KJV), and the second part, κοίτη (koitê), means “bed” (e.g. Luke 11:7), and is used in a sexual way (e.g. Hebrews 13:4 “bed”; Romans 9:10 “conceived”; 13:13 “lewdness”).
This compound word, ἀρσενοκοῖται (arsenokoitai), can also be found translated “sodomites” in 1 Timothy 1:10.
the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine (1Timothy 1:9-10)
Lesbians are specifically noted as evil in Romans 1:26.
Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. (Romans 1:24-26)
Immediately after the above, male homosexuals are addressed with these words:
Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with mencommitting what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. (Romans 1:27)
III. What Is Marriage?
Marriage has never properly been for anyone other than between a man and a woman. It was established in the beginning with clarity.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and cling to his woman, and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:24, a more literal translation)6
The “one flesh” is a reference to the sexual union and dictates what should be a lifetime commitment. Jesus spells this out in His discussion on divorce.
The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?" And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning `made them male and female,' and said, `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." (Matthew 19:3-6)
Marriage is a permanent bond (or should be) between a man and a woman. Scripture reveals a man has the freedom to have this marriage bond with more than one woman, if he so desires (see our article on polygamy). But, anything beyond this is a perversion.
For example, in Genesis 6 angels came down and “took wives for themselves of all whom they chose” (Genesis 6:2). They even “bore children to them” (Genesis 6:4). But, this displeased the Lord, and He,
did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment (2 Peter 2:4; see also Jude 6).
Jude 7 compares the angels' sin with the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah and calls both accounts “sexual immorality” and going “after strange flesh.”7
So, even though an angel is called a man (e.g. see “the man Gabriel” in Daniel 9:21, “the angel Gabriel” in Luke 1:26), angels are not allowed to marry women. It is a perversion.
Furthermore, becoming “one flesh” with a woman to whom you are not committed in marriage is a perversion. Paul illustrates this kind of sexual immorality in his discussion about a harlot.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "the two," He says, "shall become one flesh." But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:15-18)
Heterosexual intercourse creates a “one flesh” union that should be kept together.
They are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate. (Matthew 19:6)
But, when it is done outside of the lifetime commitment of marriage, as with a harlot, it is sexual immorality and condemned by God.
Moreover, the heterosexual intercourse does not have to be with an actual harlot for it to be of the same kind of sexual immorality. The Law illustrates this with a woman who is newly married and found not to be a virgin on her wedding night.
But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house. So you shall put away the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21)
Here having sex outside of marriage is called a "disgraceful thing," and the woman noted as playing the harlot. This is clearly called "evil."
Jacob's sons illustrate this further in Genesis 34.
Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her. His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this young woman as a wife."
And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob held his peace until they came. Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, a thing which ought not to be done. (Genesis 34:1-7)
Clearly, Shechem had sex with Dinah without being married to her. Jacob's sons were “very angry.” They knew it was “disgraceful” and “a thing which ought not to be done.” At the end of the chapter Jacob's sons say,
Should he treat our sister like a harlot? (Genesis 34:31)
A man who has sex with a woman to whom he is not married treats the woman like a harlot. Likewise, a woman who has sex with a man to whom she is not married acts like a harlot. Sex outside of marriage equals harlotry.
Furthermore, in the law, if a man had sex with “a virgin who is not betrothed” he was to marry the girl, or at least pay the bride-price, if her father utterly refused to let him have her (Exodus 22:16-17). Also, if a man seized8 a virgin who was not betrothed, he was to pay her father fifty shekels of silver, marry her, and “not be permitted to divorce her all his days” (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).9
Finally, humans are not to marry (become one flesh with) beasts.
Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion. (Leviticus 18:23)
IV. How Is Marriage?
Marriage is a lifetime commitment between a man and a woman, and it begins when the commitment begins. It's that simple. As it is written,
A man shall leave his father and his mother and cling to his woman, and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)
God lays no other burden upon men (1 John 5:3). Scripture gives no ceremony requirement, no priest, pastor, or judge to administer, no license to be obtained, no papers to sign, nor ring to wear. It's simply a mindset of a covenant (Malachi 2:14) between a man and a woman to consider themselves husband and wife for life.
For example, when Isaac got married he simply,
brought her into his mother Sarah's tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. (Genesis 24:67)
The marriage license, etc., is a creation of man. It is not a requirement of the Word of God.
Endnotes
1In Judges 19:22 they likewise demand,
Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him! (Judges 19:22)
2“Know” is used in Scripture for sexual intercourse. For example, the first recorded sexual encounter is put this way:
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the LORD."(Genesis 4:1)
3The two Men were God Himself. A careful read of Genesis 18 reveals this. See atruechurch.info/gen18.html.
4Denying the account of Genesis 19, some argue via Ezekiel 16 that Sodom was not destroyed because of their homosexuality. But, that is not what Ezekiel 16 says. Ezekiel 16 says,
Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abominationbefore Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit. (Ez. 16:49-50)
Besides the fact that it says they “committed abomination” (homosexuality is an abomination), this passage further states,
When I bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also bring back the captives of your captivity among them (Ez. 16:53).
The Sodom in Genesis 19 had no captives. They were all killed. The Israelites (Judah) are also called Sodom.
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. (Isaiah 1:1)
Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah: (Isaiah 1:10)
5Belial (בְלִיַּ֗עַל) is a reference to Satan. See, for example, 2 Corinthians 6:14-15.
6 Genesis 2:24 in Hebrew reads עַל־כֵּן֙ יַֽעֲזָב־אִ֔ישׁ אֶת־אָבִ֖יו וְאֶת־אִמּ֑וֹ וְדָבַ֣ק בְּאִשְׁתּ֔וֹ וְהָי֖וּ לְבָשָׂ֥ר אֶחָֽד׃
7 The flesh of angels is not the same as the flesh of humans, as Hebrews says,
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. (Hebrews 2:16 KJV)
The Greek for this verse reads, οὐ γὰρ δήπου ἀγγέλων ἐπιλαμβάνεται, ἀλλὰ σπέρματος Ἀβραὰμ ἐπιλαμβάνεται, (Heb 2:16), more literally, “For indeed He does not take on angels, but He takes on the seed of Abraham.” Note the context of this verse:
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:14-17 KJV)
ἐπιλαμβάνεται (epilambanetai) “take on” - present indicative - used for “caught” (Matthew 14:31); “took” (Mark 8:23; Luke 9:47; 14:4; Acts 9:27; 17:19; 18:17; in 21:33; 23:19; Hebrews 8:9); “seize” (Luke 20:20; Acts 16:19; 21:30); “catch” (Luke 20:26); “laid hold” (Luke 23:26; 1 Timothy 6:12, 19). ἐπιλαμβάνεται (epilambanetai) is a compound word. It is the prepostion ἐπι (epi) “upon” or “on,” with the verb λαμβάνεται(epilambanetai) “take” or “receive.”
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate (malakoi), nor abusers of themselves with mankind (arsenokoitai), nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” -1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (KJV)
1 Timothy 1:10 also uses the term arsenokoitai in a similar “vice list.” Given that many Bible translations since 1946 have rendered malakoi and arsenokoitai as “homosexuals” or “men who have sex with men,” it’s worth taking a close look at these two Greek terms.
The term malakoiliterally means “soft,” and it was widely used to describe a lack of self-control, weakness, cowardice, and laziness.
1. Genesis 19
Sodom has become so associated with homosexual conduct that its name was for many years a byword for it. But is ‘sodomy’ really what Sodom is about?
The account describes the men of the city attempting to forcibly have sex with two angelic visitors to the city, who have appeared in the form of men. Later parts of the Old Testament accuse Sodom of a range of sins: oppression, adultery, lying, abetting criminals, arrogance, complacency and indifference to the poor. None of these even mentions homosexual conduct. This has led some people to wonder if we have read homosexuality into the Genesis narrative, when in fact the real issue was social oppression and injustice. But a close look at the text makes it clear that homosexuality was in fact involved.
Although the Hebrew word for ‘know’ (yada) can just mean to ‘get to know’ someone (rather than to ‘know’ them sexually), it is clear from the crowd’s aggression (and Lot’s dreadful attempt at offering them his daughters as an alternative) that they are looking for much more than social acquaintance. Hence what happens next: the angels warn Lot that judgment is imminent (v.13).
In the New Testament, Jude adds an important insight:
‘...just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire’
Jude 7
What happened at Sodom is clearly meant to be something of a cautionary tale. Jude makes it clear that their ungodliness involved sexual immorality. They were punished for sexual sin along with the other sins of which they were guilty.
Jude also highlights the nature of their sexual desires: they pursued ‘unnatural desire’ (literally, unnatural ‘flesh’). Some have suggested that this relates to the fact that the visitors to the city were angelic—Jude references angelic sin earlier in his letter. But these angels appeared as men, and the baying crowd outside Lot’s house showed no evidence of knowing they were angelic. Their desire was to have sex with the men staying with Lot. In other words, it was the homosexual nature of their desires, and not just the violent expression of them, that is highlighted in the New Testament.
2. Leviticus 18 & 20
Leviticus contains two well-known statements about homosexual activity:
‘You shall not lie with a male 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
Sometimes people claim that these verses appear in a book of laws that no Christians think we should follow today. Hence, they say, the prohibitions on same-sex sex do not now apply. Others note that in the Old Testament Law ‘an abomination’ is often used to describe idolatry. They therefore suggest these verses do not condemn all homosexual behaviour, but only cultic prostitution connected to pagan temples.
However, the language used is not that specific—it refers in general terms to lying with a man ‘as with a woman’. In addition, the surrounding verses describe other forms of sexual sin (such as incest, adultery and bestiality). These have nothing to do with pagan temples or idolatry, and Christians would recognise that they are still forbidden today. It is moral—not just pagan religious—behaviour that’s in view. Furthermore, Leviticus 20:13 highlights both male parties equally. This also suggests that general, consensual homosexual activity is in view (as opposed to rape or a forced relationship).
3. Romans 1:18-32
Turning to the New Testament, Romans 1 has much to say about the nature and character of homosexual behaviour.
In Romans 1:18-3:20, Paul shows that the whole world is unrighteous in God’s sight, and therefore in need of salvation. Romans 1:18-32 zeroes in on the Gentile world, describing how it has turned away from God and embraced idolatry. The particular details in the passage may indicate that Paul is using the Greco-Roman culture surrounding his readers as a case in point.
Gentile society faces God’s wrath because it has suppressed the truth that God has revealed about himself in creation (verses 18-20). Paul then illustrates how this has happened. He gives three examples of how what has been known about God has been exchanged for something else. They exchange the glory of God for images of creatures (verse 23). They exchange the truth of God for a lie, worshipping created things (verse 25). And they reject the knowledge of God (verse 28), exchanging ‘natural’ relations for ‘unnatural’ ones:
‘For this reason God gave them up to dishonourable 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 1:26-27
Two important and sobering truths are apparent from these verses:
- Homosexual desire is not what God originally intended.
This does not mean that homosexual desire is the only thing that God did not originally intend. All of our desires have been distorted by sin. But Paul does describe both lesbian and male homosexual behaviour as ‘unnatural’. Some have argued that this refers to what is ‘natural’ to the people themselves— heterosexual people engaging in homosexual activity and thereby going against their ‘natural’ orientation. According to this view, Paul is not condemning all homosexual behaviour, but only that which goes against the person’s own sexual inclinations.
But this view cannot be supported by the passage itself. The words for ‘natural’ and ‘against nature’ refer not to our subjective experience of what feels natural to us, but to the fixed way of things in creation. The nature that Paul says homosexual behaviour contradicts is God’s purpose for us, revealed in creation and reiterated throughout Scripture.
Paul’s reference to lesbianism as well as male homosexual conduct also supports the idea that he is condemning all homosexual activity, and not just the man-boy relationships that occurred in Roman culture.
The strength of Paul’s language should not make us think that homosexual conduct is the worst or only form of sinful behaviour. Paul may be highlighting it because it is a particularly vivid example, or because it was especially pertinent for his readers in Rome given their cultural context. Either way it illustrates something that is the case for all of us: as we reject God we find ourselves craving what we are not naturally designed to do. Even those desiring heterosexual sex find themselves doing so in a way that does not fully accord with the Creator’s design for sex. There are no grounds in this passage for singling out homosexual people for any kind of special condemnation. The same passage indicts all of us. - Our distorted desires are a sign that we have turned away from God.
Paul writes that alongside the gospel, ‘The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men’ (Romans 1:18). Though there will one day be a ‘day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed’ (Romans 2:5), there is already a present-day expression of God’s anger against sin. We see God’s wrath in this: he gives us what we want.
In response to the exchanges Paul has described, we see three instances of God giving societies over to live in the wreckage of our sinful desires. This is his present-day judgment against sin. We ask for a reality without him and he gives us a taster of it.
In each case the ‘giving over’ results in an intensification of the sin and the further breakdown of human behaviour. God gives humanity over to impure lusts and dishonourable bodily conduct (verse 24), and to ‘dishonourable passions’ (verse 26). The exchanging of natural relations for unnatural leads to being given over to a ‘debased mind’ and the flourishing of ‘all manner of unrighteousness’ which Paul unpacks in a long list of antisocial behaviours (verse 28-31). Sin leads to judgment, but judgment also leads to further sin.
The presence of all these sinful acts is a reminder that we live in a world which has deliberately turned away from God in all sorts of ways, and is therefore experiencing a foretaste of God’s anger and courting its final outpouring on the day of judgment.
It is important to recognise that Paul is talking here in social rather than individual terms. He is describing what happens to culture as a whole, rather than particular individuals. The presence of same-sex desire in some of us is not an indication that we’ve turned from God more than others. But it is a sign that humanity as a whole has done so. It is not the only sign, and in everyone there is no doubt more than one sign or another. But it is a sign that human nature has been changed from what God originally intended.
4. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
‘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’
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
In these verses Paul describes different kinds of people who (unless they repent) will be excluded from the kingdom of God. Four kinds relate to sexual sin, and two of those specifically to homosexual behaviour. The ESV takes the latter and puts them together as ‘men who practice homosexuality’, while the NIV translates them as ‘male prostitutes and homosexual offenders’.
The first of the terms relating to homosexuality is malakoi, which translated literally means ‘soft ones’. In classical literature it could be used as a pejorative term for men who were effeminate, for the younger, passive partner in a pederastic (man-boy) relationship, or to refer to male prostitutes (hence the NIV’s translation). In 1 Corinthians 6 malakoicomes in a list describing general forms of sexual sin, and the context suggests Paul is probably using it in a broad way to refer to the passive partners in homosexual intercourse.
The second term Paul uses is arsenokoitai. This word is made by adding ‘male’ (arsen) to ‘intercourse’ (koites, literally ‘bed’). These two words are used in the Greek translation of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, which suggests that Paul is linking back to those two passages. (Paul has already just made a connection with Leviticus in 1 Corinthians 5, where he condemns the Church’s acceptance of a man living with his father’s wife using language that echoes Leviticus 18:7-8. For Paul, the sexual sins which Leviticus prohibits remain forbidden for New Testament Christians). Arsenokoitai, then, is a general term for male same-sex sex. Its pairing with malakoi indicates that Paul is addressing both the active and passive partners in homosexual sex.
What does all this mean for our understanding of homosexuality?
- Homosexual sin is serious.Active unrepentant sinners—including those actively involved in same-sex relationships—will not enter God’s kingdom. Paul urges us not to be deceived on this point. He assumes there will be those who deny this teaching, and argue that some forms of homosexual conduct are acceptable to God. But Paul is clear: homosexual conduct leads people to destruction. This is a serious issue.
- Homosexual sin is not unique.Paul’s list includes other forms of sexual sin (sexual immorality and adultery), and it includes non-sexual forms of sin (drunkenness and theft, for example). Homosexual sin is incredibly serious, but so is greed. We must not imply that homosexual sex is the sin of our age. If we are to be faithful to Scripture, we must preach against theft, greed, drunkenness, reviling, and defrauding others, many of which are also trivialised in our society, and all of which also characterise the unrighteous.
- Homosexual sin is not inescapable. Paul continues in verse 11: ‘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 God’ (1 Corinthians 6:11).
These forms of behaviour are not appropriate for the Church of Jesus Christ, precisely because it is not who we are any more. Clearly, some of the Corinthians had been active homosexuals. They did once live in these ways. But no more. They have been washed, sanctified and justified; forgiven, cleansed from their sins, and set apart for God. They have a new standing and identity before him.
However ingrained it may be in someone’s behaviour, homosexual conduct is not inescapable. It is possible for someone living a practising gay lifestyle to be made new by God. Temptations and feelings may well linger. That Paul is warning his readers not to revert to their former way of life suggests there is still some desire to do so. But in Christ we are no longer who we were. Those who have come out of an active gay lifestyle need to understand how to see themselves. What defined us then no longer defines us now.
5. 1 Timothy 1:8-10
Here Paul writes:
‘The law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, men who practise homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine’
1 Timothy. 1:9-10
He again uses the term arsenokoitai(translated by the ESV as ‘men who practice homosexuality’ as a catch-all term for all forms of homosexual conduct). Also in common with 1 Corinthians, same-sex sex is mentioned among other wide-ranging sins, non-sexual as well as sexual.
These forms of behaviour characterise those who are not ‘just’ and for whom the law was given, in order to bring conviction of sin and the need for mercy. All these practices contradict ‘sound doctrine’ and the gospel. They do not conform to the life Christians are now to lead. They go against the grain of the new identity we have in Christ.
Conclusion
Attempts to read these texts as anything other than prohibitions of homosexual behaviour do not ultimately work. The plain reading of each passage is the right one. It is homosexual practice in general, rather than only certain expressions of it, which are forbidden in Scripture. To attempt to demonstrate otherwise is to violate the passages themselves. Yet these very same texts list homosexuality alongside many other forms of behaviour that are also against God’s will. The very passages that show us that homosexual activity is a sin, make it very clear that it is not a unique sin. It is one example of what is wrong with all of us.
The passages above should be read in the context of the wider teaching on sexuality in the Bible. We can only fully understand the goodness of the biblical teaching on homosexuality when we appreciate God’s design for sex within marriage, the design for community, the provision of non-sexual intimacy and the ultimate New Creation hope for all of us.
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