Homosexuality and the Bible

This is my summary of what I think the Bible says on homosexuality.  Rather than retype Bible passages, I'll link them to Biblegateway where you can read the Bible text yourself.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Broadly Christians hold to one of three views on homosexuality.

1. Homosexuality is wrong, gay people should try and become straight.
2. It isn't homosexuality that is wrong, just homosexual behaviour. People who are gay or lesbian should try to be celibate.
3. Loving gay and lesbian relationships are not sinful.  Abuse of sex is, this includes promiscuous gay and lesbian sex, as well as promiscuous straight sex.  The standards for gay and lesbian people are the same as for straight people.

I used to think view 2 was correct, but now hold to view 3.  Why?  There are only 5 or 6 verses in the Bible (depending on which translation you use) which many Christians interpret to mean that homosexuality is wrong.  I'm going to quickly look at each passage, but first I want to make my assumptions and basic beliefs clear.

• I believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God.  It alone is the standard for morality - not science, culture or prevailing world-views.
• I believe that it is very possible that the Apostle Paul would have disapproved of gay relationships.  However, we have to look at the inspired text - what the Holy Spirit inspired Paul (and indeed the other Bible authors) to write, not his world-view.  

Let's look briefly at the relevant passages in the Bible.

Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13
Perhaps the most well known passages on homosexuality are Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13 which call "men who lie with men" an abomination (in the King James Version).  However these passages must be read in the light of the whole Bible.  

Leviticus is part of the Jewish law.  It also forbade wearing clothing made of mixed fabrics.  Right now I am violating this law because the shirt, underwear and socks I am wearing are all made from mixed fabrics, but I don't see any Christians clamouring to punish me for this.  The reason is that the law doesn't apply to Christians.  Therefore for any Christian to cite this at me is wrong.  Leviticus simply does not apply.  If the rest of the Bible said it was wrong, then we could say Leviticus is consistent with that, but it can't be the reason for saying gay relationships are wrong.

What has this got in common
with Sodom?
Nothing.

The Destruction of Sodom
If Leviticus is the best known verse on homosexuality, I suspect the story of Sodom is the most abused.  Traditionally we have been told Sodom was destroyed for its homosexuality.  But please, take a few minutes to read the text again.

It should only take you a cursory reading of this passage to see that it is about an attempted gang rape.  I guess my response is to turn this back as a question - what has gang rape got to do with a loving relationship?

Again, we see that another text is simply irrelevant to loving, monogamous same-sex relationships.

That's it for Old Testament texts which mention homosexuality.  In summary - ritual laws which no longer apply, and gang rape.  Nothing which would help us work out a Christian ethic for gay and lesbian people.

Romans 1 - The "go-to text"
I call this the "go-to text" which is how it was described to me by someone who was trying to show me what the Bible says about homosexuality.  But there is an immediate problem.  The text says, "the men... burned with lust for each other".  

So, I ask any Christian to tell me if they think love and lust are the same thing?  Of course not!  So, again this passage isn't helpful when looking at loving gay and lesbian relationships.  

Things get worse when we look at the whole text in context.  When we do that we see Paul talking about a people who suppress the truth and refuse to worship God.  They make up their own ideas about what God is like, and end up abandoning truth.  They are described as, "haters of God" whose "lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarrelling, deception, malicious behaviour, and gossip".

Is this descriptive of a gay or lesbian Christian who is seeking to follow Jesus?  Hardly.  It is descriptive of the pagan culture of Rome though.  This passage isn't about gay and lesbian Christians.

I once attended an event where a prophet was preaching.  She didn't know that I'd been praying over this passage.  Suddenly she picked up her Bible, and read Romans 1:18-32 aloud.  She then put her Bible down, and said, "Someone here is worried about this passage.  God wants you to know it isn't about you".  For me, my understanding of the text was confirmed by the Holy Spirit through this woman.

Finally - the sinful arsenokoitai 
In two New Testament passages we read that men who practice homosexuality won't inherit the Kingdom, and that we are under the law.  Notice how the translation of 1 Timothy in the NIV changed from "homosexual offender" in 1984 to "practicing homosexuality" in 2011.  Why is it different?  We have to delve beyond the English translation to the original Greek text, where we see that this is the word "arsenokoitai".

The word "arsenokoitai" is a difficult word to translate.  Because in the Bible it only occurs in these passages, and these are lists, there is no context to help.  It's also extremely rare in the Greek literature. 

Historically arsenokoitai has been understood to mean either a man who has sex with a male prostitute, or a paedophile.  In fact, Martin Luther translated it as "abusers of boys".  But as far as I am aware, it was never used to describe a loving gay or lesbian relationship.

The Message Version is consistent with my understanding of these passages. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 is translated: "Don't you realize that this is not the way to live? Unjust people who don't care about God will not be joining in his kingdom. Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex, use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don't qualify as citizens in God's kingdom. A number of you know from experience what I'm talking about, for not so long ago you were on that list. Since then, you've been cleaned up and given a fresh start by Jesus, our Master, our Messiah, and by our God present in us, the Spirit."

1 Timothy 1:9-10 reads, "It's obvious, isn't it, that the law code isn't primarily for people who live responsibly, but for the irresponsible, who defy all authority, riding roughshod over God, life, sex, truth, whatever!"

What does the Bible really teach?
Consider the following passages:

"Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone..." (Genesis 2:18)

"I say to those who aren’t married and to widows—it’s better to stay unmarried, just as I am. But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust." (1 Corinthians 7:8-9)

Isn't this the opposite of what many Churches tell me?  They would prefer that I was alone, and effectively say that for me it is better to burn with lust than to marry.  

And if I'm wrong?
Then, "We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love" (1 John 4:16).  And, "it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”" (Romans 10:10-12)

I have nothing to fear from the one who died for me. He promises I will never be disgraced.  Why would I trust what any Church says over what the Bible says?

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