What does the Bible say about homosexuality? by David White

When it comes to emotionally charged issues in our culture, homosexuality may top the list. So the first thing we need to acknowledge is our temptation to approach this issue driven by our feelings, experiences and sociology rather than through careful biblical reflection. If we don’t personally experience same-sex attraction (though countless brothers and sisters in the Church do), nearly all of us have close friends, family members, neighbors, co-workers, etc. in the gay life. These relationships profoundly impact how we respond to this issue – we’ve heard their stories and empathize with their pain.

Further, for over a decade, we’ve been confronted with claims like the discovery of the “gay gene” and a host of other studies touting same-sex attraction as an unchangeable aspect of personhood. Younger generations have never known a world without “Will & Grace.” There has been a full-court press to normalize and mainstream gay relationships. So how should Christians respond to this issue? What does the Bible really say? Now, my favorite book on this topic (Robert Gagnon’s The Bible & Homosexual Practice) is in excess of 500 pages, so there’s no way to adequately address this issue in a post…but I hope this will at least stimulate some reflection and dialogue.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 provides a helpful framework for this brief discussion:

“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.” 

First, we must heed the warning not to be deceived. The loudest voices in culture urge us to jettison outdated, unenlightened beliefs. But despite pro-gay theology’s exegetical gymnastics attempting to harmonize 21st century gay life in America with biblical morality, the Bible is clear in its condemnation of homosexual behavior. Here’s the thing: they work hard to debunk the prohibitive passages, arguing these only address temple prostitution and pagan idolatry, but they fail to demonstrate how the Bible positively proscribes homosexual behavior. The strongest biblical argument against homosexuality is not Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13, it is Genesis 1 & 2. Sex is so much deeper than our desires. It transcends our personal proclivities. Sex was designed by God to point us to him and his love for us (for more on this see my earlier post “Sex Gone Wrong”).

Leviticus 18 & 20 prohibit homosexual practice, but they teach something even more important. All sexuality is broken! Read those passages – it is shocking. Do we actually need to be told not to have sex with our grandchildren?! Apparently so. Thus, the second point we need to see from 1 Corinthians 6 is that homosexual behavior is no more wrong than any other sin. Christians who read Leviticus 18 & 20 only to wag their finger at the gay community are failing to reckon with the deep reality of their own sexual brokenness. Everyone’s sexuality is impacted by the fall! All of us need redemption in this aspect of personhood. When Paul addresses homosexuality in Romans 1:26-27, it is not to describe the “bottom of the barrel sin” (as, sadly, many Christians have heard preached). He is using it as a poignant illustration of how the world is completely disordered by idolatry. All of creation has been turned on its head because we – image-bearers of God created to rule over the world – have made ourselves subject to that which is supposed to be under our feet. And the One to whom we are to be subject we have casually discarded. Idolatry reflects a world that is completely turned upside-down. Paul’s point is in this context, even something as basic as sexual functioning, the propagation of the species, is totally out of whack.

So, along with homosexuality, 1 Corinthians 6 covers all the other sexual sins and also includes “garden variety” sin – things like idolatry, greed, drunkenness and slander. The passage teaches that good, moral people who revile those foul homosexuals fall under the same condemnation. Similarly, the end of Romans 1 completely levels the playing field with a laundry list of sin that leaves none guiltless. The Bible describes homosexual behavior as sin, but makes clear that it is no different than any other sin. All of humanity stands in desperate need of God’s mercy. All of us need redemption from sexual brokenness. Who we are “naturally” is broken. Heterosexuals need as much supernatural sexual intervention as homosexuals.

And that is where the passage leaves us. It points to the glorious hope that through his death and resurrection, Jesus enacted a work of renewal that will one day encompass the entire cosmos. “Such were some of you!” All who are in Christ are part of his great work of re-creation – their guilt is canceled, their shame washed away, they are set apart for his glory and filled with his Spirit so they are able to resist their natural desires, living instead for his glory. The opposite of homosexuality isn’t heterosexuality, it is holiness. Men and women who for the glory of their King and because of the wonder of his love embrace this call: “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 4:14-15). The call of Christ is to lose our life for his sake, believing his promise that there is resurrection life on the other side of that death. Will you trust him and risk denying yourself?