Homosexuality and the Bible

Homosexual Healing: A Christian Response to Gays and Lesbians (Session 1)

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Series Objectives: To enable each participant to…

• Understand what the Bible says about homosexuality (November 9);
• Understand the nature and origin of homosexual hurt (November 16); and to
• Understand the issues associated with the healing of the homosexual (November 23).

How I became involved in ministering to persons desiring to overcome homosexual desire and hurt.

There are 5 biblical passages that specifically condemn the practice of homosexuality. In those passages it is described as…

1. A Sin That Offends God - Leviticus 18:22

• The lifestyle of the people of God is derived from the character of God. (I Peter 1:14-15)
• Homosexuality offends God, but all sin offends God.

"You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God… 21 "'Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. 22 "'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. 23 "'Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion. 24 "'Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. (Leviticus 18:3-4, 21-24)

• Homosexual acts were often part of the practice of idolatry. (I Kings 14:24, 15:11, 12)

There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites… 11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done. 12 He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made.

• The act itself is said to be an "abomination" or an offense to God. (v. 22)

1. A Sin Punishable by Death - Leviticus 20:13

"'If a man commits adultery with another man's wife--with the wife of his neighbor--both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. 11 "'If a man sleeps with his father's wife, he has dishonored his father. Both the man and the woman must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. 12 "'If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads. 13 "'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. (Leviticus 20:10-13)

• Leviticus 20 contains the penalties for breaking the Law.
• In ancient Israel, the practice of homosexuality was a capital offense.
• Three arguments have been raised to suggest these two Levitical passages have no application on today's Christians:
  1. These statements reflect Jewish scruples and are , therefore, of human origin. They do not express the mind of God towards people who practice homosexuality today.
  2. These verses only condemn homosexuality because of its association with ancient forms of idolatry.
  3. Levitical laws do not apply to Christians today.
• My response to these arguments:
  1. If you accept the first argument then you are acknowledging the verses do condemn the practice of homosexuality, but that you do not believe in the authoritative nature of the verses themselves. (I Timothy 3:16-17)
  2. If you accept the second argument then are you willing to approve of the other condemned practices, as long as they are disassociated from idolatry? (e.g., incest, idolatry, bestiality, spiritism, and cursing one's parents etc.)
  3. If you accept the third argument, then you are saying the moral principles of the law have no application for Christians today - for example the Ten Commandments. Yet Jesus said,

"19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19-20)

1. A Sin that Angers God - Romans 1:26-27

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

1. The wrath of God is revealed in man's uncontrolled pursuit of sin. (Romans 1:18)
2. Three times Paul says God gave men over to their pursuit of sin. (Romans 1:24, 26, 28)
3. This process is called reprobation.
4. This passage refers to homosexual orientation (desire), as well as to the act itself.
5. What are "natural relations"? The Bible refers to three requirements for marriage as God intended:
   1. A man and a woman (Genesis 1:27)
   2. A sexual relationship (Genesis 1:28a)
   3. A lifetime commitment (Matthew 19:3-8)
6. All sexual activity outside of the marriage is considered unnatural and is called fornication (). It refers to unlawful sex.
7. A Sin that Rejects the Rule of God - I Corinthians 6:9-10

9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. 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. The warning refers to a settled practice, not individual acts or lapses.
2. The first word is malakoi: this is the person who assumes the passive or effeminate role in a homosexual relationship.
3. The second word is arsenokoitoi: this is the person who assumes the active, aggressor role in a homosexual relationship.
4. The first are commonly called catamites; the second are often called sodomites. This language is very offensive to the gay and lesbian community.
5. The passage speaks of some in Corinth as persons who once practiced these sins.
6. Becoming free of the sin habit is possible!
7. A Sin that Brings Condemnation - I Timothy 1:8-10

8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers--and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine

1. The role of law is to condemn, it cannot save or change a person. (Romans 3:19-20)
2. God will judge those who refuse His offer of forgiveness and new life.

Closing Thought

What is our first priority: to condemn sin or communicate the love of Christ?