June 2024 is wrapping up, and that means the close of another month celebrating the LGBTQ+ movement. The promotion and embrace of these lifestyles is something that our church has navigated together for the last several years. If God gives us longevity over the next few decades, we hope to continue to engage with those who differ from us on these issues. This blog is a long overdue treatment of homosexuality. And it seems as good a time as any to put the views of our church community into writing.
If you happen to be reading this blog as one who differs from our view, then let me invite you to hear out the argument. It is my prayer that you might see the loving-kindness of God on display; after all, his loving-kindness is actually why Christians talk so much about sin. At the very least you will have an accurate representation of our view if you desire to engage with it.
The Big Picture
One of the most basic beliefs in Christianity is that our world is fallen. To be clear, we do not think that God created a fallen world, rather, scripture teaches that God created all things good (Gen. 1-2). The brokenness we see around us is the result of mankind's own decisions. Our forefather Adam chose to sin in rebellion against God's good design for the world. This initial rebellion is not merely something in ancient history, but we have all, since that time, had a certain proclivity for sinfulness.1
What we see before the fall is that God created mankind as male and female. The resulting union of Adam and Eve together is the first marriage. In it, God brings Adam and Eve together in a lifelong bond. This teaching has faced all kinds of scrutiny, even in Jesus' day. But when faced with a question on divorce, Jesus affirms the good design in creation as normative (Matt. 19:4-6). While Jesus is not commenting on homosexuality in particular, how he uses the text of Genesis is telling. It seems that the calibration point for all marriages is to be found in God's initial creation.
It is for this reason that any deviation from a male-female lifelong bond has been consistently rejected by Christians. The Christian sexual ethic is chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage. So Jesus says nothing about homosexuality, but also does not say anything about pedophilia or bestiality. We should not deduce from this some kind of passing approval on the part of Jesus. Anything that deviates from God's good creation is a sin.
Those Leviticus Passages
The Torah has many passages that explain how one lives in God's world. For this discussion, we may zoom in on two passages in particular. In Leviticus Moses writes, "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination" (Lev. 20:13; Lev. 18:22). There is some dispute about this translation which I will deal with in a moment. While someone may object here by saying these laws are outdated, I would simply point out that Paul applies these verses to sexual disputes in the New Testament.
The Corinthian Church
In the Corinthian church, there were all kinds of sexual scandals at work. Notably, in 1 Corinthians 5, there is a man who is involved in an adulterous (and possibly incestuous) relationship. Paul addresses this by exhorting them to deal with the sinner appropriately, saying, "Purge the evil person from among you" (1 Cor. 5:13) and then explaining why. His explanation is necessary for understanding why we as a church insist on holding fast to the Bible on this issue, "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 Cor. 6:9-10).
Paul's genuine concern is that the Corinthian church will fail to lead sinners to repentance. By coddling sin, or failing to speak about sin in their midst, they will not herald the gospel message. One cannot herald the coming kingdom of Jesus while simultaneously welcoming into the kingdom those who will not inherit it. Christians desire the saving message of Christ's kingship to cover the globe. This cannot happen if the Bible's teaching on sin is thrown out because without it there is nothing to be saved from. Christ Jesus came to save sinners from their sins, and as Christians, we oppose any movement that seeks to reclassify sin under some other label.
Before I deal with some objections, let me emphasize what Paul emphasizes. Sinners will not inherit the kingdom of God apart from repentance. Sin is disqualifying, but Christ Jesus made it possible for sinners to access God by his sacrifice on the cross. After driving home the point that sinners will not inherit the kingdom of God, Paul goes on to say, "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" (1 Cor. 6:11). The force of that idea is striking.
The Corinthian church (and all churches) are made up of sinners who have been cleansed of their sins and have turned to Christ. Jesus washed them with his blood. They have been baptized into the body of Christ. Thus they should not continue in sin. How can Corinthians who died to sin live in it? If you have not repented of your sin, I would urge you to turn to Christ. He will wash you clean. This is the loving-kindness of God on display through the person of Jesus. In Christ, confession of sin is not fatal. It is life giving.
The Death Penalty
Some readers may object that when I cited Leviticus earlier I did not reference the whole part about putting those who practice homosexuality to death. I overlooked that issue temporarily so I could call special attention to it here. I believe that exercising the death penalty is exactly what the church is called to do. Paul even draws attention to the fact that this is what excommunication is. When Paul says, “Purge the evil person from among you,” he is referencing a common expression in Deuteronomy that explains why death is commanded for certain crimes.
For the Corinthian church to obey Deuteronomy they must practice expulsion, not execution, “Now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one” (1 Cor. 5:11). I hasten to add that this is not exclusive to sexual sins, but sins of all kinds (see the previous quotation). Being a sinner is not grounds for excommunication. Rather, it is a refusal to repent of sin or to call it a sin that is grounds for church discipline.
All who have repented of sin have died to their former sins and have been made alive with Christ. Jesus was buried and we were buried with him. He was raised and we were raised with him. If anyone would repent of their sin and put their trust in Jesus then the church must welcome them as a brother or sister in Christ.
Translation
Another objection to the previously made points is that our English translations miss the mark when they render terms like homosexual or phrases like men who practice homosexuality.
This issue is layered, so let me take it in steps.
Firstly, Paul uses a hybrid word, ἀρσενοκοῖταɩ, in 1 Corinthians 6:9, which means roughly 'men-bedders'. Many agree that this draws directly from the LXX's translation of those Leviticus passages mentioned earlier which uses the word ἄρσενοςκοίτην. This is bolstered by the fact that Paul includes the term μαλακοὶ which can be rendered clumsily as 'soft ones'. By doing this, Paul is specifying what Leviticus specifies when it says, “both committed an abomination” (Lev. 20:13). Both partners involved in male homosexual sex are condemned by Paul.
Secondly, there is one stream of interpretation which says that Paul is not condemning consensual homosexual sex, but rather some kind of exploitive sexual relationship (either cult prostitution or pederasty). If that were true, then it is difficult to understand why Leviticus and Paul condemn both participants in the act. If there is a victim here who is being exploited, and that is what scripture objects to, then why is the victim punished? Why do the μαλακοὶ and the ἀρσενοκοῖταɩ receive the same penalty? I find such interpretations difficult to reconcile with the logic of these passages.
Thirdly, some posit that this might refer to the activity of male homosexual sex, but not to homosexuality as a sexual orientation. Yet the Christian ethic, in keeping with Jesus' teaching, says that it is not enough to abstain from sexual perversion, one must also abstain from the lust for sexual perversion. That is, one must abstain from any sexual activity that is not bound by marriage. And not just the activities themselves, but also the desire for them, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28).
Fourthly, I have been careful to reference male homosexuality up until this point, because that is what the text of 1 Corinthians refers to. Some have tried to make room for female homosexuality because it is not specifically addressed in these verses. But the only way to do this is to pretend like Paul did not also write Romans, where he says, “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” (Rom. 1:26-27). So while it is true that he does not always refer to every kind of sexual immorality that could be conceived, it is safe to say that this does not imply permissibility.
The Argument from Church History
Not much needs to be said here. No church has ever differed from the view expressed in this blog. Therefore, deviating from 2,000 years of the unanimous view of the church should not be done lightly.
Conclusion
In that same letter to the Corinthian church, Paul gives a description of love that should be considered in this discussion. In his description, Paul says that love, “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6). It is common for Christians to face the cultural pressure that says love is love. And I might riff on that idea by saying that what our culture is really doing is insisting that lust is love. What the Bible describes as sexual immorality, πορνεία, our culture wants to reclassify as love. But Paul says that love does not rejoice in unrighteousness! Instead, love rejoices in the truth. And the truth is that homosexuality is a sin for which God offers redemption. If you struggle with sin, then the church is the place for you. We regularly gather to confess our sins, confess our need for Jesus Christ, and receive his gracious pardon. We do this because we love as Christ has commanded us to love. We love by rejoicing in the truth. After all, God’s love is true love.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9).