Homosexuality in the New Testament

                                 Does the New Testament address Homosexuality?

A matter of conviction? If something is shown to be wrong it is no longer a matter of conviction, it is a matter of right and wrong, of obedience or sin.

One can look at Paul’s teaching on hair and wait for conviction, I Corinthians 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?  He does not make it clear that this is or is not an actual mandate for the modern church or if it is a long standing moral obligation. So one can pray about it and see if God will make it a matter of compliance or freedom for them. However, I doubt whether anyone will look at the Ten Commandments and say they do not feel convicted about compliance with them. They are clearly taught as Divine truths which all of us must obey. So when the Bible makes it clear that something is a Biblical truth one simply obeys. We do not, and must not, use the idea of ‘conviction’ as a tool for avoiding godliness in our daily lives.

Homosexuality is a choice. The nature and power of God are clearly seen (Rom. 1:19-20) in all of nature and is formed within the very heart of man...there are no true atheists anywhere in the world only people who struggle to remove God from their hearts and minds until they are finally successful. In other words an atheist is one who pushed God out of his consciousness, not one who never believed.

Look again at verses 22-23. The truth of God is suppressed, held back and hindered by the unrighteousness of man. False religions and every kind of idol worship is the result of man denying God's existence; changing what they knew was right; choosing, making a cognitive decision, to worship false gods. At some point (v.24) God said, "That's enough" and stopped trying to change man's mind. He finally allowed us to sink into our own depravity because of the hardness of our own hearts. This is the birthplace of homosexuality, this is where it originates. When men are faced with the truth of God and His Word they rebel. People hate absolutes and the Bible is one humongous absolute. There can be no deviance from it in any fashion. And one of its biggest absolutes we saw in Part 1 of this discussion and that is sexual immorality. The two most prominent results of denying God are the worship of false gods (ultimately humanism) and sexual sin. Not wanting to conform to Divine standards and to worship of the one True God man intentionally pressed God from his consciousness. So, God finally left man to his own devices and to face the ultimate judgment of his actions. Verse 32 shows that man revels in the fellowship of others who choose the same ungodly life style as their own knowing they face the ultimate judgment of God. In other words, they search for others to join them in their sin. 

Yes, homosexuality is clearly a choice. There may be a tendency toward any given sin. Look at alcoholism. Some years ago I heard a study that said alcoholism is a disease and that it could be shown that there is a predisposition toward dependency that could be detected genetically. Well then, shall we say that since we are predisposed to certain things that we should simply give in to them? Should the alcoholic become the very best alcoholic he can be? Should the crack addict become the best crack addict he can be? And should the homosexual surrender to his/her sin? If there is a predisposition to something shall we simply embrace it and completely surrender to it since it seems to be a natural tendency for us? To all of these we would say no. But for some reason society says to accept homosexuality even knowing it is nothing more than a predisposition to uncontrolled corrupt passions. Without becoming too perverse for this type of study let me just say that all of us can imagine a multitude of vile sins that we should not give in to. Yet, we can also think of people we know or have seen in the news who are engaged in such vulgar activities. If they have predispositions to these activities, should they just give in and continue to pursue them? Or, should they seek help in giving them up and becoming free of them?

Marriage is an image of the Divine relationship: Only a couple of references are offered here. Since God frequently referred to His relationship with Israel as being like a husband and wife the references then would be many. (Here are 2 examples, Isaiah 54:5-6 shows God ‘married’ to Israel. And Revelation 19:7-9 shows Jesus married to the Church.) However, in Paul’s letter to the Church at Ephesus he explains in more detail how the marriage union is used to exemplify the relationship Christ has with His Church.

Ephesians 5:23-26 “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. (v.24) Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. (v.25) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it….” (Ephesians 5:30-32) “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (v.31) For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. (v.32) This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

In the Old Testament Israel was seen as God’s wife. In the New Testament the Church is seen as the Bride of Christ. But notice the marriage union is used to exemplify the union of God with His people in both cases. It is not found anywhere in scripture that God ever used a same sex image to reflect his relationship with us. Homosexuality is a vulgar and crude corruption of a beautiful image that God gave us to represent His relationship to His people, an image that was intended to help us understand our relationship to God.

Genesis 1:22, 28; 8:17; 9:1 (please look up each one. Again limited by space.)

The first command of God to His non-human creation was to multiply upon the earth and later that same command was issued to man. An innate inability to do so reveals that something is not right, either a birth defect, an injury or something else, since anything created by God has the ability to reproduce after its own kind. No created being functioning within its natural parameters is without the ability to reproduce. A natural male and female without physical defects can reproduce. However, no male with male or female with female can ever do so, it is not natural. They cannot fulfill this command of God. The only way for them to even pretend to reproduce is to take children from others. They must take other people’s children and then try to raise them with a corrupted view of the family unit God gave us, a structure He designed to help us understand our relationship to Him.

Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Our creation has something to do with the nature of God and that includes the idea of both male and female and never the inclusion of something half way in between.

Homosexuality is an aberration of God’s creation, it is not natural.

Homosexuality in the Old Testament

 

Part 1: What does the Old Testament say about homosexuality?

Leviticus 18:22-30 “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. (v.23) Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. (v.24) Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: (v.25) And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. (v.26) Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: [v.27 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)] (v.28) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. (v.29) For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. (v.30) Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

Can a stronger case for sexual purity in a heterosexual relationship be made? God himself makes the case and gives the commandment without reservation or apology. In verse 22 you find “Thou shalt not…” as the introduction to the topic. A phrase of this type leaves no room for opinion or discussion. In fact, the whole idea of choosing one thing over another for any reason at all is eradicated. You will only choose to obey God or to disobey God. And that decision brings with it eternal reward or consequence beyond human comprehension. Disobedience to this command reveals the condition of the human heart which was summed up in Psalm 14:1 “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” Anyone committing the sin talked about in this passage is doing something which is ‘toebah’ (from the Hebrew meaning, a disgusting thing, abomination, abominable).

So then, what is this act which is so disgusting or abominable? Paul mentions it in Romans chapter one as a primary cause for God lifting his hand of blessing and allowing men to fall into the deepest depravities of their own hearts, Romans 1:26-27 “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: (v.27) and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly.” This is the same sin which is recorded in Leviticus 18:22 “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” In case there is any doubt read the entire chapter and you will see that all sexual sin is in view. We are told in Leviticus 18 to stay away from any form of sexual sin. However, special notice is given (no less than 5 verses) to sexual relationships which involve men with men or women with women. And included with that concept is what most would agree is vile and that is humans with animals. But make no mistake, homosexuality is included with bestiality and viewed as equally vile. Yes, I did just say homosexuality and bestiality are equally repugnant and viewed before God on precisely the same level. One is the same as the other in God’s eyes.

Now look at the results of such actions. Today we have legislated this vulgar act of depravity into a laudable condition to be praised and embraced. But no amount of human legislation will ever remove the consequence of sin.  The lives of those people was affected not only individually with the judgment of God on their lives but also as a nation. Look closely at the verses again. This time I have removed some words in order to cut-to-the-chase and clarify the point.

[All parenthetical statements were added by me.]

Verse 24, “…for in all these (sexual sins) the nations are defiled which I cast out before you.”

Verse 25 “And the land is defiled (by homosexuality): therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.”

Verse 27 “For all these abominations (homosexuality, bestiality)…the land is defiled.”

Verse 28 (my paraphrase) Because of homosexuality and other sexual sin the land itself refused to produce and they were forced to leave.

Verse 29 “For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations… shall be cut off….”

Verse 30 “Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance…(and) defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.”  

Homosexuality is the beginning of the ruin of a nation. All lands (not just Sodom and Gomorrah) before the Jews in this passage were destroyed as a result of such vile sexual sins. And now they are warned of impending judgment for the very same reasons. In Romans Paul warned that it was this very sin that finally caused God to lift his hand and allow mankind to fall into such spiritual and moral degradation as they had never known before. Today we embrace this same sick behavior and dare to stand in the face of God and say He is wrong for ever condemning homosexuality. Men take his Word and attempt to distort it so that we can classify homosexuality as an ‘alternate’ lifestyle. Where is the fear of the judgment of a holy and righteous God?  Romans 3:18 says of fallen man, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

If there were no other passage in the Bible standing against homosexuality this one should surely be sufficient. However, it does not stand alone. A few others to consider are: Leviticus 20:13; Deuteronomy 23:17-18; I Kings 14:22-24; 15:11-12; 22:44-46; II Kings 23:6-7.

Remember, virtually every reference to homosexuality in the Bible is met with Divine judgment.

How does America become so foolish as to believe God will turn His head this time?