Christians are to love the lost, after all, Christ Jesus died for the lost. The Bible teaches that they’ll know we are Christians by our love (John 13:35). Does that mean that because we love people, we don’t confront their sin? No. We are to “speak the truth in love” to them, even if they will not receive it (Ephesians 4:15). The Bible declares, in no uncertain terms, that homosexuality is not simply an equal to heterosexuality or an alternate lifestyle; it is a sin. So, as a Christian, may I humbly share what the whole Bible says regarding the sin of homosexuality? The Bible references this sin in many passages and universally condemns it. It is never affirmed, promoted, countenanced, or pronounced acceptable for God’s people, Old or New Testament. Although an argument could be built entirely upon God’s blueprint and design for marriage starting in Genesis 1 and 2, I’ll confine my remarks to what it says about homosexuality alone. I will also defer from commenting on the political machinations swirling around this moral issue. The great empires of the world: Egyptian, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, Roman, invariably fell, not because of the political or social issues of the day. Every one of them crumbled because of inner moral decay; the sort of moral decay being evidenced by the drive to legitimize homosexuality. Once moral decay has eroded a nation or an empire and it has become morally weakened, it becomes militarily vulnerable. God will remove His hand of protection from it.
Old Testament:
In Genesis 19 the tragic story of Sodom and Gomorrah is described. Two angels who had left Abraham had entered the city of Sodom. They were provided food and lodging for the night by the only righteous man in the city, Lot. Evidently the men of the city of Sodom spotted Lot providing Oriental hospitality to these two angels (whom they assumed were men). In Genesis 19:5, the men of Sodom shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out so we can have sex with them.” (NLT) Lot begs his fellow citizens not to do “such a wicked thing” and apart from the intervention of the angels to blind the men, they would have abused Lot’s guests. Although I do not think homosexuality was the only sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, it was one of the chief sins of these twin cities and other cities on the plain and was a compelling reason for their complete destruction by the Lord (Genesis 19:13, 24, 25). Jesus confirms this story in Luke 17:28, 29 and the New Testament comments on it in Jude 1:7 where Jude states, “And don’t forget the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with sexual immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and are a warning of the eternal fire that will punish all who are evil.” (NLT)
In Judges 19, we read a similar story to that of Sodom and Gomorrah. A Levite and his concubine spend the night in the city of Gibeah. Judges 19:22 reports that the men of the city came at night to the house of the old man who housed the strangers and demanded, “Bring out the man who is staying with you so we can have sex with him.” (NLT) Oriental hospitality required that the old man protect his guest at all costs from the abusers. The result was a civil war in which the tribe of Benjamin was nearly extinguished.
In the Mosaic Law, God tells Moses to write the moral, ceremonial, and dietary laws that will govern the nation of Israel. In Leviticus, God provides instruction for His priests, the Levites. He tells the priests they are to warn the people saying, “Do not practice homosexuality; it is a detestable sin” (Leviticus 18:22). Although sexual sins such as incest (18:6-18), adultery (18:20), homosexuality (18:22), and bestiality (18:23) were all practiced by the surrounding godless nations, these sins must not be committed by His people. To do so was to come under God’s judgment and condemnation.
In Leviticus 20:13, the Lord warns, “The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties. They have committed a detestable act and are guilty of a capital offense.” The penalty for homosexual behavior was stoning to death.
In Deuteronomy 23:17,18, God warns the new generation of Israelites preparing to enter the promised land that they must not practice either heterosexual or homosexual prostitution and worship given by such men and women is an abomination in His sight.
New Testament:
In Romans 1:18-32, the Apostle Paul describes the progressively degenerative nature of sin from rejecting the knowledge of God, to rejecting the standards of God, to accepting the worship of idols, to the practice of homosexuality, to the practice of all manner of sinfulness, to approving and supporting sinful behavior in others. Homosexuality, according to Paul, begins with the abandonment of God and His standards. Romans 8:26, 27 describes “women exchanging the natural function for that which is unnatural and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error” (NASV). Because of that, God “abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done” (Romans 1: 28). (NLT) Regardless of what a man or woman says, all who are genuine followers of Christ obey Him (Luke 6:46).
In writing to the church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul describes the remarkable conversion of many in the church. In describing them he paints a “before and after” picture of the men and women in this church. First, the before: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the Kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9,10). (NASV) Now, the after: “And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11). (NASV) The letter to the Corinthian Church is a great encouragement to all of us sinners, including homosexual sinners. God can wash us, cleanse us, forgive us, justify us and change us. He can make us fit for the Kingdom of God.
In his pastoral epistle to Timothy, Paul instructs Timothy as a young pastor in the scope of the law. He says that the law was not made for righteous people but for lawbreakers and rebels. As Paul puts it, “These laws are for people who are sexually immoral, for homosexuals, and slave traders, for liars and oath breakers, and for those who do anything else that contradicts the right teaching that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God” (1 Timothy 1:10, 11). (NLT) The Bible regards homosexuals as lawless rebels who cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Can they be forgiven and made fit for heaven? Absolutely. God loves sinners but hates their sin. God loves homosexuals but hates their sin. A homosexual can be saved through personal faith in Jesus Christ just like any other sinner. From the previous passage in 1 Corinthians 6, salvation will “wash, sanctify and justify” the homosexual. However, the homosexual who is saved will, like the woman caught in adultery, need to “go your way and sin no more” (John 8:11).
In Jude 1:6,7, Jude writes of the sin of angels who are kept in bondage by God awaiting the judgment of the great day. He says of them that “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7). (NASV) The abnormal sexual sin of these angels is compared to the abnormal sexual sin of those in Sodom and Gomorrah. Like the homosexuality of Sodom and Gomorrah, the abnormal sexual sin of these angels is called indulging in “gross immorality” and going after “strange flesh.” It is punishable by eternal fire. I will refrain from speculating on the exact nature of the abnormal sexual sin of these angels (although I have my opinions) but I do know, from Genesis 19, that the abnormal sexual sin of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities was homosexuality.
Finally, there is a cryptic reference to homosexuals in the book of Revelation. In listing those who are outside the New Jerusalem, John’s symbolic term for heaven, he says, “Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying” (Revelation 22:15). (NASV) In the Bible, the term “dogs” when applied to persons means evildoers (Psalm 22:16), Gentiles (non-Jews) (Matthew 15:27), or homosexuals (Revelation 22:15).
Homosexuality is classified as one type of sexual sin under a broad umbrella of sexual sins termed immorality (porneia, in the New Testament Greek). Porneia refers to all manner of sexual immorality including adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bestiality, incest, and polygamy to name just a few. The Greek term porneia is used 38 times in the Bible. Although most, if not all, of these references include homosexuality, I have chosen to restrict my references to those which specifically name homosexuality or illustrations of it.
What’s the bottom line in all of this? Stand on the solid moral ground of the Bible. Obey it. The recognition of homosexual unions, the affirmation of homosexuality as a rightful, lawful lifestyle is supporting that which God and the Bible condemns. To stand for homosexuality is to stand for adultery, fornication, bestiality, incest and polygamy for the Bible lumps all of them under the same umbrella of sexual sins. Take the moral high ground and stand where God stands on this issue.
Loving the sinner, hating their sin,
Irv