Editorial by Robert Oliver

SPECIAL EDITION

     

 

 

 “Is homosexuality wrong?”

 

 

When the Bible is open, normally the purpose is to read for study or to find answers to life’s pressing questions from God’s point of view. With so much confusion in the world today, we all need a Godly, grounded perspective outside of a worldly influence.  Most questions involve human relationships, such as marriage, divorce, adultery, fornication or homosexuality, this articles topic. The answers received may or may not be acceptable to some, especially if approached with a worldly perspective of what is right or wrong. 

 

This article is not comprehensive, but along with the Sunday mornings sermon to follow, it should give one a very good overview of what God says about immoral sexual behavior including homosexuality. The question for this article, “Is homosexuality wrong?”

 

As you will see, God views the practice of homosexuality as a sin because it violates the limitations of sexual relationships which He established. At the very beginning of time, God created the perfect union, a man and a woman. Anything outside of that God-designed union is sinful.

 

Sexual morality is an important topic throughout the Bible, and its basis was established in creation itself. Even if homosexuality wasn’t mentioned in the Bible, the clear sexual principal that runs through the Scriptures from beginning to end would exclude homosexual practice. The emphasis is on a positive picture of a specific design for sex between a man and a woman within a committed God designed marriage. Genesis 1:26-28: Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:28)

 

God made man and women, male and female in His image, having dominion over the earth and all creatures. They are to be fruitful and multiply, with a positive light on sexuality. We see the continued development in Genesis 2:24-25: For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Husband and wife, one flesh, naked without shame. This is God’s unmistakable design for marriage and sexuality. The very story of Genesis 2, the two are equally made in the image of God, yet each is distinct, completes the other and complete the purpose God has for humanity. This is the standard that runs through all of Scripture and the foundation for biblical sexual morality.

 

When Jesus was challenged on divorce, he reminded the Pharisees that God established sex and marriage long before Moses and that the standard goes back to the beginning.

 

Mat 19:3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?" Mat 19:4 And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, Mat 19:5 and said, 'FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'? Mat 19:6 "So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." 

 

A sexually active man must marry a woman and be devoted to her for life. The conclusion in Matthew 19:10-12: The disciples *said to Him, "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry." But He said to them, "Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given. "For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it."

 

Complete devotion in marriage to a woman or no sexual activity are the only options allowed. As Paul notes in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5: For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;

 

All of this, on its own merits, rules out homosexuality.

The Old Testament is very clear concerning the sinfulness of homosexuality. Leviticus 18:22: You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.

 

This is God’s law by which all nations are judged. The list of primarily sexual sins in Leviticus 18 that contains this command ends with Leviticus 18:24-25: 'Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. 'For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants. 

They were judged for breaking universal moral laws of God like sexual immorality, which includes homosexuality. Leviticus 20:13 continues: 'If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

 

Note the previous verses Leviticus 20:10-12: 'If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 'If there is a man who lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death, their blood guiltiness is upon them. 'If there is a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed incest, their blood guiltiness is upon them.

 

And just after, in Leviticus 20:14: If there is a man who marries a woman and her mother, it is immorality; both he and they shall be burned with fire, so that there will be no immorality in your midst.

 

This is about consensual sexual acts, nothing else. A man is not to have sex with another man for the same reason he is not to commit adultery or incest. And again, we are told that the other nations were judged for these very things. Thus, the teaching against homosexuality (and all sexual immorality) are not limited to Old Testament Israel. They are a standard by which God judges all the peoples of the world.

 

The standard does not change in the New Testament which maintains the clear sexual behavior for the same reasons, and they clearly point out homosexuality as a sinful deviation from it. Paul again takes the issue back to the beginning. Romans 1:18-25: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

 

After creation, we saw the beginning of human sinfulness and the origin of our immorality. The result Romans 1:26-28: For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged 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. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,

 

Homosexuality is an example of human sinfulness when we reject God’s norms, i.e. being opposite the obvious design of men and women. God has a purpose for human sexuality, and this is not it! In the New Testament, homosexuality is listed among other sins from which Christians are to repent and turn from, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 states: Or do you not know that the unrighteous will 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, will inherit the kingdom of God. 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 Timothy 1:8-10: But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching,

 

Homosexuality is plainly identified in several places throughout the Bible as a sin. What’s more, it is a clear violation of the specific, positive sexual behavior that is a major focus throughout Scripture.

 

 

Brad Garner