There is quite a lot of debate on this forum and many others concerning the topic of homosexuality and it’s standing before God. Is it sin, is it not, is it blessed by God or will those in its bonds be judged by God? Seems there is no consensus among Christians to the answer of any of these questions. Those who say it is not sin will dismiss Leviticus 18:22 as only referring to the nation of Israel, or they’ll say that if you hold one of the Levitical laws you must hold to all of it. They’ll appeal to Galatians 3:10 which states: “for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” In Romans 1:26-27, they’ll argue that this passage is dealing with heterosexuals who were overtaken by pagan idolatrous worship and had same sex orgies, contrary to their nature. These arguments seem to have merit when first heard, but upon closer examination of the text they resemble an eisogesis of the text; imposing something on the text the author never meant. The bible does speak on the subject, and the bible is clear. My hope is that I can reveal what it is saying in an accurate way and not misinterpret its meaning as those mentioned above have.
Gods Revelation
I would like to start by appealing to the revelation of God. I will mostly be appealing to general revelation; that which God has revealed to all men. In Romans 1:19-20 Paul informs us that God has made Himself known by what He has made. “For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made”, man knows God exists, he knows God’s attributes and he understands these things. There is a way in which the things of this universe function; there is an order to it which we can comprehend, even measure. The stars in the heavens behave in a certain way, the sun, the moon all do their thing day in and day out. The ocean tides adjust based on the gravity exerted upon them, animals behave in certain ways, some tame some wild, and humans as well perform basic functions. Our heart beats, our lungs suck in oxygen, our intestines digest food, our sexual organs work in a certain way as well. Romans 1:26-27 gives us a clue that Paul is still speaking of Gods revelation when he uses the words “natural function”. It states:
“for this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,” The word natural is the Greek word “phusikos” which means “physical”, i.e. (by implication) instinctive:” and the word function is the Greek word “chresis” which means “employment, i.e. (specifically) sexual intercourse (as an occupation of the body):”. Paul is saying that our sexuality is instinctive or intuitive to us as humans, as God has revealed them plainly to us. In other words, a woman’s sexual function is to be instinctively exercised with men, but that they had exchanged that for the unnatural use of other women and the abandonment of this natural use (sexually) is God giving them over to degrading passions. Verse 26 implies that women had abandoned men (sexually) for other women, but it is stated explicitly in verse 27 that the men had done the same thing, given up the natural, instinctive use of the woman sexually for that of an unnatural lust for sex with other men. Paul calls this practice degrading and indecent and alludes to some penalty or judgment that God visits on those practicing such things.
By way of revelation we can also learn much from the created order in the Garden of Eden. When God made Adam and saw that he was alone and states in Gen 2:18
“It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him”, God is revealing something to us about the nature of men and women, that a woman was the suitable helper for Adam. The Hebrew word for suitable is “neged” and means “a front, i.e. part opposite; specifically a counterpart, or mate; usually (adverbial, especially with preposition) over against or before.” God had specifically made the woman for the man, for a specific purpose, as a mate. We also read the reason why a man will leave his family and join with a woman, Genesis 2:23-24 states, “the man said,
This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” The reason a man leaves his father and mother to be married to his wife is due to God’s creative purpose for human beings to procreate and make a family, God gives Adam and Eve a tremendous blessing with His first command to them in Genesis 1:28 “be fruitful and multiply” a blessing and a command that same sex partners can never achieve. This blessing, I believe was God’s gift to Adam, someone to share his life with, someone to be intimately acquainted with and carry his seed, someone (a fairer one) to bear his children. This revelation is crystal clear and as Paul reminds us in Romans 1, instinctive.
Sexual Sin
The Old Testament law is often ignored and thought of as not binding. Many Christians assume that the Old Testament laws have been completely abrogated and that only the laws that Christ gave in the gospels are in effect. The Law of Moses is looked at as harsh, uncaring, barbaric, and chauvinistic. This of course ignores the truth that Christ is the giver of the law to Moses and that Jesus refers to the Mosaic Law when giving this supposed new “law of Christ” in the gospels. Certainly, there are ceremonial laws that are useless for the New Testament church today, such as animal sacrifices that were a shadow of the actual atoning work that Christ performed on the cross, but the moral law that we see in the Old Testament is always reaffirmed in the New. A bitterly contested scripture today is Leviticus 18:22, which states “you shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.” Now normally, this verse on its own is so clear that there should be no reason to try and convince anyone of what it says, but liberal Christians have hijacked the passage and either distorted or misapplied the meaning. You will be told that this verse was strictly for Israel, or that it no longer applies in a New Testament context or that one must ascribe to every law in Leviticus or none at all. One does not have to look very far to refute these attempts of explaining away the clear meaning of the text. The assertion that these laws were strictly for Israel is refuted a number of verses later in Leviticus 18:25-28 when it says, “for the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you.” The surrounding nations were guilty of all of the sexual sins listed in Leviticus 18 and they had defiled the land and were being judged because of it. The laws of Leviticus 18 were brought to bear on the Gentile nations and the just recompense for their breaking of these laws was executed upon them.
The argument that the Old Testament laws no longer apply for the New Testament church or that we must hold to all of the Levitical laws or none at all, is refuted by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In Matthew 22:39 Jesus directly quotes from Leviticus 19:18 when He says that “you shall love your neighbor as yourself”. According to this hermeneutic, since Jesus affirms Leviticus 19:18 He must affirm all of the rest of the Levitical laws, but we know that Jesus does not require us to sacrifice the blood of bulls and goats (as Levitical law demands) any longer since through His own blood, He entered the holy place, once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Therefore, there are Old Testament laws that we continue to obey and there are others that have been abrogated, some apply to us today, and some do not.
I have read many arguments against the clear understanding of the text and all of them tend to cloud the issue by either challenging the application of the law or accusing those holding to a literal understanding with asserting justification rather than sanctification. They will appeal to Galatians 3:10 which states, “for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But this passage does not speak of living a sanctified life through obedience to God’s revealed law, which is the point of those who understand Leviticus 18:22 as defining homosexuality as sinful behavior, but it is referring to justification by the works of the law, as verse 11 clearly states, “but that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” The charge that anyone looking to establish what is sinful in regards to sexual behavior by appealing to Leviticus 18, must then obey everything in Leviticus is either confused by the distinctions between justification and sanctification or trying to cloud and confuse the issue of what the text clearly says.
Natural and Unnatural Attraction
I want to return to Romans 1:26-27 briefly to refute a claim by homosexuals and those championing their cause that this verse is referring to heterosexuals going against their natural orientation due to their worship of idols. The thinking goes that men and women were going against their natural sexual orientation, so heterosexual men and women were turning to same sex partners against their nature or orientation in their attempt to worship idols. The first problem with this scenario is that it is contrary to how human beings are wired. Sin is attractive to us, we are tempted to sin by what we find alluring and pleasurable, we do what we like doing, so attempting to suggest that heterosexual men were longing to be with other men is contrary to how temptation works its way in us. This brings us to the second problem, the text says that they “burned in their desire (or lust) for one another”. They burned in their desire it says; heterosexuals do not burn in their desires for same sex partners, they burn in their lust for opposite sexual partners, just as homosexuals do not burn in their desires for opposite sexual partners. This understanding of the passage makes no sense at all and is contrary to sinful human nature. Much more tenable is the understanding I have mentioned at the beginning of this article, that the natural use of the body sexually for men and women has been determined by God and revealed to all men. That men were made for women and women were made for men, but that men and women had left this natural use and burned in their lust for one another, men with men, women with women in homosexual unions, contrary to what God has designed. These men and women willfully and rebelliously perverted what God had made as pure, natural and a blessing, and turned natural sexual relations into acts that are shameful. God is not silent or ambiguous on this issue, the supposed exegesis by those defending homosexuality as relationships blessed by God is as I mentioned, supposed. Upon closer examination of the text, their arguments are easily refuted, not by human reason or intellect, but by the scripture themselves. The whole system of interpretation is bankrupt of any competency, as is all of liberal theology. It is the ancient sin of man making God into his own image.
Conclusion
There is no shortage of controversy in the church today concerning the issue of homosexuality and sin, and yet strangely those condoning its practice have no scriptural support whatsoever. They have twisted passages and created imaginary rules of interpretation that the apostles and our Lord never held to and can confuse the unsophisticated reader, but there is nothing substantive concerning their claims once scripture in context is actually read. We have seen that God’s revelation is clear concerning what is natural and instinctive concerning sexual relations; we have seen that the created order reveals that men and women are to be mates and that homosexual relationships cannot participate is God’s blessed command to procreate. We have seen that the Old and New Testament defines homosexuality as sinful behavior and that the text itself refutes any attempt to twist the passages to accommodate same sex relations. So what is the driving force behind those arguing for this cause? It seems obvious that these Christians are influenced by the world, by the culture with which they live in. They wish to remain relevant and be accepted in the culture at large. They wish to be accepted and therefore they are accepting and inclusive of all behavior and beliefs except for an orthodox view of the scriptures. A passage comes to mind concerning this type of “Christian”, Matt 6:19-24
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Be careful what you treasure in your heart, not all treasure is sliver and gold.
Clay
Awesome article
Comment by Mara — November 23, 2008 @ 4:30 pm |