The Bible, Christianity &
Homosexuality
By Justin R. Cannon
What does the Bible really say about homosexuality? Should the Church allow the blessing of homosexual marriages/unions? Should a homosexual in a committed relationship be ordained a priest or even consecrated bishop? What about tradition? What should I tell my friends or relatives who are gay? Must they remain single for their whole life? We all have pondered at least one of these questions at some time or another.
This study is the end product of much research, dialogue, and prayerful reflection. A few years ago this study began when I decided that I need to know once and for all what the Bible says about homosexuality. I would like to share with you a study of the six Bible verses that have often been used in reference to homosexuality, as well as explore homosexuality within the context of Christian tradition.
Regardless of whether
or not you are a Bible scholar; whether or not you can read Greek; or if you
know everything or nothing about Christian tradition, you will be able to follow this study of: The Bible,
Christianity, and Homosexuality.
The English word homosexual is a compound word made from the Greek word homo, meaning “the same,” and the Latin term sexualis, meaning “sex.” The term homosexual is of modern origin, and it was not until about a hundred years ago that it was first used. There is no word in biblical Greek or Hebrew that is equivalent to the English word homosexual. The 1946 Revised Standard Version (RSV) New Testament was the first translation to use the word homosexual.
There is no word in biblical Greek or Hebrew for “sodomy” or “sodomite.” A Sodomite would have been simply an inhabitant of Sodom, just as a Moabite would have been an inhabitant of Moab, though the word sodomite does not show up in biblical Greek or Hebrew. Any translation of the Bible making use of the words sodomy or sodomite are clear interpretations and not faithful translations.
Looking At
The Bible
There are six Bible accounts that have been used in recent years in reference to homosexuality. These include:
Genesis 1-2 (Creation Account)
Genesis 19:1-9 (Sodom Account)
Leviticus 18:22, 20:13 (Holiness Code)
Romans 1:24-27 (Letter of Paul)
1 Corinthians 6:9 (Letter of Paul)
1 Timothy 1:10 (Letter of Paul)
Passage I:
The Sodom Account (Genesis 19:1-9)
The story of Sodom is an appropriate text to begin with, as it has taken a central role in the study of homosexuality. We must understand the context of this account. God, according to this account, sent two angels to warn Abraham’s nephew, Lot, about the approaching destruction of Sodom. If we stop here for a moment we will see that even before sending the angels, God intended to destroy Sodom. Whatever the reason for the city’s destruction it had to do with the sin of Sodom before this event.
So, the angels came to the city of Sodom and Lot welcomed them to his home and prepared a meal for them. Then a grouping of men surrounded the house and asked where the angels who had come to the house were. They basically shouted, “Where are those men who came to your house? We want to have sex with them!” Lot refused but offered his daughters instead, giving the reason: “Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. Don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof” (19:8). The crowd of men insisted on what they wanted and tried to break through the door. The angels ended up pulling Lot into the house and blinding the crowd.
First of all, in interpreting this event we must take into account the entire situation. Whatever is happening here it is a form of rape. The crowd of men wished to sexually assault or “gangbang” the angels. The situation is also sewn through with appalling violence. Many assert that Lot’s offer of his daughters instead of the male angels implies that homosexual sex would have been worse than heterosexual sex, but Lot himself gives his reason for his action: “Don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” In our time, this does not make sense at all, but in Lot’s day, hospitality was a nearly sacred concept, and it is that distinction that Lot expresses: the visitors are his guests.
Nonetheless, if we were to accept that the distinction is gender-based, we could only conclude homosexual rape of angels is worse than heterosexual rape. To use this story to condemn loving and committed homosexual couples is unfounded and truly stretching this story outside of its historical framework, but that is exactly what has happened. As Jeffrey S. Silker, in reference to such distortion of this text, wrote in his article in Theology Today, “David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba does not make all heterosexual expressions sinful!”1
An
interesting (dis)connection to this story:
In the 1508 Wyclif translation of the Bible into Middle English, the Greek word arsenokoitai (arsenokoitai) in 1 Corinthians 6:9 was translated “synn of Sodom.” Wyclif’s own interpretation was that arsenokoitai had something to do with the Sodom story, though nothing is implied as such in the New Testament text. The author could very well have written “sin of Sodom” if he had wanted to. If your Bible translation has “sodomites” on that list in 1 Corinthians 6:9 it is because of Wyclif. We will look more closely at the word arsenokoitai below in our study of the 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy texts; however, it is remarkable to see how the story of Sodom, filled with rape and violence, has taken such a central role surrounding the topic of homosexuality and more precisely in the development of the word “sodomite” as what it means today.
Important Term : arsenokoitai (arsenokoitai)
This Greek noun is formed from the joining together of the Greek adjectival prefix for male (arseno-) and the Greek word for beds (koitai). Literally then it would mean, “male beds.” It is found in 1 Timothy 1:10 and 1 Corinthians 6:9. This is the first appearance of the word in preserved Greek literature and outside of these two verses this word does not appear at all in the Bible.
The meaning of the word arsenokoitai in both 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10 is debated. Because of the obscurity of this word and the lack of outside sources to shed light on its meaning, we must derive its meaning from the text.
Passage
II: 1 Timothy 1:8-10
“Now we know
that the law is good, if any one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the
law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the
ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and
murderers of mothers, for manslayers, immoral persons, sodomites, kidnappers,
liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine…” (RSV)
Let us keep in mind that the word translated as sodomites is the Greek word arsenokoitai. Right now we should ask, “What exactly does this word mean?” Often when writing lists, common things are grouped together. Looking closely at 1 Timothy 1:9-10, we can see that there are what I will call ‘structural pairs’ that are reflected below in the English as well as in the Greek–the original language of the New Testament.
1 Timothy
1:9-10 (RSV) – English
|
Row A: |
lawless and disobedient |
|
Row B: |
ungodly and sinners |
|
Row C: |
unholy and profane |
|
Row D: |
murderers of fathers murderers of mothers manslayers |
|
Row E: |
immoral persons sodomites kidnappers |
|
Row F: |
liars perjurers… |
1 Timothy
1:9-10 (RSV) - Greek
|
Row A: |
anomoi kai anupotaktoi |
|
Row B: |
asebesin kai amartwloi |
|
Row C: |
anosioi kai bebhloi |
|
Row D: |
patralwai mhtralwai androfonoi |
|
Row E: |
pornoi arsenokoitai andrapodistai |
|
Row F: |
yeustai epiorkoi |
As you will notice there seems to be a relationship
between the words in each row. The chart below illustrates that the words in each
row are either synonyms or closely related in some manner:
|
Row A: |
lawless & disobedient |
= two synonyms |
|
Row B: |
ungodly & sinners |
= two synonyms |
|
Row C: |
unholy & profane |
= two synonyms |
|
Row D: |
murderers of fathers,
murderers of mothers, manslayers |
= three types of murderers |
|
Row F: |
liars & perjurers |
= two synonyms |
But what about row E? What do “immoral persons, sodomites, and kidnappers” have in common? To answer this question beyond a shadow of a doubt, we will need to explore the Greek. The three Greek words present in line E are: pornoi (pornoi), arsenokoitai (arsenokoitai), and andrapodistai (andrapodistai).
Some commonly read Bible translations include the King James Version (KJV), New International Version (NIV), New King James (NKJ), Revised Standard Version (RSV), and New English Bible (NEB). These words were, respectively, translated in the following manner:
|
|
pornoi |
arsenokoitai |
andrapodistai |
|
KJV: |
whoremonger |
“them that defile themselves with mankind” |
men-stealers |
|
NIV: |
adulterers |
perverts |
slave traders |
|
NKJ: |
fornicators |
sodomites |
kidnappers |
|
RSV: |
immoral persons |
sodomites |
kidnappers |
|
NEB: |
fornicators |
perverts |
kidnappers |
As we see there is no clear-cut agreement as to what these words mean, though the above translations agree on the general sense of such words. To determine the precise meanings, we will use a lexicon. A lexicon is a scholarly dictionary used to determine the meaning of biblical words. A search through the online Greek lexicon available at searchgodsword.org gives the following information on the Greek term pornos, which is the stem of the word pornoi, the first of the three words:
Pornos derives from the verb pernemi meaning “to sell” and the following three definitions are given:
1. a male who prostitutes his body to another’s lust for hire
2. a male prostitute
3. a male who indulges in unlawful sexual intercourse, a fornicator
Andrapodistes, the stem of the word Andrapodistai, the third word, returns the following definitions:
1. slave-dealer, kidnapper, man-stealer
a. of one who unjustly reduces free males to slavery
b. of one who steals the slaves of others and sells them.
Arsenokoitai,
as previously indicated, is made up of
the Greek words for male (arseno-) and beds (koitai).
In Greek, the word koitai, literally meaning beds, is commonly
used as a euphemism for one who has sex. Arseno- is an adjectival
prefix, thus literally we could translate this as “a man who has sex” or “male
bedder.”
We have, first of all, a male prostitute, the “male-bedder” (arsenokoitai), and the slave dealer. The New American Bible offers a footnote that might shed some light on the historical context of the time:
“The Greek word translated as boy prostitutes may refer to catamites, i.e. boys or young men who were kept for the purposes of prostitution, a practice not uncommon in the Greco-Roman world. In Greek mythology this was the function of Ganymede, the “cupbearer of the gods,” whose Latin name was Catamus…” (New American Bible)
It was a common practice in that men of Paul’s time would have slave “pet” boys whom they sexually exploited. Dr. Ralph Blair explains, “The desired boys were prepubescent or at least without beards so that they seemed like females.”3 Today, this practice is referred to as pederasty. Regardless, we know the pornos is a prostitute.
Keeping this in mind, let’s look back at what we have so far: the enslaved male prostitute, the “male-bedder” (arsenokoitai), and the slave dealer. This contextual dynamic leads one to understand arsenokoitai as being the one who sleeps with the prostitute—the man who literally lies on the bed with him. It is as if Paul were saying,
“male prostitutes, males who lie [with them], and slave dealers [who procure them].”2 Not only does the syntactical and historical context point to this understanding, but also the very literal sense of the word arsenokoitai itself: male bed.
If this translation of arsenokoitai is correct, it should also make logical sense where it is also used in 1 Corinthians 6:9, either confirming or refuting this understanding of arsenokoitai.
Passage
III: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (RSV)
The term translated “sexual perverts” above is actually two different words. The first word is malakos, which is the singular form of the word malakoi, and the second term is arsenokoitai. Some commonly read translations include…
|
|
malakos |
arsenokoitai |
|
KJV: |
effeminate |
abusers of themselves with mankind |
|
NIV: |
male prostitutes |
homosexual offenders |
|
NKJ: |
homosexuals |
sodomites |
|
RSV1952: |
ŕ homosexuals ß |
|
|
RSV1977: |
ŕ sexual perverts ß |
|
|
RSV1989: |
male prostitutes |
sodomites |
|
Jerusalem Bible: |
catamites |
sodomites |
The term malakoi, as an adjective, literally means “soft.” In Matthew 11:8 it has been used as an adjective in reference to John the Baptist’s clothing. In this text, however, it is used as a noun and its meaning is debated. Does our understanding of arsenokoitai as revealed in 1 Timothy 1:10 as “men who sleep with male-prostitutes” make sense next to this word malakos which is translated by both NIV and RSV as male prostitutes? The Jerusalem Bible even translates the term malakos as catamites, those young soft prepubescent “pet” boys mentioned earlier. The syntactical and historical context of 1 Timothy 1:10 reveals the meaning of the word arsenokoitai as men who sleep with prostitutes, and the fact this also fits the context of 1 Corinthians 6:9 seems to confirm that we have found the meaning of these obscure words. It makes perfect sense that Paul would rebuke not only the prostitute, but also the “male-bedder” or the man who sleeps with that prostitute.
As we see, these
two verses are about this practice of prostitution and possibly pederasty, but
what about Romans 1:27. It clearly says, “…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 their own persons the due penalty for their error.” Is this
not clear enough? There are no obscure Greek words. How are we to understand
this?
Passage
IV: Romans 1:24-27
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to
dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural,
27 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 their own persons the due penalty for their error. (RSV)
To understand what Paul is writing about we
must look at the event as a whole and not isolate a mere portion of it. Each
verse in this story gives us a glimpse into the situation.
Verse 24: “Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity.” If we are painting a picture, it begins with the image of LUST.
Verse 25: “…they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Now there is a LIE as well as IDOLATRY involved (i.e. worshipping something other than God).
Verse 26: “God gave them up to dishonorable passions…” Now DISHONORABLE PASSIONS are presented. Looking back at this now we see this as a situation of lust, lies, idolatry, and dishonorable passions.
Verse 26 and 27 continue: “Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another…”
Looking at the men first will help to clarify the passage: “The men likewise gave up natural relations with women…” It is easy to overlook what this is saying because of the interpretation that has been ingrained into our minds through poor teaching, but read that carefully. They gave up natural relations with women, and then had sexual relations with on another. There is a movement from point A (having natural relations with women) to point B (giving it up, and having sexual relations with other men). The word translated as “gave up” is the Greek word aphente (afenteV) meaning: to give up, leave behind, forsake, or divorce. How can you give up something you do not have? How can you divorce something you are not bound to? These men, we see, divorced themselves from their own nature, that of heterosexuality (natural relations with women), and were consumed with passion for one another. Women did likewise. As we see, Paul is talking about heterosexual individuals filled with lust and engaging in homosexual sex, which is contrary to their nature.
Why would men do that? As any biblical scholar will tell you: “Context is everything.” This is a situation of lust, falsehood, idolatry, and dishonorable passions. In this account there are a number of men and a number of women. Both an accurate reading of this text, and a little historical knowledge would identify this situation as an orgy, wherein everyone is filled with lust and “dishonorable passions” having sex with whomever however. But why would Paul be talking about orgies? A little Old Testament research uncovers the pagan practice of “sacred sexual orgies.” Baal was the Canaanite deity that was worshipped with sexual orgies on Mount Peor in Moab, a pagan practice with which Paul would have been familiar. With this contextual understanding let us read this story again:
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, 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 their own persons the due penalty for their error.“
Anyone who isolates verses 26 and 27 to condemn homosexual relations as unnatural is interjecting their own prejudice into these verses and reading this letter entirely outside of context. Even if we were to isolate that phrase it could only be used to condemn heterosexuals who go against their own heterosexual nature and engage in homosexual activity. As Peter J. Gomes, preacher to Harvard University, further clarifies in his book The Good Book, “It is not clear that Saint Paul distinguished, as we must, between homosexual persons and heterosexual persons who behave like homosexuals, but what is clear is that what is ‘unnatural’ is the one behaving after the manner of the other” 3 (italics mine).
So far we have looked at all three of the New Testament scriptures used in reference to homosexuality as well as the Genesis narrative about Sodom. That leaves us with two other scriptures that are mentioned when this topic is brought up: The Creation Narrative (Genesis 1-2) and Leviticus 18:22 (& parallel verse 20:13).
Passage
V: The Creation Narrative (Genesis 1-2)
This is a story about Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!! I have heard and read that in so many different places. The fact is that it was Adam and Eve. In The Good Book, Gomes writes the following pertaining to the creation narrative:
“…the authors of Genesis were intent
upon answering the question ‘Where do we come from?’ Then, as now, the only
plausible answer is from the union of a man and a woman…The creation story in
Genesis does not pretend to be a history of anthropology or of every social
relationship. It does not mention friendship, for example, and yet we do not
assume that friendship is condemned or abnormal. It does not mention the single
state, and yet we know that singleness is not condemned, and that in certain
religious circumstances it is held in very high esteem” (pages 49-50).4
In other words, Adam and Eve is the only relationship that would make sense for this specific account. It is a story about creation, and only a procreative (i.e. hetero-sexual) relationship would be appropriate for this particular story. If someone, in spite of this, were to base his or her opinion of homosexuality on the Creation story alone, their stance would not only be out of context, but also based on a weak argument.
That leaves us with two Leviticus laws: Leviticus 18:22 & parallel verse 20:13.
Passage
VI: Leviticus 18:22
Some common translations of Leviticus 18:22 include:
KJV: “Thou shalt not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
NIV: “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”
Living Bible: “Homosexuality is absolutely forbidden, for it is an enormous sin.”
In any serious study of Leviticus 18:22, one must look closely at the historical context of this law. The book of Leviticus is a part of the Hebrew Law and contains everything from commandments for men not to shave the edges of their beards (Lev 19:27); orders not to have intercourse during menstruation (Lev 18:19); not to harvest different crops in the same field (Lev 19:19); as well as numerous dietary laws.
In order to understand this verse we will look first at the Hebrew Law and how it relates to Christians, an issue the early church faced when Gentiles were being converted. Second, we will look at the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus as a whole, and how this is a part of the Holiness Code. Finally, we will end this section with a careful examination of Leviticus 18:22.
THE LAW:
The early church was faced with the question of whether or not the Hebrew Law applies to Christians. Many Gentiles were being converted to Christianity, yet they were not circumcised, nor did they follow the Law that God had given to the Israelites. It was through the observation of the Law that Jews considered themselves justified before God. In reading Paul’s letters to the Romans, the Galatians, the Corinthians, the Colossians, and the Hebrews we find a consistent claim that “no one is justified before God by the law” (Galatians 3:10). Paul writes the following in reference to the law:
“Likewise, my brethren, you have
died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another,
to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for
God. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the
law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are
discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve
not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit” (RSV
Romans 7:4-6).
“Now before faith came, we were
confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be
revealed. So that the law was our
custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no
longer under a custodian [i.e. The Law]. For in Christ Jesus you are all
sons of God, through faith” (RSV Galatians 3:23-26).
Other New Testament Scriptures on the Law include: 2 Corinthians 3:6; Colossians 2:13-15; Hebrews 8:8-13, Romans 10:1-4. In the second chapter of his letter to the Galatians he confronts Peter who has been forcing Gentiles to follow the Jewish law (Galatians 2:14), and he goes on to boldly assert:
“We ourselves, who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified” (RSV Galatians 2:15-16).
Paul was even persecuted for this deeply held conviction that as Christians, we are no longer held to the Hebrew Law, but are justified through faith in Jesus Christ.
If we are “not under the law” does that mean we can lie, cheat, steal, etc.? In Romans 6:15 Paul answers this question himself, “By no means!” Didn’t Christ himself in Matthew 5:17 say that he came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it? So what is the fulfillment of the law? Jesus was once asked, “Rabbi, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40). The fulfillment of the law is love. Paul would later echo this idea in Romans as he wrote:
“Owe no one anything, except to love
one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. The
commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not
steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this
sentence, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a
neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (RSV Romans
13:8-10).
THE
HOLINESS CODE:
There are over 600 laws in the Old Testament and the book of Leviticus contains many of such laws. The book of Leviticus is a part of what is described as the Holiness Code, which was given to protect the Israelites from idolatry and to distinguish them from pagan cultures.
Leviticus 18
begins, “And the Lord said to
Moses, ‘Say to the people of Israel, I
am the Lord your God. You shall not do
as they do in the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, and you shall not do as they
do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their
statutes. You shall do my ordinances
and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God...’” (Leviticus
18:1-4). This introduction of Leviticus 18 clearly maintains that these laws
were given to distinguish them from the ways of the people in Egypt and those
in Canaan.
The Old Testament, as has been mentioned, was initially a part of the Hebrew Scriptures of the Jewish people. The Septuagint was an ancient translation of the Old Testament (circa 200 B.C.) from its original Hebrew into Greek. It was the “version” of the Old Testament that the New Testament writers quoted from when they cited Old Testament scriptures. The Hebrew word in this specific law we are looking at that was translated into English as “abomination” was translated in the Septuagint into the Greek word bdelugma. A quick search through a lexicon for the word bdelugma brings up the following definition:
1. a foul thing, a detestable thing
a. of idols and things pertaining to idolatry
This also seems to point to the idea that this specific law has to do with a matter of ritual purity and with the Hebrews not being like the idolatrous Babylonians or Canaanites. It is probably referring to either the sacred orgies involved in the worship of the god Baal, or some other form of idolatry.
ABUSIVE
SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS:
KJV: “Thou shalt not lie with
a man as with a women; it is an abomination.”
NIV: “Do not lie with a man as
one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”
Translated literally from Hebrew Leviticus 18:22 reads: “And with a male you shall not lay lyings of a woman.” The only way of making sense of this is to insert something to produce a smoother, more coherent English translation. For example, one can insert “as the” or “in the” after the first lay as showed below:
“And with a male you shall not lay [as the] lyings of a woman.”
“And
with a male you shall not lay [in the] lyings of a woman.”
Even if we accept the NIV or KJV translations, (KJV: “Thou
shalt not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.”) we
still must understand the historical context of how a man laid with a women,
for this is the qualifier of the phrase. Some affirm that this law is quite
straightforward. Clearly from the previous sixteen verses, we know that these
laws are written to men. Thus, some may say, this law forbids men to “lie
with”, or have sex with, other men. This interpretation is flawed as it
entirely ignores the phrase “as with a woman.” These four words cannot simply
be understood to refer to lying sexually, since that is already indicated in
the Hebrew word
translated “to lie with.” If the above interpretation were what the author
means he could have just written, “Thou shalt not lie with a man; it is an
abomination.”
“As with a woman” must have been added for some reason, and
we must understand the context of this law to understand it fully. The status
of women in that time was much lower than that of men, and women were even
considered property of the men. This belief regarding gender relations is
rejected by most of the Christian church
today, but in order to make sense of this specific Jewish law we must keep in
mind this context in which it was written.
Rabbi Arthur Waskow explains, “The whole structure of sexuality in the Torah
assumes a dominant male and a subordinate female.”4 In other words,
women were obedient to men, and men in that time would have been dominating and
controlling in sexual encounters. The woman did what the man wanted and how the
man wanted it. For a man in a sexual encounter to be treated in that way,
within the Jewish culture of the time, the man would have be taking a lower
status, as well as being sexually dominated and controlled. To do so would have
been reducing him to property and in effect defiling the image of God, which
man was considered in that culture. This, however, is exactly how men would
have treated the male temple prostitutes—in a controlling and abusive manner,
and also is how individuals would have been treated in the sacred sexual orgies
with which Baal was worshiped. They would have lied with other men “as with a
women.”
Conclusion on Leviticus 18:22
As we see, this law isn’t as simple as it appears. First of all, we know from Paul’s writing that we have “died to” and are “discharged from the law” (Romans 7:4-6). We also know that “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). Second, we understand that Leviticus is a part of the Holiness code, which was written to distinguish the Israelites from the Canaanites and Moabites. Lastly, we see that Leviticus 18:22 has to do with abusive cultic practices, and says nothing pertaining the issue we are faced with today—that of loving and committed homosexual relationships.
As we see, the Bible really does not fully address the topic of homosexuality. Jesus never talked about it. The prophets never talked about it. In Sodom homosexual activity is mentioned within the context of rape (raping angels nonetheless), and in Romans 1:24-27 we find it mentioned within the context of idolatry (Baal worship) involving lust and dishonorable passions. 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10 talk about homosexual activity in the context of prostitution and possibly pederasty. Nowhere does the Bible condemn a loving and committed homosexual relationship. To use the Bible to condemn such a relationship, as we see, involves a projection of ones own bias and a stretching of the Biblical text beyond that of which the scriptures speak. Historically, however, the Bible has been taken out of context and twisted to oppress almost every minority one could imagine including women, African Americans, children, slaves, Jews, and the list goes on. Do we truly understand the greatest commandments? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” (RSV Mat. 22:36-40)
Church
Tradition & Marriage
Tradition, however, has held that marriage is a sacrament designed for a very specific purpose. The following is taken from the article Homosexual Marriage by United Methodist clergyman Tex Sample:
“To address Christian homosexual marriage, attention must be turned to the tradition of the church, and here I am indebted to the work of Daniel M. Bell Jr. St. Augustine is the major figure in the teaching of the church on marriage. For him marriage is an office, a duty in which one serves the church and the larger society. This office serves three ends. First is the procreative end, which is understood by Augustine as raising children for the Kingdom of God. It is not primarily having children of one’s own in a biological sense. The second end is the unitive end in which couples learn faithfulness to each other and to God and become thereby witnesses to an ‘order of charity.’ The third is the sacramental end, which for Augustine relates more often to the indissolubility of marriage.
“These three ends are sustained in the later Middle Ages. While Augustine sees marriage as serving to restrain lust, in the later Middle Ages a more positive view develops in which marriage contributes to growth in holiness…
“The point is that marriage in the Christian tradition serves a number of ends: procreation, fidelity, sacramental, mutual support and companionship, mutual society, and loving companionship. What is striking is that all of these ends can be met by homosexual marriages, even the procreative end when the procreative end is understood as raising children for the Kingdom of God and not primarily as a function of nature [a biological function]. On these grounds, it is appropriate for gay and lesbian Christians to be married in the church, and it is not in violation of Scripture or tradition.
“The objection to this argument by some Christians is to raise up Mark 10:7-8 where Jesus states that “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” The argument is then made that this is the only form scriptural marriage can take. The issue addressed in this passage, however, is divorce. Jesus is responding to a hard-hearted test of his authority. Extending his response to a blanket denial of homosexual marriage goes well beyond the text. Moreover, it is uttered by a single Christ who did indeed leave his mother and father to engage in his Incarnate mission. So long as we are dealing with a single Christ who left father and mother for a different reason, we must be open to other possible options, especially options that fulfill the ends of Christian marriage traditionally understood.
“In conclusion, biblical teaching does not address a host of same-sex practices, among them homosexual marriage. Moreover, the ends of marriage as understood in the tradition of the church are ends that homosexual marriage can fulfill. So the issue in the confirmation of a bishop in a homosexual relationship is not whether he or she is gay, not even whether he or she is a practicing homosexual. The question is: is he or she married to this partner, and if so, does this marriage meet these ends.”6
The
“Sacrament” of Sex
There are those who would say that this topic is really much simpler and just comes down to sex. They might ask, “Isn’t the inherent function of sex procreation, an end which homosexual sex does not fulfill?” The 1958 resolution of the Ninth Lambeth Conference (the worldwide gathering of Anglican bishops), on the subject of intercourse wrote:
“Sexual intercourse is not by any
means the only language of earthly love, but it is, in its full and right use,
the most revealing…It is a giving and receiving in the unity of two free
spirits which in itself is good…Therefore it is utterly wrong to say that…such
intercourse ought not to be engaged in except with the willing intention of
children.” 4
Sex within marriage can fulfill two divine functions: the procreative and the unitive. With regards to these two divine ends of sex (i.e. the procreative and the unitive), if you cannot fulfill one, does that mean you should not do the other? It is like asking, if you are sick and cannot go to church should you not pray? If homosexual sex can fulfill one of the two divine ends of sex, is that not reason enough to bless lifelong homosexual unions/marriages? Interestingly enough, The Roman Catholic Church, as well as most other churches, permits the marriage of infertile couples, as well as the marriage of women past childbearing age, both of which close the possibility of procreation. As Boston College Professor of Theology Charles C. Hefling, Jr. summarizes this beautifully: “Sex can be productive without being reproductive.”4
Conclusion
As we have seen,
Scripture does not really have much to say about homosexuality. Furthermore, we
have come to see that homosexual sex within a marriage can fulfill one of the
divine ends of sex (i.e. the unitive), and that such a marriage also fits
within the traditional Christian understanding of the sacrament of marriage—an
image of the fidelity and love between God and His church. I would like to
leave you with a short story adapted
from an oral rendition by Natalie Graber:
Once there was an
old man who had to carry water up the hill from the river to his house each
day. One of his water jugs, however, had a crack in it, so that, by the time he
arrived at the top of the path, most of the water was lost. His neighbors
laughed at him: “Why don’t you buy a new water jug?” Even his wife criticized
him: “Why don’t you buy a new water jug?” But the man said nothing.
One day, he said
to them, “Come with me,” and led them, skeptical but curious, down the path
that ran from his back door to the river.
“Almost every day,” said the man to his wide-eyed
companions, “on my way to the river, I scatter seeds. On my way home, water
leaks from my precious jug to nourish them.”
To their amazement, the entire left side of
path was in bloom. A riot of color—flowers of every hue and tone— made the path
a paradise.
Is not homosexuality similar to that second jug? It may appear broken from one individual’s limited and restricted perspective, but truly what appears to be “brokenness” is indeed a hidden virtue. Could one even imagine that the jug is not necessarily “broken,” but rather God, out of abundance and creativity, created more than one type of jug for more than one purpose?
On another note, we accept that it is true that we are not only spiritual and mental beings, but also physical and sexual beings. Does it make sense then that a large percent of God’s children should live in denial of a fundamental part of who they are? Should this group be forced to live without the affection and intimacy that comes with committed partnership? Nonetheless, that is precisely what is happening. Homosexuals in the church are not only among the most marginalized groups, but are often victims of violence or driven to suicide because they cannot make sense of their sexual feelings in the light of what they believe or are told their Bible says. Or because of a lack of understanding of what the Bible truly says (or doesn’t say) they are, more often than not, driven to leave the church.
The Church needs to embrace and support this group of people, not despite scripture and tradition, but in light of scripture and tradition. The doors of the church need to be opened and human prejudices set aside, so that we can truly live according to the law that Christ taught us. The problem, however, is rooted in fear and lack of awareness. Gomes concludes, “The combination of ignorance and prejudice under the guise of morality makes the religious community, and its abuse of scripture in this regard, itself morally culpable.”3
For homosexual and heterosexual Christians alike it is imperative to know what the Bible says about homosexuality, as both groups desire to live according to the direction of the Bible, as understood through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. With looming constitutional amendments in opposition to homosexual marriage, and division in the larger Church surrounding this issue, it is our responsibility to be as informed as possible. It is my prayer that we may set aside our fears and prejudices and open our minds and hearts to the truth which the Holy Spirit longs to make known to us all. I offer this study as one seeking that truth. May the Spirit of peace, which surpasses all understanding, guide our hearts and minds as we continue to prayerfully consider this issue.
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Sources Cited:
1 Silker, Jeffrey S. How To
Decide? Homosexual Christians, the Bible, and Gentile Inclusion (Theology
Today, Vol 51, No. 2 - July 1994).
2 Scroggs, Robin. The New
Testament and Homosexuality: Contextual Background for Contemporary Debate.
(Fortress Press, 1983).
3 Blair, Dr. Ralph.
Available Online at http://www.ecinc.org/Scriptures/clbrpg.htm
4
Gomes,
Peter J. The Good Book. (William
Morrow & Company, 1996).
5
Waskow, Arthur.
Homosexuality and Torah Thought.
6
Sample,
Tex. Homosexual Marriage. Available Online at http://rmnetwork.org/marriage/resources/sample.pdf
OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES:
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Ph.D. (ISBN: 1-886360-09-X)
Edited by James M. Childs
Jr. (ISBN: 0-80063-580-9)
By John Boswell (ISBN: 0-22606-711-4)
·
Surprised By Peace By Mary Britton (ISBN: 0972188340)
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