Scripture on homosexuality open bible
What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?
What Does The Bible Declare About Homosexuality?
Introduction
For the last two decades, Pew Explore Center has reported that one of the most enduring ethical issues across Christian traditions is sexual diversity. For many Christians, one of the most frequently first-asked questions on this topic is, “What does the Bible tell about attraction to someone of the same sex?”
Although its unlikely that the biblical authors had any notion of sexual orientation (for example, the word homosexual wasn't even coined until the late 19th century) for many people of faith, the Bible is looked to for timeless guidance on what it means to honor God with our lives; and this most certainly includes our sexuality.
Before we can jump into how it is that Christians can maintain the authority of the Bible and also affirm sexual diversity, it might be helpful if we started with a brief but clear overview of some of the assumptions informing many Christian approaches to understanding the Bible.
What is the Bible?
For Christians to whom the Bible is God’s very written word, it is widely understood that God produced its contents through inspired
The Bible and same sex relationships: A review article
Tim Keller, 2015
Vines, Matthew, God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same Sex Relationships, Convergent Books, 2014
Wilson, Ken,A Letter to My Congregation, David Crum Media, 2014.
The relationship of homosexuality to Christianity is one of the main topics of discussion in our culture today. In the fall of last year I wrote a review of books by Wesley Hill and Sam Allberry that take the historic Christian view, in Hill’s words: “that homosexuality was not God’s original imaginative intention for humanity ... and therefore that lgbtq+ practice goes against God’s express will for all human beings, especially those who trust in Christ.”
There are a number of other books that take the opposite view, namely that the Bible either allows for or supports same sex relationships. Over the last year or so I (and other pastors at Redeemer) have been regularly asked for responses to their arguments. The two most read volumes taking this position seem to be those by Matthew Vines and Ken Wilson. The review of these two books will be longer than usual because the topic is so contested today and, wh
What does the Bible teach about same-sex practice?
The Bible defines marriage in Genesis 2:24 as a union between one man and one woman. Jesus Christ upholds this definition of marriage in Matthew 19:5, as does the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:31. Any and all sexual exercise which takes place outside of this context is treated as sinful, what Jesus calls ‘sexual immorality’ in Stamp 7:21.
Further to this, same-sex practice is specifically highlighted as sinful a number of times in Scripture. In God’s Law, for example, condemnations of gay practice are given in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. Further references are made in the Recent Testament. For example, in Romans 1:24-32, amid echoes to the Genesis creation account, both male and female queer practice are treated as sinful. Further references to the sinfulness of homosexual practice can be seen in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10.
The Scriptures are, therefore, consistent in their prohibition of homosexual sexual activity, across different periods of salvation history and within different cultural settings. Although the Scriptures are obvious on sexual principles, they also explain us that the prospect of forgiveness and eterna
LGBTQ+ and straight Christians alike are looking to their faith for answers about how to engage in our increasingly pro-LGBTQ+ culture.
The long history between the church and LGBTQ people is one fraught with tension, pain, and, sometimes, violence. Those who assume that homosexuality is a sin often point to several well-known Scripture passages from the Old and New Testaments. Most of the Christian debate about human sexuality has centered on interpretation and emphasis of these passages.
In his book God and the Gay Christian , Christian LGBTQ activist Matthew Vines challenges LGBTQ-condemning interpretations of these Scriptures — sometimes referred to as “clobber passages.” But these clobber-texts aren’t the only Scriptures that can guide devoted Christians as we try a godly understanding of sexual and gender identity.
Here are 10 Bible verses that emphasize the value of love over the law, the God-belovedness of all people, and the special affirmation of those who have been historically rejected as unclean or unholy.
1) Genesis 1:26: “Let us create humankind in our image.”
In the Bible’s creation story, God makes clear that, out of all of creation, human beings are c
Leviticus 18:22
“You shall not deception with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”[1] It is not a surprise that this verse seems to say that male lover male sex is forbidden in the eyes of God. The dominant view of western Christianity forbids same-sex relations. This verse is one of the clobber passages that people cite from the Bible to condemn homosexuality. This essay first looks at the various ways the verse is translated into the English Bible and then explores some of the strategies used to create an affirming translation of what this route means for the LGBTQ community. More specifically, it presents the interpretation of K. Renato Lings in which Lev. 18:22 refers to male-on-male incest.
While Lev. 18:22 is used to condemn homosexuality, we must realize that the phrase “homosexuality” was only recently coined in the English language. So did this term exist in ancient Israel? Charles D. Myers, Jr. confirms that none of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible talk about homosexuality.[2] He also contends that in ancient Israel same-sex relations were viewed as an ancient Close East problem. The ancient Near East tradition included pederasty and relations between an older man and