The Bible, Homosexuality, and a Christian Response - Part 5

The New Testament

Today’s article is a long one and I don’t even really like the conclusion. I tried to break it into two separate parts, but I couldn’t do it in a way that made sense to me and still allowed me to post it today.

A couple of weeks ago I read a quote attributed to Leonardo DaVinci:

“L'arte non è mai finita, solo abbandonato.”

– Art is never finished, only abandoned.

It’s kind of a stretch to call my blog posts “art,” but it’s kind of how I feel about this post. And yes, I do see the irony of quoting DaVinci who some believe was homosexual.

Anyway, I’m probably not going to be posting again until Monday, so you have all weekend to digest this article. I appreciate all those who have taken the time to read these articles… or at least open them up and read a few words.

Today’s article primarily deals with the New Testament verses on homosexuality.

Romans

²⁶ For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: ²⁷ and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

— Romans 1:26-27

This is the first New Testament passage that refers to homosexual conduct and refers to both gay and lesbian activity.

There has been a lot of hemming and hawing regarding this passage among liberal scholars. The fact is that it does refer to consensual homosexual activity.

Some have proposed that this is referring to pagan temple prostitution. It is true that there were male prostitutes that other men frequented and that of course would have required homosexual activity. The language of this passage doesn’t support the interpretation that Paul is referring to pagan homosexual temple practices. Gay activists who say otherwise are interpreting this passage in light of their agenda.

Now Christian, before you go, “AHA! You see? God does hate fags!” You had better go take a very close look at Romans 2.

Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

— Romans 2:1

Romans 1:26-27 is part of a list of things that offend God. That list begins in verse 18 and goes all the way to the end of the chapter in verse 32. In addition to homosexuality, it includes things like idolatry, other sexual sin, gossip, pride, arrogance, and on and on and on. Read that whole passage and then look at what Paul writes in Romans 2:1. He says, “who are you to judge when you are doing the very same things?!”

So when you wag your finger at a homosexual for violating God’s design for sex, don’t forget that you are a sinner too and you need forgiveness and grace just as much as a homosexual does.

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

James 2:10

The message of the New Testament is that nobody can keep the law. Yes, the New Testament teaches us that we should aspire to the Moral Law, but we will fail. We all have secret sins that we deal with. For some it is gossip. For some it is alcoholism. For some it is pornography and sex addiction. And for some, it is homosexuality. Everybody is dealing with something, so nobody should be self-righteous about being heterosexual.

As I studied this passage in the context of the rest of Romans, I realized that Paul wasn’t pointing and wagging his finger at the people who were guilty of breaking the Moral Law. I came to the realization that Paul was writing this wagging his finger at people who are overly judgmental without realizing that they are guilty of many things too. He was wagging his finger at hypocrites.

This is kind of like what Jesus was talking about when he accused the Pharisees of condemning people and likened it to the Pharisees trying to pull a splinter out of someone’s eye when they have a beam in their own (Matthew 7:3-5).

Paul also wrote that he had struggles and failings of his own. In Romans chapter 7, Paul opens up about his constant struggles and failings. A lot of preachers like to put Paul on a pedestal. He did accomplish some amazing things in his life, but Paul preached in a way that knocked himself off the pedestal and put Jesus on it where He belongs.

Here’s the thing that a lot of Christians miss. Our attitude toward sin shouldn’t be yelling, screaming, disowning, or excommunicating. Our attitude toward sin in the lives of others should be a humble realization that we ourselves struggle with sin. When we do approach someone about suspected sin, it should be with the spirit of restoration.

Many churches don’t practice any kind of discipline these days. Of the ones that do, the biblical pattern for discipline isn’t followed. The biblical pattern is not about putting everyone’s dirty laundry on display for all to see, but rather it is about lovingly and humbly restoring those who have gone astray remembering that “all we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6).

I’ve promised to deal with a lot of issues in the future. Hopefully, the biblical framework for church discipline will be one of them.

1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy

⁹ Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, ¹⁰ Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

— 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

⁸ But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; ⁹ knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, ¹⁰ for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; ¹¹ according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

— 1 Timothy 1:8-11

In these passages, the phrases in question are found in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10. It is the phrase, “abusers of themselves with mankind” and “them that defile themselves with mankind”. Modern translations have translated these phrases in a number of ways. Some translate it the same way as the King James Translators did. Some translate it as “sodomites” which is incorrect, as I pointed out two days ago. Some translate it as “homosexuals” which is a better translation.

At issue is the Greek text. The whole phrase “abusers of themselves with mankind” comes from one Greek word, ἀρσενοκοῖται (arsenokoitai) which doesn’t appear in any other writings of the ancient world. This word appears two times in ancient Greek writing, evidently, and they are both here in these passages. Many liberal scholars and textual critics say they are confused over this word, but that seems strange to me. If a person has studied Greek to where they are considered a scholar or an expert, a simple etymological study would help to understand what Paul is trying to communicate.

The word arsenokoitai is a compound word combining “arseno”, meaning “man” and “koitai” meaning “to bed” and is a euphemism for “to have sexual intercourse with.” Koitai is where we get our modern word “coitus.” Thus, Paul coined a new word that literally translates to “men that have sex with men.” Since arsenokoitai is only one word, the most direct translation would be “homosexuals” which is fine because in ancient Greece, there were a lot of euphemisms for homosexuals, but no direct word that had that plain meaning.

Some have postulated that Paul is talking about men who were partaking of the pagan male prostitutes. Some have even said that the translation of the word μαλακοὶ (malakoi) which the KJV translates as “effeminate” may refer to the male temple prostitutes and the arsenokoitai were their clientele.

Malakoi is just the masculine of “soft” and is translated that way elsewhere in the bible. A man who was malakoi would be a soft man. Essentially weak. Since Paul doesn’t put a lot of spiritual stock in physical fitness despite being an athlete, Paul is not talking about a person who is homosexual or a prostitute, but a person who is morally weak. If Paul wanted to talk about male prostitution, he had several well-known words to choose from: Pornai, astynomoi, and hetera to name just a few.

When dealing with the word arsenokoitai, there is still one more piece of evidence to consider. Most Jews in the first century actually didn’t speak Hebrew. Even in Israel, Jews mostly spoke Aramaic. The Old Testament was written primarily in Hebrew, so how would a Jew who didn’t speak Hebrew be able to read the Bible for themselves? By the second century BC, the common language of the Mediterranean and the Middle East was Greek. So, Jewish scholars translated the Bible into Greek. This Greek version of the Old Testament is known today as the Septuagint.

Paul, being trained as a rabbi under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), probably spoke Hebrew fluently, but his letters show that he was fluent in Greek too. That makes sense since he was a Roman citizen. Latin was used primarily in Rome and for official Roman business while Greek was used in everyday life and for regular business. That means that Paul would also be very familiar with the Septuagint.

Leviticus 18:22 (Septuagint):

καὶ μετά ἄρσενος οὐ κοιμηθήσῃ κοίτην γυναικείαν, βέλυγμα γάρ ἐστι.

Kai meta arsenos ou koimethese koiten gunaikeian, Belugma gar esti.

Leviticus 20:13 (Septuagint):

καὶ ὃς ἂν κοιμηθῇ μετά ἄρσενος κοίτην γυναικός, βδέλυγμα ἐποίησαν ἀμφότεροι· θανάτῳ

kai os an koimethe meta arsenos koiten gunaikos, Bdelugma epoiesan amphotroi Thauato

θανατούσθωσαν, ἔνοχοί εἰσιν.

Thanatousthosau, enochoi eisin.

In these verses, as the Rabbinical scholars translated them, the words arseno and koitai are used to translate “man” and “to sleep with.” Paul coined a brand new word. It was a word that joined two other words that would have been very familiar to a person who had been exposed to the Septuagint. Ultimately, arsenokoitai simply alludes to Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13.

We have already dealt with those two verses, so I won’t revisit them. But before we move on, let me point out one more thing in these New Testament passages. Note again, that just like in Romans, homosexuality isn’t the only sin mentioned. There are a lot of other sins mentioned in the verses in these passages. But then look at 1 Corinthians 6:11. Paul says, “and such were some of you.” That’s past tense. There were people who had become Christians and joined the church at Corinth who were previously doing some of these very same things, but they had changed.

The rest of First Corinthians shows that there were still people struggling with a lot of other sins. Actually, they weren’t really struggling, they were enjoying their sin. The church wasn’t practicing any kind of discipline and one man was having an affair with his own step-mother. There was a lot of embarrassment over this. One of the reasons Paul wrote to the Corinthians was to get them to practice some church discipline and Second Corinthians shows us that they did.

The bottom line is that 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10 are referring to homosexual conduct and condemn it. However twhen you compare Romans and 1 Corinthians 6:11, we can see that the bible also gives hope that people can change.

That being said, let me say this. God doesn’t always take away all of our struggles. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:7 that he had a thorn in the flesh and asked God three times to heal him, but God never did. Paul records in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that Jesus revealed to him “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

In light of what Paul wrote in Romans, that the Romans were struggling with sin and Paul himself admitted to struggling with sin as well, it may be that some homosexuals will never, ever, ever be delivered from homosexuality in this lifetime. When a person examines the life of Paul and his writings, one can deduct that he was probably asexual and encouraged celibacy based on his own. However, he knew that marriage was designed by God and recognized its beauty and importance. In fact, Paul said in 1 Timothy 3:2 that one of the requirements for a person to be a pastor is that they be a married man.

While marriage was designed by God to be beautiful, Christ taught that celibacy could be beautiful too.

¹²For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

– Matthew 19:12

In some countries, the term eunuch referred to a man who had been emasculated. In the ancient world, some countries also used the term to mean a person who was in a position of government authority. An example would be the Ethiopian Eunuch mentioned in Acts 8 who was a servant of Queen Candace, although many scholars say he was a literal eunuch as well. When Jesus spoke of eunuchs, however, he wasn’t referring to either of those things. He was referring to people who remained celibate. There are those who were born asexual, there were some who were placed into positions that required them to remain celibate, and finally, there were people who became celibate to dedicate themselves solely to God’s kingdom work.

Celibacy is a good option for Christians who struggle with same-sex attraction. That’s a tough statement for gay people to accept and I understand that. As Jesus said, “He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.” In other words, not everyone can receive it. Celibacy is a hard life to live. Contrary to what Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copeland, and other prosperity preachers say, the call to holiness is not a call to a life of ease, and neither is the Christian life. Biblically, becoming a Christian means a blessed eternal life, but a hard life on earth.

The Christian life is a struggle. It’s a life of persecution (2 Timothy 3:12), temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13), and even sickness (2 Corinthians 12:7). In spite of all that, we can still have joy (Galatians 5:22). Even in the face of persecution (Acts 5:41), temptation (James 1:2), and sickness (2 Corinthians 12:9), a Christian can experience joy.

Biblical joy doesn’t depend on circumstance and it doesn’t mean that you constantly walk around with a syrupy smile on your face. Biblical joy means that we live our life with an assurance of salvation and eternal life beyond this world.

Popular street evangelist and preacher, Ray Comfort gives the illustration of a person in a plane with a parachute who is about to jump out because the plane is crashing. The person isn’t going to be very excited about being on a crashing plane. If the person is like me – afraid of heights, they really aren’t going to be excited about having to jump out of the plane. One thing is for sure, they are really grateful for the parachute. That’s pretty much what biblical joy is. We’re not happy about the trials we face, but we are happy that we have Jesus, salvation, and eternal life.

In an earlier post (Let’s Talk About Sin) I spoke briefly of repentance. I said that repentance is “…turning from unbelief to belief while simultaneously turning from sin to follow after righteousness…” Truly repenting means that you are in a struggling with sin to make righteousness and holiness your habit rather than giving in to sin. True repentance means that you are in the struggle to live righteously. The fact is that because all mankind have an inborn sin nature (Romans 5:12), no matter how hard you try to live righteously, you may sin less, but you will never be sinless.

Let me close with a passage from 1 John 1:

⁵This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. ⁶If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: ⁷but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. ⁸If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

– 1 John 1:5-10

There are two things we can conclude from this passage: 1. Everybody sins, even Christians, so we should never be self-righteous simply because we think our sins aren’t as bad as everyone else’s (Remember James 2:10); 2. When we sin, we should feel some guilt, but we shouldn’t beat ourselves up about it. The guilt should move us to repent and rededicate ourselves to righteous living. We should ask for forgiveness, trust that these verses are true – that God will forgive us, and keep pursuing holy habits.