"For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 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 themselves the due penalty for their error."
We should note the language of strong disapproval that occurs in this text: "dishonorable passions," "shameless acts," and "error." This is reminiscent of the pronouncement of homoerotic behavior as an "abomination" in the legal code of Leviticus 18 and 20. Paul's objection to such behavior is based on the God-intended pattern of creation: "God made them male and female," and these two are to become "one flesh." In other words, Paul is taking the exact stance toward homoerotic behavior (minus the death penalty) that is found in Genesis and Leviticus.
It is an obvious misinterpretation of this text to suggest that what Paul condemns is not homoerotic behavior, but whatever behavior is not "natural" for the individual- i.e., that if one "is homosexual," then this is how one should behave sexually, and if one "is heterosexual", then it would be "unnatural" to act in homoerotic fashion. Paul is not discussing individual orientations or preferences, but the created order of things. What he condemns is not "acting outside of your natural preferences", but acting against the way that God has created men and women for the purposes for which He has created them.
These three Pauline texts are the only ones which specifically discuss homoerotic behavior. It is often pointed out that (1) we only have a few texts which take a negative view of homoerotic actions, and that (2) none of them come from Jesus Himself. The latter statement is undoubtedly true: Jesus made no specific pronouncement concerning such behavior. However, it is only reasonable to assume that Jesus accepted the proscriptions of homoerotic behavior found in the Levitical Code. Also, it should be noted that one at least two occasions (recorded in Matthew 10:15 and 11:23-24) Jesus referred to Sodom as epitomizing sinful behavior. So to suggest that Jesus would have taken a view different from that of Paul is strongly against the biblical evidence.
As for the scarcity of texts which address homoerotic behavior, this holds true only for New Testament texts which specifically address this conduct. Others do so indirectly. Jesus references the Sodom story not only in Matthew, but also in Luke 17:28-30. In addition to Jude's characterization of the sin of Sodom as "sexual immorality" and "unnatural desire", a parallel text in 2 Peter 2:6-10 describes Sodom's behavior as "the licentiousness of the wicked." Likewise, Revelation 11:8 uses the same "Sodom" as a symbol of the iniquity of the city of Rome.
Taken together with the Old Testaments pronouncements against homoerotic behavior, it becomes evident that the Bible actually has quite a bit to say about it, and that the biblical witness consistently negative. No texts indicate that such conduct is acceptable under any circumstances.
That said, I would also point out that, although that Bible consistently pronounces homoerotic behavior to be a sin, it never suggests that it is the worst of all sins, or that it is in a class by itself, as is sometimes assumed. The Levitical Code mentions homoerotic behavior in the context of a host of other sexual sins, from incest to adultery, which are equally condemned. In the New Testament, the specific condemnation of the this conduct invariably occurs in lists of other sings, indicating that homoerotic behavior out not be singled out as "the ultimate sin". Some of these other sins include greed, malice, envy, deceit, gossip, and disobedience to parents in Romans 1; idolatry, adultery, drunkenness, and theft in 1 Corinthians 6; and slave-trading, lying, and perjury in 1 Timothy 1. All such sins are equally violations of what God intended for His creation. This in no way lessens the severity of the New Testament view of homoerotic sin; it is simply to say that those who practice it are just sinners, like all the rest of us.
The New Testament message is not that those who engage in homoerotic behavior are to be vilified or shunned, or that they are excluded from the love of God. Rather, it is that God calls all of us sinners to Himself through the cross of His Son, Jesus Christ, and offers forgiveness and cleansing from every sin, regardless of its nature, once we repent and turn to Him. Paul's point in Romans 1 is not that homoerotic practitioners are worse than others, merely that their conduct in indicative of what happens when God is taken out of the picture and replaced with a god or gods of our own making. But he goes on to say that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," and that salvation is available to everyone who believes. And his word to the Corinthians was not that the past homoerotic behavior of some of them put them beyond the bounds of God's grace; rather it was that they had been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, a hopeful possibility held out to all who would call upon His name.
James T. (Tommy) South, Ph.D.
Glen Allen Church of Christ
11064 Staples Mill Road, Glen Allen, VA 23060
gaoffice@glenallenchurch.org
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