Christian Discipleship: Homosexuality

Question: Does the New Testament prohibit homosexual behaviour?

--------------------------------------------------

Overview

Jesus and the Apostolic Church warn Christians to avoid sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is when sexual desires are expressed outside the boundaries or parameters that God has set. God created man and woman in the beginning and joined them as husband and wife, and Jesus affirms this as the only and correct standard for sexual intimacy (Genesis 1:24-31, 2:18-25, Matthew 19:1-12 & Mark 10:1-12). This means that sexual desires are to be expressed exclusively between a man and woman within the context of marriage. It is for this reason that the Old Testament (Leviticus 18:1-30) and New Testament (Romans 1:18-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-20 & 1 Timothy 1:8-11) prohibit homosexual behaviour.

It should be noted too that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-33 & 19:1-29) is used by Jesus (Matthew 10:11-15, 11:20-24, Luke 10:8-12 & 17:20-37) and the Apostolic Church (2 Peter 2:4-10 & Jude 5-7) to highlight that God will punish unrepentant immorality and wicked behaviour. It is therefore dangerous for Christians to test God by persisting in habitual sins after receiving God's forgiveness in Christ. This is why the Apostle Paul warns not to associate with Christians who are open and unrepentant about their immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1-13). The modern 'Pride' movement is an example of the acceptance and celebration of sin and is something that Christians should avoid and reject.

The Good News of the Kingdom of God is that humanity is rescued from the guilt and power of sin and restored to the holy purposes of God through the atoning work and sacrificial death of Jesus. This is what Jesus and the Apostles preached and the Law of God given through Moses was preparing humanity for.

Bible Passages

Genesis 1:24-31

(24) And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. (25) God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

(26) Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

(27) So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

(28) God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

(29) Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. (30) And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

(31) God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the sixth day.

Genesis 2:18-25

(18) The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

(19) Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. (20) So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. (21) So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. (22) Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

(23) The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” (24) That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

(25) Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Genesis 18:16-33 & 19:1-29

(16) When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. (17) Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? (18) Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. (19) For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

(20) Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous (21) that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

(22) The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. (23) Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? (24) What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? (25) Far be it from you to do such a thing - to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

(26) The LORD said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

(27) Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the LORD, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, (28) what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”

“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

(29) Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

(30) Then he said, “May the LORD not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”

He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

(31) Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the LORD, what if only twenty can be found there?”

He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

(32) Then he said, “May the LORD not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

(33) When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

---

(1) The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. (2) “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”

“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”

(3) But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. (4) Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom - both young and old - surrounded the house. (5) They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

(6) Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him (7) and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. (8) 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. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

(9) “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

(10) But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. (11) Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.

(12) The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here - sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, (13) because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

(14) So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

(15) With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”

(16) When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. (17) As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

(18) But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! (19) Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. (20) Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it - it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

(21) He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. (22) But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.)

(23) By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. (24) Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the LORD out of the heavens. (25) Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities - and also the vegetation in the land. (26) But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

(27) Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. (28) He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

(29) So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Leviticus 18:1-30

(1) The LORD said to Moses, (2) “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God. (3) You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. (4) You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. (5) Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.

(6) "No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD.

(7) "Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.

(8) "Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that would dishonor your father.

(9) "Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.

(10) "Do not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter; that would dishonor you.

(11) "Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father; she is your sister.

(12) "Do not have sexual relations with your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative.

(13) "Do not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s close relative.

(14) "Do not dishonor your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt.

(15) "Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; do not have relations with her.

(16) "Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would dishonor your brother.

(17) "Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness.

(18) "Do not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.

(19) "Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.

(20) "Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.

(21) "Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

(22) "Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.

(23) Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.

(24) "Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. (25) Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. (26) But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the foreigners residing among you must not do any of these detestable things, (27) for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. (28) And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.

(29) "Everyone who does any of these detestable things - such persons must be cut off from their people. (30) Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the LORD your God.”

Matthew 10:11-15

(11) Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. (12) As you enter the home, give it your greeting. (13) If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. (14) If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. (15) Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Matthew 11:20-24

(20) Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. (21) “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (22) But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. (23) And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. (24) But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

Matthew 19:1-12

(1) When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. (2) Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

(3) Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

(4) “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ (5) and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? (6) So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

(7) “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

(8) Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. (9) I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

(10) The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

(11) Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. (12) For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others - and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

Mark 10:1-12

(1) Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.

(2) Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

(3) “What did Moses command you?” he replied.

(4) They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

(5) “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. (6) “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ (7) ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, (8) and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. (9) Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

(10) When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. (11) He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. (12) And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

Luke 10:8-12

(8) When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. (9) Heal the sick who are there and tell them, "The kingdom of God has come near to you." (10) But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, (11) "Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near." (12) I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

Luke 17:20-37

(20) Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, (21) nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

(22) Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. (23) People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. (24) For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. (25) But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

(26) “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. (27) People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

(28) “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. (29) But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

(30) “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. (31) On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything (32) Remember Lot’s wife! (33) Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. (34) I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. (35) Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” (36)

(37) “Where, Lord?” they asked.

He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”

Romans 1:18-32

(18) The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, (19) since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. (20) For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

(21) For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. (22) Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools (23) and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

(24) Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. (25) They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised. Amen.

(26) Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. (27) In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

(28) Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. (29) They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, (30) slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; (31) they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. (32) Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

(1) It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. (2) And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? (3) For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. (4) So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, (5) hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

(6) Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? (7) Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch - as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (8) Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

(9) I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people - (10) not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. (11) But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.

(12) What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? (13) God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-20

(9) Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men (10) nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (11) And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

(12) “I have the right to do anything,” you say - but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” - but I will not be mastered by anything. (13) You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. (14) By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. (15) Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! (16) Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” (17) But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

(18) Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. (19) Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; (20) you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

1 Timothy 1:8-11

(8) We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. (9) We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, (10) for the sexually immoral, for those practising homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers - and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine (11) that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

2 Peter 2:4-10

(4) For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; (5) if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; (6) if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; (7) and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (8) (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) - (9) if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. (10) This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.

Jude 5-7

(5) Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. (6) And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling - these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. (7) In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.