What are same sex relationships?
A sexual relationship between two persons of the same gender.
Does the Bible address these relationships?
It does. Both the Old and New Testaments speak to this issue.
Sodom & Gomorrah
What does the Old Testament say about these relationships?
We find in Genesis that two angels came down to earth to bring Lot a message (Genesis 19:12-13) from God. Since Lot lived in Sodom, the residents of this town noticed these visitors and came to Lot’s house. We are told:
Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.” (Genesis 19:1-5)
It appears from this text that these men desired to have a sexual relationship with these visitors.
Why do you say “it appears?”
Because the Hebrew language is not completely clear here. A more literal translation would be “…in order that we might know them.” וְנֵדְעָה אֹתָם׃ cf cohortative. Typically, this “knowing” here has been understood the way it is understood in Genesis 4:1. Some today understand this word to mean nothing more than that the men of Sodom wanted to be introduced to the visitors and had no intent to rape them.
What can be said about this interpretation?
There are several key factors which prove it false. Lot says that the men of Sodom were acting wickedly רָעַע. (Genesis 19:7) What was their sin? Was it a breach of etiquette or something social? Or was there sexual sin here? If it was simply a failure to give these visitors a proper greeting, then how are we to understand the fact that God later incinerates the entire town and its inhabitants? The punishment does not seem to fit the crime. Second, the same language is used again:
Behold now, I have two daughters that have not known a man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing, forasmuch as they are come under the shadow of my roof. (Genesis 19:8)
Clearly, the knowing in this verse is sexual. Good hermeneutics would take this as a reliable indicator that the previous knowing is also sexual. Consider also that if the men of Sodom had failed to give these visitors a proper greeting and were now asking to rectify that error, how does Lot giving them his daughters rectify this breach of etiquette? Finally, we have the witness of Jude 7:
…just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 1:7)
What does Jude mean here by “went after strange flesh?”
This is a difficult phrase to understand precisely but probably refers to all the sexual perversions for which the Sodomites were infamous.
Leviticus 18 & 20
What do these verses teach about same sex relations?
In Leviticus 18, God is giving Moses the laws regulating sexuality.
You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. (Leviticus 18:22)
This is a clear prohibition against same sex relationships. The command is repeated in chapter 20:
If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them. (Leviticus 20:13)
This prohibition has continued in the Jewish community throughout its history given us in Scripture.
How do you know that this prohibition has continued in the Jewish community?
Because of Paul’s reasoning in Romans 1 which assumes the truth of this prohibition.
Romans 1
What does Paul say in these verses?
In the first chapter of Romans, Paul introduces the Roman Christians to his gospel. (Romans 1:1) In his gospel, a righteousness is set forth by God as a free gift. (Romans 1:17) Now this good news is only good for those who know their need of it, and the only people who know their need of it are those who are convicted of their unrighteousness. To bring people to own their unrighteousness is Paul’s aim in the rest of Romans 1. He begins by showing how the gentile world is under the wrath of God.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. (Romans 1:18-23)
These gentiles had an unwritten revelation of God in the created order, but they suppressed this knowledge and refused to honor God. As a result, God gave them up (Romans 1:24, 26, 28) to be ruled and directed by their own lusts (v24) dishonorable passions (v26) and a debased mind (v28). This was God’s judgment on these people for not honoring Him and giving thanks.
What does this have to do with same sex relationships?
Because after God turned His back on these people, they descended into a death spiral of wickedness and debauchery. One of the manifestations of this descent into evil was that both women and men began to engage in same sex relations. Paul writes:
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. (Romans 1:24-27)
Notice the result of their exchanging the truth of God for a lie. The result was that their bodies were dishonored. Both the men and women began to use their body for a purpose that was not natural.
What does Paul mean here by “natural function” and “unnatural?”
By this language, Paul means something similar to what he had said previously about the gentiles knowing both the existence and power of God from the created order.
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)
Now Paul is teaching that the gentiles, even without a Bible, can also know that same sex relations are evil just as they know there is a powerful Deity. They would learn this from the very fact of the bodily differences between males and females. When Paul speaks of the natural function of the woman, he refers to her capacity to receive the male sexually and thus to complete the sexual union. The language in Genesis is that the two are now one flesh. (Genesis 2:24) This is something created by God and is natural to all human persons. When two women come together sexually or two men, the union is unnatural. This is obvious to any thinking person because the physical anatomy of a man and woman are so obviously complementary. In a same sex relationship, the union is not complete; there is no one flesh union, and this simple fact makes clear to us that such an unnatural union is evil.
Why is this important to understand?
Because some advocates for affirming LGBTQ have suggested that “natural” here means sexual behavior that is consistent with one’s sexual orientation. Paul is condemning those persons who have a heterosexual orientation but still engage in same sex relations. This is unnatural and sinful. For a person with a homosexual orientation, however, same sex relations are perfectly natural and thus perfectly acceptable.
What is to be said of this interpretation?
It is clearly false. Paul is not talking here about what comes naturally to an individual. He is talking in general categories about males and females (θηλείας & ἄρσενες) as they stand created by God. Natural here means used in the way God originally intended it. Paul calls all same sex desires degrading passions. (Romans 1:26)
Is it not possible that Paul is here condemning only those same sex relationships which are non-consensual? Does he condemn lifelong, monogamous same sex relationships?
Paul certainly would condemn any kind of non-consensual sexual relationship, but that is not what he is talking about here. Notice that in these verses, Paul first mentions lesbian relationships where one partner is not forcing herself on another. Second, when discussing male same sex relations, Paul says that these men burned in their desire toward one another. Clearly, this is consensual if they are both desiring the other.
1 Corinthians 6
What does Paul say to the Corinthians?
Paul writes:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
This teaches us that unrepentant homosexuals are not saved and will not be admitted into heaven.
To whom is Paul referring in these verses when he speaks of the effeminate?
The term “effeminate” μαλακός refers to the passive partner in a male, same sex relationship. The word translated “homosexual” ἀρσενοκοίτης here refers to the active partner. See the NET note on this verse.