Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

HOMOSEXUALITY

The terms “homosexuality” and “homosexual” are coinages of the 19th century c.e. and have no equivalent in ancient Hebrew or Greek. It is debatable whether the modern idea of homosexuality (an erotic attraction focused only or primarily on persons of the same gender) existed at all in antiquity. The Bible does not appear to say anything directly about homosexuality in this modern sense of the term, but a few passages do refer to same-gender genital acts. The term “homosexual” appears in some modern English translations (usually in 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10), but the key Greek term involved (arsenokoítēs) is rare and of uncertain meaning.

Passages that do refer to same-gender sexual acts or life commitments may be summarized as follows:

Male-male rape

In the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:16-33) the men of Sodom threaten Lot’s guests by saying that they want to “know” them. Since the verb “to know” would be used in Hebrew as a euphemism for the sexual act, they may mean to commit anal rape on them, thus violating their sacred duty toward strangers. The later idea that the Sodom story condemns all male-male sexual acts does not appear in the story itself or in the references to Sodom elsewhere in the Bible, but first emerged in ancient Greek-speaking Judaism. In the NT Jude interprets the sin of Sodom as the desire to have sex with angels (“strange flesh”; Jude 7).

Same-sex intercourse as violation of purity

In Leviticus male-male sexual intercourse is condemned as an “abomination,” i.e., a serious violation of purity (Lev. 18:22; 20:13). (There is no reference to female-female sexual intercourse in the OT.) In Rom. 1:18-32 Paul treats same-sex intercourse as a prime example of the impurity characteristic of Gentiles. He regards it as unclean and dishonorable and as a punishment visited on the Gentiles for their failure to worship the true God. He does not specifically say that it is sinful.

Same-sex commitments

Same-sex commitments sometimes take precedence over heterosexual household connections. Ruth left her people to go with Naomi (Ruth 1:15-18). David and Jonathan were bound by covenant and love (1 Sam. 18:1-5; 20:1-42; 2 Sam. 1:17-27). The centurion’s “boy” (Gk. país) whom Jesus healed at a distance (Luke 7:1-10) may have been his master’s erṓmenos (“beloved”). In none of these cases can we say with certainty whether the relationship had a genital dimension or not.

Modern discussions of homosexuality take some or all of these passages into account, but their meaning and authority are interpreted differently by different interpreters. None of them appears to address modern questions directly.

Bibliography. R. J. Brawley, ed., Biblical Ethics and Homosexuality (Louisville, 1996); L. W. Countryman, Dirt, Greed, and Sex (Philadelphia, 1988); R. Scroggs, The New Testament and Homosexuality (Philadelphia, 1983); M. L. Soards, Scripture and Homosexuality (Louisville, 1995).

L. Wm. Countryman

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

HOMOSEXUALITY

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)