- Leviticus 18, 20
- Romans 1:18-32
- 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
“With a male you shall not lie as though lying with a woman; it is an abomination.” (Lev. 18:22)
“And a man who will lie with a male as though lying with a woman, they have committed an abomination, the two of them, they shall certainly be put to death; their blood by upon them.” (20:13)
As Godron Wenham righly notes, “lying with a male” relates to “every kind of male-male intercourse,” including that between mutually consenting adults. Lev. 18:22; 20:13 clearly explains any man who lies with another male in the manner that men lie with women (i.e. engaging in sexual intercourse) has committed an abomination. Leviticus 20:13 specifies that both participants are under the penalty of death. Homosexual practice alone brought about the death penalty, all other forbidden sexual acts brought the penalty of being “cut off from their people”(18:26). In the entire book of leviticus– the only forbidden act to which the designation “abomination” is specifically attached is homosexual intercourse, incest, adultery and beastiality. The specific attachment of the word toeba/ toevah, translated as “abomination,” means “an abhorrent thing” or “something detestable, loathsome, utterly repugnant, disgusting.” The word Toeva is restricted in Leviticus to forms of sexual immorality that can be characterized in three ways:
- A sexual act regarded by Yahweh as utterly detestable and abhorrent
- A sexual act which rendered the individual participants liable to the death penalty or being cut off from God’s people
- A sexual act which, if left unpunished by the nation, but the entire nation at risk of God’s consuming wrath,
James White explains the ongoing authority of these verses by Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament saying: “This section comprises, in the Scriptures, a body of revelation that is cited as authoritative, and binding in its testimony, by Jesus, by Paul, by Peter, and by James. In fact, Jesus’ command to love your neighbour as yourself comes from this very section in Leviticus 19:18.”
Why don’t we enforce the death penalty on such people any more?
There are 3 types of law in the bible: Moral, Civil (political) and ceremonial. Only Moral law carries through from the Old Testament to the New Testament.
1. Civil law. Civil or political law applied in the Old Testament and under the Old Covenant alone because Israel was a Theocracy, where God's law regulated state law. Under the New Covenant, Jesus explains that his Kingdom is not of this earth when he says in John 18:36
“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”
Peter further substantiats this fact by exhorting Christians in 1 Peter 2:10 saying
"I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.and that we are strangers and aliens in this world."
Paul and Peter go on to say that we are to submit to human authorities and therefore we are no longer to enforce the Old Testament civil law onto our society as they say:
"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." (Romans 13:1)
"Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to everyauthority instituted among men." (1 Peter 2:13)
2. Ceremonial law. The purpose of the ceremonial law was to separate God's people from the rest of the world as holy. Ceremonial law applied in the Old Testament and under the Old Covenant alone because Jesus is the fulfillment of the ceremonial law for us. Jesus alone makes us holy:
"...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" (1 Cor. 6:11)
"And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30)
"And every priest stands daily at his service,offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." (Hebrews 10:11-14)
This is why in Acts 10:11-14 God can override the Old Testament Holiness Code which forbid Jews to eat certain food which so as to set apart his people as Holy where He gave Peter a vision where Peter recalls seeing:
"the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”"
Christ explains the redundancy of ceremonial laws clearly when he says in Matthew 7:15-19:
"There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
3. Moral law. Only Moral Law remains, first as a mirror reflecting the the perfect righteousness of God and our own sinfulness ans shortcomings. The law is meant to give knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20, 4:15, 5:13, 7:7-11) showing us our need of pardon and danger of damnation to lead us in repentance and faith to Christ (Gal. 3:19-24). Secondly, moral law functions as a sort of family code that tells God's children what will please their heavenly father. Christ was speaking of this use of the law when he said that those who become his discples must be taught to do all that he had commanded (Matt. 28:20), and that obedience to His commands will prove the reality of on'es love for Him ( John 14:15). The Christian is free from the law as a system of salvation (Law. 6:14, 7:4, 6, 1 Cor. 9:20, Gal. 2:15-19, 3:25), but is"under the law of Christ" as a rule of life ( 1 Cor. 9:21; Gal. 6:2). Paul, in Romans 3:21 says that we hold on to moral law for these purposes saying "Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law." Thus Jesus responds to the question of which commandments are the greatest by saying
“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”"
Because Moral law still applied Paul can say that rejecting the moral law of the old testament, which carries over to the new, excludes you from the kingdom of heaven when he says in 1 Cor. 6:9-10
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."
Thus Jesus, at the sermon on the mount, before He explains the true nature of the moral laws (Matt. 5-7), warns us not to relax anything related to moral law saying:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew: 5-17-19)
Thus Jesus, at the sermon on the mount, before He explains the true nature of the moral laws (Matt. 5-7), warns us not to relax anything related to moral law saying:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew: 5-17-19)
2. Romans 1:18-32
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonourable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 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 error28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.… Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:24-27, 32)
From Paul’s perspective the fundamental problem with male homosexual conduct is sexual gratification (what should be done with the opposite sex) with the same sex. (v 26-27) Homosexual practice is contrary to the created order revealed in nature, as we were created in God’s image- male and female.(Rom. 26-27, Gen. 1:27). “The same sex partner in homosexual intercourse inverts the natural mode of being in that one of the males must act like a woman or one of the women as a male.” (Wolfgang Stegemann, “Paul and the Sexual Mentality of His World,” Biblical Theology Bulletin 23 (1993)/: 161-168)
James White points us to the definate nature of what Paul is condemning when he says “surely, anyone can see that Paul here is condemning these acts as impurity and as sin; he is very clear in his language. Note a few things about Romans chapter 1. Paul speaks of males with males committing indecent acts; he does not say men with boys, which is a common argument of some defending homosexuality. This is a mutual, reciprocal relationship, for it speaks of their burning with desire toward one another. Hence, all ideas of mere pederasty (adults and children), gang rape, or cultural ritual activity are refuted by Paul himself. The men of whom Paul speaks have sexual desires for other men. Thirdly the phrase that men and women “exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature” show that Paul is not limiting his comments to pederasty (adults and children), natural use can only refer to normal adult heterosexual behavior as defined by biology, which is part of God’s creative purpose. Lesbianism with homosexuality is referred to as unnatural, that is against nature, not just simply out of the ordinary. God in His revelation has made it known what His creation is to be and how it is to function”
Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians 6:8-11 to explicitly teach that homosexual practice along with all other sinful lifestyles, excludes people from the kingdom of heaven:
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. 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.”
First Corinthians 6:9 also pronounces judgement both on effeminate males who play the role of females in male homosexual intercourse (malakoi) and on active male partners who take the former to bed (arsenokoitai). Arsenokoitai literally means “bedders of males, those [men] who take [other] males to bed,” “men who sleep or lie with males.” Paul draws here two terms from the Greek Septuagint that are found in Leviticus 20:13 in the combination of homosexual: arsinos, meaning male, and koitos, the term from which we get the word coitus, sexual intercourse (related to the verb keisthai, “to lie”). It refers to men laying with men as a man lays with a woman, i.e. homosexuality. (David F Wright)
John Piper explains that “the focus is not on same-sex desire, but on same sex practice. And notice that homosexual practice is not singled out but included with other ways of sinning: idolatry, adultery, stealing, greed, drunkenness, reviling, etc. The point is not that one act of homosexual or heterosexual experimentation condemns you, but that returning to this life permanently and without repentance will condemn you “Men who practice” — who give themselves over to this life, and do not repent — “will not enter the kingdom of God.” They will perish. (Sermon: Let marriage be held in honour by all”, 2012)
It seems clear that the apostle Paul would not have tolerated openly practicing homosexuals as members (much less in leadership) of a Christian congregation. The Christian Scriptures identify this activity as something some of the Corinthian believers had been involved with, past tense. Paul makes clear that some of the members of the Corinthians church were former homosexuals (1 Cor. 6:11). This shows that true transformation of homosexuals is possible in Christ. The Christian Scriptures identify this activity as something some of the Corinthian believers had been involved with, past tense. Paul makes clear that some of the members of the Corinthians church were former homosexuals (1 Cor. 6:11).
This shows that true transformation of homosexuals is possible in Christ. For Paul says to the Corinthians, “such were some of you, but”, emphasizing their actions as past tense, “but you were washed.” If it’s not sinful, why need to be washed? “But you were sanctified.” What’s the need for that if it’s not something that is unholy? “But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” That is what the gospel does to those who hear the message of our sin and brokenness, and believe the bible that God, by His Spirit, restores us in Christ to how He intended us to live.
From Paul’s perspective the fundamental problem with male homosexual conduct is sexual gratification (what should be done with the opposite sex) with the same sex. (v 26-27) Homosexual practice is contrary to the created order revealed in nature, as we were created in God’s image- male and female.(Rom. 26-27, Gen. 1:27). “The same sex partner in homosexual intercourse inverts the natural mode of being in that one of the males must act like a woman or one of the women as a male.” (Wolfgang Stegemann, “Paul and the Sexual Mentality of His World,” Biblical Theology Bulletin 23 (1993)/: 161-168)
James White points us to the definate nature of what Paul is condemning when he says “surely, anyone can see that Paul here is condemning these acts as impurity and as sin; he is very clear in his language. Note a few things about Romans chapter 1. Paul speaks of males with males committing indecent acts; he does not say men with boys, which is a common argument of some defending homosexuality. This is a mutual, reciprocal relationship, for it speaks of their burning with desire toward one another. Hence, all ideas of mere pederasty (adults and children), gang rape, or cultural ritual activity are refuted by Paul himself. The men of whom Paul speaks have sexual desires for other men. Thirdly the phrase that men and women “exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature” show that Paul is not limiting his comments to pederasty (adults and children), natural use can only refer to normal adult heterosexual behavior as defined by biology, which is part of God’s creative purpose. Lesbianism with homosexuality is referred to as unnatural, that is against nature, not just simply out of the ordinary. God in His revelation has made it known what His creation is to be and how it is to function”
3. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians 6:8-11 to explicitly teach that homosexual practice along with all other sinful lifestyles, excludes people from the kingdom of heaven:
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. 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.”
First Corinthians 6:9 also pronounces judgement both on effeminate males who play the role of females in male homosexual intercourse (malakoi) and on active male partners who take the former to bed (arsenokoitai). Arsenokoitai literally means “bedders of males, those [men] who take [other] males to bed,” “men who sleep or lie with males.” Paul draws here two terms from the Greek Septuagint that are found in Leviticus 20:13 in the combination of homosexual: arsinos, meaning male, and koitos, the term from which we get the word coitus, sexual intercourse (related to the verb keisthai, “to lie”). It refers to men laying with men as a man lays with a woman, i.e. homosexuality. (David F Wright)
John Piper explains that “the focus is not on same-sex desire, but on same sex practice. And notice that homosexual practice is not singled out but included with other ways of sinning: idolatry, adultery, stealing, greed, drunkenness, reviling, etc. The point is not that one act of homosexual or heterosexual experimentation condemns you, but that returning to this life permanently and without repentance will condemn you “Men who practice” — who give themselves over to this life, and do not repent — “will not enter the kingdom of God.” They will perish. (Sermon: Let marriage be held in honour by all”, 2012)
It seems clear that the apostle Paul would not have tolerated openly practicing homosexuals as members (much less in leadership) of a Christian congregation. The Christian Scriptures identify this activity as something some of the Corinthian believers had been involved with, past tense. Paul makes clear that some of the members of the Corinthians church were former homosexuals (1 Cor. 6:11). This shows that true transformation of homosexuals is possible in Christ. The Christian Scriptures identify this activity as something some of the Corinthian believers had been involved with, past tense. Paul makes clear that some of the members of the Corinthians church were former homosexuals (1 Cor. 6:11).
This shows that true transformation of homosexuals is possible in Christ. For Paul says to the Corinthians, “such were some of you, but”, emphasizing their actions as past tense, “but you were washed.” If it’s not sinful, why need to be washed? “But you were sanctified.” What’s the need for that if it’s not something that is unholy? “But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” That is what the gospel does to those who hear the message of our sin and brokenness, and believe the bible that God, by His Spirit, restores us in Christ to how He intended us to live.
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