Is The Word Homosexual In The Bible

Homosexuality In The New Testament

Jesus teaching in the Temple

In the New Testament , there are at least three passages that refer to homosexual activity: Romans 1:2627, 1 Corinthians 6:910, and 1 Timothy 1:910. A fourth passage, Jude 1:7, is often interpreted as referring to homosexuality. Jesus discusses marriage only in a heterosexual context when he cites the Book of Genesis during a discussion of marriage .

The references to homosexuality itself in the New Testament hinge on the interpretation of three specific Greek words: arsenokoits , malakos , and porneia and its cognates. While it is not disputed that the three Greek words apply to sexual relations between men , some academics interpret the relevant passages as a prohibition against pederasty or prostitution rather than homosexuality per se, while some scholars hold the historical position that these passages forbid all same sex sexual acts and relationships.

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You Have Been Part Of A Research Team That Is Seeking To Understand How The Decision Was Made To Put The Word Homosexual In The Bible Is That True

Ed: Yes. It first showed up in the RSV translation. So before figuring out why they decided to use that word in the RSV translation I wanted to see how other cultures and translations treated the same verses when they were translated during the Reformation 500 years ago. So I started collecting old Bibles in French, German, Irish, Gaelic, Czechoslovakian, Polish you name it. Now Ive got most European major languages that Ive collected over time. Anyway, I had a German friend come back to town and I asked if he could help me with some passages in one of my German Bibles from the 1800s. So we went to Leviticus 18:22 and hes translating it for me word for word. In the English where it says Man shall not lie with man, for it is an abomination, the German version says Man shall not lie with young boys as he does with a woman, for it is an abomination. I said, What?! Are you sure? He said, Yes! Then we went to Leviticus 20:13 same thing, Young boys. So we went to 1 Corinthians to see how they translated arsenokoitai and instead of homosexuals it said, Boy molesters will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So then I started thinking that of 4 of the 6 clobber passages, all these nations and translations were referring to pederasty, and not what we would call homosexuality today.

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B Leviticus : 13 Punishment Of Homosexuality In The Law

Lev 20:13 If a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman, the two of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death their blood guilt is on themselves.

This straightforward law gives the consequences for homosexual acts as they were to be carried out under Israels theocratic government. It comes in the midst of a section detailing crime and punishment lists. This particular section deals with sexual offenses and their judgments. The punishment for homosexual acts was to be death for both participants. This seems to clarify what was meant by being cut off from the midst of their people in the earlier discussion of sexual sins in Leviticus 18. Thus in the law homosexuality was a sin against God that required capital punishment.2

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As a latchkey kid, Wendy Speake turned to sugar for comfort. Every Friday, she would pedal to the candy show and use her allowance to fill her bag with candy. And one day, when she was older and a mom of three young boys, she came to realize that she was still pedaling away from her stress and using sugar as comfort, instead of turning to Jesus. She was joyless, worn out, tired, and in need of a change. In this interview, Wendy will challenge Christians to take 40 days to focus on fasting from something they turn to instead of Jesus for comfort. She invited people to break free from a dependence on sugar and taste the goodness of God.

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Q8 Why Should Two People Who Sincerely Love Each Other Not Be Allowed To Get Married Just Because They Are Of The Same Gender

The answer to this is controversial in many circles today both politically and religiously. The short answer seems to boil down to ones definition of love, marriage, and how one views morals. True love does what is best for another person regardless of the expense to oneself. By Gods design for humanity marriage was to be between a man and a woman . Woman was the God-given companion who was suitable for man. Morals are determined by Gods standards and what He has set as right and wrong. By these definitions then, it would not be the most loving thing to marry someone when it violated Gods moral standards, when that is not the design for what marriage should be, and when one would not be the most suitable kind of companion.

Since most non-believers would not acknowledge Gods standard of morals or design this viewpoint is mostly irrelevant to them. For the Christian, however, questions of should and morals are to be determined by the one who determines right and wrong. Indeed, not just for Christians, but for all who talk about rights this needs to be a consideration. Rights only exist if one acknowledges moral standards endowed with creation by a creator. A naturalistic system has no place for rights.19

Should A Christian Oppose Gay Marriages And Partnerships

The Bible

Opinions

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Legal Status

Finally, it must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned. The First Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations to continue the family structure they have long revered.10

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Q7 How Do You Explain Marriage Ceremonies In Which Two Persons Of The Same Sex Are United By An Officiating Clergyman Or Justice Of The Peace

Governments in a number of regions have legalized this practice and officially recognize these unions as a marriage. This does give legal authority to them and to many it also gives the appearance of moral sanction. However, only God can truly give moral approval. He has declared homosexuality to be sin. Christians should respond to this like they should respond to all other sins: with truth and love. Some clergy and denominations claiming to be Christian allow for same sex marriages. Their actions are without sanction of the Bible or God. This is readily apparent from the contradiction between their actions and the truths of Scripture seen in this article.

The Queen James Bible

After hearing such self-justifications, many pro-family Christians wonder what bible the homophiles are getting their information from.

Believe it or not, there is an actual Gay Bible. The Queen James Version alters the eight verses in the 1769 King James Version that deal with homosexuality in a way that makes homophobic interpretations impossible.2

A person may disagree with the Bible on what it says about homosexuality, but it is just flat dishonest to produce a new version and then pretend that it is genuine. Perhaps this is why the editors of the Queen James Bible have wisely chosen to remain anonymous.

In reality, few sins are condemned by the Bible as explicitly as sodomy. Both the Old and New Testaments contain passages stating quite plainly that people who engage in homosexual activity will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

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Proposition : At Most There Are Only Three Passages In The Entire New Testament That Refer To What We Today Would Call Homosexual Activity

None of the four gospels mentions the subject. This means that, so far as we know, Jesus never spoke about homosexuality, and we simply have no way of determining what his attitude toward it might have been. Moreover, there is nothing about homosexuality in the Book of Acts, in Hebrews, in Revelation, or in the letters attributed to James, Peter, John, and Jude. Further, homosexuality is not mentioned in ten of the thirteen letters attributed to Paul. It is only in Romans 1:2627, 1 Corinthians 6:910, and 1 Timothy 1:811 that there may be references to homosexuality.2 The paucity of references to homosexuality in the New Testament suggests that it was not a matter of major concern either for Jesus or for the early Christian movement.

A Leviticus 1: 22 Prohibition Of Homosexuality In The Law

Lev 18:22 You must not have sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman it is a detestable act.

This straightforward law prohibits all homosexual acts. It makes no distinctions as to whether or not they were consensual. It comes in the midst of a section of laws related to sexual relationships. No consequence is given here in each verse for the individual laws, but rather they are all listed as things that must not be done. All of the items in this chapters list are said to defile and are called abominations . In balance, homosexuality here is not singled out from among the rest of the sexual sins , but is included with the rest. Likewise, those who break any of these laws are to be cut off from the midst of their people . These various sexual activities are ones which brought about the punishment of God upon the previous inhabitants of the land . Thus in the law homosexuality was an offense against God. It, along with the other sexual sins, was not to exist in Israel at all.

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The Spiritual Battle For Your Marriage

God designed marriage to reflect His love to the world and because of this, the enemy wants to destroy Gods beautiful design. Based on his book, Defending Your Marriage, Dr. Tim and Noreen Muehlhoff share about the reality of spiritual warfare against marriages, and how to combat the enemys lies with the truth of God. Couples will be encouraged that theyre not alone in the fight for a godly marriage and better equipped to be a shining example for the world around them.

Sharing Your Faith With Grace And Purpose

You can confidently and lovingly share your faithyou just need to learn some new tactics to do so! In this Focus on the Family Daily Broadcast, apologist Greg Koukl outlines the Columbo tactic of asking questions, the self-defeating argument tactic to find holes in your opponents arguments, and other specific methods for engaging in faith-building conversations with others. Greg pulls from his over 30 years of experience debating atheists and agnostics to help you share your faith with grace and truth.

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So Did The Bible First Prohibit Homosexuality In 1946 With The Rsv Translation

Yes. The word homosexual as we understand it is foreign to the biblical texts, but that is because all the modern baggage of an orientation is also foreign to the biblical text. The Scripture prohibits sodomy as an action, clearly, and without any ambiguity. Gods law typically speaks by prohibiting an action, and then also prohibiting the desiring of that action. This principle is seen in the Ten Commandments prohibiting theft and then later coveting. This is also seen in Christ teaching that desiring adultery is tantamount to committing adultery. This clearly prohibits both sodomy and identifying as homosexual in any form .

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So There Is Historical Tradition To Show That These Verses Arent Relating To Homosexuality

Absolutely! Sometimes Im frustrated when speak with pastors who say, Well I believe the historical tradition surrounding these verses and then proceed with a condemnation of LGBTQ individuals. I challenge them to see what was actually traditionally taught. For most of history, most European Bibles taught the tradition that these 4 verses were dealing with pederasty, not homosexuality. I am saddened when I see pastors and theologians cast aside the previous 2000 years of history. This is why I collect very old Bibles, lexicons, theological books and commentaries – most modern biblical commentaries adjusted to accommodate this mistranslation. Its time for the truth to come out!

Does The Bible Forbid Homosexuality

Gay-friendly clergy tend to use the terms love and acceptance interchangeably, claiming that we must love everyone, because we are all children of God.

It is certainly true that Jesus commanded us to love everyone, but it is not true that we are all children of God. And it certainly is not true that we must tolerate and accept evil behavior.

Scripture repeatedly refers to children of the Devil:

No one born of God commits sin for Gods nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother .

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your fathers desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies .

Anyone who has seen cursing, blaspheming homosexuals simulating sex at a Gay Pride parade, or has read their hate-filled screeds against the Catholic Church, should have no problem discerning whether they are children of God or spawn of the Devil.

Of course, homosexual persons are to be loved and respected, and homosexual tendencies are not sinful if they are not wanted. But homosexual activity is immoral and absolutely anti-biblical.

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Jesus’s Discussion Of Marriage

In Matthew 19 and parallel in Mark 10, Jesus is asked if a man can divorce his wife. In that context, Jesus replies:

He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female’, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

âMatthew 19:4â6

Robert A. J. Gagnon, a theologian, argues that Jesus’s back-to-back references to Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 show that he “presupposed a two-sex requirement for marriage”. On the other hand, Bart Ehrman, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, states of Jesus’s references to Genesis 1 and 2, ” not actually defining marriage. He’s answering a specific question.” Ehrman notes further “And here the conversation is quite easy. In our surviving records Jesus says nothing about same-sex acts or sexual orientation. Nothing. Nada.”

Q3 What Explicitly Does The Bible Teach About Homosexuality

The Bible explicitly teaches that homosexuality is a sin in both the Old and New Testaments. It also explicitly teaches that God offers His grace to redeem and reconcile every kind of sinner to Himself at His own expense through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The conclusion of the New Testament section succinctly states it this way: The Biblical and Christian view of homosexuality is that it is wrong, but Gods grace, just like it did for us, offers freedom from sin to all people.

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What The New Testament Says About Homosexuality

Volume 21-3May-June 2008

Mainline Christian denominations in this country are bitterly divided over the question of homosexuality. For this reason it is important to ask what light, if any, the New Testament sheds on this controversial issue. Most people apparently assume that the New Testament expresses strong opposition to homosexuality, but this simply is not the case. The six propositions that follow, considered cumulatively, lead to the conclusion that the New Testament does not provide any direct guidance for understanding and making judgments about homosexuality in the modern world.