Homosexuality: A Significant Sin?
Before I get too far, I want to make an important distinction upfront. Experiencing disordered desires and temptations is not the same thing as acting on those desires and temptations. It is only when we act on temptation that we sin. Everything I’m about to say about homosexuality assumes that a person is acting on those desires, not just experiencing them. It is no sin to be tempted, Jesus himself experienced temptation but did not sin (Heb. 4:15). It is no contradiction to say that there are faithful Christians who struggle with homosexual temptation. For an example of this, you can consider Sam Allberry’s testimony found here.
The Bible is clear and consistent throughout in its disapproval of homosexual relations. There have been recent efforts among certain scholars to bend these texts so that they only prohibit certain forms of homosexual relations; other theologians have suggested that these prohibitions are merely relics of their time that can be left behind. These claims are difficult to maintain when these texts are considered together (rather than just individually), when we soberly consider the societal consensus at the time of writing (did they actually approve of homosexuality?), and when we seriously consider what the Gospel says to sinners.
Right now, I only want to consider what makes these relations significant as a sin and how this directly ties into what the Gospel says to sinners. I draw your attention to the word “significant” so that you will think about it in a very literal sense – as a sin, what does homosexuality signify? What does it signal? How is it symbolic?
The most important text in my estimation on this question is Romans 1. I’m going to give you most of the chapter and briefly highlight the key points you should notice.
Romans 1:18-32 [18] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. [19] For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. [20] For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. [21] For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. [22] Claiming to be wise, they became fools, [23] and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. [24] Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, [25] because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. [26] For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable 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 error. [28] 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. [29] They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, [30] slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, [31] foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. [32] 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. [underlining mine]
Notice that the Apostle Paul’s commentary is focused on God’s wrath against ALL sinfulness. Verses 18 and 29-32 make it clear that he is not focused exclusively on homosexuality. Even at the center of this passage, the main point is not homosexuality but idolatry. The primary human problem is that we have rejected God and worshipped all sorts of things that are not God (vv.21-23). Paul turns to homosexuality as a signifier, a sign post, a symbol of this. Just as we have exchanged God for things that look like us (creaturely things), so we have traded sexual partners for those who look like us (those of the same sex).
Engaging in homosexual relations is not the worst of all sins, but it is iconic of our rebellion against God. Does this mean that the person who acts out on same-sex desires is an especially bad person compared to all others? I don’t see that. Paul lists all sorts of sins that may not be present in the life of the person who is engaged in that sexual sin. More than serving as a report on the individual, I think the presence of homosexual sin is a report on society as a whole. That is, if we see homosexual sin around us it is BECAUSE we are living in a society that has stopped worshipping the true God to pursue idols instead. This form of sexual sin is only one symptom of our deeper sickness, our godless idolatry – even if all homosexual sin stopped tomorrow the root cause behind all the other sins Paul mentions would remain.
To worship God is to live in harmony with his purpose for us as human creatures. That means we embrace his order, his ways, rather than our own. This includes human sexuality, but it also encompasses everything else besides. This is very difficult for us to accept – our culture encourages us to write our own rules and the notion of submitting to God strikes right against that. Before you get too frustrated, consider this: If God is our creator, would he not design us to flourish under certain conditions? Would it not make sense for us to try to live in harmony with that design?
If we want to know what genuine human flourishing looks like, we need look no further than Jesus. Jesus is the sum of what it truly means to be human, per God’s design. Notably, Jesus is no less human even though he never had any sexual relations. Sexuality is part of our human identity, but engaging in sexual activity is not essential to being human. Jesus is the complete opposite of Romans 1; this becomes critically important as Paul points out in Romans 2 and 3 that all of us are sinners subject to the condemnation found in that first chapter.
The only exception is Jesus and he makes all the difference for us. Paul says in Romans 3:23-25a, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
The Christian message pulls no punches in calling out sin and rebellion, but the greatness of our sin is only outmatched by the even greater grace that God offers us in Jesus. We have rejected God, but he’s not holding it against us – he wants us back if we’ll turn to him. Jesus is our invitation.
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Rev. Tom Loghry
Tom Loghry is the senior pastor of Rockland Community Church in North, Scituate, RI. He is a graduate of the Berkshire Institute for Christian Studies, Toccoa Falls College (B.S. Pastoral Ministry), and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.A. Theology). He is continuing his graduate studies in the area of “Ethics & Society” at GCTS.