I
n addressing the subject of homosexuality, I am reminded of the subtle words of the serpent to our
mother Eve. The tempter began by asking “Did God actually say…?”. 1 This question has had
tremendous success in misleading the human race following the fall of Adam and Eve. After all, if
one could cast sufficient doubt on what God has said, one would find the moral liberty to justify any
action on the ground that God has not spoken. Christian apologetics is primarily committed to the
firm belief that God has spoken and that we possess His revealed words in the form of Scripture.
Having studied Scripture, I hold it beyond dispute that God is not silent on the issue of
homosexuality. Hence it is not the question of if God has spoken but the question of what God has
spoken on homosexuality that will be the subject of my writing. I will attempt to deal with
homosexuality from a biblical description of the human state and subsequently point to the hope of
the gospel the Scripture offers to those who struggle with homosexual tendencies.
One of the more significant problems I have discovered in dealing with the subject of homosexuality is a poor theology of what it means to be human (anthropology). The apologist L.T. Jeyachandrandescribes the problem brilliantly in two ways. Firstly, he demonstrates how many of us unknowingly start our gospel from Genesis 3, following the fall of Adam and Eve. The problem with this approach is that it paints a negative and false image of God as Creator. As one skeptic I was in dialogue with objected, “an all-powerful God created gay people and then condemned them all to hell specifically
for making them that way”. Genesis 1-2 will help the objector realize that God did not create gay
people. He created man and woman with no sin. The fall corrupted God’s original design for
humanity. But why then does God does condemn people to hell for being gay?
The gospel asserts that it is not humanly
possible to cease those desires and instead points us to a perfect Saviour who entered our fallen
world and who gives us His strength to overcome our weaknesses.
The fact is nowhere in the Bible does God condemn a person for being gay or possessing
homosexually inclinations. We are told in Scripture that “You shall not lie with a male as with a
woman; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22) and that “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” (1 Corinthians 6:9). In both these passages,
only the act or “practice” of homosexuality is condemned. In other words, in our fallen human
nature, it is not sinful to be attracted to others of the same sex as long as we don’t act upon that
predisposition. 2 The same is true of heterosexuals who are attracted to members of the opposite
sex. While the attraction is not inherently sinful, acting upon the impulse outside a marital relationship is severely condemned in 1 Corinthians 6:9. The gospel does not condemn a person for
being gay or demand a person cease having those desires. The gospel asserts that it is not humanly
possible to cease those desires and instead points us to a perfect Saviour who entered our fallen
world and who gives us His strength to overcome our weaknesses.
The second point that Jeyachandran notes is that our gospel message tends to be focused on souls
to the extent that we often downplay the significance of the body. If you have been in church for
some time, you may find yourself familiar with phrases such as “praying for souls” or “saving souls”.
It is important to realize that the Christian hope is not primarily the salvation of our souls but the
resurrection of the body. Paul says in his trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin “…I
” (Acts 23:6). This resurrection that Paul
speaks of is not a disembodied state, rather it is a bodily resurrection in a similar manner in which
Jesus rose from the dead. As even Job recognized in the Old Testament, “
…” (Job 19:25-26).
Therefore, the body is an important aspect of the gospel that we should by no means ignore. What
has this got to do with a person struggling with homosexuality? Everything! Our secular culture
would have us believe that unless we openly accept homosexual behavior, we would be denying
those homosexually inclined a chance to pursue happiness. If there is no resurrection, then perhaps
they would have a point. As the Apostle Paul himself admits, “
” (1 Corinthians 15:32). However, if Jesus was indeed raised bodily
from the dead, then what we do with our bodies in this life will echo forever in eternity.
