Scripture on Same-Sex Unions
by Rev. Willard Heinrichs
In general, when we are trying to discover in the Sacred Scriptures what our Lord might want us to know and conclude in regard to so-called "same-sex unions or marriages," I believe that we might put our first and greatest effort into seeking as broad a view as possible of what our Lord intends andseeks to provide for His people in regard to marriage relationships. We needto especially note what the Lord has directly taught in His Word, ratherthan being guided in any way by the poor example of how the people in thestories of Scripture too often responded to His teaching.
Further, I thinkthat we need to be giving special attention to the matter of why the Lordsaid what He said. Among other things, from His infinitely merciful andeternally wise perspective, He tells us not to try to form same-sex marriagerelationships because they are just not in agreement with the way He createdus! People of the same sex do not fit together as to their souls, and werenever intended to, any better than they do as to their bodies. Suchrelationships, over the long haul just cannot "work." They, ofthemselves, cannot bear any "fruit," that is, children, certainly not the kind of fruit thatthe Lord especially wants and commands. Because they are not in the imageand likeness of God, as are one male and one female together, the Lord isnot able to bestow His boundless and eternal blessings on them. Speaking inboth physical and symbolic terms, no "little children can come to" the Lord (Mat. 19:14; Mark 10:14; Luke 18:16) as a result of them.
Ultimately, if not in this life then in the next,these "relationships" can yield only frustration and eventual bleak despair –and maybe that is just one of the reasons that so much promiscuity tendsto be associated with so many of them. So the Lord, in seeking to save people from the sad results of these "relationships" says, in so many ways
in His Scripture: Don't do it!
It is pretty clear from Genesis 1:27,28 and Genesis 5:1,2 that fromcreation it is in the relationship of one male and one female togetheras husband and wife that we especially have the "image" and "likeness" ofGod – what is truly and fully human in finite creation. It is in Genesis 2:24, affirmed later by the Lord Himself in Matthew 19:4-6 andMark 10:6-9, that this teaching regarding the relationship between onemale and one female is taken further and it is asserted that "these two,"not some other two, shall become one flesh.
Nowhere in Scripture is thereany indication, not even a whisper, that it is permissible for two of thesame sex to try to become one flesh. In fact, the only teachings that we canfind in the Bible bearing on this kind of effort, as we know, roundly condemn it, whether we are referring to Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13,also Deuteronomy 23:17 or to what Paul says in his epistles(Romans 1:24,27;Jude 7; I Corinthians 6:9; Timothy 1:10).
Yet people will say: "But where did Jesus condemn it?" In numerousplaces in the Gospels the Lord clearly renewed the prohibition against adultery.In particular,adultery isgiven as the sole ground for divorce(Matthew 5:32, 19:9, Mark 10:11-12, Luke 16:18).
But what is meant by "adultery"? Does it just involve unlawful relations between people of the oppositesex, one or both of whom are married to someone else? This is the commonimpression that many have in the western world today. However, in ancientJudaism, and from the very beginnings of Christianity, these churches haverecognized that the definition of "adultery" (i.e. the adulteration andfalsification of the Divinely ordained relationship between one man and onewife) is much broader than that! Paul certainly demonstrated this in hispreaching against the practice of homosexuality.
Then what were peoplelooking to for their definition of the adulteries that the Lord prohibitseither in the Old Testament or the New Testament? There is no question butthat they were relying especially on the teachings given in Leviticuschapters 18 and 20 where the Lord has provided us with lists anddescriptions of specific prohibited adulteries! In both of these lists "thepractice or action of" homosexuality is specifically prohibited and condemned as follows: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It isan abomination" (Leviticus 18:22). "If a man lies with a male as he lies witha woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely beput to death. Their blood shall be upon them" (Leviticus 20:13).
If we ignore or remove this God-given resource, this Divinely providedstandard, as regards what constitutes an adulteration and falsification ofthe legitimate, productive and blessed female – male relationships, whatbasis do we then have in civil society for prohibiting a whole range ofincestuous relationships, polygamy, bestiality, pedophilia, etc.? Without those Divineprohibitions given mainly in Leviticus we lose all "reliable" guidelinesfor determining what is permissible and not permissible, what is lawful and
not lawful in the sight of God, in human sexual relationships.
Now if, in seeking to preserve our societies from spiritual and moral calamity, we still wisely choose to retain most of those Leviticalprohibitions, but we drop the prohibition against "the practice of"homosexuality, on what basis are we making such an exclusion, when thereis not a whisper in all of Scripture that we should do this? In fact, besides Leviticus 18:22, 20:13; Deuteronomy 23:17; and Paul’s sayings,there is plenty of other evidence in Scripture for retaining thisprohibition. In Genesis 19:1-28 there is the powerful example of thecondemnation of the city of Sodom because "the men of Sodom were wickedand sinners before the Lord exceedingly" (Gen. 13:13) and "their sin was
very grievous" (Gen. 18:20). (See also Judges 19:22 - 23 regarding thewickedness of some in the tribe of Benjamin.) Also, in later stories ofthe Old Testament, especially in the books of Kings, there are very negative references to sodomites in the land and even in the court of the temple, whoby Divine command were to be driven out and eradicated (I Kings 14:24, 15:12, 22:46; II Kings 23:7).
Not a few scholars of Hebrew and Greekhave alsopointed to other references in both testaments of the Scriptures wherethey believe that "the practice of" homosexuality, among other things, isbeing referred to in a somewhat veiled fashion, yet always in a verynegative fashion. Two and maybe more of these instances occur in theApocalypse, which is introduced in chapter one as "the revelation of JesusChrist." In the Apocalypse (Revelation) 21:7- 8 we read, "He thatovercomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shallbe my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars,shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." In Revelation 22:15, afterthe Lord speaks of who may enter into the New Jerusalem, we note that "outsideare dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers,idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie." Some argue both fromtheir study of language and of history that in this passage, the term "dogs" especially refers to people indulging in various kindsof sexual disorders including the practice of homosexuality. (See
Deuteronomy 23:18 for a similar use of the term "dog.")
The point of all of this discussion, of course, is to invite theinquiring, concerned person to seriously consider what the broader testimonyof Scripture is in respect to "marriage." One husband with one wife is whatthe Lord taught and everywhere affirms, encourages and blesses. Same-sexsexual practices or relationships, whenever they are referred to eitherdirectly or indirectly, are always prohibited and condemned. If we chooseto allow and affirm them we need to be honest with ourselves that we aregoing aside from, indeed, against all the indications of God's Word in theOld and New Testaments and are being guided by generally unreliablethings such as human reason, experience (especially sensual pleasure), andtradition.
When our Lord while in the world was confronted with a personcaught in the act of "adultery" (whatever form that adultery might havetaken, and we are not told what form it was), He, out of His Divine mercy,did not condemn the person to hell, for after all, she was still living inthis world and could still repent.But He did say: "Go, and sin no more" (John 8:11). Should we not seek to do likewise whenever we are confronted with adultery
in any of its perverse forms, including the practice of homosexuality inso-called same-sex unions?