New Testament Passages
Concerning Homosexuality

Romans 1:21-27

“Because that, when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be
wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an
image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to fourfooted beasts, and
creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the
lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature
more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For which cause God gave
them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use
into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the
natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men
working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of
their error which was meet.”

This passage in Romans is the clearest New
Testament passage that condemns male and female homosexuality. But these verses
can not be looked at by themselves. They have to be studied in light of the
verses around them and chronologically when it happened.

Many
Bible scholars believe that the verses in Romans 1:18-32 are an account of the
stages of world apostasy after the flood of Noah. The names of some them are,
C. I. Scofield, Henry Morris (Founder of Institute of Creation Research), Finis
Jennings Dake, and Lester Sumrall. Studying these verses in conjunction with
Genesis 11 sheds much light about what occurred to humanity in the first 300 to
500 years after the flood. The verses reveal that mankind did not descend into
the depths of depravity overnight, but that it took a period of time.

It is a physical
law that babies do not grow into adults overnight, it takes years for the
transformation. In the spirit it is similar, a baby Christian does not grow
into spiritual maturity over night. On the flip side mankind does not descend
into spiritual monsters overnight.

Sin does not
have an eternal past, it had a beginning, it started somewhere. Ultimately, sin
began in heaven with the rebellion of Lucifer before man was ever created. In
regard to mankind, it is true that the reign of sin over man began in the
Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve and the particular sin of eating from the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, a forbidden tree, and because of that all
mankind was lost. Mankind, individually and as a whole, even though spiritually
dead does not degenerate overnight but gradually. I am not saying that man
becomes spiritually dead or separated from God gradually; because of Adam’s sin
we are all born with the law of sin and death in our nature, but when we reach
the age of accountability we all die spiritually because we all sin, and that
happens instantly. But just as there are levels of growth in Christ, there are
levels of descent in sin. But our state or condition can become worse. Jesus
said in Matthew 12:45, “…the last state of that man is worse than the first.” What
the man did in Matthew 12 was allow a wicked spirit and “seven other spirits
more wicked than himself” to enter in. In 2 Peter 2:20, Peter wrote of the
condition individuals who turn their back on God as being “…the latter end is
worse with them than the beginning.” Individual men and women, families,
communities, whole nations and cultures do not become totally corrupt
overnight, it is a gradual descent. A step by step abandoning of boundaries
that otherwise would prohibit the corruption.

In Romans 1:21-27 it is revealed when the
spirit of homosexuality entered the human realm. Comparing Genesis 18 & 19
with Genesis 11 and Romans 1 we can with confidence say it was within the first
450 years after the flood. Was homosexuality a problem before the flood? I don’t
know for sure because the Bible does not say, maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t,
I don’t know. What I do know is that same sex lust did not plague man from the
beginning. Man descended into it. The Scriptures in Romans make that clear. Homosexuality
is a lust driven by a spirit. It is not a sexual orientation, and it appears
that it began plaguing humanity at a particular time in human history. Romans
1:21-25 reveals that homosexuality began when idolatry, which is also a spirit,
was embraced by man and that occurred at a particular time in history.

Becoming vain in
their thinking occurred after they rejected revealed truth; it is true here,
and it is true in 2 Kings 17:15:

‘And they rejected his statutes, and
his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he
testified against them; and they became vain, and went after the heathen that
were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they
should not do like them.”

The people the
Apostle Paul was referring to in Romans though claiming to be wise, these
people were really fools. They were fools because they began worshipping images
of man and animals.

Romans 1:22-26 Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools,

And changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and
fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Wherefore God also gave them up to
uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own
bodies between themselves:

Who changed the truth of God into a
lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is
blessed for ever. Amen.

For this cause God gave them up unto
vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that
which is against nature:

And likewise also the men, leaving the
natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men
working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of
their error which was meet.

In Romans 1:24 & 26 we see the revelation
of the, “wrath of God” in response to man when he, “changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image” (verse 23). In verse 24 God “gave them up to
uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own
bodies between themselves.” When they began worshipping idols they changed the
truth of God into a lie, after that the next step in the degenerative process
was male and female homosexuality. The phrase “gave…up” is a compound Greek
word. (3860 * paradidomi; para-to the side of, over to; didomi-to give) It means “to deliver
over or up to the power of someone. Spoken of persons or things delivered over
to do or suffer something, unto the power or practice of someone or something.”[i] In
Romans 1:24 the Lord gave these people over to the power of sexual and moral
uncleanness and they began acting out the lusts in their heart and dishonored
their bodies.

These vile
affections, these disgraceful passions are described as changing “the natural
use into that which is against nature”. To understand fully what these words
mean they have to be compared with the phrase in verse 27, men “leaving the
natural use of the woman”. In sexual intimacy, anatomically speaking, men complement
women and women complement men. It is the created order. The desire to have
sexual relations with a member of the same gender is a “vile affection” that is
“against nature”, they are not sexual orientations. In Romans 1:27, the phrase, “men with men
working that which is unseemly”, is a discrete way of saying, according to the
Greek, “men engaging in actions with the sexual private parts of another man.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, not
idolaters, not adulterers, not effeminate, not abusers of themselves with
mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners,
shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed,
but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and
by the Spirit of God.”

The Greek word for
the phrase “abusers of themselves with mankind” is the compound word ‘arsenokoites’.
It means a man who lies in bed with another male, a homosexual. It is the same
Greek word used in the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament in Leviticus 18:22: Thou
shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

Verse 9 of 1 Corinthians 6 begins with a
question. To put it simply, he asks, “Don’t you know that people who are not
righteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” Paul warns us in verse 9, “Be
not deceived”. There are certain behaviors, including homosexuality, that if
you practice, it is an indicator you are not a Christian and you are not going
to heaven. By the same standard, I know of people who are fornicators. They live
together, they are not married and they go to church every week and they think
they are going to heaven, but according to God’s word they are not. When we
look at the contemporary church world and the secular world, how they have
embraced the mythology about sexual orientation we can see this warning is
justified. There are some people within some Christian denominations that are
deceived into believing that they could engage in this behavior and still be a
Christian. In this passage of scriptures Paul refers to homosexual behavior, and
includes them in the group with thieves, idolaters, drunkards, adulterers,
revilers, extortioners, and covetous. Then in verse 11 he gives some of the
most powerful words of hope he could give. He states that there were members in
the Corinthian church who in the past engaged in these behaviors, but because
of their conversion to Jesus Christ, they were not only washed and rendered
clean and pure in a moral sense but also were declared righteous and set free
by God. The Greek word for “justified”
is dikaioo (1344), and according to
Zodiates Word Study New Testament Dictionary means, “justify by judicial act,
to set a man free from his guilt and represent him as righteous, it does not
mean mere declaration of innocence, but liberation from sin which holds a man
prisoner.”[ii] They were, because of their conversion, the
born again experience, no longer adulterers, no longer homosexuals, no longer
drunkards, they quit doing those things because they were delivered from them. This
Biblical truth is completely opposite of what we hear from many today,
concerning the so called sexual orientation of homosexuals.

For
instance, on August 15, 1997, the Associated Press reported, in an article
entitled, “Therapy for gays denounced”, that “homosexuality is
not a mental disorder and doesn’t need treatment, the nation’s largest group of
psychologists (American Psychological Association) has declared in an attempt
to quell controversy over so-called reparative therapy.” The article goes on to
say, “The newest resolution said lack of information, ignorance and prejudice
puts some “gay, lesbian, bisexual and questioning individuals at risk” for
seeking “conversion” or “reparative” therapy, which is aimed at reducing or
eliminating homosexuality.”[iii] Newsday,
another news organization reporting on the same meeting, in an article
entitled, “Gay conversions rapped”, and dated 8/15/97, wrote that
passage of the resolution, “would mean its membership of 150,000 psychologists
would be breaching ethical guidelines should they tell potential clients that
there is effective “reparative” or “conversion” therapy for homosexuality.”[iv]

Another example is found in a Permanent
Injunction issued in 1994 by U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegle against Cincinnati’s
Issue Three, an effort by the voters in Cincinnati to remove “sexual
orientation” from the city’s anti-discrimination law. “Furthermore, relevant
and credible evidence revealed that sexual orientation is unamendable to
techniques designed to change it, and that such techniques are considered
unethical.”[v]

On June 10, 2004
World Net Daily reported that, “The National Mental Health Association has
declared changing one’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual can
be damaging to mental health,” www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38870.[vi]

If the National Mental Health Association, the
APA, and Judge S. Arthur Spiegel were including the Gospel of Jesus Christ in
these “techniques” then we have to go with what God’s word says in Romans 3:4
“…let God be true and every man a liar.” If there is no hope for the homosexual in the
gospel then there is no hope for the drunkard, there is no hope for the
adulterer, there is no hope for anyone. But thank God through Jesus Christ
there is hope to not only receive forgiveness for all of our sin, no matter if
its drug abuse, alcohol abuse, or sexual immorality of any kind, but also break
entirely free from the bondage. The passage in Romans 3:4 echoes in principle
what Isaiah 8:20 says, “…if they speak not according to this word, it is
because there is no light in them.” Folks, if anyone says things that are
directly contrary to what the Bible says, don’t believe them.

1 Timothy 1:8-11

But we know that the law is good, if a
man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous
man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for
the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for
manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for
menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine; According to the glorious gospel of the
blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

One of the messages the Apostle Paul is
saying in these verses: Laws that forbid among other things, lying, murder,
kidnapping, and homosexuality are not only “good” and “sound doctrine” they are
also according “to the glorious gospel of the blessed God”. One reason that
makes these verses vitally important to our time is the definitions of a couple
words. The Greek word “whoremonger”, is pornos.
It means a male prostitute, (Zodiates, 4205).[vii]
The other phrase, “them that defile themselves with mankind”, is one Greek
compound word. It is arsenokoites ,
and it means, “a man that lies in bed with another man”, (Zodiates, 733);[viii]
these definitions are important to our present time in light of the warning the
Apostle Paul writes in his second epistle to Timothy. In 2 Timothy 4:2-4 he
writes:

“Preach the word; be instant in season,
out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

For the time will come when they will
not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears;

And they shall turn away their ears
from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

The Apostle Paul
warns that the time was coming when people would no longer believe sound
doctrine, i.e. laws that forbid homosexuality, but they would gather around and
listen to teachers who would accommodate their lusts. There are denominations out there that proclaim
homosexuality to be simply one of the varied orientations that make up human
sexuality. There are people who flock to these teachers to have their ears
tickled. They turn away from the truth of the word of God concerning
homosexuality and turn to listen to myths rather than God’s Word.

During the late
70’s, various news organizations began to report how the old mainline
denominations’ were struggling over the issue of homosexuality. When I began to see these denominations
compromise again and again over this issue, I would wonder, “What in the world
is going on? Don’t they know what the Bible says?” One factor that I was not aware at the time
was that a perverted theology had infiltrated the ranks of these denominations.
It was a heresy that reinterpreted clear scriptural teaching about
homosexuality into bizarre doctrine which taught that Christianity and
homosexuality are compatible; this heresy is homosexual theology. Looking at
the growth of the homosexual movement in the church world in the last 25 years
we can see the heretical has now
become the accepted.

Let me point out
that “theology” is the wrong term to use with this particular heresy. Theology
is the study of God, and the teaching that homosexuality and Christianity are
compatible is not about God. It is about man’s attempt to incorporate vile
affection, vile lusts into a pseudo-relationship with God. Perhaps a more
accurate term would be “sodomology”. This heresy is nottheology.

The preachers in
these churches preaching this poison are apostate; they are fallen away if they
were ever born again. I must say not every minister in these denominations is
preaching this garbage; there are many godly men and women within these
denominations trying to stand for truth, but for the most part, within the last
35 years sodomology has crept into these churches and has caused them to depart
from the faith. It was these developments and studying the Scriptures that
foretold of these events led me to believe as Christ’s return came closer
homosexuality was only going to become a larger, more prominent issue in the
church and the world. Just as Jesus said in Luke 17:28-30, “Likewise also as it
was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they
planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained
fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be
in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

A common thread
in sodomology is the accusation that the writers of Scripture were ignorant of
what we know today about sexual orientation, so what the Scriptures say about
homosexuality does not apply because the authors didn’t have all the facts. In
a study by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), called Human
Sexuality, published in October of 1994, it is evident that sodomologists are
at work within that denomination to spread corruption:

“Some of those who have called for
change have claimed that what the Scriptures say about homosexual behavior
should no longer be binding on the Church. They have pointed out that the
Church has changed its understanding of the Scriptures before. They have
claimed the Bible is conditioned by its time—it does not and can not address
contemporary understandings of homosexuality and the authentic relationship of
gay and lesbian persons who are Christians. Others calling for change have
insisted that the Scripture passages that seem to condemn same-sex acts have
not been correctly understood. They have argued that the Scripture passages
address only homosexual behavior and did not know the concept of “sexual
orientation”.[ix]

The Episcopal
Church in their study, Continuing the Dialogue, echoes this lie by
saying that it is “unlikely” the Apostle Paul knew about “what we today call”
homosexual orientation. [x]

These deceitful
statements completely contradict what the Bible says about itself. The warnings
written by Paul almost 2000 years ago and cited in the beginning of this
chapter are being fulfilled before our very eyes. Concerning the scope and
range of authority of the Scriptures Paul wrote quite clear in 2 Timothy 3:16,
17.

“All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works.”

Scripture
concerning homosexuality is God-breathed and is for doctrine about
homosexuality, reproof concerning homosexuality, correction concerning
homosexuality, and instruction
concerning homosexuality. If Paul was ignorant then either God inspired his
ignorance or God was and is ignorant and not as smart as man.

To see how
effective sodomology has had lets look at a quote from another main line
denomination. The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
(UPCUSA) is a denomination that has been wrestling with this issue for decades.
After all those years of bickering, we find an amazing percentile acknowledged
in the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA).

“A great theological divide exists in
our denomination on the issue of homosexuality. Over the years, as various
proposed amendments were sent to the presbyteries, the votes cast by individual
presbyters have indicated that a substantial minority, 40 to 45 percent, affirm
an interpretation of Scripture that differs from the guidance of the 1978 and
1979 General Assemblies.”

The 1978 General Assembly of the
(UPCUSA) characterized “the practice of homosexuality as sin and instructs that
unrepentant homosexual practice does not accord with the constitutional
requirements for ordination.” www.pcusa.org/ga216/business/overtures/ovt0427.htm
[xi]

Twenty six years after those
General Assemblies, 40 to 45 percent of the leaders in the UPCUSA no longer
believe that homosexuality is sin, nor believe that unrepentant homosexual
practice is a reason not to ordain.

A couple more
examples come from the Episcopal Church. The following is from is from the 1994
publication, Continuing The Dialogue, The first quote is from Chapter 5,
The Discontinuities, lines 331 to 334:

“Among those who participated in the
human sexuality dialogues in our own Church, 80% agreed or strongly agreed that
homosexuality is a genuine orientation for some people and 66% said that gay
men and lesbian women can be faithful Christians.”[xii]

Eighty per cent
is an incredible number especially those who claim to be Christians but it
shows clearly that the Apostle Paul was right when he wrote “the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine.” Another but more grievous example is found in
the same chapter, from lines 549 and 566:

“Freud grew to believe that it was as difficult to convert a
“fully developed homosexual into a heterosexual” as to do the reverse. Indeed
there is no convincing evidence that homosexuals who are 5 and 6 on the Kinsey
scale can be truly reoriented. Some are convinced, however, that with
sufficient religious motivation, genuine shifts can and do take place. Some
Christians involved in ministries such as Exodus and Regeneration have
experienced such shifts in behavior and have given clear testimony to Church
bodies on the subject…Clinical studies indicate, however, that such treatment
may result in serious problems such as anxiety and depression due to the
disruption of a lifelong process of sexual identity formation and from injury
to the patient’s self-esteem.”[xiii]

Instead of
saying what the Bible says, they quote Freud and Kinsey, and clinical studies. Saints,
the Word of God is the final authority not Freud or clinical studies, or
Kinsey. Not only is this “turning their ears away from the truth”, it is also
an example of 2 Timothy 3:5, where Paul writes, “Having a form of godliness but
denying the power thereof”. They are denying the gospels’ power to overcome and
destroy homosexual lust and to transform the sinner into a saint.

The next
“Church” statement is from “Human Sexuality Working Draft: A Possible Social Statement
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with Accompanying Documents”. It
is Paragraph 56, on page 21:

“Some of those who have called for
change have claimed that what the Scriptures say about homosexual behavior
should no longer be binding of the Church. They have pointed out that the
Church has changed its understanding of the Scriptures before. They have
claimed the Bible is conditioned by its time—it does not and cannot address
contemporary understandings of homosexuality and the authentic relationship of
gay and lesbian persons who are Christians. Others calling for change have
insisted that the Scripture passages that seem to condemn same-sex acts have
not been correctly understood. They have argued that the Scripture passages
address only homosexual behavior and did not know the concept of “sexual
orientation”.[xiv]

The above quotes
from the Episcopal Church and Lutheran Church are clear examples of 2 Timothy
4:3 & 4. It is a flashing neon sign pointing to the apostasy of segments of
professing Christianity. Another began flashing on July 5^th 2005
when the leaders of the United Church of Christ, a liberal denomination of 1.3
million members voted to endorse homosexual marriage.[xv] There
are others from other denominations that could also be included, but these are
sufficient.

What the
Scripture requires the Church to do is use the authority that Christ gave the
Church to administer discipline. Under the Old Covenant there were certain
crimes that were punishable by death. For instance, in Leviticus 20:11 we read,
“…the man that lieth with his father’s wife…both of them shall surely be put to
death.” It is the same in Deuteronomy 17:2-5 where the crime is idolatry. “If
there be found among you…man or woman, that hath…gone and served other
gods…Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman…and shalt stone them
with stones, till they die.” Clearly under the Old Covenant these two offences
were guilty of death, but under the New Covenant there is a different
discipline given. These two sins are dealt with by the Apostle Paul in 1
Corinthians 5. But instead of ordering the death penalty Paul says the individuals
need to be excommunicated. In 1 Corinthians 5:2 the judgment to be administered
is “taken away”, and in 1 Corinthians 5:13 it is “put away”. They are both the
same Greek word, exairo, which means
“to expel or excommunicate”.[xvi]
The desired effect, according to 1 Corinthians 5:5 is, “To deliver such an one
unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in
the day of the Lord Jesus.” Living in the world out from under the protection
of God, and being the targets of the prayers of the saints is sufficient to
bring a person to repentance and back into fellowship with God and his Church,
unless the individual in his or her own free will rejects any repentance. In
that case God will not over ride their free will, but the ideal is the
individual will repent and come back to Christ and full fellowship into the
local body.

Likewise under the law the death penalty was
prescribed for individuals guilty of homosexuality.

Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with
mankind, as with womenkind: it is abomination.

Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lie with
mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination:
they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Using the same
example of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 for other sins that were prescribed
the death penalty under the law but not under the New Covenant, we can with
confidence in the mind of Christ excommunicate those in the local assembly who
are unrepentant, but with the hope and prayer that it is only a step in the
process of bringing them back into the body for full fellowship after the
repentance is accomplished.

In light of
this, those in the Church who advocate death for homosexuals are, I believe in
error and need to get in line with Scripture.

[i] Spiros
Zodhiates Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, # 3860.

[ii] Ibid. #
1344.

[iii]
“Therapy for gays denounced”, Associated Press, 8/15/97.

[iv] “Gay
conversions rapped”, Newsday, 8/15/97.

[v] U.S. District
Judge, S. Arthur Speigel’s Permanent
Injunction against Issue 3, 8/9/94.

[vi]
“Turning from homosexuality hazardous?”

www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38870

[vii] Spiros
Zodhiates Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, #4205.

[viii] Ibid.
# 733.

[ix] Human
Sexuality, A Working Draft, A Possible Social Statement of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America with Accompanying
Documents, p 21, paragraph 56.

[x]
Continuing The Dialogue, A Pastoral Study Document of the House of Bishops to
the Church as the Church Considers Issues of Human Sexuality, p 21, Lines
326-328.

[xi] “That
all may have life in fullness, (UPCUSA),

www.pcusa.org/ga216/business/overtures/ovt0427.htm

[xii]
Continuing the Dialogue, A Pastoral Study Document of the House of Bishops to
the church as the Church Considers Issues of Human Sexuality, Chapter 5, Lines
331-334.

[xiii] Ibid.
Chapter 5, Lines 549-566.

[xiv] Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, Human Sexuality: Working
Draft, p.21, paragraph 56.

[xv] “Press
Statement after Marriage Equality Vote”.

www.news.ucc.org/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=273&Itemid=56&po…

[xvi] Spiros
Zodhiates Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, # 1808.

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About Don Costello

Name, Don Costello. I live outside Cincinnati Ohio in a city called Batavia. I am 58 years old, married with 5 children. I have been a born again  Christian since November 10th 1976. Some people like to fish or hunt, but my passion is studying God’s word and writing about it.

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