What does the Bible say about homosexuality?

Question 12017

This is a question the church cannot avoid, and one that must be answered with both clarity and compassion. The Bible speaks directly and consistently on the subject of homosexuality, and it does so within a broader framework of God’s design for human sexuality that is positive, purposeful, and good. The contemporary debate often frames this as a choice between affirming love and condemning people. That is a false dichotomy. The biblical position affirms the dignity of every human being made in God’s image while maintaining that God’s design for sexual expression is limited to the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman.

The Creation Design

The starting point is not the prohibition texts but the creation texts. Genesis 1:27 states that God created humanity “male and female.” Genesis 2:24 establishes that a man leaves his father and mother, holds fast to his wife, and the two become one flesh. This is the pattern. Sexual union is designed by God for the context of marriage between a man and a woman. Every departure from this pattern, whether heterosexual or homosexual, falls outside God’s design. The biblical case against homosexual practice does not rest on a handful of isolated prohibition texts. It rests on the entire framework of creation, in which sexual complementarity between male and female is woven into the fabric of what it means to be human.

The Old Testament Texts

Leviticus 18:22 states: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” Leviticus 20:13 prescribes the death penalty for the same act under the Mosaic law. The common objection is that these belong to the ceremonial or civil law of Israel and are therefore not binding on Christians. This objection fails on examination. The sexual prohibitions of Leviticus 18 and 20 are grounded in the moral law, not in ceremonial distinctiveness. They appear alongside prohibitions against incest, adultery, and bestiality, none of which any serious interpreter regards as merely ceremonial. The New Testament explicitly reaffirms the prohibition of homosexual practice, confirming that it belongs to the abiding moral category rather than the temporary ceremonial one.

The account of Sodom in Genesis 19 is sometimes dismissed as being about hospitality violations rather than homosexuality. It is true that inhospitality is part of what is condemned. But the specific nature of the sin is sexual: the men of the city demanded that Lot bring out his visitors “that we may know them” (Genesis 19:5), and the sexual meaning of “know” (yāda) in this context is confirmed by Lot’s offer of his daughters as an alternative (Genesis 19:8), which makes no sense if the demand was merely social. Jude 7 confirms that Sodom and Gomorrah “indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire.”

The New Testament Texts

Romans 1:26-27 is the most theologically developed treatment. Paul describes homosexual practice as part of the unravelling that occurs when humanity rejects the Creator: “For this reason God gave them up to dishonourable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 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.” Paul’s language of “contrary to nature” (para phusin) echoes the creation order: the “nature” in view is not cultural convention but the created design of male and female.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 includes arsenokoitai (those who practise homosexuality) among those who “will not inherit the kingdom of God.” The word is a compound drawn directly from the Greek translation of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 (arsenos koitēn), confirming that Paul understood himself to be reaffirming the Old Testament prohibition. 1 Timothy 1:10 uses the same word in a list of behaviours contrary to sound doctrine. The revisionist argument that these texts refer only to exploitative or pederastic relationships rather than committed same-sex partnerships does not withstand scrutiny. Paul’s language in Romans 1 describes mutual desire (“consumed with passion for one another”), and his vocabulary draws on Levitical texts that make no distinction between exploitative and non-exploitative forms of the act.

Compassion Without Compromise

The church must speak the truth about homosexual practice. It must also treat people who experience same-sex attraction with genuine dignity, compassion, and care. These are not competing obligations. They are the same obligation viewed from two angles. Every human being is made in the image of God and deserves to be treated with respect. Same-sex attraction is a real experience that causes genuine struggle for those who experience it, and the church should never trivialise that struggle or treat it with contempt.

The gospel call is the same for everyone: repentance and faith. The person struggling with same-sex attraction needs the same Saviour, the same grace, and the same community of support that every other sinner needs. The church is not a gathering of people who have conquered their temptations. It is a gathering of forgiven sinners who are being transformed by the Spirit of God. There should be no special category of shame attached to this particular struggle. At the same time, compassion does not require affirming what Scripture prohibits. To tell someone that God approves of what God has called sin is not love. It is the most dangerous form of false comfort.

So, now what?

The Bible’s teaching on homosexuality is consistent from Genesis to Revelation. It is grounded not in cultural prejudice but in the creation design for human sexuality. Homosexual practice falls outside God’s design, alongside all other sexual activity outside the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman. The church’s calling is to speak this truth with clarity while extending genuine love, hospitality, and pastoral care to every person, including those who struggle with same-sex attraction. The gospel offers not condemnation but transformation: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11