Category Archives: Homosexuality

Sexuality: is Paul’s teaching clear?

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Ian Paul notes that, in the recent past, two responses to same-sex relationships have been prevalent:

  • In the wider society, same-sex marriage has provided gay relationships with the respectability and status that many desired;
  • In the UK church, questions have been asked about whether the New Testament writers understood sexuality in the way that we understand it today, and, consequently, whether their negative assessments are well-founded.

Today (Ian Paul is writing in 2019), another response has come to the fore:

  • Is the teaching of Scripture (and of Paul in particular) sufficiently clear and coherent for us to be able to follow its teaching on same-sex relationships?
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The Bible is a heterosexual book

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It just is.  Martin Davie writes:

‘This is a point that is well made by the American writer Michael Brown in his book Can you be Gay and Christian?  He asks the question why there are only a tiny number of biblical verses that directly address the issue of same-sex sexual relationships.  His answer to this question is to draw an analogy with a book of recipes for sugar free puddings that has an introduction that explains why sugar should be avoided.…

2 Samuel 1:26 – ‘More special than the love of women’

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Summary: It has been claimed by some revisionists that the relationship between David and Jonathan was of a sexual nature.  This is implausible, since it imports modern concepts and ideas into the ancient text.

In detail:

In 2 Samuel 1:26 David laments:

I grieve over you, my brother Jonathan!
You were very dear to me.
Your love was more special to me than the love of women.

Their relationship has been introduced in 1 Samuel 18 –

18:1 When David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan and David became bound together in close friendship.…

Luke 7:2 – ‘Highly valued servant’ or ‘gay lover’?

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Luke 7:2-3 A centurion there had a slave who was highly regarded, but who was sick and at the point of death. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave.

(See also: Matthew 8:5 When [Jesus] entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help: 8:6 “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible anguish.” 8:7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”)…

LGBT: what does it mean to be ‘welcoming but not affirming’?

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In the eyes of many, the idea that churches can take a ‘welcoming but not affirming’ attitude towards LGBT people is absurd.  It inevitably leads to treating people as second class Christians, tolerated but not fully integrated into the life of the church.

The perceived absurdity is compounded by the myth that only two possibilities exist: either that of full and unconditional acceptance and affirmation, or that of rejection.  Any kind of middle ground is rarely explored.…

Once again: the slaves/homosexuality trajectory argument

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Sean Doherty writes:

The church is under huge pressure to move away from biblical teaching with respect to sexuality. For example, the New Testament scholar Walter Wink, who is in favour of same-sex relationships, admits that the Bible does rule out same sex sexual intimacy. But he also maintains that the Bible sanctions slavery, which thankfully we now recognise as deeply evil and wrong. Wink therefore suggests that it is quite right to move away from biblical teaching on this matter, in the same way that we have moved away from biblical teaching on slavery.…

Matthew 7:16,20 – ‘You will recognise them by their fruit’

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Matthew 7:15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. 7:16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they? 7:17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 7:18 A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit.…

God’s good plan for men and women: our unfinished business

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If the Christian church is to adhere to (or recover) God’s good plan for men and women, then its pastoral care and witness will need some clarification and strengthening in a number of areas.

For example, we need to ask, How can we more effectively

  • witness to God’s good purposes in our own marriages and families?
  • recognise the distinctive roles of husbands and wives?
  • nurture young people who are capable of faithful covenant relationships?
  • honour both married and single people in the family of the church?
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Jude 7 – ‘Unnatural desire’

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Jude 7 – ‘So also Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire in a way similar to these angels, are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.’

The expression sarkos heteras is, lit., ‘other flesh’.  It is variously translated:-

ESV, NET  – ‘unnatural desire’
NIV, Good News, – ‘perversion’
NASB – ‘went after strange flesh’
RSV – ‘indulged in unnatural lust’
NRSV – ‘pursued unnatural lust’
AV – ‘going after strange flesh’

1.…

Matthew 8:5-13/Luke 7:1-10 – son? servant? male lover?

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Mt 8:5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help: 8:6 “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible anguish.” 8:7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8:8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed. 8:9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.…