Category Archives: Sexuality

Homosexual practice – a moral or social issue?

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Loveday Alexander helpfully clarifies the difference it makes when we regard homosexual practice as social phenomenon (as we tend to do nowadays) compared with seeing it as a moral issue (as is the case in the Bible).

‘We don’t talk (as a church) of being ‘inclusive’ towards murderers (say), or of repenting of negative attitudes towards financial fraud. (We will of course want to stress that the church is there for sinners — but we don’t thereby condone the sin.)

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Romans 1:26-27 – ‘Natural’ and ‘unnatural’ sexual relations

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Rom 1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

These verses are important in the debate about homosexual practices.  The discussion turns, to a considerable extent, on what Paul means by ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural’ in this context.…

Leviticus 18:22; 20:13 – Homosexual acts prohibited?

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Lev 18:22 – “You must not have sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman; it is a detestable act.”

Lev 20:13 – “If a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman, the two of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.”

What do these texts mean, and what is their relevance to homosexual practice today?…

Genesis 19 – What was the sin of Sodom?

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Gen 19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while Lot was sitting in the city’s gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground.
19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.”…

Gender identity and the new gnosticism

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David Shepherd writes (on Ian Paul’s blog):

Gnostic dualism contrasted the ethereal other-worldly goodness of spirit and light with the transient worthlessness of flesh and matter. Consequently, Gnostics held that anything which perpetuated our God-given physical embodiment (including marriage and procreation) was to be rejected as evil, or, at best, inconsequential by comparison with spiritual pursuits.

Fast forward to the 17th Century and Descartes’ mind-body dualism (‘I think, therefore I am’) gave precedence to the mind over the body, conceiving the former to be essential and indicative of the true person, whereas the latter is relatively inconsequential to who we really are.…

Homosexual relations: the argument about justice and rights

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Some argue for homosexual relations on the basis of justice.  John Stott examines this argument:

‘The justice argument runs like this: “Just as we may not discriminate between persons on account of their gender, colour, ethnicity or class, so we may not discriminate between persons on account of their sexual preference. For the God of the Bible is the God of justice, who is described as loving justice and hating injustice. Therefore the quest for justice must be a paramount obligation of the people of God.

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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.…

Sex and culture

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Nestling at the back of what I fondly call my mind has been a reference, by O.R. Johnston (in his 1979 book, Who Needs The Family?) to an important but neglected piece of research which presented evidence for a positive correlation between sexual restraint and cultural achievement.

I was pleased to track down Johnston’s book, and his discussion of the research in question.  Here is what Johnston has to say:

I turn now to the various types of marriage pattern in different societies and ask what advantages scholars have perceived in the different types of sexual regulation.…