Is Homosexuality a Sin?

I was challenged recently as a member of the Pass The Baton blog ring to answer this question. The stipulation, as always with questions we issue each other, is to make liberal use of scripture to justify our answer.

Preface
This is a highly flammable subject. I know there are those in the church who have a completely different understanding of scripture. I respect them and their understanding, though I cannot agree with them. The scriptures are what they are. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and I take full responsibility for them. I accepted the challenge because it was issued and the views I express are based on my own personal understanding of what I read in scripture. Some may view my as narrow minded. It is not my intention to offend anyone by addressing this issue, but if the Word offends you, perhaps you need to talk to God about it. The real question isn't whether homosexuality is a sin, but what do we do about it?

What is Sin?
Before we can accurately answer the main question, we first need to be clear about our terms. First there’s the question of what is sin.

From Dictionary.com: 1) transgression of divine law 2) any act regarded as such a transgression, esp. a willful or deliberate violation of some religious or moral principle 3) any reprehensible or regrettable action, behavior, lapse, etc.

From the American Heritage Dictionary: 1) A transgression of a religious or moral law, especially when deliberate 2) (theology) Deliberate disobedience to the known will of God 3) (theology) a condition of estrangement from God resulting from such disobedience 4) something regarded as being shameful, deplorable, or utterly wrong. 

From Scripture: 1 Jn 3:4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. (ESV)

The 3^rd chapter of 1 John is an excellent source for understanding sin from God’s perspective. There’s a critical difference between sin as defined by God and sin as defined by man. Sin against God, according to 1 Jn 3:4, is the same thing as practicing lawlessness. In other words, sin is when a person disregards and disobeys the law. In the New Testament the word “law” may mean Mosaic Law, general religious law (ie Talmud), or may refer specifically to God’s Law (Ten Commandments). In the case of 1 Jn 3:4 the exact meaning of “law” is not totally clear, but certainly it appears to imply law given directly by God (10 commandments). In context any direct disobedience to God’s will can and should be construed as lawlessness. Jesus quoted Moses when he summarized God’s Law into the “greatest commandments” which are to love God and love each other.

What is homosexuality?
According to American Heritage: a sexual attraction to (or sexual relations with) persons of the same sex.

It is vital to understand the definition of homosexuality does not include the world “love.” It refers specifically to a sexual desire or action with or for a person of the same physical sex. Sexual acts can be acts of love, but by no means are sexual acts limited to the context of love. Godly love and the expression of human attraction in a romantic love through sex are very different.

Answering the Main Question
To determine if homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of religion we would need to know what scripture says about homosexuality. The following are scriptural references I’ve found on the subject. In every case I find God’s Will, as represented in scripture, to oppose homosexuality. Thus it appears to me based on the scriptures I’ve found that homosexuality is in fact a sin in the eyes of God.

Patriarchal Homosexuality
The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God by the reigning of fire and brimstone (Gen 19). Gen 19:5 indicates the men of Sodom wanted to have sex with the men of God who were actually angels. Gen 19:13 indicates the reason for the coming destruction of the city was the wickedness of its residents. It seems to me from context their wickedness included homosexuality. It is from the name of that town, Sodom, we get the term sodomy for anal sex. The city of Sodom is mentioned almost 50 times in scripture, about 30 in books other than Genesis. In every case Sodom is used as the example of wickedness and God’s judgment on the wicked. The example of wickedness worthy of destruction included homosexuality.

Mosaic Law
Lev 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. (ESV) This particular verse is in context with an entire passage defining sexual sins. It is sandwiched in with definitions of sexual sins in the form of sex during ministration, adultery, sacrificing children to idols, and bestiality.

Commands to God’s People
Lev 18:24-30 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you 27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29 For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.” (ESV) After God gave the commands about sexual behavior, he went on to remind his people not to do them and that these were among the reasons the people of the land would be cast out by God. The scripture clearly says “never practice any of these abominable customs.” It is absolutely clear that for Jews homosexuality is a sin. Some might argue this was only Mosaic law and does not apply to today. To that end we need to see what the New Testament says…

James’ Teachings on Sexuality
Acts 15:19-20 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. (ESV) In this passage James was settling disputes among the Apostles about how to deal with Gentile converts. According to this passage the agreement among the Apostles and the early church leadership was that Gentiles were to be subject to only a few ceremonial laws because those laws represented critical moral standards set down by God for all humanity. Among these was sexual purity. Sexual immorality of any kind was considered sin (lawlessness – ie going against God’s law).

Paul’s Teaching on Homosexuality

Ro 1:26-28 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable 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. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. (ESV) Paul spoke with clarity when he said homosexual behavior, whether male/male or female/female, was against God’s will and by definition a sin.

1 Cor 6:9-13 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,  nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 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. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. (ESV) (See also 1 Tim 1:3-11.) This passage is used by both pro-homosexual and anti-homosexual groups. The pro group latches onto the phrase “all things are lawful for me” and disregards context. Paul was not saying we can behave any way we see fit and still inherit the kingdom of God. God commands us to be holy (Rev 4:8). Jesus commands us to obey him (Jn 15:14). Disobedience, which is to say lawlessness which is to disregard God’s Will, is sin (1 Jn 3:4).

The Danger of Homosexuality

Jude 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. (ESV)

Christian Response
I have a personal sadness and compassion for those caught up in and enslaved by sexual sin of any kind. If they don’t hear and receive the Good News, finding freedom from their sin through the redeeming blood of Jesus, they face a fate of hell’s fire. This is not my condemnation, but the condemnation I read of in scripture. It is a fate we all deserve, but one which is determined for those who refuse to submit to God’s authority and will and allow him not only to forgive their sin, but to wash it away and repent. This is true of all sin, no matter whether it is murder or lying or coveting or dishonoring parents or sexual sin. The one forgiven of sin is the one who chooses to turn away from that sin and follow Christ in obedience to His Will. Believers, including myself, are called to preach the good news. We are not called to condemn the sinful, they are already condemned without any help from me (Jn 3:17-18). I can no more condemn a man for his sin than I can forgive him and grant him salvation from the hell we all deserve. Mercy is the gift appointed to Jesus Christ alone to give out as he sees fit. As one who claims the promise of salvation, I also have the responsibility to let the homosexual person know about the hope of Christ, including freedom from bondage to sexual sin. I was freed from bondage once to a behavior destructive to my body. Though my experience wasn’t sexual, it was real and it enslaved me and the Lord set me free. If the Lord can free me, he can free anyone.

If you are a believer in Christ who does not struggle with this sin, don't throw stones. You're guilty of some other point of law. Your job is to bring a message of hope through freedom from sin and death. If you're a believer and you do struggle with this sin, there is hope of freedom. Truth is a person. Salvation is a person. They are the same person, Jesus Christ. He, the Truth, can set you free if you submit to his will and truly repent with your heart. Through God's Holy Spirit he moves into the heart, remaking it, putting out the old man (2 Cor 5:17), and through this process you are set free of the chains thrown on you from the one who longs to draw you into hell. If you are not a believer and you are reading this, struggling with what you realize isn't meant to be, you can be free, too. Stopping sin isn't how you get saved, its the good fruit of the Holy Spirit which the Lord bares in our lives once we become saved.