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Theme Verse: "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled,
for fornicators and adulterers God will Judge." (Heb 13:4)
- The movement of this country concerning homosexuality in recent years has been away from
shame and guilt which come with sin, and toward acceptance of all activities as "personal"
righteousness. This has been the similar case with just about all types of fornication issues, from
adulterous "marriages" to living together without marriage to homosexuality. These are all sinful,
and actually all apply to the same sin in the Greek, porneia. God's people and kingdom must
stand against these sins!!
1. Sexual intercourse allowed only in a Righteous Marriage
- God has allowed sexual intercourse in a Christian life only in the marriage relationship.
- Read the following verses and prove this is the case:
- Gen 2:23-25 --
- For a marriage to be considered of God, what is necessary as seen by this example?
- 1 Cor 6:9 --
- Mk 7:21 --
- Heb 13:4 --
- What is the punishment for those who engage in fornication/adultery?
Thus, we see that any sexual intercourse outside of marriage is sin before God, and condemns a
soul before Him!
2. Leviticus 18 and God's attitude toward sexual impurity in the Old Testament
- Some might be tempted to wonder if this topic is truly important. It was, and it still is!!!!
- Read the following verses from Lev 18 and write the details of God's laws of sexual purity!
- v3-4 -- What if fornication and homosexuality are being practiced all around us?
- v6 -- According to this verse, what limitation does God place on sexual purity?
- v18 -- What limitation is placed here upon the choosing of wives?
- v20 -- What does the impurity of adultery do to one's soul?
- v22 -- What impure sexual behavior is described here?
- v23 -- What sexual behavior is called impure here?
- Read v24-30. These behaviors were common in the land the Israelites will soon take.
- How does God instruct them concerning this?
The world around us may continue and practice homosexuality and fornication. As the
Israelites then, we today also must understand that these sins will defile us (1 Cor 6:18-20)!! We
must stand against the pushing forward of sinful behavior as an acceptable or even moral
lifestyle!!
3. God speaks out against Homosexuality
- While God speaks out against all fornication, he does make special mention of homosexuality more than once in His Word. It is important to note at this time that homosexuality was an accepted practice in most all Gentile cultures and countries. It is counted as one of the factors that led to the downfall of the Roman empire. It was a practice for all Greek armies while they were away from home. Simply put, homosexuality was accepted in these places, so much so that there is no specific Greek word that signifies it as different from other fornication. Either we must use context to determine that homosexuality is discussed, or else God describes the act instead of simply using the word fornication. Having said all of this, we must also understand, as we have so many times in this book, that man's acceptance does not equal God's acceptance. That was true in the 1st century and it must also be true in the 20th and 21st centuries!!!
- Read the following passages and write what God says concerning homosexuality:
- Gen 19:4-7 -- What does Lot realize about homosexuality here?
- Lev 18:22 --
- 1 Cor 6:9 --
- 1 Tim 1:10 --
- These passages are enough for us to see that God sees homosexuality as sin!
- However, there is one passage that details it far more than any of these verses do?
- Rom 1:26-28 --
- According to v26, what had the women done?
- According to v27, what had the men done?
- What had this caused (v27)? What would they all receive (v27)?
- Read v32. This says that there are some people who know the truth, yet they do what?
We must clearly understand that God speaks against homosexuality. It is against the natural
order, so much so, that one will never see animals engaging in it. Beyond this, it is against God's
order, and for this reason more than any other, we must not accept it nor live in it, but stand firm
against it!!
4. Some excuses and Objections answered
- When we spread this word to many who practice homosexuality, we are likely to hear at least one if not both of these excuses:
- Who are you to judge me? Don't you know the Bible says not to judge?
- Clearly, the Bible does instruct us not to judge others, as a matter of fact, Paul makes this point just after condemning homosexuality in Rom 2:1-6. The idea is that we are all tempted to or involved in some sort of sin, so we should not see ourselves as better or worse than others. This passage is written to Rome, where Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians had difficulty with harmonious worship -- and Paul instructs the Jewish Christians here not to be uppity toward Gentile believers, because, though the sins were different, both Gentile and Jew had been guilty of sin.
- This passage tells us that we can't (katakrino) condemn one another. It does not, however, say that we can't point out to sinners that homosexuality is sin and that God stands against sin. We must, in fact, to live in accordance with Matt 28:18-20 and 2 Tim 4:2!! So, we are not judging people, but making a judgment between sin and righteousness!!
- Jesus never spoke a word condemning homosexuality!
- We accept the complete New Testament as Gospel, not just the Words of Jesus. However, since Jesus and the Spirit, who authored the rest of the New Testament, are in agreement (1 Jn 5:6-10), all New Testament can be seen as the words of Jesus. Jesus told many he healed to "Sin no more!" He says that to each of us who practice any sin!!
God has spoken against homosexuality. As Christians, though the world is accepting it, we can't allow ourselves to accept it. Speak out against it, and let others know how you feel!!!!!