The Bible and Homosexuality
Those who cite the Bible to condemn gay and lesbian people have long pointed to Genesis, Leviticus and Paul’s letters as evidence of God’s disapproval. Yet, during the past 30 years, a growing number of biblical scholars, theologians and clergy have suggested that such conclusions are unjustified — or at least more murky than they appear.
They have argued that it is extremely difficult to draw conclusions about gay and lesbian people from the Bible because:
- At the time it was written, there weren’t any words for the concepts "gay," "lesbian" or "homosexual;"
- There was no such thing as a committed gay or lesbian couple, as we now know them; and
- There is relatively little said on the subject of same-sex relations, and Jesus said nothing at all on the subject.
Moreover, they question traditional interpretations of these oft-cited passages:
Genesis (1-19)
Traditional interpretations cite the creation story as evidence that God intended men and women to come together to propagate the Earth. They also cite the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (19:1-9) as proof that God will destroy those communities that permit homosexual behavior.
Newer interpretations assert that the creation story is not meant to present a paradigm for all human relationships but simply to answer the question, Where do we come from? as the Rev. Peter J. Gomes, preacher and professor of Christian morals at Harvard University, wrote in The Good Book (William Morrow, 1996.)
"The creation story is the basis and not the end of human diversity, and thus to regard it as excluding everything it does not mention is to place too great a burden on the text and its writers, and too little responsibility upon the intelligence of the readers, and on the varieties of human experience," Gomes writes.
Scholars of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, meanwhile, observe that the sin of Sodom is never specifically identified but, rather, deduced from the phrase "to know," which is used 943 times in the Old Testament and, on only 10 occasions, used to refer to sex, according to Gomes.
Leviticus (18:22 and 20:13)
Traditional interpretations cite these passages as self-evident condemnation: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" and "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them."
But Gomes and others have asked: How can people cite such passages as alleged evidence of God's condemnation of homosexuality when they dismiss most of the other rules from Leviticus - such as those calling for the death of children who curse their parents and of adults who commit adultery - as archaic and insupportable?
Paul’s Letters (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and Romans 1:26-27)
Traditional interpretations again present the following passage as self-evident of God’s condemnation of homosexuality:
"For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, 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 their own persons the due penalty for their error." (Romans 1:26-27)
But more recent interpretations note that this fails to account for the fact that the sexual practices between men that existed 2000 years ago typically took the form of prostitution, not mutual loving relationships. Therefore, these scholars argue, one may not conclude that Paul was condemning something that only came into open existence within our century.
