What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? E-Book

Kevin DeYoung

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Seitenzahl: 210

Beschreibung

 In just a few short years, massive shifts in public opinion have radically reshaped society's views on homosexuality. Feeling the pressure to forsake long-held beliefs about sex and marriage, some argue that Christians have historically misunderstood the Bible's teaching on this issue. But does this approach do justice to what the Bible really teaches about homosexuality? In this timely book, award-winning author Kevin DeYoung challenges each of us—the skeptic, the seeker, the certain, and the confused—to take a humble look at God's Word. Examining key biblical passages in both the Old and New Testaments  and  the Bible's overarching teaching regarding sexuality, DeYoung responds to popular objections raised by Christians and non-Christians alike—offering readers an indispensable resource for thinking through one of the most pressing issues of our day. 

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What Does the Bible Really Teach about

Homosexuality?

Kevin DeYoung

What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?

Copyright © 2015 by Kevin DeYoung

Published by Crossway 1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Josh Dennis

Cover image: Richard Solomon Artists, Ricardo Martinez

First printing 2015

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-4937-3 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-4940-3 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-4938-0 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-4939-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

DeYoung, Kevin.

What does the Bible really teach about homosexuality? / Kevin DeYoung.

    1 online resource

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN 978-1-4335-4938-0 (pdf) – ISBN 978-1-4335-4939-7 (mobi) – ISBN 978-1-4335-4940-3 (epub) – ISBN 978-1-4335-4937-3 (tp : alk. paper)

1. Homosexuality—Biblical teaching. I. Title.

BS680.H67

241'.664—dc23                2015007515

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Contents

CoverNewsletter Sign UpEndorsementsTitle PageCopyrightIntroduction: What Does the Bible Teach about Everything?Part 1 UNDERSTANDING GOD’S WORD1  One Man, One Woman, One Flesh (Genesis 1–2)2  Those Infamous Cities (Genesis 19)3  Taking a Strange Book Seriously (Leviticus 18, 20)4  The Romans Road in the Wrong Direction (Romans 1)5  A New Word from an Old Place (1 Corinthians 6; 1 Timothy 1)Part 2 ANSWERING OBJECTIONS6  “The Bible Hardly Ever Mentions Homosexuality”7  “Not That Kind of Homosexuality”8  “What about Gluttony and Divorce?”9  “The Church Is Supposed to Be a Place for Broken People”10 “You’re on the Wrong Side of History”11 “It’s Not Fair”12 “The God I Worship Is a God of Love”Conclusion: Walking with God and Walking with Each Other in Truth and GraceAppendix 1: What about Same-Sex Marriage?Appendix 2: Same-Sex Attraction: Three Building BlocksAppendix 3: The Church and Homosexuality: Ten CommitmentsAnnotated BibliographyAcknowledgmentsScripture IndexStudy Guide InformationAlso by Kevin DeYoung

Introduction

What Does the Bible Teach about Everything?

The question “What does the Bible really teach about homosexuality?” is about a great many things. It’s about Jesus’s view of marriage, and the point of Romans 1, and the sin of Genesis 19 (whatever it was), and the abiding relevance (or not) of laws found in Leviticus. It’s about the meaning of a few disputed Greek words and the significance of procreation. It’s about the nature of same-sex behavior in the ancient world and whether the nature of personhood and personal fulfillment are defined by sexual expression. It’s about how we change, and what can change and what cannot. It’s about big themes like love and holiness and justice. It’s about personal hurts and hopes and fears and longings and duties and desires. It’s about faith and repentance and heaven and hell and a hundred other things.

But before we get up close to the trees, we should step back and make sure we are gazing upon the same forest. As is so often the case with controversial matters, we will never agree on the smaller subplots if it turns out we aren’t even telling the same story. The Bible says something about homosexuality. I hope everyone can agree on at least that much. And I hope everyone can agree that the Bible is manifestly not a book about homosexuality. That is to say, if we think the big takeaway from this Big Book is the rightness or wrongness of homosexual activity, then we’ve managed to take a sublime narrative and pound it into a single talking point.

As important as the question is—“What does the Bible really teach about homosexuality?”—the first and more significant question is “What does the Bible teach about everything?” Which means we can’t start this book with Leviticus 18 or Romans 1. We have to start where the Bible starts: in the beginning.

Tale as Old as Time (and Older Still)

The first person we meet in the Bible is God (Gen. 1:1). And the first thing we see about this God is that he is before all things (cf. Ps. 90:1–2). God is self-existent, independent, without beginning or end, without equal, the Creator God distinct from his creation, a holy and unrivaled God—eternal, infinite, and, in his essence, unlike anything or anyone that ever was, is, or will be. This is the God we first meet in the first verse of the first book of the Bible.

And this is the God who created all things (Neh. 9:6; Acts 14:15; 17:24). He created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it (Rev. 10:6). What’s more, he made men and women as the crown of his creation, making them in his image and after his likeness (Gen. 1:26). He created them to rule and to reproduce and to have a relationship with him (Gen. 1:26–28; cf. 3:8).

But the first man and the first woman disobeyed God’s command. They listened to the Slithering One as he tempted them to doubt the clarity and goodness of God’s word (Gen. 3:1–5). They took a bite from the forbidden fruit, and the fruit bit back. When sin entered the world, it was not just a fall; it was a curse. The man, the woman, the Serpent, the ground—all felt the sting of the curse so that “not the way things are supposed to be” became “the way things are.” In just retribution for sin, God drove the man and the woman from the garden and placed an angel to guard the way to the tree of life (Gen. 3:24). Their heaven on earth was no more, at least not until God would bring heaven back to earth (Gen. 3:15). The central plotline of the story of Scripture was set in motion: a holy God making a way to dwell in the midst of an unholy people.

Space does not permit a full retelling of this story, but one only has to look at the Promised Land or the temple to see the same narrative carrying forward. The Promised Land was a type of Eden, and Eden was a foreshadowing of the Promised Land. God describes the creation of Israel in the same way he describes the creation of the heavens and the earth (Jer. 4:23–26; 27:5). The boundaries of Eden and the boundaries of Canaan are similar (Gen. 2:10–14; 15:18). When Jacob comes back from the east to enter Canaan, he is met by an angel (Gen. 32:22–32)—an allusion to the angel placed at the entrance to Eden. Joshua likewise encounters a heavenly guardian when approaching the Promised Land by way of Jericho (Josh. 5:13–15).

God was giving his people a new kind of paradise, a reconstituted heaven on earth, a promised land in which God would be their God and they would be his people. But once again, they proved to be covenant breakers. Generations earlier, after being expelled from the garden, God plucked Abraham out of Babylon to go to the land of Canaan (Gen. 11:31–12:7). And generations later, after being expelled from the Promised Land, God plucked his people out of Babylon and sent the exiles back to their homes (Ezra 1:1). Adam had the garden and failed to obey. Israel got the garden back, and they failed to obey. Both were expelled east of Eden. In both cases, it took the sovereign hand of God to bring his people back from Babylon to where they belonged. The Promised Land was a lens through which God’s people were supposed to look back to the Eden that was and look forward to the Eden that was to come again (Heb. 11:8–10, 13–16).

In the same way, the tabernacle and the temple were meant to reflect the garden of Eden and symbolize a kind of heaven and earth. The tabernacle was a copy and shadow of what can be found in heaven (Heb. 8:5). Once inside the tent, God’s people were transported into a symbolic heaven, staring at deep blue curtains with images of cherubim seeming to fly in midair (Ex. 26:1–37). The Spirit filled Bezalel and Oholiab in the fashioning of the tabernacle just as the Spirit hovered over the chaos in the formation of the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:2; Ex. 31:2–11). The entrance to both the tabernacle and the temple was on the east, reminiscent of Eden. Angels were carved on the mercy seat on the lid of the ark of the covenant, which was placed inside the Holy of Holies—another reminder that, like Eden, angels were guarding the presence of God. Even the menorah, with its branches, buds, and blossoms, was meant to look like a tree, likely a reminder of the tree of life found in the garden (Ex. 25:31–36). The Lord God put his tabernacle in the middle of the camp (and later, his temple in the midst of the city) to visually represent his dwelling place among the people. Just as God had walked with Adam in the cool of the day, so he made a way to dwell in the midst of his chosen people.

But the temple was destroyed—divine retribution for the sins of the people. As often as God had made a way to dwell in the midst of his unholy people, just as often had they squandered their God-wrought restoration. So God sent his Son as a son of Abraham and a son of David (Matt. 1:1–17). His coming would mark a new genesis, a new beginning (Matt. 1:1). God took on flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:14). Jesus Christ would rebuild a new temple and reform a new Israel. Jesus would be a better Moses and a second Adam (Rom. 5:12–21; 1 Cor. 15:20–28). He would die when we deserved to die (Mark 10:45). He would drink the cup of God’s wrath we deserved to drink (Mark 14:36). At the same time, in death he would succeed where all others had failed, so that instead of an angel guarding the entrance to God’s presence so we cannot enter in, we find an angel at the empty tomb telling us that Christ has gotten out. All the promises of God are Yes and Amen in Christ (2 Cor. 1:20). And if we repent of our sins and believe in Christ, all the promised blessings—forgiveness, cleansing, redemption, eternal life—become our promises, too (Acts 2:37–40; 16:30–31; Eph. 1:3–10; 2:1–10).

The garden, the land, and the temple did not prefigure a day when holiness no longer mattered. They pointed to the heavenly reality that has been our hope since Adam and Eve were barred from Paradise. That’s why the picture of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22 is a portrait of Eden restored. The tree of life is the long-awaited reward for those who believe and persevere. The reward is for those who know the grace of Christ (Eph. 2:1–9), are joined to Christ (Rom. 6:1–10), and have credited to their account the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:7–11). The right to eat from the tree of life is not the right of those who profess one thing and do another (Rev. 3:1). It will not be enjoyed by those who forget their first love (2:4), those who deny the faith (2:10), or those who give themselves over to sexual immorality (2:14). Only those who overcome, only those who conquer, will be granted the right to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God (2:7). The heavenly vision of Revelation is the consummation of everything the garden, the land, and the temple pictured and predicted. No chaos, no conflict, no tears, no death, no mourning, no crying, no pain, no night, and no detestable thing. Nothing to interfere with a holy God and his holy people. The way things were—the way things should be—will finally become the way things are forever and ever.

Smaller and Bigger Than You Think

That’s the story. That’s what the Bible is all about. In one sense, there’s not a whole lot about homosexuality. The story of the Bible is not the story of God giving a lecture on same-sex marriage or trying a case before the Supreme Court. Although homosexuality is one of the most pressing and painful controversies of our day, it’s not what the church has been singing and praying and preaching about for two thousand years.

And yet, in some ways it is.

For two millennia the church has focused on worshiping a Christ who saves, a Christ who forgives, a Christ who cleanses, a Christ who challenges us and changes us, a Christ who convicts us and converts us, and a Christ who is coming again. If, as the Apostles’ Creed tells us, Jesus Christ is coming again to judge the living and the dead (Acts 17:31; Rev. 19:11–21); and if those who repent of their sins and believe in Christ will live forever with God in his new creation (Mark 1:15; Acts 17:30; Rev. 21:7; 21:1–27) through the atoning work of Christ on the cross (Isa. 53:1–12; Rom. 5:1–21); and if those who are not born again (John 3:5) and do not believe in Christ (John 3:18) and do not turn from their sinful practices (1 John 3:4–10) will face eternal punishment and the just wrath of God in hell (John 3:36; 5:29); and if among those in the lake of fire excluded from the heavenly garden are the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars (Rev. 21:8, 27)—then determining what constitutes sexual immorality in God’s mind has everything to do with the storyline of Scripture.

Is homosexual activity a sin that must be repented of, forsaken, and forgiven, or, given the right context and commitment, can we consider same-sex sexual intimacy a blessing worth celebrating and solemnizing?

That is the question this book seeks to answer. It’s not a question that dominates the pages of the Bible. But it is a question that touches many of the important and most precious truths the Bible upholds.

What Kind of Book?

Given the highly charged nature of this topic, and considering the different sets of eyes that may be reading these words, perhaps it would be helpful to explain at the outset what kind of book this is: this is a Christian book, with a narrow focus, defending a traditional view of marriage. Let me develop each of those phrases.

This is a Christian book. That doesn’t mean there is nothing here for non-Christians to consider. I hope that anyone interested in what the Bible says about homosexuality will be able to benefit from this book. But as a Christian writing a Christian book I am going to assume a fair amount of common ground. I’m going to treat the Bible as God’s Word, as an inspired, authoritative, unbreakable, fully trustworthy account of divine revelation.1 So whether you are a Christian leader trying to instruct others, a religious skeptic wanting to see what Scripture says, or a searching teenager trying to decide for yourself what to believe, I pray there is something in this book to help you understand the Bible a bit better.

With a narrow focus. This second point follows from the first. While there is much to be gained by exploring homosexuality through the lenses of sociology, biology, history, politics, and philosophy, my aim is much simpler: to examine what the Bible teaches about same-sex behavior. Is it a sin—something always outside of God’s will—when persons of the same gender experience sexual intimacy together, or can homosexual practice be holy and pleasing to God in the right circumstances?

You might have other questions you’d like this book to address: How do I tell my parents what I’m struggling with? How do I help my children with their struggles? What if I’ve been abused? How can I trust the church when my experience with the church has been so negative? How can I minister to my friend now that he’s told me he’s attracted to men? Should I attend a same-sex wedding? Should I let my lesbian daughter and her partner spend the night at my house? How can I fight against the temptation to lust? What does the Bible say about sexuality in general? How can my church minister more effectively to those with same-sex attraction? How should I speak about these issues in the public sphere? How should I handle this issue in my church and denomination? What should our policy be on hiring and ministry cooperation? How will the church help me find relational fulfillment and gospel purpose as a celibate man or woman with same-sex attraction?

These are all good questions, and there are books and blogs and new resources coming out all the time in an effort to tackle these issues. For the most part, this book is not about these questions. At least not directly. Before any of these questions can be answered, we must first figure out whether homosexual practice is a sin or a blessing or something else. Once we answer that question, we can move on to a thousand points of application and search for the most courageous and winsome ways to address the sin and suffering we all experience. Of course, at times our words will be few as we simply listen to, weep with, or put an arm around a friend. Human beings are complex creatures. There is no easy formula for shepherding a wayward soul or caring for a broken heart. But on the level of pastoral strategy and institutional discernment, our deliberations and conversations are bound to be ineffective, or even counterproductive, until we determine what the Bible teaches about the rightness or wrongness of homosexual activity. And for an increasing number of Christians, answering the question “What does the Bible really teach about homosexuality?” doesn’t appear as straightforward as it once did.

Defending a traditional view of marriage. In case you didn’t know already, I should make my position plain. I believe same-sex sexual intimacy is a sin. Along with most Christians around the globe and virtually every Christian in the first nineteen-and-a-half centuries of church history, I believe the Bible places homosexual behavior—no matter the level of commitment or mutual affection—in the category of sexual immorality. Why I believe this is the subject of the rest of this book.

Preaching to the Choir, but Different Choirs

At this point, candor is probably the best course of action. The elephant in the room is that there are different elephants in this room. We all come to this subject from different places with different perspectives. Let me address three types of people who may be reading this book.

First, there are the convinced. By convinced, I mean people who have opened this book certain (or at least fairly certain) that homosexual behavior is wrong. I’m going to argue for that same conclusion, but the right conclusion can be handled in the wrong way. Focusing on other people’s sins, while ignoring our own, would be the wrong way. Being haughty about biblical correctness, instead of humbled by our own fallenness, would be the wrong way. Turning every conversation into a theological throwdown would be the wrong way. Treating people like projects to fix or problems to solve or points to be scored, instead of people to love, would be the wrong way. But “blessed are the pure in heart,” you say. Yes, and blessed are the merciful and the mournful too. If you walk away from this book angry and arrogant, disrespectful and devoid of all empathy, someone or something has failed. I pray the failure is not mine.

Second, there are the contentious. Here I’m thinking of those whose reaction is already somewhere between simmering frustration and absolute disdain. Maybe you picked up the book wanting to get a feel for the “other” side. Maybe your friends or parents told you to read the book because they thought it might change your mind. Maybe you were hoping I’d point us in the direction of a mythical third way. I admit I may not be able to convince you to change your mind in one hundred and fifty pages. But I hope your mind will at least be open. If you are not convinced by the lexical, logical, and exegetical arguments, I only ask that you make doubly sure it is the actual arguments that are unconvincing. Our feelings matter. Our stories matter. Our friends matter. But ultimately we must search the Scriptures to see what matters most. Don’t discount the messenger as a bigot if your real problem is with the Bible. I don’t think I’ve resorted to ad hominem attacks, and with God as my witness, and as far as I can discern my own heart, I’ve not written anything in this book out of personal animus for those in the gay community. You may think I’m wrong about everything. But if affirming homosexual behavior is the more enlightened conclusion, it seems only fair that this conclusion would be reached not based on gut reactions and growing peer pressure, but by bringing the best arguments to light and weighing them out through a reasoned use of Scripture (Acts 19:9–10; 24:25).

Third, there are the confused. I will be pleased if this book can be useful for all three groups. I especially hope that something in these pages will be helpful for brothers and sisters in this last category. I’m a pastor first and foremost, and while I have tried to make an intelligent case for the historic position on marriage and sexuality, I don’t pretend to have plowed new scholarly ground or overturned every stone. That’s because as much as we need dense, comprehensively footnoted, five-hundred-page tomes on this subject (and we do need them), we also need resources for moms and dads and lay elders and college students and grandparents and high school administrators and small group leaders and dozens of other “ordinary” people who aren’t sure how to make sense of this issue. More than anything, I want to open the Scriptures and make things a little clearer for those who may be thinking, “Something seems wrong with these new arguments, but I can’t put my finger on it,” or “Maybe the Bible doesn’t say what I thought,” or “Maybe I need to give the Bible another chance,” or “All my friends are saying one thing, and I’m not sure what to believe anymore.” Keep digging. Keep praying. Keep trusting that God’s Word is clear, true, and good.

Odds and Ends

My outline is simple and straightforward. Part 1 consists of five chapters which examine the five most relevant and most debated biblical texts related to homosexuality. In these chapters I hope to defend biblical sexual morality, namely, that God created sex as a good gift reserved for the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman. In part 2, I focus on seven of the most common objections to this traditional view of sexual morality. These seven chapters seek to demonstrate that there are no persuasive historical, cultural, pastoral, or hermeneutical reasons for setting aside the plain meaning of the Bible as it has been understood for nearly two millennia. A concluding chapter tries to explain what is at stake in this debate.

Before we dive into the biblical texts, let me make two final preliminary comments. The first is about terms. There is no perfect way to describe the two sides in this debate, so rather than using just one set of terms I’ll employ a variety of labels interchangeably. I may call the position that says homosexual behavior is sinful the conservative position, or the historic view, or the nonaffirming stance. Most often I’ll use the term traditional. For the opposite view, I use words like progressive, liberal, or affirming. Most often I’ll use the term revisionist. I understand these words can be misconstrued and that people on both sides won’t like them for one reason or another, but I think they are all common enough to be understood.

It’s also important to note that I’ll be using a number of interchangeable phrases in reference to homosexual activity, including: homosexual behavior, homosexual practice, same-sex sexual intimacy, same-sex sexual practice, and same-sex sexual activity