I drew up this outline for my small group a couple weeks ago. Perhaps you will find it useful!
Biblical Study of Homosexuality
I. Homosexuality Is Opposed to the Order of Creation and Marriage
A. Genesis 1:26–31 (God’s creation).
1. Man is in the image and likeness of God (v. 26).
2. Man is given dominion over the world (fish, birds, cattle, all the earth, creeping things) (v. 26).
3. Man is created male and female (v. 27).
4. Man is commanded by God to multiply and to subdue and rule the earth (v. 28).
i. God is over man.
ii. Man is over the animals.
5. God declares His creation to be “very good” (v. 31).
B. Gen. 2:21–24 (original marriage).
1. God creates woman as a suitable helper for man (vv. 21–22; refer back to v. 18).
2. The woman (Hebrew ishshah) is one flesh with the man (Heb. ish) (v. 23).
3. This is why men leave their parents and are joined to a wife, becoming one flesh (v. 24).
C. Matthew 19:3–9 (Jesus affirms created order and original marriage).
1. In the beginning, God created man male and female (v. 4).
2. This is why men leave their parents and are joined to a wife, becoming one flesh (v. 5).
3. Divorce was permitted due to hardness of heart, but it was not this way in the beginning (v. 8). Note the emphasis on “in the beginning,” i.e., the created order of things.
4. See also Mark 10:2–9.
D. Romans 1:18–27 (corruption and reversal of the created order by the pagan Gentiles).
1. The pagan Gentiles suppress the truth about God, which is evident in them and around them throughout creation (vv. 18–20).
2. They knew God but did not worship Him, and they became fools even though they claimed to be wise (vv. 21–22).
3. They exchanged God for a likeness in the image of man, birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures (v. 23).
i. The words for “likeness,” “image,” “man,” “birds,” and “crawling creatures” in Greek are the same words used for “likeness,” “image,” “man,” “birds,” and “creeping things” in Gen. 1:26 in the Septuagint (or LXX), the first Greek translation of the Old Testament which the New Testament frequently quotes: homoiôma (likeness), eikôn (image), anthrôpos (man), peteina (birds), herpeta (reptiles, i.e., creeping things).
4. God gave them over to their sinful desires, because they worshipped the creature rather than the Creator (vv. 24–25).
i. Man is setting creatures, both man and animals, in place of God.
ii. God is supposed to be over man, and man over the animals.
5. Women engage in sexual acts with women, rather than with men as is natural, and in the same manner, men engage in sexual acts with men, rather than with women as is natural (vv. 26–27)
i. The words used for “women” (thêleiai) and “men” (arsenes) in Greek correspond to the words used for “female” (thêlu) and “male” (arsen) in Gen. 1:27 in the Septuagint.
6. By citing their homosexual conduct, especially that between women, Paul is showing that the pagan Gentiles and their idolatry blatantly disregard the natural order of creation. This is evident by his echoing of the Genesis narrative. He will go on in chapter 2 to show that the Jews who condemn them are in no better position since they are disobedient while in possession of even greater knowledge through the scriptural revelation of God’s Law.
7. Just as homosexuality compounds the blatant sinfulness of the pagan Gentiles in their disregard for the created order, so it does in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:4–9, cf. Jude 1:7) and in the story of the Benjamites of Gibeah (Judges 19:22–25), although these two latter instances involve force.
8. Objections:
i. Isn’t Paul talking about exploitative conduct? No. The homosexuality described in Rom. 1 is clearly mutual: they “burned in their desire toward one another” (v. 27).
ii. Isn’t Paul talking about male prostitutes in pagan worship rituals? No. This is not even suggested by the text, is contrary to historical data, and ignores the presence of lesbianism.
iii. Isn’t Paul talking about the perverse sexual practices of the Roman emperors? No. This also is not suggested by the text and ignores the presence of lesbianism.
iv. Isn’t Paul talking about straight people who engage in homosexuality against their own heterosexual natures? No. The text is clear that the desire to engage in homosexuality came from within their own hearts (v. 24), which is presumably where it comes from in most gay people today.
II. Homosexuality Is Opposed to God’s Law
A. Leviticus 18:22; 20:13 (prohibition in the Mosaic Law).
1. Note the penalty of death (20:13).
2. The words for “abomination” (18:22) and “detestable” (20:13) in Hebrew are from the root word, to’ebah.
i. To’ebah is used in an objective (universally true) sense when it refers to that which is “abominable” or “detestable” to God. When used in this sense, it always refers to immoral deeds and persons. In these verses, it is homosexuality.Elsewhere we see idolatry and idols (Deuteronomy 7:25), child sacrifice (Deut. 12:31), transvestitism (Deut. 22:5), unjust men (Proverbs 3:32), liars (Prov. 12:22), evil plans (Prov. 15:26), proud men (Prov. 16:5), etc.
ii. To’ebah is also used in a subjective sense. For example, the Egyptians considered it “loathsome” to eat bread with Hebrews (Gen. 43:32), the psalmist is an “object of loathing” to his acquaintances (Psalm 88:8), fools consider it an “abomination” to cease from evil (Prov. 13:19), and the wicked consider upright men to be “abominations” (Prov. 29:27). This is not the sense used in the levitical prohibitions of homosexual conduct.
3. Objection: Aren’t the prohibitions against homosexuality equivalent to the kosher eating laws and other ritual laws in Leviticus, and thus no long applicable to Christians? No, for a few reasons:
i. True, the ritual and civil laws were done away in Christ. Ritual laws always pointed to Christ’s sacrifice and atonement. For example, the laws regarding sacrifice all pointed to the unblemished sacrifice of Christ, and the kosher eating laws pointed to the holiness (i.e., separateness from the rest of the world) of the people for whom He atones. (The Jews literally could not eat at the same table as Gentiles because Gentile food was not kosher.) Civil laws were directly applicable only in the socio-political context of ancient Israel. Moral laws, however, remain in effect for all men, including Christians, as they reflect the eternal moral nature of God and are neither limited to any socio-political context nor are they signs pointing to Christ’s sacrifice and atonement.
ii. The law against homosexual intercourse is in a list of other laws prohibiting a variety of sexual activities, most of which are clearly immoral (take bestiality, for example, in Lev. 18:23!). Furthermore, homosexuality is punishable by death, whereas the punishment for eating or touching non-kosher foods or the carcasses of non-kosher animals is merely to wash one’s clothes and remain ritually unclean until evening (Lev. 11:24–25, 27–28, 31).
iii. While non-kosher animals are described as abominations and detestable (in this case, the Heb. root is shiqqutz), they are to be so to the Israelites (“to you” in Lev. 11:10, 11, 12, 20, 23), and are not so in an objective sense (i.e., to God). This mirrors the subjective sense of to’ebah.
iv. Furthermore, the law against homosexuality is reaffirmed in the New Testament, and is even made explicitly universal in Rom. 1, whereas it is clear that the whole system of ritual purity and sacrifice is done away.
B. I Corinthians 6:9–10; I Timothy 1:8–11 (things prohibited to inheritors of God’s kingdom).
1. I Cor. 6:9b: “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor malakoi, nor arsenokoitai.”
2. I Tim. 1:10: “[law is made] for fornicators, for arsenokoitais, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching.”
3. The word malakoi in I Cor. 6:9 literally means “soft men.” Given its place in the list amongst other sexual vices and paired with arsenokoitai, and also with its frequent sexual meaning in Greek literature of the same period, the implied meaning is of the submissive partner in homosexual intercourse, who acts like a woman (hence “effeminate” in the King James Version).
4. The word arsenokoitai(s) in I Cor. 6:9 and I Tim. 1:10 literally means “men bedding with men,” and its implication in this context is the dominant partner in homosexual intercourse. The word does not appear in any literature before Paul’s epistles, and was most certainly coined from the Septuagint translation of the levitical prohibitions against homosexuality, with the intention of bringing those same prohibitions to mind. If Paul had meant pederasts (men who have sex with boys), there were already many Greek words in common use; if he wanted a broad term for homosexuals, there were several others as well. But arsenokoitai(s) implies the levitical prohibitions unlike any other word:
i. Septuagint rendering of Lev. 18:22: “kai meta arsenos ou koimêthêsê koitên gynaikos bdelygma gar estin.”
ii. Septuagint rendering of Lev. 20:13: “kai os an koimêthê meta arsenos koitên gynaikos bdelygma epoiêsan amphoteroi thanatousthôsan enochoi eisin.”
5. Age, social class, and exploitation are not at issue in Paul’s prohibition of homosexual behavior. He condemns both the submissive and the dominant partners in homosexual intercourse without reference to age or class, and if both are condemned then the presence of exploitation certainly is not in question. Furthermore, when paired with the universal condemnation of homosexual activity in Rom. 1, there is simply no room left for “acceptable” homosexuality.
III. Bottom Line
All types of homosexual behavior are condemned in the Bible as sinful and opposed to the created order of nature. The only appropriate place for sexual activity is within the confines of a marriage between a man and a woman, as was established in the very beginning with Adam and Eve. However, the Gospel message must not be forgotten. After condemning homosexuality along with several other vices, Paul writes in I Cor. 6:11, “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (nasb). Homosexuals as much as any other kind of sinner are capable of being saved by God and cleansed by the blood of Christ. As much as they need to know that their behavior is sinful and that without repentance they will suffer eternal death, we should share with them the good news of eternal life through faith in Christ Jesus, who alone atones for the sins of men.
IV. Some On-Line Resources for Your Edification
A. http://www.robgagnon.net/
B. http://www.the-highway.com/homosexual1_Lewis.html
C. http://www.reformed.org/social/hodges_response_helminiak.html
D. http://www.reformed.org/social/response_to_helminiak_2.html
