The Bible and Sexuality

1. What does the Bible say?

The ‘Clobber Verses’

I am not going to beat around the bush, so let’s dive straight into the bush and get all bushy. Take a deep breath!

The two most commonly quoted biblical texts are found in the Old Testament, in what Bible scholars call the ‘ancient purity codes’.

“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” (Leviticus 18:22)

“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 bloodguilt is upon them.” (Leviticus. 20:13)

We cannot deny that these verses exist and they seem to be backed up with other verses that ‘exclude’ people from being God’s people. Check out this one from Deuteronomy which talks about eunuchs.

“No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 23:1)

Harsh huh? A eunuch was a male who, when they were young, had undergone gender-modification surgery, and many were slaves who had no choice about it. Eunuchs often had positions of power and authority and served in royal palaces and foreign courts because, being considered ‘genderless’, they were less likely to seek power for themselves and were less of a risk to royal females.

Now, flipping forward to the New Testament, Bible scholars are not entirely sure exactly what historical events the apostle Paul was talking about, but he seems to refer to eunuchs (as well as same sex intimacy):

“They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.” (Romans. 1:23-27).

Yep, Paul considered all manner of ‘non-straight’ sex as being an offence before God, and from these verses it is difficult to argue otherwise, but we are not living in biblical times, and the world in which we live is very different to the world back then, so how should we treat these verses from the Bible? Well, the good news is that there are also ‘inclusive’ verses! Yay!

The Inclusive Verses

It’s important to recognise that the Bible doesn’t speak with a single voice on any topic. Yes, we believe the Bible was inspired by God, but it is also complex and there are a multitude of different voices. We must try our best to listen to ‘all’ the voices in the Bible and there are verses that contradict the ‘clobber verses’. Check out this verse from the prophet of Isaiah which is a contradiction to the one we just read about eunuchs:

“Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off … for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” (Isaiah 56:3-8)

Whoop! This text is a mega welcome to a people group who had been or were being excluded. Isaiah was saying that the temple was for everyone and not just those who had kept or were keeping the purity codes found in Leviticus.

But it doesn’t just stop there. There are other biblical texts that lean towards inclusion of people without making them jump through hoops or making them conform to specific ways of living, and best of all, they come from Jesus himself.

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Jesus invites ‘all’ to come to him, especially those who are exhausted. If you’re ‘worn out’ by the heavy demands of trying to obey biblical laws imposed by people who use them to judge and exclude you from the people of God, then this verse is for you. Jesus doesn’t exclude you. Good news eh?

At the time of Jesus, the first five books of the Bible (called the Torah) were being interpreted in ways that were excessively demanding and restrictive and Jesus had a lot to say to those that bound people up in the law rather than acting with mercy. Check out Matthew 23. I wouldn’t have liked to be on the receiving end of that! Go Jesus!

But even Paul seems to contradict his apparent exclusion in his letter to the church in Rome (Romans) when he wrote this to the church in Galatia (Galatians).

“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ.” (Galatians 3:28)

That is pretty inclusive! Paul wrote this because he’d become frustrated with the church in Galatia that was being exclusive. They were choosing who was ‘in’ and who was ‘out’ based on race, class, and gender, and so Paul spelled it out that we are all ‘in Christ’ and part of God’s church.

Finally, one of my favourite texts is found in Chapter 10 of the Book of Acts. The ancient purity codes found in Leviticus forbid Jewish people from eating food that was spiritually ‘unclean’ and Peter, being a good Jewish guy, objected to eating such food. But (and this is a big but) God spoke to him three times:

“What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” (Acts 10:15)

Did you get that? God contradicted the old purity codes! And it gets better, because God was using the food analogy to tell Peter not to exclude people. Peter said these two things.

“You yourselves know that it is unlawful for Jews to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.” (Acts 10:28).

“I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34)

Boom! It’s difficult to get our heads around just how incredible this was at the time, for it had become 100% clear that under Jesus Christ, the whole social order had changed from the exclusive ways found in the ancient purity codes, and something new had happened that would last forever.

The Loudest Voice

The ‘clobber verses’ and the ‘inclusive verses’ are a fair selection of some of the different voices found in the Bible and it’s impossible to try and simultaneously harmonise the two sets. Even if you argue that they are not contradictory, you’d have to at least admit that they are in deep tension with each other. So, how come we keep getting told that the Bible ‘clearly’ speaks with ‘one voice’ about gender and sexuality?

The answer is because the loudest voices we hear from the church quote only one set of Bible verses!

If we want to be faithful to the Bible, and we do, then we need to consider ALL the verses, and not pick and choose the ones that suit our particular church or stance. Whenever anyone reads any part of the Bible, they are automatically interpreting it and there’s no such thing as an objective reading (no matter what anyone tells you or how forcefully they tell you).

A real Bible scholar is one that holds all the Bible verses together in order to best interpret them, and there are five things we must bear in mind whenever we interpret the Bible, especially as we do so regarding gender and sexuality.

Things to Bear in Mind

1. We’re all wearing Life Goggles

We all look at the world through the goggles of life experience. Being totally honest, this means that people can pretty much bend the Bible to say anything they want it to. Not good, huh? But we have to recognise that we do look at the Bible through these filtering goggles and we do this in three ways:

Firstly, we read the Bible, coming at it with our existing opinions — a particular stance — sometimes without being aware of it. In other words, if you already believe something to be true, you’ll likely read the Bible through that filter.

Secondly, we read the Bible, coming at it with our fears and sometimes these fears are powerful, even if we’re unaware of them. For example, it may be the fear of rejection, the fear of upsetting God by doing the wrong thing, or the fear of punishment.

Thirdly, we read the Bible, coming at it with our hurts and sometimes we keep these hurts hidden from ourselves as well as others. For example, past traumas such as abuse, being excluded, or something someone once said to us.

The thing with reading the Bible through the goggles of experience means that we tend to think our interpretation is solid and true — that we’ve got it ‘right’, however, we must approach the Bible with as much self-awareness as possible and be brutally honest about how we read it.

If you think about the stance of some Christians and Churches on the subject of gender and sexuality, then you can see how existing opinions, fears, and hurts can lead to embracing one set of biblical verses over another. Let me be clear, we can easily gravitate towards one set or another and that does include people like me, who are part of the Rainbow Community and an ally. The good news is that as more and more people experience those that identify as LGBTQIA2SP+, their experience is changing for the better! Had you ever thought that you might be the very person that changes someone else’s experience for the better? How cool is that?

2. Our landscape is changing!

Every biblical text was written in a social context and every biblical text is read in a social context. There are other contexts too, such as political context or environmental context, but the main influence is the society in which the writer or reader finds themselves.

Here are some examples.

The ancient purity codes found in Leviticus were written in a society where the community was under massive pressure to clearly distinguish itself from other communities.

The text found in Isaiah Chapter 56 was written in the context of a community returning from exile and how they should act and behave in the face of opposition.

The texts from Acts and Galatians were written in the context of a church coming to terms with the radical inclusivity of the Gospel and how it should be interpreted given the church’s Jewish history and heritage.

So, we need to appreciate the different social contexts in which the Bible was written, but we also need to appreciate our own social context. For example, I am writing this as a person living in contemporary Western culture which has long been dominated by white male power and its adoption of heterosexuality as the norm, however, the good news is that our culture is becoming increasingly multiethnic, multicultural, multiracial, and multi-gendered. Although this leads to social tensions where some people seek to preserve the old ways, there are those who are letting go of the old ways and embracing the new. We live in exciting times!

Therefore, you can appreciate how certain Bible verses will align with ‘old’ ways of thinking and other verses will align with ‘new’ ways of thinking, and as our society changes, it’s likely that, in terms of gender and sexuality, people will start embracing other Biblical texts than just the ones they have been used to quoting (and using to clobber people like you and me).

3. Our Church (with a capital C) is changing!

Church Denominations have specific emphases, styles of mission and ministry, theologies, and values to which they hold dear, and these denominational influences shape the way they generally interpret the Bible. For example, if your denomination has an overarching view that one day the earth will be destroyed and that we are all destined for a disembodied heaven, then this will potentially influence the reading of Bible verses to fit into this bigger picture. And conversely, if your denomination has an overarching view that one day we will have a resurrected physical presence in a fully restored world, then this will potentially shape how Bible verses are interpreted. The same is true for how your denomination views the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the place of human reason and intelligence, the authority of the Bible, and the importance of church traditions.

Denominations provide a framework within which our faith can be sustained and grow, and they also provide guardrails for biblical interpretation so we do not stray too far away, however we must be aware of the influence of the denomination in which we currently find ourselves on how we read the Bible, and also be aware that not all Christian churches think the same way on matters of gender and sexuality.

Denominations also have trajectories. In other words they are all heading somewhere, and observers of Christianity tell us that our churches are generally moving towards mercy and justice. This is good news because in terms of genders and sexualities, the trajectory is towards inclusion. I understand how difficult it must be for you if you find yourself in a church or denomination that is exclusive, but, there are inclusive denominations out there, and the trend is that many mainstream denominations, even though they are not there yet, are making steps towards being fully inclusive.

4. Embracing the ‘other’

Us humans have always struggled with people who are not like ourselves, and we like to form communities or groups with likeminded people. When these communities meet other communities of people that do not fit their mould, then they have to decide how to interact with them. They can see them as an enemy, a threat, a rival, and a competitor, or they can see them as a friend and neighbour. Typically, we worry that our values and our cohesion — the very things that we like about our community — will be diluted or destroyed by these ‘newcomers’.

In our contemporary society, with global trade, easier mobility, digital communication, and mass migrations, people groups are interacting all the time, and sadly, if you look at conflicts and dissension in parts of the world, you can see that often others are considered as an enemy and threat.

Religious people and churches are no different, worrying that their ‘way of being’ will be disturbed or disrupted and that it must be protected at all costs, whether it was the Jews worrying about the influence of Gentiles in the early church, patriarchal societies coming to terms with the equality of women, white privileged societies coming to terms with people of colour, or today, how churches interact with the Rainbow Community.

You have to bear in mind that the church will feel threatened by those who identify as LGTBQIA2SP+ because they are different, but take heart, this is part of a wider struggle the church has with living in a multiethnic, multicultural, multiracial, and multi-gendered culture in which existing privileges and positions of power are challenged.

What is true is that throughout the Bible there has been a trajectory of welcoming and embracing the other. Some pastors call this a ‘widening of God’s mercy’ where the circles of inclusion are made bigger and bigger to encompass more and more people groups, and this gives us hope that the Rainbow Community will one day be fully embraced as equals into the Church with capital C, for the gospel is clear that all are welcome.

5. The Gospel is not to be confused with the Bible

The Gospel is not to be confused with the Bible because, as we talked about right at the beginning of this article, the Bible contains a wide range of voices and some are in opposition to the good news of God’s love, mercy, and justice. You might hear Christians say that something is ‘biblical’ or ‘unbiblical’ or that ‘the Bible clearly says’,  however, as we have seen the Bible does not ‘say’ anything with one voice! By saying something is biblical you could argue, for example, that the death penalty, slavery, genocide, and animal sacrifice are all biblical.

Rest assured that the Gospel or ‘good news’ of Jesus Christ is clear about God’s deep love for all people, and where you might find verses in the Bible contradictory to this message of good news, we must bear in mind that, as James wrote, “mercy triumphs over judgment,” and that we are no longer ‘under the law’ but ‘under grace’. No matter what a writer of a verse of the Bible says, the gospel is inclusive, and it includes you, no matter what your gender or sexuality.

And finally

Be encouraged. The Bible is a wonderful collection of books written in a variety of genres in a multitude of specific contexts, and through it we discover Jesus Christ, who demonstrated and commanded us to continue a radical inclusivity. No matter what your gender or sexuality, you are more than welcome into the community called the church who have believed the gospel writers and come to trust in Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is still at work and the church is still evolving. The church hasn’t finished becoming what it is destined to be, and is still learning what it means to be Jesus in an ever-changing world, and there are millions of us that seek to extend Christ’s welcome to all and be witnesses of God’s love.

I pray that when you feel clobbered, worn out, discouraged, low, and fed up, that you will take Jesus’ words to heart:

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Amen.