The Bible and homosexuality

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Part of a series on the
Bible
The Malmesbury Bible
Biblical studies
Biblical criticism
Interpretation
Perspectives
Outline of Bible-related topics
 Bible portal

There are a number of passages in the

sexual practices.[1]
though the term homosexual was never used as it was not coined until the 19th century.

Hebrew Bible

Main article: Homosexuality in the Hebrew Bible

The

penetrative vaginal intercourse between men and women within the boundaries of marriage over all other forms of human sexual activity,[5][6] including autoeroticism, masturbation, oral sex, non-penetrative and non-heterosexual sexual intercourse (of which the penetrative forms have been labelled as "sodomy"),[7] believing and teaching that such behaviors are forbidden because they are considered to be sinful,[5][6] and further compared to or derived from the behaviour of the alleged residents of Sodom and Gomorrah.[1][5]

Leviticus 18 and 20

Main article: Leviticus 18
See also: Abomination (Bible)

Chapters 18 and 20 of

Leviticus form part of the Holiness code and list prohibited forms of intercourse
, including the following verses:

More recent interpretations focus on the passage's context as part of the

Canaanites.[10] Donald J. Wold argues that ancient Israel viewed the Canaanites as "practitioners of homosexuality, rape and incest". They also condemned homosexuality as defying the "male-female model of sexual union" and the holiness of God's sanctuary. [11]

Analyses by Saul Olyan, Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Judaic Studies Program at Brown University, K. Renato Lings, and others focus on ambiguities embedded in the original Hebrew, arguing these ambiguities may not prohibit all erotic expression between men but rather proscribe incest between male family members.[12][13] They argue English translators of Leviticus added to the original text to compensate for perceived lacunae in the biblical text; but thereby altered the verse's meaning. Leviticus 18:22 reads:

The New Revised Standard Version renders Leviticus 18:22 as "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman".

Lings argues the inclusion of prepositions not in the original text and the translation of Leviticus' otherwise unattested miškevē within the context of Genesis (i.e., miškevē is found only within Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, and Genesis 49:4) is crucial to illuminate the incestuous connotation of the passage, and the translation of miškevē in light of Genesis results in the text of Leviticus 18 and 20 becoming more cohesive.[13]

Some authors suggest that the prohibitions in Leviticus 18 and 20 specifically condemn males penetrating other males, thus "emasculating" the latter (anal sex). This makes the prohibitions more akin to a sodomy law.[14][15][16][17]

Sodom and Gomorrah

Main article: Sodom and Gomorrah
Lot prevents Sodomites from raping the angels, by Heinrich Aldegrever, 1555
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, John Martin, 1852

The story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis does not explicitly identify homosexuality as the sin for which they were destroyed. Some interpreters find the story of Sodom and a similar one in Judges 19 to condemn the rape of guests more than homosexuality,[18] but the passage has historically been interpreted within Judaism and Christianity as a punishment for homosexuality due to the interpretation that the men of Sodom wished to rape, or have sex with, the angels who retrieved Lot.[18]

While the Jewish prophets spoke only of lack of charity as the sin of Sodom,[19] the exclusively sexual interpretation became so prevalent among Christian communities that the name "Sodom" became the basis of the word "sodomy", still a legal synonym for homosexual and non-procreative sexual acts, particularly anal or oral sex.[20]

While the Jewish prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos and Zephaniah refer vaguely to the sin of Sodom,[19] Ezekiel specifies that the city was destroyed because of its commission of social injustice as well as its commission of "abomination:"[18]

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.[21]

The Talmudic tradition as written between c. 370–500 also interprets the sin of Sodom as lack of charity, with the attempted rape of the angels being a manifestation of the city's violation of the social order of hospitality.[22]

Later traditions on Sodom's sin, such as Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, considered it to be an illicit form of heterosexual intercourse.[23] In Jude 1:7–8 the Bible says of Sodom and Gomorrah:

Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh..."[24]

This has been interpreted as a reference to homosexuality by some and to the sexual lust of mortals after angels by others.[18] Jewish writers Philo (d. AD 50) and Josephus (37 –c. 100) were the first reported individuals to assert unambiguously that homosexuality was among the sins of Sodom.[23] By the end of the 1st century AD, Jews commonly identified the sin of Sodom with homosexual practices.[25]

David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi

Main article: David and Jonathan § Homoeroticism

The account of

sexual nature.[26][27] Theologian Theodore Jennings identifies the story as one of desire for David by both Saul and Jonathan, stating, "Saul's jealousy has driven [David] into Jonathan's arms."[28] Michael Coogan, lecturer on the Old Testament at Harvard Divinity School, addresses the claim of the alleged homosexual relationship between David and Jonathan and explicitly rejects it.[29]

The story of

Ruth and Naomi is also occasionally interpreted by contemporary scholars as the story of a lesbian couple.[30][31] Coogan states that the Hebrew Bible does not even mention lesbianism.[32]

New Testament

Main article: Homosexuality in the New Testament
Part of a series on
Christianity
and LGBT topics
Overview articles
Denominational positions
LGBT Christian clergy
 LGBT portal

Romans 1:26–27

Romans 1:26–27 is commonly cited as one instance of New Testament teaching against homosexuality:

That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.[33]

This passage, part of a larger discourse in 1:18–32, has been debated by contemporary Bible scholars as to its relevance today, what it actually prohibits and whether it represents Paul's view or rhetoric that Paul is actively arguing against. Clement of Alexandria and John Chrysostom regarded it as concerning female and male homosexual intercourse, while Augustine of Hippo viewed it as referring to heterosexual and homosexual anal sex.[34] Although Christians of several denominations have historically maintained that this verse is a complete prohibition of all forms of homosexual activity,[35] some 20th- and 21st-century authors contend the passage is not a blanket condemnation of homosexual acts, suggesting, among other interpretations, that the passage condemned heterosexuals who experimented with homosexual activity[19][36] or that Paul's condemnation was relative to his own culture, in which homosexuality was not understood as an orientation and in which being penetrated was seen as shameful.[36] These interpretations are, however, in a minority.[19][36]

Scholars, noting that Romans 1:18–32 represents an exception in the book of Romans as a whole and uses vocabulary elsewhere not seen in Paul's letters, have for decades puzzled over the passage.[37][38] Some scholars believe these verses are part of a much larger non-Pauline interpolation, a later addition to the letter.[39] Others argue that the grammar of the Greek original demands that Romans 1:18–32 be read as a rhetorical set-up, a summary of Hellenistic Jewish legalist rhetoric that Paul actively forbids followers of Christ from using in Romans 2.[40][41][42]

1 Corinthians 6:9–11; 1 Timothy 1:8–11

In the context of the broader immorality of his audience,

First Epistle to the Corinthians
, chapter 6 verses 9-11:

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.[43]

1 Timothy 1:8–11 states:

But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers; For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind (arsenokoitai), for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.[44]

In the letter to the Corinthians, within the list of people who will not inherit the kingdom of God, Paul uses two Greek words:

malakia
(μαλακοὶ) and arsenokoitai (ἀρσενοκοῖται).

Arsenokoitai is a compound word. Compound words are formed when two or more words are put together to form a new word with a new meaning. In this case, arsenokoitai is from the Greek words arrhēn/arsēn (ἄῤῥην/ἄρσην) meaning "male", and koitēn (κοίτην) meaning "bed", with a sexual connotation.[45] A direct translation would be "male-bed". Its first recorded use was by Paul in 1 Corinthians and later in 1 Timothy 1 (attributed to Paul), and remains unattested in contemporaneous sources. Some scholars consider Paul to have adapted this word by translating, to Greek, the verse from Leviticus 20:13, with additional adaption from the wording of the Septuagint translations of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:23[46] Due to its unclear definition, English translators struggled with representing the concept of arsenokoitai. It has been variously rendered as "sexual perverts" (RSV), "sodomites" (NRSV), "abusers of themselves with mankind" (KJV), "men who have sex with men" (NIV) or "practicing homosexuals" (NET).

Malakia (μαλακία, "softness", "weakliness")[47] is an ancient Greek word that, in relation to men, has sometimes been translated as "effeminacy". Also translates to "of things subject to touch, "soft" (used in Matthew 11:8 and Luke 7:25 to describe a garment); of things not subject to touch, "gentle"; and, of persons or modes of life, a number of meanings that include "pathic".[48] However, in modern Greek it has come to mean "masturbation
", and its derivative μαλάκας – malakas means "one who masturbates".

Interpretation

better source needed
]

Most scholars hold that Paul had two passages of the

Basil the Great, 15 without (canon 18) for being "so mad as to copulate with another man" – ἀρρενομανήσαντα in the original – explained in the Pedalion as "guilty of arsenocoetia (i.e., sexual intercourse between males)" – ἀρσενοκοίτην in the original. According to the same work, ordination is not to be conferred on someone who as a boy has been the victim of anal intercourse, but this is not the case if the semen was ejaculated between his thighs (canon 19). These canons are included, with commentary, in the Pedalion, the most widely used collection of canons of the Greek Orthodox Church,[56] an English translation of which was produced by Denver Cummings and published by the Orthodox Christian Educational Society in 1957 under the title The Rudder.[57][58][59]

Some scholars consider that the term was not used to refer to a homosexual orientation, but argue that it referred instead to sexual activity.[60][61]

Other scholars have interpreted arsenokoitai and malakoi (another word that appears in 1 Corinthians 6:9)[62] as referring to weakness and effeminacy or to the practice of exploitative pederasty.[63][64]

Jesus's discussion of marriage

In Matthew 19 and parallel in Mark 10, Jesus is asked if a man can divorce his wife. In that context, Jesus replies:

He answered, "Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female',[65] and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?[66] So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."

— Matthew 19:4–6 (NRSV)[67]

Theologian

Bart Ehrman, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, states of Jesus's references to Genesis 1 and 2, "[Jesus is] not actually defining marriage. He's answering a specific question." Ehrman notes further "And here the conversation is quite easy. In our surviving records Jesus says nothing about same-sex acts or sexual orientation. Nothing. Nada."[69]

Matthew 8; Luke 7

Further information: Homosexuality in the New Testament § Pais, and Healing the centurion's servant

In Matthew 8:5–13 and Luke 7:1–10, Jesus heals a centurion's servant who is dying. Daniel A. Helminiak writes that the Greek word pais, used in this account to refer to the servant, was sometimes given a sexual meaning.

Bauer.[71] The Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell and Scott registers three meanings of the word παῖς (pais): a child in relation to descent (son or daughter); a child in relation to age (boy or girl); a slave or servant (male or female). In her detailed study of the episode in Matthew and Luke, Wendy Cotter dismisses as very unlikely the idea that the use of the Greek word pais indicated a sexual relationship between the centurion and the young slave.[72]

Matthew's account has parallels in Luke 7:1–10 and John 4:46–53. There are major differences between John's account and those of the two synoptic writers, but such differences exist also between the two synoptic accounts, with next to nothing of the details in Luke 7:2–6 being present also in Matthew.[73] The Commentary of Craig A. Evans states that the word pais used by Matthew may be that used in the hypothetical source known as Q used by both Matthew and Luke and, since it can mean either son or slave, it became doulos (slave) in Luke and huios (son) in John.[73] Writers who admit John 4:46–53 as a parallel passage generally interpret Matthew's pais as "child" or "boy", while those who exclude it see it as meaning "servant" or "slave".[74]

Theodore W. Jennings Jr. and Tat-Siong Benny Liew write that Roman historical data about patron-client relationships and about same-sex relations among soldiers support the view that the pais in Matthew's account is the centurion's "boy-love", and that the centurion did not want Jesus to enter his house for fear the boy would be enamoured of Jesus instead.[75] D.B. Saddington writes that, while he does not exclude the possibility, the evidence the two put forward supports "neither of these interpretations",[76] with Wendy Cotter saying that they fail to take account of Jewish condemnation of pederasty.[72]

Matthew 19:12

In Matthew 19:12, Jesus speaks of eunuchs who were born as such, eunuchs who were made so by others, and eunuchs who choose to live as such for the kingdom of heaven.[77] Jesus's reference to eunuchs who were born as such has been interpreted by some commentators as having to do with homosexual orientation; Clement of Alexandria, for instance, cites in his book "Stromata" (chapter III,1,1)[78] an earlier interpretation from Basilides that some men, from birth, are naturally averse to women and should not marry.[79] Catholic priest John J. McNeill writes, "The first category – those eunuchs who have been so from birth – is the closest description we have in the Bible of what we understand today as homosexual."[80]

Acts 8

Main article: Ethiopian eunuch

The Ethiopian eunuch, an early Gentile convert described in Acts 8, has been interpreted by some commentators as an early gay Christian, based on the fact that the word "eunuch" in the Bible was not always used literally, as in Matthew 19:12.[80][81] Some religious commentators suggest that the combination of "eunuch" together with the title "court official" indicates a literal eunuch who would have been excluded from the Temple by the restriction in Deuteronomy 23:1.[82][83]

See also

Notes

  1. formal equivalence, offered by Olyan[12]
  2. ^ Original Greek: "Τὸ μέντοι τῆς ἀρσενοκοιτίας μῦσος πολλοὶ καὶ μετὰ τῶν γυναικῶν αὐτῶν ἐκτελοῦσιν"[52]

References

  1. ^
    S2CID 170127256
    .
  2. LCCN 2002068889
    .
  3. LCCN 2002023859
    .
  4. OCLC 46394298
    .
  5. ^
    S2CID 146505567
    .
  6. ^
    S2CID 38974409
    .
  7. ISBN 978-1-4411-2160-8
    .
  8. Bible Gateway provides 42 other English translations
    of the verse.
  9. Bible Gateway provides 42 other English translations
    of the verse.
  10. ISBN 978-0-313-33088-9
    .
  11. ^ Wold, Donald J. (1999). "Out of Order: Homosexuality in the Bible and the Ancient Near East". Denver Seminary. Archived from the original on 22 March 2024.
  12. ^
    PMID 11639358
    .
  13. ^
    S2CID 170582258
    .
  14. ^ "Translations and interpretations of Leviticus 18:22; all views". www.religioustolerance.org. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  15. ^ Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 54a and b; Josephus, Against Apion 2.199; and Philo, Abraham 135. Some modern authors stating this view include Alter (2004), p. 623, 632; Boyarin (1995), p. 339, 343; Brooten (1996), p. 61; {{harvp|Cohen|1990|p=6; Daube (1986), p. 447; Milgrom (2000), p. 1568; Olyan (1994), p. 185; Thurston (1990), p. 16; and Walsh (2001), p. 208.
  16. ^ Brodsky (2009).
  17. ^ "Leviticus 18 Gill's Exposition". 2022.
  18. ^
    ISBN 978-0-06-207859-9
    .
  19. ^
    ISBN 9780674030060
    .
  20. ^ "Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  21. ^ Ezekiel 16:49–50
  22. ISBN 9789024253333
    . Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  23. ^
    ISBN 978-0-226-30628-5
    .
  24. ^ Jude 1:7
  25. ISBN 0-275-98767-1
    .
  26. ^ Boswell, John. Same-sex Unions in Premodern Europe. New York: Vintage, 1994. (pp. 135–137)
  27. ^ Halperin, David M. One Hundred Years of Homosexuality. New York: Routledge, 1990. (p. 83)
  28. ISBN 9780826417121
    .
  29. ^ Coogan 2010, p. 121.
  30. ISBN 978-0-226-31959-9
    . Contemporary exegetes have perceived lesbian undertones in the relationship between Ruth and Naomi.38 38. See Rebecca Alpert, "Finding Our Past: A Lesbian Interpretation of the Book of Ruth," Reading Ruth: Contemporary Women Reclaim a Sacred Story, ed. Judith A. Kates and Gail Twersky Reimer (New York: Ballatine Books, 1994). Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg calls the book of Ruth "the prooftext the religious left needs for sanctioning forbidden marriages." Stahlberg, "Modern Day Moabites: The Bible and the Debate About Same-Sex Marriage," Biblical Interpretation 16 (2008): 474.
  31. ISBN 978-0-8308-1783-2
    . Among feminist authors perceptions of the book's message and value have varied widely, with some seeing the story as a model for lesbian relationships (Alpert), and others as a celebration of the relationship between two strong and resourceful women (Brenner 1983).
  32. ^ Coogan 2010, p. 135.
  33. ^ Romans 1:26–27
  34. ^ Bernadette J. Brooten: Patristic Interpretations of Romans 1:26, in: Elizabeth E. Livingstone (ed.), Studia Patristica XVIII, vol. 1, Kalamazoo 1985, p. 287-291.
  35. ISBN 0-8147-3530-4
    .
  36. ^
    ISBN 9780802837431
    .
  37. ISBN 9780060517601
    .
  38. ^ O'Neill, J. C. (1975). Paul's Letter to the Romans. Penguin.
  39. ^ Percy Neale Harrison, Paulines and Pastorals (London: Villiers Publications, 1964), 80–85; Robert Martyr Hawkins, The Recovery of the Historical Paul (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1943), 79–86; Alfred Firmin Loisy, The Origins of the New Testament (New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1962), 250; ibid., The Birth of the Christian Religion (New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1962), 363 n.21; Winsome Munro, Authority in Paul and Peter: The Identification of a Pastoral Stratum in the Pauline Corpus and 1 Peter, SNTSMS 45 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 113; John C. O'Neill, Paul's Letter to the Romans (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1975), 40–56; William O. Walker, Jr., "Romans 1.18–2.29: A Non-Pauline Interpolation?" New Testament Studies 45, no. 4 (1999): 533–52.
  40. ^ McKnight, Scot (2019). Reading Romans Backwards. Baylor University Press.
  41. S2CID 170441028
    .
  42. ISBN 9780664262211
    .
  43. ^ 1 Corinthians 6:9
  44. ^ 1 Timothy 1:10
  45. ISBN 978-0-8006-3846-7
    .
  46. ISBN 0-226-30628-3
    .
  47. ^ "Malakia Meaning in Bible – New Testament Greek Lexicon – New American Standard". Bible Study Tools. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  48. ^ "Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, entry μαλακός". Perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  49. ^ Robinson 2012
  50. ^ Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13
  51. ISBN 978-0-8028-3784-4
    .
  52. ^ Migne PG 88, col. 1896.
  53. ISBN 978-0-226-06711-7
    .
  54. ISBN 978-0-226-30628-5
    .
  55. ISBN 978-0-7151-3868-7
    .
  56. ISBN 978-1-107-00692-8
    . These are contained in several collections; the most widely used today in Greek-speaking Orthodoxy is the Pedalion.60 60 The Rudder (Pedalion) of the Orthodox Christians or All the Sacred and Divine Canons, ed. C. Cummings (Orthodox Christian Educational Society, Chicago, Illinois, 1957), from the metaphor of the church as a ship, 'the members of the Church [are] guided on their voyage through life by means of the holy canons'.
  57. ^ "Cummings translation, pp. 1678–1697" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 November 2013.
  58. ^ "Canons of the Holy Fathers". holytrinitymission.org.
  59. ^ Text in the original Greek language, pp. 562–578
  60. ISBN 978-0-313-33088-9
    .
  61. ISBN 978-0-8028-4423-1
    .
  62. ^ 1 Corinthians 6:9
  63. ISBN 978-0-8006-1854-4
    .
  64. ISBN 978-0-521-85314-9
    .
  65. ^ Genesis 1:27
  66. ^ Genesis 2:24
  67. ^ Matthew 19:4–19:6
  68. ^ Robert A. J. Gagnon, "Why the Disagreement over the Biblical Witness on Homosexual Practice?: A Response to David G. Myers and Letha Dawson Scanzoni, What God Has Joined Together?" Reformed Review 59.1 (Autumn 2005): 19–130, 56. Available online at
  69. ^ Ehrman, Bart (15 November 2019). "Jesus and Homosexuality". The Bart Ehrman Blog. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021.
  70. ISBN 978-1-136-57075-9
    .
  71. ISBN 978-0-8047-4332-7
    .
  72. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8010-3950-8
    .
  73. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7814-3868-1
    .
  74. ISBN 978-0-567-43061-8
    . Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  75. JSTOR 3268043
    .
  76. JSTOR 27638351
    .
  77. ^ Matthew 19:12
  78. ^ Clemente de Alejandria: Stromata II-III, Fuentes Patristicas, vol.10 (Marcelo Merino Rodriguez ed.), Madrid 1998, p. 315
  79. ISBN 978-0-8254-9588-5
    .
  80. ^
    ISBN 9780807079317
    .
  81. ISBN 9781590211489
    .
  82. ISBN 0-8024-0759-5
    .
  83. ISBN 0-8146-5807-5
    .

Bibliography

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Bible_and_homosexuality&oldid=1217553491"