2 Timothy 3:15-17
Introduction
Views about
homosexuality have shifted tremendously in our society to the point that the
Supreme Court has even ruled that all 50 states must recognize same sex
marriages and cannot prevent homosexual couples from getting marriage
licenses. This message is the second in
a series that seeks to understand how to live as Christians in a world that has
changed the way it sees homosexuality.
Last week, I implored you to make
love your highest aim as we consider this issue. Love is the key and our time today will be
productive only if you have an attitude of genuine love—regardless of what you
believe about homosexuality. Please
listen today with an open mind and a humble heart.
Regardless
of your opinions on the issue of homosexuality, it is vital that everyone
understand that Christian teaching about homosexuality is not arbitrary. How Christians live and what we teach is
based upon the Bible. Let’s begin this
message with a passage that reveals the role of Scripture in our lives.
2 Timothy 3:15-17
15 You have been taught the holy
Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the
salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and
is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our
lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his
people to do every good work.
The Bible is the
Foundation for What We Believe
The Bible
is an irreplaceable treasure that tells us everything we need to know to
receive salvation through Jesus Christ.
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the inspired Word of God
that speak to us, challenge us, inspire us, and guide us. As verse 16 said, “…Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to
teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives…”
God speaks to us in a number of
ways—through the traditions of the church, through our reason and
understanding, and through our personal and communal experiences. All of these are important and help guide
us. However, we always rely on the Bible
as the firm, unchanging foundation of our faith because sometimes our
traditions are flawed, our reason is limited, and our experience is too
subjective to be reliable. Scripture is
the timeless and authoritative foundation that teaches us how to live Christian
in a gay world.
Jesus and Scripture
Jesus is a perfect example of
the authoritative role of Scripture to guide us. Jesus founded his teaching and worldview on
the Scriptures of the Old Testament (at the time, the New Testament had yet to
be written). Jesus directly referenced
Scripture no less than 53 times in the four Gospels[i]
saying such things as:
·
Matthew 9:13 – Now go and learn the meaning of
this Scripture…
·
Matthew 12:3 – Haven’t you read the Scriptures…
·
Matthew 21:13 – The Scriptures declare…
·
Mark 12:24 – Your mistake is you don’t know the
Scriptures…
·
Luke 20:17 – Then what does this Scripture mean?
·
Luke 24:7 – Then Jesus took them through the
writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the
things concerning himself.
·
John 10:35 – And you know that the Scriptures
cannot be altered…
Clearly, Jesus had a high view of
Scripture and offered it to His followers as an authority to know and follow. If the Son of God understood the authority of
Scripture to guide the faithful, shouldn’t we also rely upon the timeless,
unchanging Word of God to guide the way we think and live? The teaching of the Christian Church for
2,000 years has been an emphatic yes. And the view of the Methodist movement from
the beginning has been: [the Bible] “…is
to be received through the Holy Spirit as the true rule and guide for faith and
practice.”[ii]
If we want to understand the will
of God concerning homosexuality (or anything else), we must understand what the
Bible says about it.
What the Bible Says
About Homosexuality
Therefore, I want to share what the
Bible says about homosexuality. There
are five primary passages in the Bible that deal directly with
homosexuality. The fact that there are
only five reveals two important clues about homosexuality:
1.
The status of homosexuality was not debated as
often in societies during biblical times as it has been in our times. If it were a topic people debated regularly,
there would be more references to homosexuality in the Bible—whether it be stories
about homosexual persons, rulings about it or prophecies from God on the issue,
commandments concerning homosexuality, etc.
This doesn’t necessarily mean homosexuality was not as present in the
past as it is now, but it may mean that the acceptability homosexuality was not
in question as much in biblical times as it has been over the past few decades
in the western world. It would seem the
matter was general settled for almost everyone in biblical times.
2.
Secondly, the small number of references to
homosexuality in the Bible also reveals that although homosexuality has become
a very big issue for our society over the past 50 years, it was not considered
nearly as important a topic in biblical times.
The Bible devotes far more time to teaching about love, helping the
needy, seeking God, etc. than it does to homosexuality. Furthermore, Scripture spends much more time speaking
against sinful behaviors like dishonesty, lack of compassion, and idolatry than
it does speaking against homosexuality.
This would lead me to believe these were (and are) more important issues
than homosexuality. The way I see it,
homosexuality has become disproportionally important for us in the 21st
century. It was not as important historically. Furthermore, I don’t think it is as big of a
deal to God as people today have made it out to be.
Even so, people want and need to
know what the Bible says about homosexuality.
So, let me briefly outline the five passages that deal directly with
homosexuality.
Genesis 19 – Sodom
and Gomorrah
The first
direct reference to homosexuality is found in a fascinating and also disturbing
story in Genesis chapter 19. The story
says God sent two angels to investigate two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, to
determine if they were so wicked they must be destroyed. While the angels are staying in Sodom with a
man named Lot, Genesis 19:4-5 says, “…all the men of Sodom, young and old, came
from all over the city and surrounded the house. They shouted to Lot, “Where
are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we
can have sex with them!” God determines
the cities are so wicked He must destroy them.
Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed just because the men practiced
homosexuality; however, their attempt to rape the angels visiting Lot (who they
thought were men) revealed the depths of Sodom and Gomorrah’s depravity. Every last person in the cities was wicked to
the core and deserved only judgment and destruction. So, although the passage is about general
wickedness and judgment (and not specifically about homosexuality), the story
does reveal a very negative view of homosexuality.
The next
references we find concerning homosexuality are in the 18th and 20th
chapters of Leviticus. Leviticus is a
book of law that reveals how God expected His holy people to live in Old
Testament times. Leviticus 18 lists
forbidden sexual practices. Among the
sexual practices forbidden are: adultery, sex with close relatives, and sex
with animals. Leviticus 18:22
specifically deals with homosexuality.
It says, “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as
with a woman. It is a detestable sin.”
Leviticus 20:13 repeats the prohibition adding in the punishment for
homosexuality at that time. It says, “If
a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman,
both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for
they are guilty of a capital offense.”
We should reject the idea of capital punishment for the practice of homosexuality. Any form of violence, intimidation, persecution, or bullying of homosexual persons is abhorrent to God and to rightly-guided Christians. However, these
verses from Leviticus specifically show that homosexuality was considered a
very serious sin in Old Testament times.
People often observe that religion in the Old Testament was much harsher
than the religion Jesus revealed in the New Testament. So, let’s look at the next three scriptural
references about homosexuality that are all found in the New Testament.
Romans 1:18-32
The next
reference is from Romans 1:18-32. In
this passage, the Apostle Paul argues how sinful the world is and how our sin
blinds us to truths about God that should be obvious. As an example, he points to homosexuality, which
Paul says is obviously contrary to nature.
Since people have turned their back on God, Paul argues God has let
people reap the shameful rewards of their sins.
Romans 1:26-27 says:
26 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. 27 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.
So here in
the New Testament as in the Old, we again see homosexuality regarded as sin
contrary to God’s plan for humanity.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
The next passage
is from 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 which list the types of sinful behavior that could
keep a person from inheriting the Kingdom of God. It reads:
Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.”It is important to note here that homosexuality is listed alongside some other sinful behaviors that don’t seem as big a deal to people today as homosexuality—for homosexuality is listed right alongside greed and drunkenness and cheating. So while we might make a big deal about a gay person and how we should treat them in the church, why don’t we make as big a fuss about these other sins that are far more prevalent and just as important to God? Is this not a double standard we should recognize and expel from our way of thinking?
1 Timothy 1:8-10
The last
direct reference to homosexuality is 1 Timothy 1:10. This passage also lumps homosexuality in with
a list of sins the writer assumes everyone in his audience knows are sinful.
"The law is for people who are sexually immoral,
or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do
anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching…"
Here again,
we see homosexuality (something many people today consider a serious sin) listed
with other sins people don’t seem to mind as much like lying or breaking
promises. None-the-less, homosexuality
is clearly considered unacceptable behavior that is contrary to God’s plan for
humanity in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
Jesus
Jesus did not say anything
directly about the issue of homosexuality in Scripture. Some people point this out as a justification
for the acceptance of homosexuality among Christians. However, that’s not really a reasonable position
if one sincerely considers the life of Christ.
Jesus was very accepting of people traditionally considered outcasts and
sinners of society. His detractors maligned him for eating with sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes. However, Jesus never
condoned sinful behavior and always looked to forgive and lift people out of
their sinful lives. Furthermore, we have
already seen how Jesus stood upon the teachings of the Old Testament—referring
to Scripture over 53 times in the Gospels to support his teachings. Since we see what the Old Testament teaches regarding
homosexuality, it doesn’t make much sense to assume Jesus disagreed simply
because he didn’t explicitly restate the Old Testament’s teaching on the
issue. Jesus’ audience would have
already assumed homosexuality was a sin.
There is no record or reason to believe this was even a question Jesus
needed to address. His silence on the
issue supports the idea that Jesus saw homosexuality as a sin as did most
people of his time.
In Mark 7:21-23, Jesus said, “21 For from within, out of a person’s
heart, come evil thoughts, sexual
immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful
desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from
within; they are what defile you.” Given
Jesus grounding in the Old Testament understanding of sin and righteousness,
Jesus must have understood "sexual immorality" to be defined by Leviticus 18–which includes all the things we’ve
already mentioned including homosexuality.
There is a more obvious reason to believe
Jesus saw homosexuality as contrary to God plan because of what he did say
about human sexuality. Jesus explicitly
states God’s plan for human sexuality to be within a monogamous, heterosexual
marriage in Matthew 19:4-6. 4“Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning
‘God made them male and female.’” 5 And he said, “‘This explains why a man leaves his
father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ 6 Since they are no longer two but one,
let no one split apart what God has joined together.”
So we see that Jesus taught the
traditional view of heterosexual marriage handed down from the beginning in
Genesis and that never changed all throughout Scripture. The only alternative to
heterosexual marriage Jesus offers comes a few verses later in Matthew 20:12
when he says, “…some choose not to marry for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.”
In other words, you can enjoy God’s gift of sexual union within heterosexual
marriage or you can remain unmarried and refrain from sexual relations. These are the only two valid options offered
in the Bible or by Jesus.
Conclusion
I know this
post was longer than usual. We
had a lot of material to cover, but I felt it was important for everyone to
actually see what Scripture says about homosexuality to show why the Church teaches that homosexuality is a sin outside of God’s
will for humanity. It’s because the
Bible teaches it—and not just in one place or in one era. The Bible is clear about homosexuality from
the beginning to the end. And as 1 Timothy 3:16 say, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives."
Some congregations have changed
their opinion about homosexuality, just as have many in our society. Many in the United Methodist Church wish to
change our official stance (and this will be debated at our next General
Conference this May). However, such a drastic change
departs from our Scriptural foundation.

I understand that it is very
difficult to maintain a biblical view of homosexuality given the unpopularity
of that opinion in our times. It is even
more difficult because we all have friends, family, or loved ones who struggle
with homosexuality. You may personally struggle with homosexuality. It can be very tempting to just set the
scriptural witness aside and say, “There’s nothing wrong with
homosexuality.” And this is what some
people have done.
I would encourage everyone—whether
the issue is homosexuality or something else—to allow the Word of God to change
you instead of trying to change the Word of God.
It is not an easy path to follow, but it is the best path and one that
Love calls us to pursue. Therefore, I
urge you to pray fervently that God would give you courage to stand up for the
Truth and a love that never gives up. Jesus
said, if anyone wants to follow me he must die to himself, take up his cross
and follow me…
[i]
17 times in Matthew, 10 times in Mark, 14 times in Luke, 12 times in John
[ii]
Confession of Faith of The Evangelical United Brethren Church, Article IV – http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/confession-of-faith