What jesus said about gay

The Bible teaches that followers of Jesus are to practice sexual purity, and that includes abstaining from same-sex activity. In addition, unbelievers who practice homosexuality stand in need of salvation just like any other unbeliever. From Genesis’ creation account to Jesus’s affirmation of one-flesh union between male and female, from Levitical prohibitions to corresponding declarations in the New Testament, the biblical witness addresses same-sex relations as incompatible with God’s intention for human sexuality.

What Did Jesus Say about Homosexuality? While Jesus did not explicitly address homosexuality, when it comes to how society treats individuals who engage in homosexual relationships, Jesus’ attitude is the benchmark. Jesus addresses and defines marriage in Matthew –6 and Mark –9 using both Genesis –27 and Genesis to parse it out.

Here Jesus defines and affirms marriage as between a man and a woman, a reflection of the fact that God made us male and female to care for creation together.

Jesus himself says nothing explicitly about homosexuality. There are though two statements by him which have been interpreted as having a bearing on the subject. " [A] man shall leave his. At the heart of the claim that the Bible is clear "that homosexuality is forbidden by God" is poor biblical scholarship and a cultural bias read into the Bible. For the last two decades, Pew Research Center has reported that one of the most enduring ethical issues across Christian traditions is sexual diversity.

Although its unlikely that the biblical authors had any notion of sexual orientation for example, the term homosexual wasn't even coined until the late 19th century for many people of faith, the Bible is looked to for timeless guidance on what it means to honor God with our lives; and this most certainly includes our sexuality. Before we can jump into how it is that Christians can maintain the authority of the Bible and also affirm sexual diversity, it might be helpful if we started with a brief but clear overview of some of the assumptions informing many Christian approaches to understanding the Bible.

In this light, the Bible is often seen as the primary source that helps us figure out how the people of God should live. Rather, most Christians make these difficult determinations by studying what the whole of Scripture says regarding a specific topic, exploring the linguistic, historical and cultural context within which the words were written, and then putting these discoveries in conversation with what we know to be true of the character of God more broadly.

Whenever any person opens the Bible, they begin a process of interpretation. But, the question is begged, is this a fair and accurate assessment? Are there such things as neutral interpretations? Is there one true or correct way to interpret the Bible, and if so, who determines that? The study of biblical interpretation is called hermeneutics, and helps us to address these kinds of questions. More specifically, we are seeking to determine if the biblical writers were condemning specific practices related to sexuality in the ancient world, or were they indeed condemning all same-sex relationships of any kind for the rest of time?

While gender complimentarity is indeed rooted in passages from Genesis 1 and 2, it is worth noting that these stories say God began by creating human beings of male and female sex defined as the complex result of combinations between chromosomes, gonads, genes, and genitals but there is nothing that indicates in Scripture that God only created this binary.

what does the new testament say about homosexuality

This account says little to nothing about gender, the social and cultural norms and practices corresponding to what is considered masculine and feminine. Two dimensions of the text that become important in considering the biblical affirmation of intersex, transgender, non-binary, and other gender diverse people, discussed at more length here. This was what allowed the first Christians to decide to include gentiles who were not keeping the Old Testament law in the early church Acts What they did suggest was that the obvious exclusion, injustice and destructive outcomes of widely held beliefs should take Christians back to the text to consider a different perspective, one which might better reflect the heart of God.

While some Christians say that the Bible presents a variety of hard teachings as well as promising suffering for followers of Jesus Matthew , it never endorses oppression. In order for suffering to be Christ-like, it must be redemptive. Redemptive suffering does not uphold oppressive forces but always expresses resistance against them. While the six passages that address same-sex eroticism in the ancient world are negative about the practices they mention, there is no evidence that these in any way speak to same-sex relationships of love and mutuality.

To the contrary, the amount of cultural, historical and linguistic data surrounding how sexuality in the cultures of the biblical authors operated demonstrates that what was being condemned in the Bible is very different than the committed same-sex partnerships we know and see today. If neither sex differentiation nor gender complementarity are the basis for Christian partnership, then what is?

From Genesis 2, to Matthew 19, to Ephesians 5, what these passages make explicit and is echoed throughout the rest of Scripture is something mentioned earlier: marriage is sacred for Christians because it can represent the enduring love between Christ and the Church. Anyone who has ever been in an intimate relationship of any kind can testify to the range of differences and resulting conflicts that are an inherent part of any two personalities attempting to integrate their lives.

All things considered, it is important to remember that throughout church history, new information about people and the world have frequently led Christians to reconsider their beliefs. This need not be a reason to distrust Scripture, but rather should serve as an invitation to wrestle with the contexts of the biblical writers and our own lived experiences. Read about what the Bible says about transgender people here.

For further reading: Cheryl B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, Matthew Vines. Eerdmans Publishing Co. By clicking "GO" below, you will be directed to a website operated by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, an independent c 3 entity.