One of the major questions believers, and non-believers alike, are facing today is the question of whether or not Jesus taught against homosexuality. Was Jesus against it, or was He someone who taught it was normal human behavior? More to the point, did Jesus view homosexuality as sin?
For many the assertion that Jesus never actually taught that homosexuality was a sin, is used in favor of the same-sex position in regards to the belief that it is not sin. However, I would like to give four reasons to believe that Jesus did view that homosexuality is in fact, sin—even if His words are not explicit towards it.
1. The God of the Old Testament condemned it, and Jesus claimed to be Him.
Leviticus 18:22 says,
“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
In this chapter, God condemns an array of sexually immoral behavior from homosexuality to sex with animals, to adultery, and even more. God calls these sexual acts, depraved, unclean, perversion, abominable, and He even uses a metaphor such as the land vomiting out those who practice such activities. From this passage it is clear that God’s view on all forms of sexual immorality sickens Him, and according to God is detestable. All forms mean all forms; it is not limited to homosexuality nor is homosexuality exempt.
The God of the Old Testament has referred to Himself as I AM. This was the name given to Moses to take to the people of Israel as a description of who had sent him (Ex 3:14). It is a reference to who He is as God—only God could be called I AM because it refers to His power, self-existence, holiness or set apartness. Interestingly enough, Jesus associates Himself with I AM in the New Testament while debating where He came from with the Pharisees (John 8:57-59). Even Jude himself referred to Jesus as being the one who led Israel out of slavery in Egypt, which associates Jesus with I AM (Jude 5). If Jesus is I AM, then His position on homosexuality is the same as it was in the Old Testament, sinful.
2. Jesus came to fulfill the Law, not to abolish it.
In Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, He gives His mission statement as to the reason He came. He says in Matthew 5:17
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Jesus goes on to warn anyone who would relax the commandments, and gives a very similar warning to the ones given by Paul in several of his letters, “For I tell you unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The question is what Law did Jesus come to fulfill? It is essential to the saving work of Christ on the cross that He upheld the Law fully without ever breaking it in order to be the perfect sacrifice for sin. It should not be assumed that because The Ten Commandments does not mention homosexuality that it does not mean it isn’t a sin. It has already been shown elsewhere that homosexuality was lumped into the sexually immoral category by God Himself. Therefore, Jesus, if He came to fulfill the Law perfectly, would have sided with the teaching of homosexuality being a sin as it is described in the Old Testament.
It is important to understand that Jesus is referring to morality when He talks about fulfilling the Law. He kept the moral laws set forth by God perfectly, and had no intention of abolishing anything, including the teaching that homosexuality is an abomination. If Jesus was ok with homosexuality or for some reason viewed it as not sin, then He would of had to abolish the moral teaching from the Old Testament that it was sin.
3. Jesus himself taught against sexual immorality.
The mere fact that Jesus’ own words condemn sexual misconduct, suggests that there is a standard to which men and women must adhere to (Matt 5:27-30; 15:19). If there weren’t a standard, then why would any sexual behavior be considered immoral to Jesus?
God set the standard in the beginning. Sex, from the beginning has had boundaries to which it is carried out. God’s design is shown in Genesis between the first husband, and wife, Adam and Eve (Gen 2:24).
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Emphasis added)
Any deviation from this standard (between one man, and one woman for life) would pervert what was originally intended, and therefore would have been considered sinful according to Jesus.
4. Jesus’ inner circle taught it was sin, and therefore supports Jesus’ attitude towards it as sin.
Both Peter, and Jude references Sodom and Gomorrah in regards to the city being destroyed for its increasing immorality (2 Peter 2:6-9; Jude 7). Peter refers to the actions of those in Sodom and Gomorrah as “sensual conduct” and Jude calls it “unnatural desire” while discussing sexual immorality.
Peter references the flood in Noah’s day, which God brought upon the earth due to an increase of sexual immorality, and wickedness spreading on the earth. Although it does not mention homosexuality, it does show God’s attitude towards sexual immorality overall (Gen 6:1-8).
Paul refers to homosexuality by saying that God gave up the men and women to what he calls, “dishonorable passions” as he refers to unnatural sex stating that it is “contrary to nature” (Rom 1:26-27). Paul even lumps homosexuality into the mix with other sins in his other letters (1 Cor 6:9-11; 1 Tim 1:8-10).
The point is that if Jesus’ inner circle, the very one’s He chose to carry out His message, taught that homosexuality was sin, then it is reasonable to believe they were teaching nothing that is contrary to the very views of Jesus Himself.
Conclusion
I have sought to provide four reasons that suggest that it is more reasonable to believe that Jesus did in fact view homosexuality as sin, though His words were not explicit towards it. When looking at Scripture as a whole, and taking into consideration the teachings of Jesus, the reason He came, along with what His inner circle taught, we can come to the conclusion that homosexuality is sin.
It is important as Christians, that we understand the world will not always agree with the position of the Bible, and Jesus has already warned us of this (Jn 15:18; 16:33). There is no reason for Christians today to blow up at the world because they do not agree, this is plainly shown from James,
"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." -James 1:19-20
However, I firmly believe as Christians we are to stand firm on what Scripture teaches, even if it gets us into trouble. Romans 12:9-10 teaches that we are to love what is good, and hate what is evil. That means as Christians we are called to hate some things, particularly sin. We can hate the act of homosexuality, and we can hate the teaching that it is not sin. However, what we cannot hate is the homosexual community, we cannot hate them as they are people made in the image of God (James 2:8-10).
For many the assertion that Jesus never actually taught that homosexuality was a sin, is used in favor of the same-sex position in regards to the belief that it is not sin. However, I would like to give four reasons to believe that Jesus did view that homosexuality is in fact, sin—even if His words are not explicit towards it.
1. The God of the Old Testament condemned it, and Jesus claimed to be Him.
Leviticus 18:22 says,
“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
In this chapter, God condemns an array of sexually immoral behavior from homosexuality to sex with animals, to adultery, and even more. God calls these sexual acts, depraved, unclean, perversion, abominable, and He even uses a metaphor such as the land vomiting out those who practice such activities. From this passage it is clear that God’s view on all forms of sexual immorality sickens Him, and according to God is detestable. All forms mean all forms; it is not limited to homosexuality nor is homosexuality exempt.
The God of the Old Testament has referred to Himself as I AM. This was the name given to Moses to take to the people of Israel as a description of who had sent him (Ex 3:14). It is a reference to who He is as God—only God could be called I AM because it refers to His power, self-existence, holiness or set apartness. Interestingly enough, Jesus associates Himself with I AM in the New Testament while debating where He came from with the Pharisees (John 8:57-59). Even Jude himself referred to Jesus as being the one who led Israel out of slavery in Egypt, which associates Jesus with I AM (Jude 5). If Jesus is I AM, then His position on homosexuality is the same as it was in the Old Testament, sinful.
2. Jesus came to fulfill the Law, not to abolish it.
In Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, He gives His mission statement as to the reason He came. He says in Matthew 5:17
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Jesus goes on to warn anyone who would relax the commandments, and gives a very similar warning to the ones given by Paul in several of his letters, “For I tell you unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The question is what Law did Jesus come to fulfill? It is essential to the saving work of Christ on the cross that He upheld the Law fully without ever breaking it in order to be the perfect sacrifice for sin. It should not be assumed that because The Ten Commandments does not mention homosexuality that it does not mean it isn’t a sin. It has already been shown elsewhere that homosexuality was lumped into the sexually immoral category by God Himself. Therefore, Jesus, if He came to fulfill the Law perfectly, would have sided with the teaching of homosexuality being a sin as it is described in the Old Testament.
It is important to understand that Jesus is referring to morality when He talks about fulfilling the Law. He kept the moral laws set forth by God perfectly, and had no intention of abolishing anything, including the teaching that homosexuality is an abomination. If Jesus was ok with homosexuality or for some reason viewed it as not sin, then He would of had to abolish the moral teaching from the Old Testament that it was sin.
3. Jesus himself taught against sexual immorality.
The mere fact that Jesus’ own words condemn sexual misconduct, suggests that there is a standard to which men and women must adhere to (Matt 5:27-30; 15:19). If there weren’t a standard, then why would any sexual behavior be considered immoral to Jesus?
God set the standard in the beginning. Sex, from the beginning has had boundaries to which it is carried out. God’s design is shown in Genesis between the first husband, and wife, Adam and Eve (Gen 2:24).
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Emphasis added)
Any deviation from this standard (between one man, and one woman for life) would pervert what was originally intended, and therefore would have been considered sinful according to Jesus.
4. Jesus’ inner circle taught it was sin, and therefore supports Jesus’ attitude towards it as sin.
Both Peter, and Jude references Sodom and Gomorrah in regards to the city being destroyed for its increasing immorality (2 Peter 2:6-9; Jude 7). Peter refers to the actions of those in Sodom and Gomorrah as “sensual conduct” and Jude calls it “unnatural desire” while discussing sexual immorality.
Peter references the flood in Noah’s day, which God brought upon the earth due to an increase of sexual immorality, and wickedness spreading on the earth. Although it does not mention homosexuality, it does show God’s attitude towards sexual immorality overall (Gen 6:1-8).
Paul refers to homosexuality by saying that God gave up the men and women to what he calls, “dishonorable passions” as he refers to unnatural sex stating that it is “contrary to nature” (Rom 1:26-27). Paul even lumps homosexuality into the mix with other sins in his other letters (1 Cor 6:9-11; 1 Tim 1:8-10).
The point is that if Jesus’ inner circle, the very one’s He chose to carry out His message, taught that homosexuality was sin, then it is reasonable to believe they were teaching nothing that is contrary to the very views of Jesus Himself.
Conclusion
I have sought to provide four reasons that suggest that it is more reasonable to believe that Jesus did in fact view homosexuality as sin, though His words were not explicit towards it. When looking at Scripture as a whole, and taking into consideration the teachings of Jesus, the reason He came, along with what His inner circle taught, we can come to the conclusion that homosexuality is sin.
It is important as Christians, that we understand the world will not always agree with the position of the Bible, and Jesus has already warned us of this (Jn 15:18; 16:33). There is no reason for Christians today to blow up at the world because they do not agree, this is plainly shown from James,
"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." -James 1:19-20
However, I firmly believe as Christians we are to stand firm on what Scripture teaches, even if it gets us into trouble. Romans 12:9-10 teaches that we are to love what is good, and hate what is evil. That means as Christians we are called to hate some things, particularly sin. We can hate the act of homosexuality, and we can hate the teaching that it is not sin. However, what we cannot hate is the homosexual community, we cannot hate them as they are people made in the image of God (James 2:8-10).
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