With regard to the issue of homosexuality, my starting point is always to go back to the Bible - God's Word - to see what it has to say. This involves detailed exegesis (what it meant to the original writer and readers) and hermeneutics (how we are to understand it today). There are seven specific verses directly related to homosexuality in the Bible. We start our series by looking at two of the Old Testament references.

The Old Testament contains two accounts that are very similar (Gen 19:1-25 and Judges 19 & 20). Most scholars are agreed that the issue in these stories was not homosexuality, but rather extreme inhospitability, rape, and/or abuse. It has nothing to do with consensual sexual relations, whether between lifelong partners or not. If this is true, then these accounts would be irrelevant to a discussion on our central question. Let's look at this claim in more detail.

Genesis 19:1-25

The text of the Sodom story does not necessarily imply homosexual issues. In fact, in Genesis 18 and 19, the specific sins of the city of Sodom are not even stated. We are told that these cities were wicked and totally sinful, but the Bible does not specify the nature of the sinfulness. It is a dangerous presupposition to impose on the Scriptural text the belief that the sinfulness was solely or even predominantly sexual in nature. The link to homosexuality (and the use of the word, 'sodomy' in English) has been derived from the request made in 19:5b ' 'Bring them out so that we can have sex (yadha) with them' (NIV, NLT [1] ). Yet, the Hebrew word used here is yadha, which means 'to know'. There are 943 uses of this word in the Old Testament, and in only 10 of these occasions is it used to signify sexual intercourse [2] , and except for this and the related verse in Judges 19:22, it is always used of heterosexual intercourse. The word usually used in the OT to denote homosexual sex (as well as bestiality ' sex with animals) is shakhabh, and is not used in this story. However, it seems unlikely from the context that the men of Sodom simply wanted to get to know the strangers in Lot's house. The point is that the characteristic behaviour of Sodom that incurred the wrath of God is not necessarily homosexuality.

In fact, following the rules of exegesis, we must look at the rest of the Bible, and what it says. Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned many times, and not once is there a direct link made to homosexuality. Virtually none of these verses even refer to the sin as sexual in nature. The complete list of references, and what sins they refer to:

• General references to Sodom (and Gomorrah), with no specific sins mentioned, usually warning others about utter destruction about to be meted out on them: Deut. 29:22, 32:32; Isa 13:19; Jer 49:18, 50:40; Lam 4:6; Amos 4:11; Matt 10:15, 11:23-24; Luke 10:12, 17:29; Rom 9:29; and 2 Pet 2:6.
  
• Isaiah 1:9-10, 3:9 "the sin is "your hands are full of blood" (1:15) and "the spoil of the poor is in your houses...grinding the faces of the poor" and "the women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, tripping along with mincing steps, with ornaments jingling on their ankles" (3:14-16).
  
• Adultery: Jer 23:14.
  
• "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things [3] before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen." Ezek 16:49-50 (NIV).
  
• Zeph 2:9 - "On that day I will punish all who avoid stepping on the threshold, who fill the temple of their gods with violence and deceit." (Zeph 1:9)
  
• Inhospitability: "But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, "Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near." I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town." Luke 10:10-12 (NIV). This is important confirmation of the primary final sin of that night in Sodom.
  
• "...those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings..." 2 Pet 2:10 (NIV). (see 2 Pet 2:6).
  
• "In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion." Jude 1:7 (NIV). These last two are the only verses that remotely link Sodom's sin to anything sexual. It does not specify homosexuality, although it does refer to perversion. However, the 'perversion' seems to be linked to some kind of sexual interaction between humans and angels ("a transgression of the orders"). The previous verse in Jude indicates the context: "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home - these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day." (Jude 1:6) (NIV). (See also Gen 6:1ff).

The Deuterocanonical books [4] also echo this assertion that the sins that were punished were not specifically sexual:

• Wisdom 19:13-14 "whereas the men of Sodom received not the strangers when they came among them; the Egyptians made slaves of the guests who were their benefactors."
  
• Ecclesiasticus 16:8 "he did not spare the people among whom Lot was living, whom he detested for their pride."

In addition to this, none of the other verses in the Bible that are traditionally interpreted as opposing homosexuality mention Sodom.

Therefore, although it is possible, even probable, that homosexuality existed in Sodom and Gomorrah, and although it is likely that homosexual sex was the intention of the gang of men who descended on Lot's house that fateful night, to say that homosexuality is the sin that God was judging at Sodom is to put something into the text that just isn't Biblical.

Judges 19 - 21

There are strong similarities between this story and the Sodom story above. In fact, so strong are the similarities between these stories, and also similar stories of inhospitability and providing shelter for heavenly visitors in the myths of ancient cultures (e.g. Ovid's account of Philemon and Baucis [5] ), that some commentators believe that these stories are mythical, rather than real. I take the Bible at face value on this issue, and see the story of the Levite in Jebus in Judges as a separate account.

Yet, the same argument as above applies to the identical request made in Judges 19:22. In fact, in this story, the man sends out his concubine to the crowd, who gang rape her repeatedly throughout the night, so much so that she dies in the morning (Judges 20:5). Judges 20 & 21 shows the response, which is the destruction of the town and the decimation of the Benjamite tribe.

Cultural Issues

It might seem strange to our modern sensibilities that in both these stories women are offered to the violent crowd outside the door. It is horrific that in the Judges story a women is gang raped to death as a means of subduing the crowd. Key to understanding this is the concept of the absolute dignity of the male in Hebrew thought. In the Jewish consciousness, there is no doubt that homosexuality was linked to idolatry (e.g. Deut 23:17). The reason for the link to idolatry is that most of the nations surrounding understood their gods as sexual beings to be worshiped in overt sexual acts. We will see below that the commands against homosexuality are all linked to male temple prostitution and fertility rites.

Conclusion

In both these stories, God's judgment was against rape, abuse, perversions, intolerance, and extreme inhospitability, as well as adultery, pride, boastfulness, arrogance, abuse of the poor and greed, amongst other sins. "Any claim, however, that the story is a blanket condemnation of homosexuality in general is unjustified. The attempt on the bodies of the guests is but an example of the general evil, which has already caught God's attention. It is, furthermore, an attempt at rape. The most that can be said is that the story judges homosexual rape to be evil and worthy of condemnation." [6]

Mr. Codrington, you need to read more widely.

For a complete refutation of the views espoused in this entry see my books The Bible and Homosexual Practice (Abingdon Press, 2001), 56-110; and Homosexuality and the Bible: Two Views (Fortress Press, 2003), 56-62.

For online material go to my website at http://www.robgagnon.net, specifically http://robgagnon.net/ArticlesOnline.htmand... scroll down to: "Why the Disagreement over the Biblical Witness on Homosexual Practice," specifically pp. 46-50 (a direct link is at http://www.westernsem.edu/wtseminary/assets/Gagnon2%20Aut05.pdf...). Or scroll down to my article, "A Faithful Journey Through the Bible and Homosexuality?" specifically pp. 36-44(direct link at http://robgagnon.net/articles/homoJourneyTogetherCritique.pdf...).

Blessings,

Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D.
Assoc. Prof. of New Testament
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Posted by: Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon 17 Aug, 2006 - 06:36:40

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