Bible Study: Homosexuality
The following is a handout I made for the Newman Bible Study. Use it as you see fit.
Definition: Homosexuality is the sexual attraction of one person to someone of the same sex.
Biblical Data:
Genesis 1:27-28 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.
Genesis 2:21-24 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Old Words: The expression “male and female” is used rarely, in Gen. 1:27, Gen 5:1-2, and in Noah’s Ark narrative to denote sexual pairs and a sexual union.
Discussion: What was the purpose of God creating BOTH man and woman? To establish marriage. Were Adam and Eve married? Yes. How does Genesis define what a family is? A man and his wife, being separate from the other family. Is this how relationships are supposed to be?
Biblica Data:
Matthew 19:3-6 Some Pharisees came to [Jesus], and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 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’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Discussion: How did Jesus respond to the controversy over divorce? By appealing to Genesis, Jesus understood a proper relationship as being between two people and being between a man and a woman. Who created marriage? The state, or God? Is this understanding of marriage temporary or permanent? Permanent. Is this only for Jews and Christians? No. Genesis is the beginning of all human kind and so applies to all humans. See Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19:1-28 and Jude 7. See also the death of John the Baptist in Mark 6:17-18. If Jesus understood these kind of relationships to be between one man and one woman, could homosexual relationships be the same kind of relationships? No. So what kind of relationships are they?
Biblical Data:
Romans 1:24-32 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.
1 Timothy 1:9-10 This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching.
Discussion: What does Romans 1 describe homosexuality as? Lustful. Impure. Degrading. Shameless. Debased. Lawless. Godless and sinful. Is it describing the act only or the desire as well? The desire as well. Not only is the act sinful, so is the desire, the “lusts of their hearts.” The passions, that is desire or appetite, is “degrading.” The mindset is “debased.” So homosexuality is intrinsically disordered. Do you ever see this sin, or any other sin, being encouraged by those who practice them? If so, where? So can a homosexual be a Christian?
Biblical Data:
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
What kind of sinners were some of the first Christians? Fornicators, etc. Were some of the first Christians homosexuals? Yes. Should Christians who have homosexual desires fight against them? Yes. No Christian would ever think to remain an adulterer or a robber, so why think homosexuals weren’t also called to repent? Should we condemn Christians who used to be homosexual? No. Romans 8:1. Should we encourage homosexuals to become Christians? Yes. Is this what love is? Yes. Do you know anyone who is homosexual? How did conversations about the faith go? Do you think the way you treat your homosexual loved ones helps or harms their journey to God? How would you improve that relationship in a Godly way?
What Does the Bible Say About: Homosexuality
Definition: Homosexuality is the sexual attraction of one person to someone of the same sex.
Biblical Data:
Genesis 1:27-28 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.
Genesis 2:21-24 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Old Words: The expression “male and female” is used rarely, in Gen. 1:27, Gen 5:1-2, and in Noah’s Ark narrative to denote sexual pairs and a sexual union.
Discussion: What was the purpose of God creating BOTH man and woman? To establish marriage. Were Adam and Eve married? Yes. How does Genesis define what a family is? A man and his wife, being separate from the other family. Is this how relationships are supposed to be?
Biblica Data:
Matthew 19:3-6 Some Pharisees came to [Jesus], and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 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’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Discussion: How did Jesus respond to the controversy over divorce? By appealing to Genesis, Jesus understood a proper relationship as being between two people and being between a man and a woman. Who created marriage? The state, or God? Is this understanding of marriage temporary or permanent? Permanent. Is this only for Jews and Christians? No. Genesis is the beginning of all human kind and so applies to all humans. See Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19:1-28 and Jude 7. See also the death of John the Baptist in Mark 6:17-18. If Jesus understood these kind of relationships to be between one man and one woman, could homosexual relationships be the same kind of relationships? No. So what kind of relationships are they?
Biblical Data:
Romans 1:24-32 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.
1 Timothy 1:9-10 This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching.
Discussion: What does Romans 1 describe homosexuality as? Lustful. Impure. Degrading. Shameless. Debased. Lawless. Godless and sinful. Is it describing the act only or the desire as well? The desire as well. Not only is the act sinful, so is the desire, the “lusts of their hearts.” The passions, that is desire or appetite, is “degrading.” The mindset is “debased.” So homosexuality is intrinsically disordered. Do you ever see this sin, or any other sin, being encouraged by those who practice them? If so, where? So can a homosexual be a Christian?
Biblical Data:
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
What kind of sinners were some of the first Christians? Fornicators, etc. Were some of the first Christians homosexuals? Yes. Should Christians who have homosexual desires fight against them? Yes. No Christian would ever think to remain an adulterer or a robber, so why think homosexuals weren’t also called to repent? Should we condemn Christians who used to be homosexual? No. Romans 8:1. Should we encourage homosexuals to become Christians? Yes. Is this what love is? Yes. Do you know anyone who is homosexual? How did conversations about the faith go? Do you think the way you treat your homosexual loved ones helps or harms their journey to God? How would you improve that relationship in a Godly way?
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