What Jesus Said about Homosexuality

There was a young man who grew up in the youth group in a congregation where I used to preach. I was present at his baptism. It was a joy to be around him. He was charismatic and funny, and very talented. Before long he was arguably our congregation’s best song leader. But he left the church. He went into the homosexual community and “came out.” Our church loved him and his parents loved him. We never left him alone, or treated him as an outcast, or gave up on him. In fact, we went the extra mile to try to understand and help him with his struggle. And so it broke our hearts when he went on national television and told the world that his parents rejected him because he was gay. On his Facebook notes, his explanation for his chosen lifestyle includes the statement, “Jesus never said anything about homosexuality.”

That Jesus never said anything about homosexuality is a common claim. It is also a terrible lie. Jesus spoke freely about the sin of “fornication” (Matthew 5:32; 19:9). This term in some versions is rendered “sexual immorality.” We all know what the word, “immorality,” means. The concession Christ extended to remarry when such a sin has been committed against you in your marriage is clearly understood from these passages. And Jude, the earthly brother of Jesus and one of the eight known writers of the New Testament included this observation, “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7).

The same word Jesus used for “fornication” is used also by Jude in his contribution. In fact, in describing the homosexual practices of these two evil cities, Jude includes a preposition that explains they were completely “given over” to fornication. They had basically defined sexual sin at the core. You could not do worse than these men were doing. This is why God sent fire from heaven and consumed the beautiful and fertile plain that Lot had chosen – such that to this very day nothing will even grow there.

What an egregious mistake to try to legitimize any practice based on what is considered silence! But should we be surprised when people abuse the Bible in the attempt to justify a sin that has become culturally acceptable? This is nothing new.  

And while the Bible is not at all silent about homosexuality, for the sake of the argument let’s step aside and consider the correct way to look at the divine text. Do we need Jesus to say more than He has already said about anything to know right from wrong? Jesus never spoke directly about bestiality, or pedophilia, but would we argue it is alright to participate in these practices? Is it not enough that He said, “Have you not read that He 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 then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matt. 19:4-6)?

Jesus said marriage is for one man and one woman (Matt. 19:5-6). Jesus said it would be better to have a millstone hung around one’s neck and to be thrown into the sea than to hurt an innocent child (Matt. 18:6). Jesus said that it would better to not have been born than to betray Him (Matt. 26:24). Rightly dividing the word of truth involves having enough respect for what Scripture has said to infer that which does not require further explanation (2 Tim. 2:15).

Most scholars calculate that we have less than two weeks of Jesus’ life represented in the contents of the New Testament. This is why John explained at the end of his gospel that no library could contain all that the Son of God said and did, but the things that are recorded are for the purpose of faith that would lead to salvation (John 20:30-31; 21:25). What Jesus did say and do are enough for us to understand the rest of what the Holy Spirit expressed in order to lead us into all truth (John 16:13). Jesus condemned sexual immorality. The practice of homosexuality not only falls in such a category, it exemplifies the depth to which sexual sins can plummet. Let’s not be mistaken. Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10).

“And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” – Romans 1:27

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