When we talk about homosexuality, we are not merely discussing a cultural issue or a political debate. We are dealing with a question of moral authority: Who defines what is right and what is wrong? Scripture teaches that morality is not invented by individuals or societies, but is rooted in the character of God and revealed in His Word.
In this study, we will walk through the Bible’s teaching in a careful, exegetical way. We will start with God’s moral foundation and His design in creation, then examine key passages that address homosexual behavior, and finally consider the gospel hope that offers forgiveness and real transformation to every sinner. Throughout, we will aim to speak with both truth and love, the way Christ calls His people to do.
God, Morality, and the Authority of Scripture
Before we can address any particular sin, we must answer a more basic question: where do morals come from? If morality is only personal preference, then no one has the right to say anything is truly right or truly wrong. But the Bible presents morality as objective and binding because it comes from God Himself. God is not merely more moral than we are; He is the standard of what is good, just, and holy.
Scripture also teaches that God has not left Himself without witness. He has spoken through creation, through conscience, and most clearly through His written Word. Conscience is not perfect, because it can be hardened or misinformed, but it is real. Romans 2 explains that even those without the written Law still show an awareness of moral accountability before God.
“who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)” (Romans 2:15)
This matters because Christians do not build sexual ethics on emotion, experience, or majority opinion. We submit to God’s revelation. We acknowledge that many people feel deep desires that seem natural to them. Yet Scripture teaches that “natural” in the sense of “what I feel” is not the same as “good” in the sense of “what God designed.” In a fallen world, desires can be strong and sincere and still be disordered. Therefore, our foundation must be God’s moral law, not our internal impulses.
When the Bible speaks about sexual sin, it consistently treats it as moral and spiritual, not merely social. Sexuality is not an isolated part of life. It is connected to covenant, family, holiness, self-control, and the way we honor God with our bodies. So our approach must start where the Bible starts: God is Creator, and therefore He has the right to define His design.
God’s Design for Marriage in Creation
Scripture does not begin with laws about sexuality. It begins with creation. Genesis presents God as the One who designs, forms, names, and blesses. In that design, human beings are created male and female, equal in worth as God’s image-bearers, and distinct in their sexual complementarity.
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
Immediately after creating them, God blesses them and commands them to “be fruitful and multiply.” That command assumes male-female complementarity and shows that sexual distinction is part of God’s good creation, not a later human invention.
“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion…’” (Genesis 1:28)
Genesis 2 then focuses on the first marriage. Adam is not complete in his aloneness, and God’s solution is not another man, but a woman fashioned for him as a corresponding helper. The text is profound because it shows both equality and complementarity: Eve is “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh,” yet she is also distinct as woman, and the two together form a one-flesh union.
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24)
The phrase “one flesh” is covenantal and bodily. It is not merely emotional attachment. It speaks of a union that includes sexual intimacy, shared life, and a new family unit. The sexual union is designed to express and seal the marriage covenant, not to exist independently of it.
Importantly, Jesus Himself treats Genesis 1 and 2 as authoritative and foundational for sexual ethics. When questioned about divorce, He answers by returning to creation, showing that God’s intent from the beginning is a male-female covenant union that humans are not free to redefine.
“And He answered and said to them, ‘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”?’” (Matthew 19:4-5)
“So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:6)
Jesus’ logic is simple and decisive: God made them male and female, and for that reason marriage is a man joined to his wife. This is not arbitrary. It is rooted in creation order and covenant meaning. Therefore, any sexual expression outside that covenant, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is a departure from God’s design.
Sin, the Fall, and Disordered Desires
Some objections to the Bible’s teaching begin with a personal testimony: “I did not choose these desires.” Christians must be honest and compassionate here. Many people experience desires they did not consciously choose. But Scripture teaches that after the fall, human nature is broken, and our desires can be shaped in ways that do not align with God’s will.
In other words, the Bible does not treat desire as a moral compass. It treats desire as something that must be tested and, when necessary, restrained and transformed. Jeremiah’s description of the human heart is sobering because it reveals how easily our inner life can mislead us.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
This does not mean every desire is equally evil or that every person experiences the same temptations. It does mean that “I feel it” cannot be the final word. The Christian life involves learning to discern what is of the flesh and what is of the Spirit, what aligns with God’s truth and what does not.
The New Testament repeatedly warns believers that sinful desire is a real battlefield. James describes a process in which desire, when entertained, leads toward sin and death. That is why Scripture calls us to self-control, sobriety, and vigilance. Desire can be powerful, but it is not sovereign.
“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15)
This principle applies to every kind of sexual temptation. A married person may experience attraction to someone who is not their spouse. That desire may arise uninvited, but acting on it would be adultery. In the same way, someone may experience same-sex attraction, but the moral question is not simply, “Is it present?” The question is, “Will I submit my desires to God’s will?” Scripture calls all of us, in our various struggles, to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Christ.
That is why it is important to speak carefully: temptation is not the same as acting. The Bible teaches that Jesus was tempted yet without sin. Temptation is an arena where we learn obedience and dependence, not an automatic condemnation. Yet Scripture also teaches that we must not define ourselves by temptation. Identity is found in Christ, not in fallen desire patterns.
Old Testament Prohibitions and Their Moral Meaning
The Old Testament contains explicit prohibitions of homosexual behavior. These are not presented as minor ceremonial details, but as moral boundaries tied to Israel’s call to holiness and their separation from the immoral practices of surrounding nations. In Leviticus 18, God forbids various sexual sins, including incest, adultery, and homosexual acts. The context is important: it is not isolating one sin as the only sin, but it is clearly naming it as sin.
“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.” (Leviticus 18:22)
The word translated “abomination” in the Old Testament often refers to something detestable in God’s sight, especially in contexts of idolatry and moral impurity. It does not mean that the person is beyond hope or that God is unwilling to forgive. It means the act is morally offensive because it violates God’s design. Scripture can use strong language about sin while still extending mercy to sinners who repent. We must learn to do the same.
Leviticus 20 repeats the prohibition, again within a list of serious sexual sins. The point is not for Christians today to apply Israel’s civil penalties directly, because the church is not ancient Israel’s theocratic nation-state. The point is that God’s moral evaluation of sexual behavior is clear. The Old Testament’s sexual ethics are rooted in creation and holiness, not merely in ritual symbolism.
“If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination.” (Leviticus 20:13)
Some claim these laws are irrelevant because Christians do not follow the Old Testament. But the New Testament does not treat Old Testament sexual morality as obsolete. Instead, it reaffirms the moral framework and calls believers to holiness in body and spirit. The moral law reflects God’s character, and God’s character does not change.
Romans 1 and the New Testament Witness
The clearest extended New Testament passage on homosexual behavior is Romans 1. Paul is describing humanity’s suppression of truth and the downward spiral that follows idolatry. A key part of his argument is that when people reject the Creator, disorder enters the created order, including sexual disorder. This is not about singling out one group as uniquely sinful. Paul’s larger goal is to show that all have sinned and all need the gospel. Romans 1 leads into Romans 2 and 3, where every mouth is stopped before God.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” (Romans 1:18)
Within that context, Paul names same-sex behavior among the expressions of exchanged truth for a lie. His language is deliberate: “exchanged” the natural use, “against nature,” “burned in their lust,” “men with men.” The passage addresses both female-female and male-male sexual relations and describes them as contrary to God’s design.
“For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.” (Romans 1:26-27)
Paul is quoting and then draw out why he uses it. Paul’s point is not that some people are “given up” while others are not. In the flow of Romans, the indictment is universal: rebellion against God produces corruption in worship, thinking, and behavior, and everyone stands in need of mercy.
“Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving intheir own selves the penalty of their error which was due” (Romans 1:27)
Paul includes this description to show what happens when humanity trades the Creator for created things. He is tracing a moral and spiritual unraveling that begins with refusing to honor God and ends with a mind that no longer sees clearly. The phrase “God gave them up” is not God delighting in judgment, but God handing people over to the consequences of the path they have chosen, letting sin run its course as a severe form of exposure.
Yet it is crucial to see where this is going. Paul is building a case that will collapse every attempt at self-righteousness. If a reader is tempted to stand over others with disgust, Romans 2 immediately turns the spotlight back: the one who judges often practices the same kinds of sins, even if in different forms, and is equally accountable to God. Romans 1 is not a safe platform for moral superiority; it is the opening movement in an argument designed to bring everyone to the same conclusion of need.
That helps explain why Paul’s wording focuses on “exchange” and “desire” rather than presenting a detached catalog. He is diagnosing disordered worship and disordered loves. When the deepest allegiance of the heart shifts away from God, the rest of life eventually follows, including sexuality. In this reading, the issue is not that sex is the worst sin, but that sex, like everything else, becomes distorted when it is separated from God’s intent.
At the same time, Paul does not speak as though temptation itself is the final verdict on a person. His point is that certain actions are outside God’s design, and they participate in a larger pattern of rebellion that touches every human being. The gospel answer is not denial or despair, but repentance and faith, the invitation to be remade by grace.
My Final Thoughts
Romans 1 is sober, but it is not written to fuel contempt. It is written to expose what sin does, to remove excuses, and to prepare the way for the good news that God justifies the ungodly through Christ. If we use this passage to rank sinners, we have missed Paul’s aim, because the argument is driving toward the truth that all have fallen short and all must come to God the same way.
A faithful response holds two truths together: Scripture’s clarity about God’s design for sexuality and the gospel’s open door to anyone who will turn to Christ. The church should speak honestly, but with the posture Paul’s letter ultimately demands, humility, repentance, and confident hope in the mercy of God.
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