LGBTQIA2S+ Biblical Teaching Overview
God is the Creator and Designer of human beings.
Going against God's design and plan is never fulfilling.
Our identity is found in Christ.
The book What Do I Say When...? has five chapters on sexuality identity: sexuality, gender, homosexuality, identity, and transgenderism. Key points from each chapter are listed at the end of this post.
As we consider this current hot topic, we must look beyond culture or individual stories to God's Word.
Genesis 19:1 - 9 is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Verses 4 and 5 say, "But before they lay down the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them." Let's look at two ways this passage can be misused. One misuse is that every homosexual person looking to cause riots and civil unrest like these men. omosexuality does not equal riotous behavior. On the other side, some say Sodom and Gomorrah have absolutely nothing to do with homosexuality. They say the sin of these cities was hospitality. They look to Ezekiel 16:49 to prove this. "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease but did not aid the poor and needy." Two important interpretation principles to remember when looking at this specific verse are the surrounding context and Biblical context. The surrounding context of Ezekiel 16 is filled with abominations, idolatry, selfishness, and so much more than just hospitality. The verse says they had pride. In the Biblical context, there are other verses about the sin of homosexuality.
The Biblical context is looking at the Old and New Testaments. Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 talk about men lying with men and women lying with women. While it is sometimes suggested that these verses are about pagan worship, not committed relationships, nothing in the context indicates this, and these are moral laws, not civil or ceremonial laws. the New Testament passages like Romans 1:18 - 32, some explain away by making a distinction by focusing on the term "natural relations." Heterosexual men going against their natural tendency is wrong. Homosexual men following their natural tendency is not wrong. However, the problem is there is a difference between "natural relations" - God's created order and "human nature," which has been corrupted by sin. The other New Testament passages containing the English word homosexual are 1 Corinthians 6:9 - 11 and 1 Timothy 1:8 - 10. Supporters of homosexuality argue these words do not mean homosexuality as we think about it today. In many of these and other arguments, supporters of homosexuality appear to know better than God and His Word.
With this Biblical context and the following statement from What Do I Say When...? "No bigger lie has been told in our culture than the life that sexual freedom is the source of personal happiness and fulfillment," we looked at the following three questions.
What do you say when a family or friend says he/she is gay?
Is it o.k. to attend a loved one's gay wedding?
What is transgender? Why is it such an issue today?
What do you say when a family member or friend says he/she is gay?
From Your Child Says, "I'm Gay" by Tim Geiger
- Grab the ANCHOR (Isaiah 41:13)
- You don't need to know all the answers, so watch your words (Proverbs 10:19) and pray for wisdom.
- Acknowledge their courage to tell you.
- Affirm your love for your child. Your child's struggle with sexuality is primarily an issue with God and His Word.
- Begin the dialogue.
- Remember, you can't change people.
- Your child doesn't need to become straight. Your child needs to be Holy.
- Bring others in for prayer and support.
- You may need to set boundaries.
Is it o.k. to attend a loved one's gay wedding?
From Your Gay Child Says "I Do by Nicholas Black
Four possible responses:
- Cut off your child completely.
- Embrace their homosexuality.
- Do not attend, but stay connected.
- Attend the wedding with grief.
"Only the last two alternatives accomplish what is true to Scripture and honoring to God." As you think through the third and fourth responses, let's be prayerful, humble, loving, and biblical. The booklet has a brief explanation of both of these responses.
While there are many different thoughts, opinions, and responses to this question, I want to share my answer.
I would not attend, but I would try to stay connected.
A wedding is a celebration of marriage.
When Jesus teaches about marriage and divorce in Matthew 19, he returns to Genesis 2 and the creation of man and woman.
Now, here is an additional thought I shared in class.
Some may say that is making a bigger deal of homosexuality than other sins.
I would say that I also would have a problem going to the wedding of a man and woman living together before marriage.
What is transgender? Why is it such an issue today?
Go to the Transgender section below for more about this question.
Remember, transgender does not equal intersex.
SEXUALITY
- God created human beings to be sexual; therefore, sexuality is good under God's design.
- God's pattern for sexuality upholds the marriage of husband and wife as the exclusive grounds for sexual activity.
- God's pattern for sexuality is freeing and tied to human flourishing.
- Rightly-ordered sexuality brings God glory.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 C r. 6:19–20)
GENDER
- Male and female embodiment is a gift from God.
- The body reveals identity, purpose, and calling.
- "Gender" is first and foremost determined by biological sex.
- Biblical gender expression has broader contours than modern culture's tendency toward gender stereotyping.
- The logic of bodily sex difference helps explain the moral logic of biblical sexual ethics overall.
HOMOSEXUALITY
- Everywhere homosexuality is mentioned in the Bible, it is mentioned critically.
- The Bible prohibits all forms of homosexuality.
- The Bible's prohibition on homosexuality is grounded in creational reality.
- Jesus affirms the immorality of homosexuality.
- Claiming an identity at odds with Scripture is never fulfilling.
- Expect and prepare for disagreement.
IDENTITY
- The Bible provides a comprehensive and stable account of human identity.
- Biblical love does not mean affirming non-biblical identities.
- Moral relativism at the level of personal identity is unsustainable and harmful.
- The Bible provides a consistent and impartial standard for judging which identities are sinful and which are morally good.
- There are other identity-giving forces in our lives, but none as important as God.
TRANSGENDER
- Sex difference is an embodied reality.
- Sex difference is stable and unchanging.
- The transgender worldview is built on incoherent foundations and internal contradictions.
- Compassion is owed to those who are psychologically vulnerable.
- The beauty of the Christian worldview surrounding questions of transgenderism is the sufficiency of the Christian worldview.
- Intersex conditions do not disprove the gender binary.
- Intersex conditions are medically verifiable and diagnosable, whereas claims that someone is transgender are not.
- Intersex conditions are a recognition of a problem that exists against a typical medical standard. These conditions actually serve to reaffirm the abiding authority of the gender binary by recognizing a deviation from it.
- Despite ambiguities in anatomy, the majority of individuals who are intersex do not have confusion over whether they are male or female once chromosomes and other primary and secondary sex characteristics are discovered.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Podcasts
Books
- The Gospel Comes with a House Key by Rosaria Butterfield
- Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier
- Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution by Carl Trueman
- What Do I Say When...? by
- What the Bible Says about Homosexuality by Kevin DeYoung
