The word “homosexual” did not appear in any Bible before 1946. The word “homosexuality” didn’t appear until 1971. The Bible never talks about “gay” or “LGBTQ” people; these terms didn’t even exist in the modern sense until recently.
The Bible does, however, contain several examples of sinful same-sex sexual behavior, and in the Old Testament, God forbids the Israelite men from having sex with other men.
Christians sharply disagree, though, on how to interpret these references. Are they a message to modern-day gay people? Or are they about something else entirely?
Where we agree
Most Christian experts on this subject can agree on three big things:
General Agreement #1: Gay people didn’t choose to be gay.
If “gay” means “only attracted to the same sex,” well, that’s not a choice. (See: “Is it a choice?”, “Is there a difference between ‘gay’ and ‘same-sex attracted’?”, and “Can gay people become straight?”)
In the past, this wasn’t widely understood, because most people kept their attractions a secret and suffered in silence. Now that we do understand this, it’s raised new questions for Christians who want to follow God.
General Agreement #2: The Bible includes several negative examples of same-sex sexual behavior.
For example, in the famous Sodom story (Genesis 19), angels disguised as men are threatened with sexual assault by other men. The Bible makes clear this is a wicked act, and God later destroys the city. Other examples include God’s command in Leviticus that the Israelite men must not have sex with other men and Paul’s description of lustful, idolatrous sexual behavior in Romans 1.
General Agreement #3: As Christians, we should avoid sexual immorality.
This applies to all of us, including both gay and straight people. As Christians, we are called to live holy lives.
Where we disagree
Despite all those agreements, Christian experts are divided on what all this means. If a Christian discovers himself or herself to be gay, what does it look like for them to live a holy life?
Generally, there are two views: the affirming view and the non-affirming view.
Affirming Christians (sometimes called “Side A”) believe that Christians should support loving, committed same-sex relationships for gay people, according to the same rules straight Christians must follow. For instance, just as heterosexual lust and sexual immorality are condemned, so homosexual lust and sexual immorality should be condemned, but also, there should be a valid way for gay people to fall in love and have human intimacy just as there is for straight people.
Non-affirming Christians (sometimes called “Side B”) believe that Christians must uphold marriage as a union of one man and one woman only and abstain from any kind of same-sex sexual behavior. According to this view, gay people should still be treated with love and kindness, but if their orientation prevents them from having a healthy heterosexual marriage, they should be encouraged to remain single and celibate.
How do these two groups understand what the Bible says?
Affirming Christians agree that the Bible includes sinful examples of same-sex sexual behavior, but they point out that none of these examples describe relationships or marriage or selfless love. All of the sinful examples, they say, would have been sinful even in a heterosexual context.
The sexual assault in Sodom, for example, would still be just as sinful even if the angels had been women. Likewise, the other sinful same-sex behavior in Scripture involves lust, idol worship, and other behavior that would be sinful for heterosexuals, too. None of this, then, should be used to condemn loving gay relationships; it should be used to condemn things like sexual assault and idolatry.
Non-affirming Christians generally agree that stories like the one in Sodom aren’t the most helpful in answering this question, but they argue that other passages such as the Leviticus prohibition are more general, condemning all same-sex sexual behavior, even in marriage. (Affirming Christians, naturally, disagree with this, arguing that even the Leviticus passage involves a cultural context of idolatry, not marriage.)
Non-affirming Christians, though, also point out that it’s not just a matter of specific passages. Instead, they say, we should look at the Bible as a whole: From Adam and Eve through the New Testament, all the positive depictions of marriage and sexual relationships are heterosexual. Biblical advice on marriage always uses heterosexual language, and heterosexual marriage is even used as a metaphor for Christ and the church. Even without specific prohibitions of same-sex behavior, they say, the Bible’s expectation is clear.
Affirming Christians agree that reading the entire Bible in context is important. But when they do, they see a different picture. Yes, they say, heterosexual marriage is used as a metaphor in Scripture, but so is monarchy: God is described as a King and heaven is described as a kingdom, but this doesn’t mean that God condemns other systems of government. There are no democracies in the Bible, but this doesn’t prevent Christians from supporting democracy today.
Instead, affirming Christians see a different pattern in Scripture: One where God’s grace opens doors that weren’t open before. Eunuchs are not allowed into God’s assembly in Deuteronomy 23:1, but in the New Testament, the Ethiopian eunuch is fully welcomed into the church. In a similar way, affirming Christians point to passages about slavery, the Sabbath, women’s roles, and other issues to make the case that grace allows for changing rules out of God’s love and desire for human flourishing. The same approach, they say, should lead us to support gay people who want to commit their lives to each other, even though in past generations there wouldn’t have been a place for them.
All of this is just a brief summary of some of the ways in which affirming and non-affirming Christians discuss the Bible. This is only scratching the surface of a much larger and ongoing dialogue!
For much more on this topic, check out some of the books and other resources in our Resources section.
