INCEST, ADULTERY, AND HOMOSEXUALITY ARE PROHIBITED IN BIBLICAL ETHICS
When the moral standards regarding marriage are explained in more detail in other parts of the Old Testament, certain types of relationships are excluded from being accepted as valid marriages. Incest is prohibited in Leviticus 18:1–18; 20:11–20; Deuteronomy 22:30; and 1 Corinthians 5:1–2. And of course, adultery was regularly prohibited (Exod. 20:14), which would also prohibit marrying someone who was already married to someone else.
More specific biblical teaching on the question of homosexuality is found in the following passages:
More specific biblical teaching on the question of homosexuality is found in the following passages:
- You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination (Lev. 18:22).
- If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them (Lev. 20:13).
- For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature [Greek para physin]; 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 (Rom. 1:26–27).
- Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:9–11).
Some pro-homosexual interpreers have objected that these passages do not say that all kinds of homosexual conduct are sinful, but only some specific kind of homosexuality, such as homosexual conduct between men and underage boys, or homosexual prostitution (where money is exchanged), or unfaithful homosexual relationships, or “unnatural” homosexual conduct by people who do not naturally have homosexual desires (as opposed to homosexual conduct by people who are said to be naturally homosexual or “born gay”).
However, none of these biblical passages makes any such distinction or says anything indicating that it is only talking about certain types of homosexual conduct. And when no such distinction is made in the words or context of the passages, it is not a correct process of interpretation simply to claim that the passages have limited scope anyway. In other words, the words themselves as they are written apply to all kinds of homosexual conduct, so it is incorrect to say that they do not.
In addition, several ancient writers before or near the time of the New Testament viewed all homosexual conduct as wrong and used language very similar to Paul’s language in Romans, 1 Corinthians, and 1 Timothy. The Greek philosopher Plato (c. 429–347 BC) wrote:
When male unites with female for procreation, the pleasure experienced is held to be due to nature, but contrary to nature [Greek para physin, the same phrase used in Rom. 1:26] when male mates with male or female with female, and … those … guilty of such enormities were impelled by their slavery to pleasure.
The Jewish philosopher Philo (c. 30 BC–c. AD 45), in writing about Lev. 18:22 and 20:13, condemned homosexual behavior. Philo wrote: “Much graver than the above is another evil, which has ramped its way into the cities, namely pederasty” (the Greek term paiderasteuō, used here, refers to sexual activity between grown men and adolescent boys). Philo says this is a pleasure that is “contrary to nature” (para physin, the same phrase Paul used in Rom. 1:26), and says it is “worthy of death.”
In another place, Philo speaks of homosexual conduct in general in his writing On Abraham, where he says the homosexual conduct in Sodom was “corrupting the whole of mankind,” so that God, in raining fire from heaven and destroying the city, “abominated and extinguished this unnatural and forbidden intercourse.”
The Jewish historian Josephus (AD 37–c. 100) wrote that the people of Elis and Thebes, in their homosexual conduct, practiced an “unnatural [para physin, the same expression found in Rom 1:26] vice,” and in that context, he referred to “the practice of sodomy” (homosexual conduct) as “the monstrous and unnatural [para physin again] pleasures in which they … indulged.”
The Greek historian Plutarch (c. AD 50–c. 120) referred to homosexual conduct between men as “contrary to nature” [para physin] and “indecent.”
These quotations show that when the New Testament writers condemned homosexual conduct, they were using the same terminology that was commonly used in other Greek literature to condemn all kinds of homosexual conduct as something “contrary to nature” and morally wrong. The words of the New Testament do not allow these prohibitions to be limited, as homosexual advocates claim, to some narrowly defined particular type of homosexual conduct.
The conclusion, then, is that the Bible views homosexual conduct as morally wrong in all cases, something contrary to God’s moral standards.
C. WHAT ABOUT POLYGAMY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT?
There are a number of examples of polygamy in the Old Testament. Does having more than one wife reflect God’s pattern for marriage?
The answer is that God temporarily allowed polygamy to occur without giving explicit commands against it, even though it did not conform to his original purpose for marriage as indicated in Genesis 1–2. But we get some hints from the narrative passages, because in every example where a man has more than one wife, the situation leads to significant difficulty in the marriage relationship, and readers are left to draw their own conclusions from this. A helpful summary of the biblical material on polygamy is found in the ESV Study Bible:
Why did God allow polygamy in the Old Testament? Nowhere in the Bible did God ever command polygamy or tell anyone to marry more than one wife. Rather, God temporarily allowed polygamy to occur (he did not give any general prohibition against it) without giving it any explicit moral approval. Nevertheless, in the OT narratives, whenever a man has two or more wives, it seems to lead to trouble (see Gen. 16; 29–31; 1 Sam. 1; 1 Kings 11; note also the prohibition in Deuteronomy 17:17). In addition, polygamy is horribly dehumanizing for women, for it does not treat them as equal in value to their husbands, and therefore it does not recognize that they share fully in the high status of being created “in the image of God” (Gen. 1:27), and of being worthy of honor as “heirs with you of the grace of life” (1 Pet. 3:7). The requirement “husband of one wife” (1 Tim. 3:2) would exclude polygamists from being elders.… This restriction would provide a pattern that would generally lead to the abolition of polygamy in a church in a generation or two.
However, none of these biblical passages makes any such distinction or says anything indicating that it is only talking about certain types of homosexual conduct. And when no such distinction is made in the words or context of the passages, it is not a correct process of interpretation simply to claim that the passages have limited scope anyway. In other words, the words themselves as they are written apply to all kinds of homosexual conduct, so it is incorrect to say that they do not.
In addition, several ancient writers before or near the time of the New Testament viewed all homosexual conduct as wrong and used language very similar to Paul’s language in Romans, 1 Corinthians, and 1 Timothy. The Greek philosopher Plato (c. 429–347 BC) wrote:
When male unites with female for procreation, the pleasure experienced is held to be due to nature, but contrary to nature [Greek para physin, the same phrase used in Rom. 1:26] when male mates with male or female with female, and … those … guilty of such enormities were impelled by their slavery to pleasure.
The Jewish philosopher Philo (c. 30 BC–c. AD 45), in writing about Lev. 18:22 and 20:13, condemned homosexual behavior. Philo wrote: “Much graver than the above is another evil, which has ramped its way into the cities, namely pederasty” (the Greek term paiderasteuō, used here, refers to sexual activity between grown men and adolescent boys). Philo says this is a pleasure that is “contrary to nature” (para physin, the same phrase Paul used in Rom. 1:26), and says it is “worthy of death.”
In another place, Philo speaks of homosexual conduct in general in his writing On Abraham, where he says the homosexual conduct in Sodom was “corrupting the whole of mankind,” so that God, in raining fire from heaven and destroying the city, “abominated and extinguished this unnatural and forbidden intercourse.”
The Jewish historian Josephus (AD 37–c. 100) wrote that the people of Elis and Thebes, in their homosexual conduct, practiced an “unnatural [para physin, the same expression found in Rom 1:26] vice,” and in that context, he referred to “the practice of sodomy” (homosexual conduct) as “the monstrous and unnatural [para physin again] pleasures in which they … indulged.”
The Greek historian Plutarch (c. AD 50–c. 120) referred to homosexual conduct between men as “contrary to nature” [para physin] and “indecent.”
These quotations show that when the New Testament writers condemned homosexual conduct, they were using the same terminology that was commonly used in other Greek literature to condemn all kinds of homosexual conduct as something “contrary to nature” and morally wrong. The words of the New Testament do not allow these prohibitions to be limited, as homosexual advocates claim, to some narrowly defined particular type of homosexual conduct.
The conclusion, then, is that the Bible views homosexual conduct as morally wrong in all cases, something contrary to God’s moral standards.
C. WHAT ABOUT POLYGAMY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT?
There are a number of examples of polygamy in the Old Testament. Does having more than one wife reflect God’s pattern for marriage?
The answer is that God temporarily allowed polygamy to occur without giving explicit commands against it, even though it did not conform to his original purpose for marriage as indicated in Genesis 1–2. But we get some hints from the narrative passages, because in every example where a man has more than one wife, the situation leads to significant difficulty in the marriage relationship, and readers are left to draw their own conclusions from this. A helpful summary of the biblical material on polygamy is found in the ESV Study Bible:
Why did God allow polygamy in the Old Testament? Nowhere in the Bible did God ever command polygamy or tell anyone to marry more than one wife. Rather, God temporarily allowed polygamy to occur (he did not give any general prohibition against it) without giving it any explicit moral approval. Nevertheless, in the OT narratives, whenever a man has two or more wives, it seems to lead to trouble (see Gen. 16; 29–31; 1 Sam. 1; 1 Kings 11; note also the prohibition in Deuteronomy 17:17). In addition, polygamy is horribly dehumanizing for women, for it does not treat them as equal in value to their husbands, and therefore it does not recognize that they share fully in the high status of being created “in the image of God” (Gen. 1:27), and of being worthy of honor as “heirs with you of the grace of life” (1 Pet. 3:7). The requirement “husband of one wife” (1 Tim. 3:2) would exclude polygamists from being elders.… This restriction would provide a pattern that would generally lead to the abolition of polygamy in a church in a generation or two.
