Did Jesus ever speak about homosexuality

Sodom and Gomorrha, Alte Pinakothek, Room 23
Sodom and Gomorrha, Alte Pinakothek, Room 23 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


Objection Stated

 Jesus mentioned Sodom and Gomorrah, but never connected the Sodom story with anything relevant to homosexuality. Instead, He connected Sodom and Gomorrah to inhospitality, proving that the traditional interpretation of the passage is in error.


Biblical Response

Matthew 10:14–15 records the words of the Lord,

  Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.

While it is admitted that Jesus does not speak of homosexuality in connection with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, it must also be admitted that Jesus nowhere refers to their sin as that of in-hospitality. It is inappropriate to assume that Jesus is approving of the revisionist interpretation of the Genesis account of the destruction of Sodom as due solely to in-hospitality. 

This assumption is made because the judgment of Sodom is placed in the context of people not receiving the disciples. Such an interpretation completely ignores the fact that Sodom’s judgment had become axiomatic for the fullest outpouring of God’s wrath throughout the Old Testament. 

It is not a matter of the cities of Jesus’ day being inhospitable to the disciples, as if they would not provide food, water, or shelter. Instead, these cities refused to hear the good news of the gospel. Theirs was a hardhearted rejection, just as was seen in Jeremiah 23:14, for which they would suffer swift retribution.

The error of the revisionist is in thinking that Jesus is here even raising the nature of the original sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. The issue is that these cities will be held accountable to God for their grievous sins. And the comparison is that it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in that day than for those cities that had experienced the visitation of the very apostles of the incarnate Lord, but refused their message of repentance and faith. While Sodom and Gomorrah received only the witness of one man’s inconsistent life (Lot), these cities were guilty of shutting their eyes to the glaring brightness of the light of the gospel itself, brought to them by the Lord’s disciples. This is what prompts the words of the Lord.


White, J. R., & Niell, J. D. (2002). The Same Sex Controversy: Defending and Clarifying the Bible’s Message about Homosexuality (pp. 45–46). Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers.

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