As we begin, I am aware that this is a sensitive topic. Many have made up their minds about the issue and surely aren’t interested in my opinion. Please know that I don’t want to give you my opinion. I’m less interested in my opinion than you are. The only opinion I care about is God’s opinion.
When speaking on this topic we inevitably end up at verses such as Leviticus 18:22 or Leviticus 20:13. This is the hardline stance that many within the church will take. This stance has led to fights, arguments, and broken families. Others have looked at these verses and wondered why the church chooses to follow them yet ignore dietary laws or laws about wearing mixed fabrics.
It’s a good point. We don’t get to choose which laws we wish to follow. Fortunately, that’s not how we seek to understand God’s commands. There are essentially three different types of law–the Natural Law, the Mosaic Law, and the Moral Law.
The Natural Law is found within the early Bible. When Moses killed the Egyptian, he didn’t have the 10 Commandments to tell him that it was wrong, yet it went against God’s natural law. Simply put, the Natural Law is the law we all know by following our conscience. The details are murky, and we’ve argued about details since the dawn of time. Unfortunately, details into the specifics of this law are sparse.
The Mosaic Law, on the other hand, is clear and concise. It’s the law that God gave to Moses. These are the rules, laws, punishments, and sacrifices God commanded the people of Israel to follow.
However, Jesus established a new law, the Moral Law. This is said to be a direct reflection of God’s nature. Some argue that the Moral Law is simply a reiteration of the Natural Law. Jesus summed it up when he said to love God and love others (Matthew 22:37-39).
As stated, we as Christians don’t follow all of these laws, namely the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law was part of the Old Covenant. God said, “These are the laws you must obey in order to have salvation.” Yet no one was able to keep those laws. That’s why Jesus came to fulfill the law and to establish a new covenant through his sacrifice on the cross. Thus, the old covenant, the Mosaic Law, was fulfilled and is no longer applicable to those under the new covenant, although we are still bound by the Natural and Moral Laws. And low and behold, the passages in Leviticus cited earlier fall within the Mosaic Law.
However, Jesus’ Moral Law, while it doesn’t have as many “Thou shalt nots,” isn’t without guardrails. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” (John 14:15). These commands are spelled out throughout the gospels and the entirety of the New Testament. We could thus argue about Paul’s view of human sexuality (1 Timothy 1:8-11) and its validity, but most people would rather hear it from Jesus.
Reading through the words of Jesus, you will not find a single time that he specifically condemns homosexual behaviors. In fact, there are many things Jesus never speaks about. Within the gospels, Jesus never condemned incest. Neither did he condemn polygamy, bestiality, or child sacrifice. Are we to assume that just because he didn’t condemn these acts that he approves of them? No.
While we don’t have record that Jesus spoke about many of these sins, he did speak a great deal about adultery and sexual immorality (Matthew 15:19). But what did Jesus mean when he these words? Here Jesus’ Moral Law fell back upon God’s Natural Law (Matthew 19:4-6; Genesis 2:24). Sexual immorality and adultery were two blanket terms that Jesus used to address anything outside the confines of God’s definition of marriage, one man and one woman.
It’s at this point that the church likes to get up its high horse and begin wagging fingers at the LGBT community telling them how awful and sinful they are. But Jesus’ term, “sexual immorality,” covers more than just homosexuality. It’s ANYTHING outside the confines of a God ordained marriage.
We like to rank sin and place this one at the top, but how many of us are guilty of the same “sexual immorality” Jesus spoke against? If you’re unmarried and having sex with your boyfriend, girlfriend, or anybody, that’s sexual immorality. If you’re in a God ordained marriage and doing these things with anybody other than your spouse (even online), that’s sexual immorality. Pornography and lustful thoughts are sexual immorality. Within this broad definition Jesus gives us, there are many within the church who are just as guilty as the homosexual.
When speaking on this topic, and I’ve even been guilty of it too, we often broadly label the sin as “homosexuality” while in reality homosexuality in and of itself is no more a sin than heterosexuality. The Greek word often translated as homosexuality is arsenokoitēs which depicts one who takes an active role in intercourse. It’s the action that is sexually immoral just as it is for heterosexuals.
This is the official stance of the Church of the Nazarene. We may not choose our orientation, but we do choose our actions. As such, it’s the engagement in these acts or the lustful thoughts that constitute sin just as it is for the heterosexual.
Some will look at this stance and say, “That means I can date, and I can kiss, as long as I don’t commit the act,” but that’s a dangerous attitude to take with any sin. Jesus’ Moral Law seeks to move us beyond a legalistic mentality that asks, “How much can I get away with?” If you are asking that question, you’ve already gone too far in your heart. That’s why Jesus says, “You’ve heard don’t murder. I say don’t hate. You’ve heard don’t commit adultery. I say don’t even go there in your mind” (Matthew 5:21-22; 27-28).
We each have desires and attractions that we shouldn’t act upon – whether sexual desires, greed, or malice. The attractions of a heterosexual man are no more or less sinful than those of a homosexual man. In fact, the attractions alone aren’t inherently good or bad, it’s where you allow your heart to go with them.
We often say, “Hate the sin, love the sinner,” yet in these situations the two often become such a jumbled mess that it’s difficult to distinguish one from the other. We must condemn the sin, but many times we speak out against the sin in such a way that we catch the sinner in the crossfire. It’s no wonder there are those who feel God hates them.
If you’ve found yourself in this position, know that God doesn’t hate you, and his love is abundantly clear throughout the scriptures. Know that God loves you just as you are, no matter what feelings and desires you have or even the actions you’ve taken. You don’t need to clean yourself up before coming to him. He wants you just as you are.
As Christians, we cannot deny the Moral Law spoken by Jesus, but neither should we crucify the sinner with the sin. That doesn’t mean we ignore Jesus’ commands. Likewise, that doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want. Regardless of our sexual orientation, Jesus has called us to be holy and blameless.
Love each other and be tolerant of one another (Colossians 3:12-14). Love is what binds us together across race and orientation, but it doesn’t mean we agree on everything. In fact, in order to be tolerant, by definition, we must first disagree.
God’s Moral Law, Jesus’ own words, make it clear. Sexual immorality, in whatever form it takes, is counter to God’s plan and desire. Engaging in such actions are a willful transgression against a known law of God and are therefore a problem. Yet no person is beyond the redeeming grace of Jesus. Regardless of what you’ve done or who you’ve been with, God wants to have a close and intimate relationship with you. He yearns to free you from the bondage of your desires and transform you into the image of Christ, all because of His love for you.