Is Homosexuality Still a Sin?
I was inspired to write this article after a friend of mine sent a video to me discussing the same topic. The preacher in that video shared something that was completely shocking—to me at least. In his sermon, he claimed that many American Christians, particularly between the ages of 18-35, are either unsure or disagree with the fact that homosexuality is a sin. This preacher then went on to produce articles, quotes, and information from credible sources to support this claim. Throughout the video, there were clips shown featuring various Christian pastors, singers, artists, and influencers answering the question of whether or not homosexuality is a sin during television interviews. Every single Christian, except one, claimed they had no idea—some even said the topic was complicated or that Jesus Himself never addressed homosexuality.
As shocking as this information was when I first started that video, by the end of it, I wasn’t surprised anymore. I can recall conversations in college about similar topics in Christianity where friends and classmates would say things like, I’m a Christian, BUT—and then they would go on to explain how they didn’t believe in one thing or another.
Typically, I would just ignore those people—my take on the conversation was that if you didn’t believe the Bible in its entirety then you weren’t actually Christian at all. I believe this because the Word of God says God is not a liar and that He doesn’t change His mind [Numbers 23:19]. Since the Bible is God’s Word, that means every part of it is true. Every sentence, every letter, every semicolon and comma is 100% God’s Word, 100% perfect, and 100% true. So, if you call yourself a Christian, you must accept all of the Bible or none of it at all. To only believe in certain parts of the Bible is to call God a liar—and who are you, a mere human being, to pass such judgement on God? If God is real (which He is), then He isn’t a liar, and His Word is 100% true. Even the parts that declare homosexuality as not just a sin, but an abomination.
You might be feeling uncomfortable at this point, but sit tight, I’m just getting started.
There are a number of arguments floating through the Church on the topic of homosexuality; some of them are featured in the video I watched, which you can view for yourself by clicking here (hopefully, YouTube hasn’t removed it yet).
Shockingly, these arguments are not coming directly from the LGBT+ community. These debates are from Christians taking up arms in defense of this sin, claiming we’ve got it wrong—we’ve been misunderstanding the Bible all this time and homosexuality actually isn’t a sin at all. I’m going to address some of these arguments from a Christian perspective, using Biblical verse to defend the truth in God’s Word that homosexuality is indeed a sin against God, and always will be.
The first argument in defense of homosexuality is this;
1. The Bible isn’t relevant anymore or the Bible doesn’t have answers for today’s problems.
I have an article that addresses these statements in much more depth, you can click here to read it, but for now I’m just going keep it short and say this; Hebrews 13:8 KJV says, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. This means God doesn’t change—and since John 1:1 KJV says that the Word is God, this means His Word—the Holy Bible—doesn’t change either.
So, it doesn’t matter if the year is 200 AD or 2021. It doesn’t matter how accepting our society has become. It doesn’t matter that many pastors today are “unsure” on the topic. It doesn’t matter how many people agree or disagree with me. Homosexuality is, and always will be, a sin against God.
WHY is it a sin? Because the Bible says so.
We can go through verse after verse of every mention of homosexuality from the Old Testament to the New, but I’m going to use two passages in this discussion because I want to address our next argument here.
2. Jesus never mentioned homosexuality.
Let’s look at Matthew 5:31-32 KJV
These two scriptures are taken from the famed Sermon on the Mount, delivered by Christ Jesus. In these verses, Jesus is actually talking about divorce. It might seem odd to use scriptures on divorce in a discussion on homosexuality, but I want you to pay attention to the words and phrasing Jesus uses here.
It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: but I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
What I want you to notice is how marriage was described in these two verses … between a man and a woman.
So, to say that Jesus never addressed homosexuality is quite incorrect. No, He did not explicitly mention homosexuality, but He did very clearly describe marriage as being between one man and one woman. So you can surmise from His sermon on divorce that Christ’s definition and understanding of marriage did not include homosexuality or any other combination of people outside of a naturally born male and a naturally born female.
Let’s also look at Matthew 19:4-6 KJV
And He answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Once again, Christ describes marriage as a union between one man and one woman. But what’s really important here is that Jesus specifically quotes the Old Testament.
This is where I’m going to address the third argument as well as the second.
3. Gay marriage is a sin, but homosexuality itself is not.
Verses 4 and 5 of Matthew 19 are direct quotes from Genesis chapter 2. This is so important because it says a lot about what Jesus believed.
If you read in Matthew 19:1-3, you’ll learn the context of this scripture. Jesus was asked a question about a man divorcing his wife and verses 4-6 is His response. By quoting Scripture from Genesis as His answer to this question, Jesus demonstrates that He agrees with the Old Testament definition of marriage (as being between one man and one woman), and because He agrees with the Old Testament definition of marriage, we can also trust that Jesus agrees with the Old Testament declaration of homosexuality as a sin against God.
Furthermore, we also understand that Christ Jesus is a member of the Holy Trinity. That is, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity is the complete God, meaning, God is Jesus as much as Jesus is God as much as God is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is God. To put it simpler; the heart of God is the Father, the face of God is Jesus, and the voice of God is the Holy Spirit.
You can also read John 1:2 KJV, The same was in the beginning with God [the same being Christ Jesus], for further proof that Jesus was with God and is God within the Triune.
Since Christ Jesus was with God in the beginning, this means Jesus agrees with God’s Words in the Old Testament which defines homosexuality as a sin and an abomination. Even deeper than that; since Christ Jesus is God within the Triune, this means anything God says and declares in the Old Testament is also said and declared by Jesus.
So, to say that homosexuality is not a sin because it is mostly mentioned in the Old Testament is incorrect, as well as it is incorrect to say that Christ never addressed homosexuality. And it is also incorrect to say that only gay marriage is a sin but not homosexuality itself.
Now, let me clear things up even more for you confused Christians out there.
There are no conditions on homosexuality. It is a sin whether the person is married, whether the relationship is monogamous, or if the person involved is celibate. That doesn’t matter at all.
While gay marriage is definitely a sin, it isn’t just the act of two men (or two women or any other combination of the LGBT+ community members) getting married that makes homosexuality a sin. It is the unnatural desire for a man to lay with a man the way he would a woman (and vice versa) that is a sin. You can find that scripture in Leviticus 20:13—yes, this is an Old Testament verse, but as we discussed above, Christ agreed with this declaration which means it is still relevant today.
4. Some try to discredit Old Testament scriptures on homosexuality and gay marriage, by arguing that Christ abolished the Law.
This statement touches on the topic of Law vs Grace where we learn through the Apostle Paul that Christians are saved under the Grace of Christ Jesus, meaning all of our sins and adherence to the Law has been wiped away. So, when the Bible says things like women can’t go out in public while menstruating or that we must sacrifice bulls and goats to atone for our sins, these scriptures are “irrelevant” to us today because Christ Jesus got rid of the Laws in the Old Testament.
This notion is true and Biblically accurate. Jesus Christ did abolish the Laws of the Old Testament, but He didn’t make them irrelevant. What I mean by that is; there are two types of Laws in the Old Testament (some Bible scholars claim there are three but for the sake of this article, we will only address two). That is Moral Law and Ceremonial Law.
Moral Laws describe what God sees as sins against Him; they include the Ten Commandments and go on to detail other acts of sin and behaviors that would make us unrighteous before Him. This would also include homosexuality and other unnatural sexual desires—like incest and bestiality, etc.
On the other hand, Ceremonial Law details what the people of God must do and perform to be considered holy and righteous before God, as well as how to atone for our sins if we become unrighteous.
For example, under Moral Law, Believers are not to tell lies, or murder, or commit acts of homosexuality. While under Ceremonial Law, we are not to eat pork, women are not allowed in public while menstruating, and we must make a blood sacrifice of bulls and goats to atone for our sins.
It is true that Jesus Christ did away with the Laws of the Old Testament, but the key here is understanding how He abolished them. Christ died on the Cross to fulfill the Law—this means we no longer have to sacrifice bulls and goats when we sin because Christ performed the ultimate sacrifice once and for all. We no longer have to abstain from eating pork because Christ’s sacrifice made all things clean. And women no longer have to stay inside while menstruating because Christ’s sacrifice washed away all impurities for good.
When it comes to Moral Law, Christ fulfilled these laws by becoming sin on the Cross. He took every sin onto His body and was punished for them on our behalf.
So, yes, Christ Jesus abolished the Laws of the Old Testament. But He didn’t make them irrelevant. Remember, God does not change His mind [Numbers 23:19], He still requires a blood sacrifice to atone for our sins today, but we don’t have to slaughter animals on our own anymore because that law of sacrifice was eternally fulfilled through Jesus’s sacrifice on the Cross. In the same way, God still considers homosexuality a sin, but Christ defeated this sin when He died on the Cross. As a result of Christ’s sacrifice and abolishing of the Law, we have been granted deliverance from that sin when we accept the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross by declaring Him as our Lord and Savior.
So, yes, homosexuality is mentioned in the Old Testament as a sin and is part of Moral Law. Yes, Christ Jesus abolished every Law of God, but He abolished the Laws of God through fulfilment. So, abolishing the Law doesn’t mean it is no longer a sinful act, it means we can now gain forgiveness for that sin through Christ’s sacrifice.
Also consider that homosexuality is mentioned throughout the entire Bible—not just the Old Testament and remember the context of it never changes. Homosexuality is always referred to as a sin or an abomination. Marriage is mentioned hundreds of times throughout the entire Bible, and it is always described as being between a man and a woman.
So, even if you don’t understand the Law and how it was abolished, to argue inconsistency or change in the Bible in defense of homosexuality is absolutely wrong.
5. Lastly, some people claim homosexuality can’t be a sin because homosexuals are born that way. How can someone’s natural state be a sin? If God made them that way, it isn’t a sin, right?
First of all, there is absolutely no scientific evidence in existence that proves homosexuality is a genetic trait, is part of our DNA, or that humans can have a predisposition to it. In fact, there is more scientific evidence to support that people can be predisposed to alcoholism than homosexuality.
But let’s say there is evidence out there. For the sake of this article, I will agree that there is indisputable scientific evidence that humans are indeed born homosexual.
That doesn’t change the Word of God.
God didn’t declare homosexuality as a sin unless you were born that way. He declared it a sin, period. So, even if someone does believe they were born a homosexual—and we can prove it scientifically—it doesn’t give them a pardon from God’s Word. Remember, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore [Hebrews 13:8]. God is not a liar. God doesn’t change His mind [Numbers 23:19].
The good thing about this is, no matter what you were born as, the Blood of Christ Jesus is strong enough to wipe away ALL sin. Jesus is powerful enough to deliver us from ALL things. Just like how Christ healed people who were born blind or crippled, He can still deliver someone who was born gay.
My fellow Christians, stop trying to find scriptures to justify sin and instead find the scripture that says Jesus loves you. He died for you to deliver you from all sin—even the sin of homosexuality. If you will let Him, He will wash you clean. But that’s the beauty in Christ; He is a gentleman.
God will never push Himself on anyone, so if you don’t want to be set free—you won’t be! God will let you live out your natural life here on earth as you wish; loving whomever you want and marrying whoever you please. But please remember this; everyone dies. Everyone on this earth has an expiration date; whether you believe in God or not, you will answer to Him and you will have to stand before Him and explain why you knew the truth and chose to live in sin.
Believe it or not, this article was not written to the LGBT+ community. It was written to my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. It seems there are many of us who are confused on the matter of homosexuality. I hope I have just cleared things up for you.
Do not take this article lightly. While homosexuality and other sexually immoral sins run rampant throughout our country, remember the book of Jude. Verse 4 NIV says:
For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
The LGBT+ community is not who we should have our eyes on. We need to be focused on each other—on those famous Christian pastors and entertainers who have no idea whether or not homosexuality is a sin. The verse above says people like this pervert the grace of our God, they give people a license for immorality, and they deny Jesus Christ. Jude declares, they have secretly slipped in among you. This means the Christian who sits beside you on Sunday morning yet denies the facts of the Bible is a far bigger threat than the homosexual waving a flag at the pride parade up the street.
The reason this is so important is because sin outside the church will always exist—sinners sin, after all. But when that sin finds its way into the sanctuary, into the pulpit, where leaders in the Body of Christ are now reluctant to speak the truth in God’s Word for fear of ridicule or fear of hurting someone’s feelings, THAT IS A PROBLEM. It is a very big problem when pastors can’t answer whether or not they believe homosexuality is a sin.
The Bible says in James 4:17 KJV, Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. … In other words, to see sin and not call it sin is sin.
And also, Ephesians 5:11 KJV, And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Withholding the truth in God’s Word from someone is like patting their back as they walk through the gates of hell. We are living in the end times, my friends, we cannot afford to be ashamed, embarrassed, or afraid. We are talking about saving souls. When someone asks your thoughts on this topic, your response could mean the difference between someone’s salvation or eternal damnation. Please choose to speak the truth in the Word of God.