When discussing the issue of same-sex sexuality in the Bible, it is important to consider the historical and cultural context in which the Bible was written. It is unlikely, for example, that Jews of Paul’s day would even have recognized such a distinction between persons with a permanent homosexual preference and heterosexual persons, there being no single category of sexuality in biblical times.
The terms "homosexual" and "heterosexual" did not exist, as homosexuality is an eighteenth century anachronism. The persons Paul would have condemned were heterosexual persons committing homosexual acts, and the type of homosexual act that he opposed was pederasty, literally the “love of boys.”
Homosexual Acts in the Bible
There are six references to same-sex sexual activity in the Bible. Three in the Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis 19: 4-5, Leviticus 18:22; 20:13) and three in the New Testament (Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:9-10).
Homosexuality in the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament
First, is the story of Sodom in Genesis, which is not a condemnation of homosexuality, rather of rape and inhospitality, for the men of Sodom wanted to rape the male foreigners visiting Lot’s house in order to show their social and cultural dominance over them. Lot offered up his own daughters, rather than break the rules of hospitality.
The two references in Leviticus are part of the Holiness Code which forbade Jewish people to take part in the homosexual acts of their Mediterranean neighbors.
Homosexuality in the New Testament
Paul is the only author in the New Testament who addresses the issue of homosexuality.
In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and 1 Timothy 1:9-10, he refers to “male prostitutes” and “sodomites” in a list of vices, but the major reference is Romans 1:26-27: “For this reason [idolatry] God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.”
Sexuality in Ancient Mediterranean Culture
In Greco-Roman culture, the model of male homosexuality was pederasty; the love and most often sexual use of youth or boys by adult males, which was widely practiced in the Roman Empire up until the third century C.E.
Pederasty ranged from the sordid extreme of slave prostitution — whereby boys would be forced to provide sexual services for their master’s or master’s friends, to an uplifting educational process between youth and adults, where attainment of wisdom was the goal.
Proper sexual relationships in the Mediterranean world were based on dominance and submission and occurred between people of unequal status. In fact, in order to show dominance and status, it was not uncommon for men to rape a foreign army whom they had just conquered.
In relationships where pederasty was a voluntary sexual encounter, the older partner assumed the role of active partner, the erastes (lover), while the younger assumed that of the passive and was called the beloved, the eromenos.
The erastes usually sought out the relationship, instigating sexual contact, and attaining orgasm through use of the boy’s body. The eromenos was to provide sexual satisfaction for his lover and not expect any gratification in return. In fact, if the youth enjoyed bodily pleasure, he was deemed perverted and no better than a prostitute. The erastes could end the relationship at any time and move on to another, which usually happened when the youth reached puberty, losing his more feminine qualities, and the eromenos would have no voice in the matter.
By today’s moral standards, these relationships are based on tremendous inequality and impermanence, and in their more sordid and dehumanizing dimensions, Paul likely viewed pederasty in a way similar to how the practice is viewed today — with a great deal of abhorrence.
The Male Prostitute in the Bible
Of particular importance to New Testament attitudes on homosexuality is the pederastic practice of the effeminate call-boy, which Paul makes reference to in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.
This “free” youth or adult accepted the passive role for money and seems almost universally criticized within the Greco-Roman culture. It was his passivity that was deemed unnatural. The effeminate call-boy was seen as someone who adopted the practices of women and allowed himself to be used as a woman, thereby losing his masculinity.
The Issue of Female Homosexuality in the Bible
Male homosexual acts are widely discussed and portrayed throughout Classical literature. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, and Marc Antony all engaged in pederastic relationships. However, in no single discussion of female homosexuality is male homosexuality described as its counterpart.
In short, women cannot be lovers as no penetration is involved. This is key, because when Paul condemned women who “exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural” in Romans, it has been widely assumed that he was referring to a same-sex union. Paul was not, and the topic of “unnatural” heterosexual intercourse is widely discussed in Classical literature, most often as a form of birth control with oral and anal intercourse seemingly dominating the literature and art among the non-coital or “unnatural” forms of heterosexual intercourse.
Want to read more? See The Text of the New Testament: The Problem of Scribes in Early Christianity
Sources:
- John Boswell. Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century.
- K.J. Dover. Greek Homosexuality.
- J.E. Miller. The Practices of Romans 1:26: Homosexual or Heterosexual? In Novum Testamentum.
- Robin Scroggs. The New Testament and Homosexuality: Contextual Background for Contemporary Debate.
- Rev. Dr. Mona West. The Bible and Homosexuality (Metropolitan Community Church).
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