Bible verses for gay rights

4 Powerful Bible Verses to Share with Gay People

Seasoned ministers tell me that preaching and pastoring go hand in hand. You can’t know what to preach to people on Sunday unless you have already spent Monday through Saturday shepherding their hearts. The notion is that a good physician—spiritual physicians included—will take occasion with a diagnosis before applying the remedy.

Before you quote Scripture to encourage or instruct someone, understanding their life context is essential and can be the difference between helping and hurting them. My friendships with many gay or gay attracted Christians over the years hold revealed that just about every one of them has experienced condemnation by straight Christians who use the similar Bible verses over and over to demonstrate the sinfulness of same-sex sexual relations. Yet most of the second, the Scripture-quoters understand little to nothing about the homosexual person they’re speaking to.

Straight Christians often make the mistake of assuming that a person who identifies as queer believes or behaves in a certain way, and/or what they most urgently need is to be enlightened about their sinful condition and properly shamed. But what if the gay pers
bible verses for gay rights

The Bible and same sex relationships: A review article

Tim Keller,  2015

Vines, Matthew, God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same Sex Relationships, Convergent Books, 2014

Wilson, Ken,A Letter to My Congregation, David Crum Media, 2014.

The relationship of homosexuality to Christianity is one of the main topics of discussion in our culture today. In the fall of last year I wrote a review of books by Wesley Hill and Sam Allberry that take the historic Christian view, in Hill’s words: “that homosexuality was not God’s original artistic intention for humanity ... and therefore that lesbian practice goes against God’s express will for all human beings, especially those who trust in Christ.”

There are a number of other books that take the opposite view, namely that the Bible either allows for or supports same sex relationships. Over the last year or so I (and other pastors at Redeemer) have been regularly asked for responses to their arguments. The two most read volumes taking this position seem to be those by Matthew Vines and Ken Wilson. The review of these two books will be longer than usual because the topic is so contested today and, wh

Leviticus 18:22

“You shall not be situated with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”[1] It is not a surprise that this verse seems to say that lgbtq+ male sex is forbidden in the eyes of God. The dominant view of western Christianity forbids same-sex relations. This verse is one of the clobber passages that people cite from the Bible to condemn homosexuality. This essay first looks at the various ways the verse is translated into the English Bible and then explores some of the strategies used to create an affirming understanding of what this corridor means for the LGBTQ community. More specifically, it presents the interpretation of K. Renato Lings in which Lev. 18:22 refers to male-on-male incest.

While Lev. 18:22 is used to condemn homosexuality, we must realize that the word “homosexuality” was only recently coined in the English language. So did this term exist in ancient Israel? Charles D. Myers, Jr. confirms that none of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible talk about homosexuality.[2] He also contends that in ancient Israel same-sex relations were viewed as an ancient Adjacent East problem. The ancient Near East tradition included pederasty and relations between an older man and

What does the New Testament say about homosexuality?

Answer



The Bible is consistent through both Old and New Testaments in confirming that homosexuality is sin (Genesis 19:1–13; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26–27; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Timothy 1:10; Jude 1:7). In this matter, the New Testament reinforces what the Old Testament had declared since the Law was given to Moses (Leviticus 20:13). The difference between the Elderly and New Testaments is that the New Testament offers hope and restoration to those caught up in the sin of homosexualitythrough the redeeming dominance of Jesus. It is the same hope that is offered to anyone who chooses to receive it (John 1:12; 3:16–18).


God’s standards of holiness did not change with the coming of Jesus, because God does not adjust (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). The New Testament is a continuing revelation of God’s interaction with humanity. God hated idolatry in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 5:8), and He still hates it in the New (1 John 5:21). What was immoral in the Old Testament is still immoral in the New.

The New Testament says that homosexuality is a “shameful lust” (Romans 1:26), a “shameful act,” an abandonment o

What does the Bible teach about same-sex practice?

The Bible defines marriage in Genesis 2:24 as a union between one man and one woman. Jesus Christ upholds this definition of marriage in Matthew 19:5, as does the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:31. Any and all sexual task which takes place outside of this context is treated as sinful, what Jesus calls ‘sexual immorality’ in Highlight 7:21. 

Further to this, same-sex practice is specifically highlighted as sinful a number of times in Scripture. In God’s Law, for example, condemnations of homosexual practice are given in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. Further references are made in the Recent Testament. For example, in Romans 1:24-32, amid echoes to the Genesis creation account, both male and female lgbtq+ practice are treated as sinful. Further references to the sinfulness of lgbtq+ practice can be seen in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10. 

The Scriptures are, therefore, consistent in their prohibition of homosexual sexual activity, across different periods of salvation history and within different cultural settings. Although the Scriptures are clarify on sexual integrity, they also reveal us that the prospect of forgiveness and eterna