— Ntumba Katabua
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Ever since the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in 2008 in South Africa, social activists have been pressuring the church to do the same.
This raises the question: Does the category of “gay Christian” have biblical warrant? Is some form of homosexuality acceptable in the church?
A 2020 survey in the USA noted that among religious LGBTQ+ adults, 77% identified as Protestant, Roman Catholic or other Christian. Statistics for South Africa are unavailable, but are not expected to vary wildly from the USA statistics.
This discussion is important because, within the evangelical church, there are some who are desperate to make peace with the moral revolution and are looking to endorse the acceptance of openly gay individuals and couples within the life of the church. Sadly, many denominations have since accepted same-sex ideology and are even promoting it.
Here are three considerations when discussing the idea of homosexual Christians.
- Homosexuality is sin according to the scriptures
Inasmuch as the Scriptures emerged within the cultural milieu of the Ancient Near East and first-century Judea rather than a twenty-first-century Western context, their authority rests not in the era of their composition but in their nature as the divinely inspired Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Lev. 18:22 and Lev. 20:13
Lev. 18:22 reads, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination” and Lev. 20:13 states further, “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death”. These passages explicitly outlaw all same-sex sexual relations. Homosexual behaviour is condemned as an abomination, i.e. that which is detestable before God, with no exception.
Moreover, the prohibition on same-sex behaviour in Leviticus 18:22 sits alongside bans on child sacrifice in idol worship and bestiality – a deliberate arrangement that reflects the author’s grounding in the creation order of Genesis 1–2. Each of these three acts – killing children in worship, same-sex intercourse, and bestiality – represents a fundamental distortion of what it means to be human, because each one violates a core dimension of the imago Dei. Whereas the penalty in Leviticus 20:13 – i.e. death sentence—is no longer applicable, the principles communicated therein remain.
Matthew 19:1-12
In Matthew 19:5–6, Jesus himself traces the institution of marriage back to God—affirming that it was God who established it as a union between male and female, and God who binds husband and wife together as one flesh. By grounding his argument in creation, Jesus implies that any attempt to redefine the nature of marriage is contrary to God’s design and constitutes moral rebellion against Him.”
Romans 1:26-27
For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
Paul’s description of the act in v26-27 is undeniably negative towards same-sex sexual behaviour. Paul condemns same-sex sexual activity by both men and women and describes it as morally shameful. There is no indication that his concern is confined to “sexual excess.” Interpreting Romans 1 in any other fashion is evidence of what Paul warns about earlier in this chapter – “suppressing the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18)
1 Cor. 6:9-10
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
Joel James writes: “The word homosexuals was a compound word combining the word male and bed or intercourse (arsen + koita). Its meaning is clearly established by… Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. When he spoke of male bed partners, Paul was using the normal New Testament-word for homosexuals… In spite of assertions to the contrary, there is no question that 1 Corinthians 6:9 refers to homosexual behaviour.”
- Implications for the church
The overwhelming testimony of the scriptures is that God condemns homosexuality in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The concept of ‘acceptable’ homosexuality is wholly indefensible from a biblical perspective. It is sin. It must be rejected.
A church which has capitulated to the moral revolution and which either tolerates or promotes homosexuality is an apostate church. When certain behaviours are quietly removed from the category of sin, the gospel shrinks with them. If no transgression has occurred, no atonement is needed—and Christ’s sacrifice is rendered unnecessary for the very people it came to redeem. What presents itself as pastoral generosity is, in effect, a subtraction from grace.
The church is the body of Christ, and it gets its orders from the Scriptures, and should not conform to the culture (Rom. 12:2)
- Once gay, always gay – Is there any hope?
Contemporary secular thought generally holds that change in relation to homosexuality is both impossible and potentially harmful. Scripture, however, tells a different story. The Bible consistently affirms that transformation is not only possible but is precisely what the gospel promises – through salvation and the renewing work of the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s declaration in 1 Corinthians 6:11, “and such were some of you,” stands as a direct testimony to this reality. The Corinthian congregation included former homosexuals – people who had been changed not merely in behaviour but in desire – through the washing, sanctifying, and justifying work of Christ and the Spirit.
Homosexuality, like every other sin, is not beyond the reach of the gospel’s transforming power!