Is Being Gay a Sin in the Bible?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman

Is being gay a sin in the Bible? That’s one question that consistently generates debate among Christians today. At first glance, the answer can seem obvious: certain passages appear to speak directly and negatively about same-sex behavior. But a closer look reveals a far more complex picture—one shaped by language, culture, and ancient assumptions that are very different from our own.

In this article, I’ll take a closer look at the key biblical texts commonly associated with homosexuality, from the story of Sodom in Genesis to the writings of Paul in the New Testament. Along the way, we’ll explore how historical context, translation, and evolving interpretations complicate simple answers—and why understanding the ancient world is essential for making sense of what the Bible does, and does not, say about being gay.

What Does the Bible Say About Gay People? Sexual Identity in the Ancient World vs. Today

It may seem strange to us now, but ancient people did not think of sexuality as an identity issue. In fact, as psychologist and scholar Chris Cooper writes,

In contrast to viewing sexual desires and acts as defining one’s identity, sexual acts instead defined social status in the ancient world. As David Halperin writes in his article “Is There a History of Sexuality?”, sex in many ancient documents is portrayed “not as a mutual enterprise in which two or more persons jointly engage but as an action performed by a social superior upon a social inferior.” For example, it was acceptable for a man to have sex with another man as long as he was the penetrator. The one being penetrated, whether a woman or a man, was considered socially inferior, as this position was seen as degrading.

It’s important to understand this before we look at specific references to homosexual activity in the Bible because looking at it from our modern perspective—where sexuality is considered part of one’s essence—can easily obscure the intent of the passage. Is being gay a sin? The question actually makes little sense in the ancient world because while there were, of course, homosexual desires and acts, there was no identity category for “homosexual people.”

Having established that ancient viewpoint, I’ll now investigate passages commonly referred to from the Bible in reference to homosexuality. Let’s see what the above way of understanding ancient sexuality can tell us about those biblical passages.

Genesis 19:1–11: The Story of Sodom

This passage from Genesis is the longest of those I’ll be considering today, but I think it’s important to quote it here in full before we start our analysis. The pretext of this story concerns Abraham’s cousin Lot who, along with his family, has moved to the wicked city of Sodom. Since God has decided to destroy the city, two angels are sent to warn Lot to flee:

The demand of the citizens of Sodom that Lot send out the men “that we may know them” has an unusual meaning in the original Hebrew. The Hebrew word for “know” in this sentence can simply mean to have knowledge of something. However, in The Bible Now, Richard Friedman and Shawna Dolansky, note that in addition, “the word ‘know’ in biblical Hebrew can indeed mean to know someone with sexual intimacy.” In other words, the men of the city do not simply want to meet and greet the two angels. This is a threat of rape.

afBecause of this, many later interpreters of the passage have assumed that the wickedness for which God eventually destroys Sodom is homosexuality. But many scholars have seen a different side of the story. First, Ezekiel 16:49 does not agree with this interpretation. Instead, the author writes that

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This is completely different from the sexual sin interpreted by most later Christian commentators. In fact, in his article ”Seven Gay Texts: Biblical Passages Used to Condemn Homosexuality”, Robert Gnuse notes that the “sin of Sodom” is more likely rape or attempted rape.

Furthermore, in A Tale of Two Cities: Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament, Early Jewish and Early Christian Traditions, J.A. Loader writes that for the authors of the Talmud, the central text of rabbinic Judaism, God destroys Sodom for a lack of generosity, and says the attempted rape of the angels was an indication of the city's infringement of the near eastern social mandate of hospitality.

These different interpretations call into question the idea that Sodom was destroyed because of homosexuality, despite the fact that the English word “sodomy” was coined from the name of that doomed city.

Let’s move on to another book from the Pentateuch and the Old Testament passage most often used to condemn homosexuality.

Leviticus 18:22, 20:13

For many who condemn homosexuality, these two verses are a clear indication of the divine prohibition of homosexual acts:

If this seems entirely cut and dried, let’s start by remembering that “homosexual” as a category of identity didn’t exist when Leviticus was written. Instead, these passages are condemning a certain type of activity rather than a certain type of person. Other than that, however, what else could this verse be referring to?

Over time, an interesting range of interpretations of these passages have emerged. In his article “Don’t Do What to Whom? A Survey of Historical-Critical Scholarship on Leviticus 18.22 and 20.13,” Mark Preston Stone notes no less than 21 different interpretations of this biblical law. Among these is the idea that it is not condemning all homosexual activity, but merely pederasty—sexual activity between a man and a boy. The ancient Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria interpreted the passage this way, as did Protestant reformer Martin Luther.

Meanwhile, later scholars, including James Brownson and Robert Gagnon, assert that this Levitical law refers to common cultic prostitution practices of other Near Eastern cultures at the time the law was written. In other words, male-male sexual activity was tied to the prohibited activities of idolatry.

Finally, other modern scholars such as Jacob Milgrom and Adrien Schenker that the reason for the prohibition on male-male sex acts is that it wastes procreative possibilities. In other words, God told human beings to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:28). Thus, any sex act which cannot result in conception is a sin against God.

While no one can confirm with certainty that any of the 21 interpretations catalogued by Stone are infallibly correct, we can at least say that the interpretation of these passages is anything but straightforward and simple.

As we move into the New Testament, let’s begin with a look at Jesus’ perspective on homosexuality, according to the Gospels.

What Did Jesus Say About Homosexuality?

Let’s start with the most obvious answer: Jesus said nothing explicitly about homosexuality in the Bible. For all the moral injunctions we find in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, none of them say anything about homosexuality.

Having said that, it’s important to note that some scholars and theologians argue that if you read between the lines, Jesus did argue that homosexuality was forbidden. For example, take a look at this passage from Matthew 19:4–6:

Based on this passage, Robert Gagnon writes “It is obvious that Jesus presupposed a two-sex requirement for marriage…” Gagnon therefore argues that “there is no basis for assuming that Jesus took a different view of” gay marriage.

However, Bart Ehrman, writing on the same passage, says that this argument is dangerous in that it assumes facts not in evidence.

In addition to the lack of evidence, Gagnon’s argument leaves out the context which makes sense of Jesus’ words. Preceding this passage in Matthew 19:3, the Pharisees have asked Jesus if a man can divorce his wife for any and all reasons. In other words, the question is not “who should get married and who shouldn’t?”, a question that would probably not have occurred to someone in the ancient world.

As Ehrman notes, if we’re really going to look for Jesus’ position on homosexuality, we have to admit that it may not have concerned him, since “In our surviving records Jesus says nothing about same-sex acts or sexual orientation.  Nothing.  Nada.”

But what about Paul’s writings? Does Paul condemn homosexual behavior?

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 and 1 Timothy 1:10

Writing to the Christian community in Corinth, Paul certainly seems to be more explicit about homosexuality than Jesus:

At issue in this passage, as in many biblical passages, is the translation of two Greek words from the oldest manuscripts. The first is malakoi, a word which my lexicon translates with a variety of words, including soft, gentle, mild, and cowardly. However, near the end of the definitions, the word “effeminate” is included as well (in the NRSV translation above, they’ve translated it as “male prostitutes”).

The second word, translated above as “men who engage in illicit sex,” is arsenokoitai, a word comprised of two words: arsen meaning “man” and koitēn meaning “bed.” However, the word is first found in the writings of Paul and does not appear in the writings of his contemporaries. So while it might mean “homosexual,” scholars still debate the meaning of this apparently newly-coined Pauline word, which is also used by the author of 1 Timothy 1:10, a letter written in Paul’s name that was probably not written by Paul.

For instance, in his book Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, John Boswell writes that arsenokoitai "did not connote homosexuality to Paul or his early readers." In addition, Boswell writes that, in the writings of other Christian authors, the word is used, not for homosexuality, but possibly for prostitution, while church historian Eusebius used it to refer to women.

So, in this passage, did Paul condemn homosexual behavior? Maybe, but it’s far from clear. He may have been referring instead to the common Greco-Roman practices of male prostitution and pederasty. To be sure, though, let’s look at one more passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Romans 1:26–27

In a passage in this letter in which Paul is discussing pagans, he writes

Scholars have written a variety of interpretations of this passage, although we must admit that many have simply interpreted it as a blanket condemnation of all homosexual activity. Nevertheless, in the The HarperCollins Study Bible, Leander Keck writes that Paul’s “repetition of the word ‘exchanged’ is deliberate: moral confusion follows idolatry.” In other words, because pagans were worshipping the wrong gods, they lost track of what God wanted them to do. In addition, Mark Nanos, writing in The Jewish Annotated New Testament, notes that

In other words, Paul may simply see same-sex acts as a refusal to procreate, which was the first commandment God gave humans in Genesis. In addition, it is clear, many Jews in Paul’s time stereotyped Gentiles as immoral and overindulgent. Perhaps Paul is simply reflecting this common prejudice in this passage.

In his book The New Testament and Homosexuality, Robin Scroggs argues that this passage “does not condemn homosexual relations as such, but rather the exploitation involved in the relations between master and slave, or between young adults (pederasty), or prostitution.” Meanwhile, in their book What God Has Joined Together: The Christian Case for Gay Marriage – How Faith Communities Can Bridge the Divide with Love and the Bible, David Myers and Letha Scanzoni claim that Paul “is only considering the case of heterosexuals having homosexual relations. One cannot therefore use Romans 1 as an argument to condemn the stable union of two homosexuals.”

Again, what is most clear is how contested the interpretation of these passages is when you have all, or at least more of, the historical facts.

Conclusion

Whether the Bible condones or condemns being gay, the topic has long been a contentious issue in Christianity. There are biblical passages which may seem to prohibit it until you consider a few relevant facts.

First, the idea of “being gay” is extremely new in human history. Until the 19th century, people were not defined by their sexual activity; it was not considered a part of their identity but rather as a type of sexual activity. If we try to read our notions of homosexual identity back onto ancient writings, we are sure to misinterpret them. The Bible does not discuss sexual orientation as an identity, but it does include passages about same-sex acts.

Second, even in biblical passages which either connote or denote homosexual acts, the intended emphasis is rarely on those acts themselves. For instance, many scholars interpret the “sin of Sodom” from Genesis as attempted rape and/or a refusal to grant hospitality to strangers rather than homosexuality as such.

Third, despite the assumptions of many readers who want to imprint their own morality on Jesus, he said nothing about homosexuality. Either it didn’t concern him as a sin or it was low on the totem pole, far behind the refusal to give to those in need, for example.

Finally, even in passages like Romans 1:26–27 where Paul clearly does condemn same-sex acts, his intended meaning is far from clear. In fact, as with any biblical text, meanings have to be negotiated between reading individuals and communities with respect to what we know of the cultures and reasoning of ancient people.