Pastoral Response: Homosexuality
- James Collazo
- May 13, 2022
- 10 min read
Updated: Nov 9
Introduction
Content warning: We examine homosexuality in the Bible from a historical-grammatical perspective. Our goal is to equip Christians to apply Scripture faithfully in real life, showing how to extend both compassion and correction to those experiencing same-sex attraction. By understanding the biblical text in its original context, we can engage others with truth and love, striking a balance between conviction and care.
The apostle Paul addressed "men who have sex with men" and "those practicing homosexuality" in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10. Before examining the underlying Greek, we must recognize that modern terms refer to different aspects of same-sex attraction. The term "homosexuality," which entered the English language in the late 1800s, refers to an abstract desire for one's own sex. By contrast, the Greek word Paul used in both passages, arsenokoitēs (G733), describes same-sex behavior rather than orientation. The word breaks down as follows: airō (G142, "to lift upward") → arsēn (G730, "male") + koitē (G2845, "bed," especially in a marital context). An arsenokoitēs was therefore a man who lifted another man onto a bed for sexual intercourse—the active partner, presumably the stronger of the two.
Arsenokoitēs was rare in ancient Greek literature, but it does appear in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament (see here). Paul derived the term from the Septuagint reading of Leviticus 20:13 ("If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.") See here:
Kai hos an koimēthē meta arsenos koitēn gunakois bdelugma epoiēsan amphoteroi.
καὶ ὃς ἂν κοιμηθῇ μετὰ ἄρσενος κοίτην γυναικός βδέλυγμα ἐποίησαν ἀμφότεροι.
If whoever sleeps with [a] male sexually [as with a] woman, [an] offense did they both.
Moreover, Paul wrote to Hellenistic Jews who were familiar with Leviticus, not to Greek Gentiles who were unfamiliar with it. If he had addressed a Greek audience, he likely would have used erastēs ("erotic lover") and erōmenos ("erotic beloved") for the active and passive partners. The arsenokoitēs stood in contrast to the other man, a malakos (G3120), the "soft" passive partner. The adjective malakos also appears in Matthew 11:8 and Luke 7:25, where Jesus refers to Herod's "soft" robes. There, "soft" highlights the person's age or vulnerability rather than effeminacy. Similarly, today we might describe a young person as "softhearted" without implying a gender bias. This linguistic and cultural context has led many biblical scholars to interpret these passages in relation to pederasty—sexual relations between a man and a younger male. While pederasty sometimes occurred in pagan cultic prostitution, it was not limited to that context.
Greco-Roman Context of Homosexuality
Many Greeks and Romans believed that sexual intercourse should occur only between a man and a woman for procreation, reserving pleasure in same-sex relationships for slaves, prostitutes, and others barred from Roman citizenship. When biblical translators interpret malakos in the context of prostitution and other exploitative relationships, they often focus too much on slang or secondary meanings. Even today, we use the term "soft" to criticize weakness or praise kindness. Considering the socioeconomic context, malakos reflects the perspective of a "man-bedder" seeking to exploit a vulnerable outcast rather than describing effeminacy. In Greece and Rome, male same-sex relations rarely expressed mutual affection between citizens; instead, they served as a means for the powerful to exploit the oppressed.
For women, homosexuality carried a different social dynamic. In a strongly patriarchal society, lesbian relationships offered a sense of role reversal and autonomy. The term "lesbian" originally referred to residents of Lesbos (Greek: Lesvos), an island in the Aegean Sea. The poet Sappho (c. 610–c. 570 BC) hailed from Mytilene (Greek: Mutilēnē, G3412), a city still on Lesbos and mentioned by Luke in Acts 20:14. Sappho remains a controversial figure, as scholars debate whether she was a proto-feminist, a homosexual, or a prostitute. Her poetry and teaching at Lesbos inspired generations of women to identify as "lesbians." Regardless of the debates, her work provides sociopolitical commentary on ancient Greece, offering insights that resonate even today. Sappho led a school of disciples (Greek: thiasos) devoted to the pagan goddess Aphrodite. While some of her writings suggest desire for men, many passages hint at female homoeroticism within her thiasos. These relationships often prepared women for marriage, highlighting how social and erotic education intersected in her community.
Today, many commentators argue that Paul condemned homosexuality only in the context of pagan fertility cults, suggesting a possible exception for committed same-sex relationships. They also project modern assumptions onto ancient Greek culture, claiming such practices were rare. In reality, consensual same-sex relationships were widespread among Gentiles throughout the Mediterranean, particularly in the form of pederasty. Yet, contrary to common assumptions, not all Greeks approved of homosexuality. The well-known Greek philosopher Plato (c. 428–c. 348 BC) wrote:
Whether one observes earnestly or in jest, one certainly should not fail to keep in mind that when a male unites with a female for procreation, the pleasure experienced is held to be due to nature, but contrary to nature when a male mates with a male or female with female, and that those first guilty of such enormities were compelled by their slavery to pleasure. And we all accuse the Cretans of concocting the story about Ganymede. Because it was the belief that they derived their laws from Zeus, they added this story about him so that they might follow his example and enjoy this pleasure as well. Now, with the story itself, we have no more concerns. Still, when men are investigating the subject of laws, they deal almost entirely with pleasures and pains, whether in states or as individuals (Laws 1.636).
Similarly, the Greek comic poet Aristophanes (c. 450–c. 388 BC) mocked the well-known same-sex relationships of Agathon (c. 445–c. 400 BC), one of his contemporaries, in Women at the Thesmophoria. Taken together with Plato's writings, these examples show that many Greeks viewed same-sex relationships as a violation of natural law and societal norms.
Hebrew Context of Homosexuality
By now, it is clear that the scriptural view of homosexuality leans heavily toward the masculine. In ancient Hebrew culture, where men typically led the family, it was shameful for them to neglect this responsibility for mere pleasure. Unlike the Romans and Greeks, the Hebrews prioritized survival over balancing family and entertainment. Socioeconomic realities shaped this perspective: the Hebrews never had an empire and were often on the move or surrounded by hostile nations. Men needed to fight and protect their families, so homosexuality threatened both survival and continuity.
Fewer children increased vulnerability to attack and the possible destruction of the people. High infant mortality rates intensified this fear, making children a precious resource. In the ancient Near East, many people turned to nature religions, invoking gods and goddesses for protection and abundance. Because femininity symbolized childbirth and continuity, it extended to agriculture and religious practices. The Hebrews struggled with a recurring devotion to these false idols while paying lip service to God. Only after Israel's exile to Babylon did they finally abandon these pagan religions and turn fully to Yahweh.
As noted above, Paul drew on the holiness code in Leviticus when addressing same-sex relationships between men. The Old Testament authors broadly did not address lesbianism, and Paul was the first biblical writer to mention it explicitly. He writes:
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error (Rom. 1:26–27).
One of Paul's contemporaries, Philo of Alexandria (c. 15 BC–c. AD 50), expressed an equally severe view of same-sex relations, condemning them as contrary to nature and virtue:
As men, being unable to bear satiety of these things discreetly, get restive like cattle, become stiff-necked, and discard the laws of nature, pursuing a tremendous and intemperate indulgence of gluttony, drinking, and unlawful connections, for not only did they go mad after women, and defile the marriage bed of others, but also those who were men lusted after one another, doing inappropriate things, and not regarding or respecting their common nature, and though eager for children, they were convicted by having only an abortive offspring, but the conviction produced no advantage since they were overcome by violent desire. So, by degrees, the men became accustomed to being treated like women, and in this way engendered among themselves the disease of females and intolerable evil; for they not only, as to effeminacy and delicacy, became like women in their persons, but they also made their souls most ignoble, corrupting in this way the whole race of man, as far as depended on them. At all events, if the Greeks and barbarians were to have agreed together and to have adopted the commerce of the citizens of this city, their cities, one after another, would have become desolate, as if they had been emptied by a pestilence (On Abraham 26).
By the first century, many Jewish commentators interpreted the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as God's judgment against the sins later prohibited in Leviticus: incest, inhospitality, rape, and homosexuality. Philo's writings reflect this context of Sodom. Similarly, the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus (c. AD 37–100) wrote:
About this time, the Sodomites grew proud on account of their riches and great wealth; they became unjust towards men and impious towards God, insomuch that they did not call to mind the advantages they received from him: they hated strangers and abused themselves with Sodomitical practices. God was therefore much displeased at them and determined to punish them for their pride, overthrow their city, and lay waste to their country until there should neither plant nor fruit grow out of it. . . . Now when the Sodomites saw the young men be of beautiful countenances, and this to an extraordinary degree, and that they took up their lodgings with Lot, they resolved themselves to enjoy these beautiful boys by force and violence; and when Lot urged them to sobriety, and not to offer anything immodest to the strangers, but to have regard to their lodging in his house; and promised that if their inclinations could not be governed, he would expose his daughters to their lust, instead of these strangers; neither thus were they made ashamed (Antiquities of the Jews 1.11).
First-century Jews viewed homosexuality as one of the reasons God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. The prophet Ezekiel wrote, "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them as you have seen" (Ezek. 16:49–50). The phrase "detestable things" refers to the same-sex acts of the men with the angels. Jude, one of Jesus' brothers, affirmed this understanding: "In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire" (Jude 1:7). When reading these passages, it is essential to remember that God judged Sodom and Gomorrah for multiple offenses. Focusing on only one sin over the others misses the broader point: God condemns arrogance, injustice, inhospitality, and sexual immorality alike.
Conclusion
Using the historical-grammatical method, the original texts reveal a clear understanding of same-sex behavior. God's rainbow covenant belongs to him alone (Gen. 9:13–16), yet he commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves (e.g., Lev. 19:18; Matt. 19:19, 22:39)—forbidding bigotry while upholding his truth. Marriage is a sacrament and a covenant between a man and a woman to advance God's kingdom (Gen. 1:26–27, 2:24; Matt. 19:4–6; Mark 10:6–9; Eph. 5:32). Scripture focuses on behavior, not orientation. Paul regarded homosexual desire, like all sin, as a consequence of the fall (Rom. 1:26–32). making modern debates about orientation secondary.
Research confirms that same-sex attraction may arise from biological, psychological, and social factors, yet experiencing attraction does not necessitate acting on it. Consider this statement by the American Psychological Association:
There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay, or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles; most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.
God calls us to pursue holiness and self-control, loving others while upholding his design for sexual behavior and marriage. Scripture, cultural context, and linguistic analysis converge to distinguish desire from sinful action. We must exemplify Jesus' love without compromising divine truth, guiding others toward obedience, restoration, and life as God intends. In short, we must uphold sexual morality, honor the covenant of marriage, and offer compassionate correction. Loving others does not mean abandoning God's truth; it means leading them to the fullness of life in his design.
Prayer
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of heaven and earth. You are truth and justice. Stir hearts to honor you. Give leaders courage to defend life, marriage, and your commands. Help your people love boldly and find their identity in you. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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