Is homosexuality acceptable to God? And are there many genders, which a man or woman may choose based on how they feel?
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them,” Genesis 1:27. God created only two sexes, two genders, when He made man. We are only male, or we are female. The body we are born into is the sex that we are. Our believing it to be different, or wanting it to be different, doesn’t change this. What we are born as, that is what we are.
There was never any real question about this (at least in our age), as far as I am aware, until recent years. Why this has come about now, we’ll see shortly.
God restricts the sexual relationship to the marriage relationship; outside of marriage, it is the sin of fornication. When He instituted marriage (at the very creation of man), He said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh,” Genesis 2:24. This is the only situation which the Lord authorizes, the joining of one man with one woman. God has instituted it, meaning it isn’t a construct of man, which Jesus confirmed in Matthew chapter 19, “And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate,” Matthew 19:4-6. Jesus was teaching on divorce in this passage, but His teaching is based on the facts of the creation, even clarifying one point, that it is God who does the joining. God created us male and female, and God joins a man to his wife. It is God does the joining; He will join no other situation; He will not join a man and a man, He will not join a woman and a woman, nor any other situation which man may desire. He will only join one man to one woman, and the bond is until death (or adultery, if the innocent party desires to leave).
But why does His saying, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh,” disallow any other situation? When God has specified the conditions of a thing, these are the only allowable conditions. The following example will show the truth of this. In speaking of the priesthood of Christ, the writer of Hebrews says the following, “Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests,” Hebrews 7:11-14. The argument being made, is that Christ could not have been a priest according to the Levitical priesthood, because he is descended from Judah. When God gave the priesthood to Aaron, He excluded every other line. Now, God never expressly said that Judah couldn’t have priests taken from them under the Law of Moses, but what He did say was, “You shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind caps on them, and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute. So you shall ordain Aaron and his sons,” Exodus 29:9, and regarding the remainder of the tribe of Levi, He says, “Behold, I Myself have taken your fellow Levites from among the sons of Israel; they are a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD, to perform the service for the tent of meeting. But you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as a bestowed service, but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death,” Numbers 18:6-7. In saying that the priesthood was Aaron’s (and he was of Levi), and that the Levite’s were to be his helpers, all other tribes were excluded from serving in the temple; they were outsiders. Therefore Christ, being from Judah, could not be priest unless there had been a change of law (and so therefore, seeing as Christ is now High Priest, the Law of Moses is no longer in effect, but now we have the Law of Christ).
Therefore, in saying, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh,” He disallows any other situation. God created the male and female to be partners together in life. This is the reason He created woman, for after saying in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for the man to be alone,” He says, “I will make a helper suitable for him.” God created the woman, out of the body of the man, in order to keep him company and to help him. God did not create another man to be with him, but created the woman for this purpose.
Now, the only natural way for man to reproduce, is for the man and the woman to come together. This is also according to His purpose, for, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it…", Genesis 1:27-28.
So then the evidence of the Word and of nature speak in favor of the joining of man and woman, and no other situation.
But as to homosexuality, God has explicitly made known the outcome, “Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire,” Jude 7. God has made known to man the outcome of this lifestyle, and that is eternal death. It will cost a man (or woman) his soul. There is no other judgment He gives, no other example to give one hope who would live their life this way. For He says it plainly, “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,” 1Cor 6:9-10. The destruction of Sodom is an eternal example He gives to us, to show the result of an immoral life, if one is unrepentant. One can repent of this lifestyle, and be forgiven, as with any other sin, for the passage in Corinthians goes on to say, “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God,” 1Cor 6:11.
So how is it that homosexuality has come about, for “God made men upright,” Ecclesiates 7:29? As he finishes the thought, “(B)ut they have sought out many devices.” He explains this to us in Romans 1:21-27, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 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.” Because men would no longer acknowledge Him, but instead sought after false gods, He gave them over to their desires.
The perfect example of this is what He says through Ezekiel regarding how Sodom came to be in her wicked condition, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it,” Ezekiel 16:49-50. God blessed Sodom and her neighbors with an abundance, and they in turn forgot Him, forsook godliness, became proud, and turned to evil. This is the same that is happening to America today; we have been given abundant ease, and so have publicly forgotten Him, and have turned to evil. It is not a new and enlightened way of life that we have discovered, it is just the same old tired sin that we have fallen into.
Marriage as a type
These following three verses make three very important points; namely, that the marriage relationship is a type of the relationship between Christ and the church, that God made the world according to wisdom, and that He may be clearly seen and understood by the creation that He has made,
“’For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church,” Eph 5:31-32.
“To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,” Psalm 136:5, cf. Proverbs 8:30.
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead,” Romans 1:20.
God has created the world in such a way as we may see him, and understand him. We may see and understand his goodness by the world he has made. He created us with the need to eat, and has supplied us with a wide variety of foods to meet this end, most of which are enjoyable to partake of. He freely and abundantly supplies the air we must constantly breathe, and has left water in no short supply.
Likewise, we understand his love for us as a father because we are fathers. By seeing the love we have for our children, and that even when they do wrong our heart yearns for them, and the love and protection we possess towards them, we can then understand how he looks at us, Jeremiah 31:20, Isaiah 49:13-16, Lam 3:33. We can grow in confidence towards Him, in spite of our weaknesses, knowing His love for us.
But there is a yet closer relationship that He desires with us, an intimacy which He shows in the type of the marriage relationship. For the relationship between a parent and child is not on equal footing, the child of necessity being the lesser, looking to the parent for their needs and comfort. The relationship between man and wife, however, is more on level ground; they have by agreement entered into the relationship, and regard each other as one to give their heart to.
The intimacy between a man and wife is greater than that between two friends, no matter how close those friends may be; for “the two shall become one flesh.” This brings about a closer intimacy of heart, and this is the intimacy the Lord desires with us; an intimacy of heart, for, “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him,” 1Cor 6:17.
(What did Sarah gain by calling Abraham lord, 1Peter 3:6? First, she gained the approval of God, for she is held up as an example to all Christian woman until the end of the age. But second, she did her part in creating a living type of Christ and the church; for if the woman is submissive to her husband as she ought to be, and if he for his part loves and gives honor to her as he ought, Eph 5:25 and 1Pet 3:7, then they have a living example both before them and between them of Christ and the church.)
There is no other situation between man and God; only Christ and his bride, the church. Likewise, there is no other authorized relationship among men, than a man and his wife.
References on Marriage and Homosexuality
Whenever marriage is spoken of in Scripture, it is always of male and female,
1 Peter 3:1-7 “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. Your adornment must not be merely external--braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear. You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.”
Colossians 3:18-19 “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.”
Ecclesiastes 9:9 “Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.”
Malachi 2:14 “Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.”
Ephesians 5:22-33 “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.”
Genesis 2:23-24 “The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.’ For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”
But of homosexuality, it is always condemned,
Jude 7 “(J)ust as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”
Genesis 19:5 “(A)nd they called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.’”
Genesis 18:20 “And the LORD said, ‘The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.’”
Genesis 19:24-25 “Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.”
Deuteronomy 29:23 “All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.”
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.”
1 Corinthians 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.”
Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”
Leviticus 20:13 “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. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.”