Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shlemon - Yes, Jesus Did Say Something about Homosexuality

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

Alan responds to the common claim that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality.

So, it's commonly believed that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. Well, that's just not true. I explain where he addressed his homosexuality in this episode of my podcast, Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shleman. Now you've heard it said Jesus never said anything about homosexuality, but I'm going to tell you, he did. In fact, Jesus condemned it actually more than once. And get this, he also castigates people who give approval to homosexuality. Now, to be clear, even if Jesus said nothing about homosexuality,

it would not affect Christian sexual ethics. And the reason is, is because homosexual sex would still be prohibited because scripture teaches in both Old and New Testaments that such behavior is sin. Right? Of course, we get this in Leviticus 18 22, Leviticus 20 13, Romans 1 20 60 27, 1 Corinthians 6 9, and 1 Timothy 1 10, just to name a few. But now it's important to remember that the entire corpus of Scripture is God's special revelation. All of it is inspired by the Holy Spirit and all of it is authoritative for God's people. In other words, there's no part of the Bible that is less of God's

Word or a part of the Bible that's more of God's Word. It's all divine writ. So even if Jesus was silent about the topic, it actually wouldn't matter for our understanding of God's teaching on sexual ethics since the Bible teaches that homosexual sex is sin. Now having said that, people who insist that Jesus was silent about homosexuality are just simply wrong. I don't know how else to put it, right? Now to be sure, it's important to recognize that Jesus did not need to address homosexuality

since most of his audience, many God-fearing Jews, for example, would have been familiar with the millennia-old teaching on sexuality from the Torah. Right? I mean, they knew about God's blueprint for sex and marriage from the Genesis account of creation. They also knew that God created Adam and Eve and commanded them to leave their parents and cleave to one another to form a one flesh union They knew about those passages in Genesis 1 and 2 they also knew that the Torah's teaching ruled out all sexual activity outside of a married man and woman and Jesus's audience also knew that homosexual sex was sin. So there was little need for Jesus to address that teaching, right? It

wasn't like there was a big, a big, a bunch of pushback against the prohibition for homosexual sex. Still, however, Jesus did condemn homosexual sex. And you might ask, well, Alan, where is this teaching found? Well, listen to what Jesus says, defiles a man in Mark chapter 7 verses 20-23. Okay, here's what the passage says. And Jesus was saying, that which proceeds out of a man, that is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men proceed the thoughts, the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All of these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. Okay, so that's the passage and you might be thinking,

well, Alan, I don't recall hearing anything about homosexuality that passage, right? So seems like you're wrong. Jesus did not say anything about homosexuality. Well, let me explain. The English word that's translated as fornications in that passage, and by the way, in the NIV translation, it would be translated as sexual immorality. But whether it's in the NASB saying fornications or the NIV saying sexual immorality, the Greek word that we get that translation from is the Greek word pornea. Now, according to classical Greek lexicons, right, classical Greek lexicons,

the original meaning of pornea was simply prostitution. However, by the first century, the word pornea had held a much more broader meaning and referred to any illicit sexual intercourse. So for example, according to the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, which I have here in my library, the word describes, quote, various extramarital sexual modes of behavior, in so far as they deviate from accepted social and religious norms. For example, homosexuality, promiscuity, pedophilia, and especially prostitution, end quote. So you see, the word parnea included homosexuality. Likewise, another book I have is called the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels.

And it says that parnea is quote, refers to any and all unlawful sexual activity and included not only adultery, incest, premarital infidelity, but also homosexuality, bestiality, and any other sexual conduct condemned in the Old Testament." So again, homosexuality is included in the term Jesus used, which is the word used was pornea.

And then, just give me another third example here, New Testament scholar Scott McKnight summarizes the meaning of pornea by saying this, he says, if you were to double-click on the Greek term pornea for a definition, it sends you to Leviticus 18's delineations. So therefore, when Jesus condemned fornications in Mark 721, his audience would have understood him to be condemning the sexually illicit behaviors of Leviticus 18, one of which was homosexual sex. It's mentioned in Leviticus 18, one of which was homosexual sex, right? It's mentioned in Leviticus 18 22. So therefore Jesus is condemning homosexuality just as much as he's condemning

adultery or fornication and all the other sexual sins. Even though he's not listing them out, he's using a word that includes those particular sins. It'd be like, I mean, imagine for example, a tyrannical dictator who is going to eliminate the ability for people to read literature. Okay. And so he's like, okay, no one's going to be able to read literature anymore. And so he orders his commanders to destroy all the literature. Now it wouldn't make sense to say, well, he's not going to destroy magazines because he never said anything about magazines.

Well, of course, that makes no sense, right? Because literature includes books, magazines, newspapers, online articles, and so on and so forth, right? And so in the same way, when Jesus says sexual immorality is sin, he's talking about the set of behaviors that's included in the term sexual immorality is sin, he's talking about the set of behaviors that's included in the term sexual immorality. And of course, as we know, homosexual sex is one of those behaviors. Now, what's interesting is this isn't the only time that Jesus condemns homosexual sex, right? He actually does it again in Revelation 2 14, while he is admonishing the church in Pergamum. Okay. And so here's what this passage

says. So this is Jesus speaking. He says, but I have a few things against you, because, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak, to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel and to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. Okay, so that's the passage. And again, the word translated as acts of immorality is you guessed it, pornea, right? And of course, it's referring to the illicit sexual acts of Leviticus 18, one of which is homosexual sex. So Jesus really is condemning the behavior now twice. But wait, there's more. So in Revelation 2 20, Jesus doesn't just reserve his judgment for only those who are engaging in homosexual sex. He actually also condemns false teachers who mislead people into practicing homosexuality.

So speaking to the church in Syatira, listen to what Jesus says. Again, Revelation 2.20, but I have this against you that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads my bond servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. Well, as you probably guessed, acts of immorality, that English word or phrase, is the word pornea. It's the word referencing the sexual sins of Leviticus 18, of one of which, of course, is homosexual sex. But notice in that passage, Jesus castigates both Jezebel, who's

the false teacher, and the believers who are tolerating her. So in other words, not only are the people who are advancing this sort of pro-gay theology, not only are those people in sin, but so are the people who now support them. So whether homosexual sex is sin does not seem then to be a agree to disagree issue. It's not that at all, right? Ongoing, unrepentant homosexual sin is grounds for disqualification from the entering the kingdom of God. Right.

That's first Corinthians six, nine to 10. So we're not permitted to practice homosexual sex because it's sin, right? We're not permitted to practice the behavior. We're not permitted to promote the behavior and we're not permitted to support those who do. And so if we, if Jesus didn't think that this was an agree to disagree issue, then neither can we. All right. Well, that's all I have for you today. If you've enjoyed this episode, I'd encourage you to share it with a friend. And also don't forget to subscribe to my podcast

so you don't miss any future episodes. And thank you for listening. I look forward to thinking out loud with you next time. Thank you.