Study of Jude Part 9 Related Issues - Other Scriptures

Last week, I discussed why I thought it would be important to consider some of the implications of the Letter of Jude (and other Scriptures) for moral issues today and particularly LGBTQ issues and same-sex marriage and related issues. (If you have not listened to or read last week’s study, I would highly recommend your looking at it first, as what I say today builds upon what was already said.)

Fundamental is the teaching in Genesis 1 that God created people with only two genders, male and female, and in Genesis 2, that God instituted marriage, of one man and one woman, in a life-long commitment, and that was the place for sexual desires to be fulfilled. Our Lord Jesus quoted from Genesis and affirmed these views of marriage, as planned by God “from the beginning.” Other Scriptures quote these passages, in a consistent view of what marriage was and is intended to be.

Obviously, sin then came into the world, in Genesis 3, and great rebellion against God and His will and plans resulted. Genesis 6 described how serious this was, and other Scriptures showed that the struggle with our sinful human nature has gone on ever since,  in issues of sexuality and marriage. As I pointed out last week, if we were to do a full study of moral issues, we would need to spend much more time on problems and sins of heterosexual relationships. Sin is sin, and we are all sinners, and we all need God’s grace and forgiveness, in Christ.

I want to continue today by noting that the Jewish moral code for the people of Israel, given by God to Moses and other prophets, supported God’s view of the two genders and sexuality between a male and female in marriage, and warned against all immorality, including some references against same-sex sexual activity. In going through the Letter of Jude, I have already mentioned a number of these Scriptures and will repeat just a few, in more detail.

There is the story of the sins of Sodom. Genesis 13:13 says, ”Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.” And in Genesis 19:1-11, we hear that two angels, appearing as men, came to visit Lot in that town. They were going to stay in the town square, but Lot invited them to stay with him, out of hospitality, but also to protect them. Later that night, all the men and boys of the town came and surrounded the house, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” If you read much Scripture, you know that the term “to know” sometimes means “to have a sexual relationship with.” That is positive within God’s plan for marriage between a husband and wife. Read Genesis 4:1, as an early example, between Adam and Eve. In Genesis 19, though, Lot clearly knew what all these males, young and old, wanted. They wanted to have sex with these men who were visiting Lot. Lot begs them, “Do not act so wickedly,” and suggests a very bad alternative, also immoral according to God’s standards.

The fact that males and boys were involved indicates a real part of homosexual behavior in some times and places. Younger boys were involved and often taken advantage of in the ancient world, especially in Greek culture and among some Romans, too. It involved what we would usually call today a form of “child sexual abuse” - “pedophilia” or “pederasty.” It still happens today. Think of all the stories we have heard of problems of child abuse  from some Roman Catholic priests  and also from some Protestant leaders and Boy Scout leaders and on and on. I just read an article today about authorities in one place wanting to do away with negative names for such abusers and simply call them “minor-attracted people.” (That seems to be a way to try to “normalize” very dangerous behaviors against children.)

You can read the rest of what happened in Genesis 19 on your own. The angels are able to help Lot and his family to escape, and Sodom and Gomorrah are totally destroyed. Mentioning Sodom became, in Old and New Testament, a way of warning against homosexual and other wrong behaviors, and the term, “sodomy” became a tern for a certain kind of sexual behavior often done by males with each other.

The Law of Moses simply says about homosexual behavior: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). This same prohibition is repeated in Leviticus 20:13, with very serious consequences for such a person within Israel.

There are other Scriptures that are related to this issue. Deuteronomy 22:5 says, “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.” Many think this refers to what we call today dressing in “drag,” as in a “drag show,” with men acting like women or vice versa and acting or speaking in suggestive and immoral ways. It often seems to be an activity of the homosexual community, and is very controversial, especially when children are involved. It is a way of sending mixed and confusing messages about what are clear differences between the two genders, male and female.

Again, we are hearing almost daily today in our own country about such “drag shows” in public libraries and other places where children are involved,  and yet the same libraries, etc., refusing to allow programs by people and groups presenting a different moral message. This prohibition of cross-dressing could also speak to those who want to be transgender - a gender different from their birth gender, their natural gender.

The Old Testament says little about lesbianism (woman with woman sexual activity), as it seems to have been uncommon within Judaism and clearly does not fit the Biblical standards, either. The famous Jewish author and historian of the 1st Century AD, Josephus, just after the time of Christ, wrote: “What are our marriage laws? The Law recognizes no sexual connections, except the natural union of man and wife, and that only for the procreation of children. Sodomy (male to male) it abhors, and punishes any guilt of such assault with death.”

In God’s plan of salvation, Jesus, as true man, then came from the Jews. He taught and followed basic Jewish moral Law of the Old Testament, while doing away with ritual and ceremonial laws that were not part of the New Covenant, the New Testament. As a Jew, working largely among fellow Jews, Jesus needed to focus on basic male and female and Biblical marriage issues, as perversions of them by homosexuals and lesbians were rarer. Jesus clearly showed in a positive way what God did want and approve of, in these issues

Once the Gospel began to go more to non-Jews, God inspired the New Testament writers to speak more to the homosexual, lesbian, and bisexual activity so much more common among the Greeks and some other cultures. There were also more temples of false “gods” in these cultures, which had cultic male prostitutes in these temples, who could cater to homosexual desires. The most specific passage about this is in Romans 1:18-32. Paul speaks of the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and worship and serve created things, including each other, rather than the immortal God, their Creator. Read especially Romans 1:24-27, where Paul speaks of people following “the lusts of their hearts,” “impurity”, “the dishonoring of their bodies along themselves” (v.24). Then Paul becomes very specific about some of their “dishonorable passions.” “For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature” - lesbian sexual relations. “And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men - homosexual sexual activity - “and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (v.26-27).

The root problem is a form of idolatry, These men and women do not see fit to acknowledge God (and His clear plans for males and females and sexuality only between a man and woman united in marriage, as we have seen). Instead, they follow their own “debased minds,” their own bad choices, and “do what ought not to be done” (v. 28). And equally bad, “they give approval to those who practice,” who keep on doing these same things (v.32). Couldn’t that be a description of exactly what many in the LGBTQ community are doing - encouraging and supporting and pushing for approval of these sinful behaviors?

There are other places, too, where the New Testament points out that these behaviors are wrong in lists of other wrongdoing. See 1 Corinthians 6:9: “the sexually immoral,” including “men who practice homosexuality,” and 1 Timothy 1:10: “the sexually immoral,” including “men who practice homosexuality”… and whatever else is contrary to sound (healthy) doctrine.” One could also point to Hebrews 13:4: “Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled.” In the context of the whole of the Scriptures, this refers to the marriage of one man and one woman, one male and one female, in a lifelong commitment, with a sexual relationship only there.

Again, I am already going on too long and will stop for today. We will continue with this subject for at least one more week - maybe two. We still need to talk about what is actually going on in the LGBTQ community according to polls and the CDC and other research, and about the divisions and splits that are going on in various church groups over this issue and how we are to respond as Christians. Keep reading and studying and praying and above all, listening to God’s Word, and asking His forgiveness for when you have failed, too, and His help to try to do better.