What Does the Bible NOT Say About Human Sexuality
by Pastor Keith Graham
First, however, some of what it does say:
"The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times", Psalm 12:6.
"Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven", Psalm 119:89
"I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation", Psalm 119:99
"Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar", Proverbs 5:6
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away", the Lord Jesus speaking at Matthew 24:35.
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" 2 Timothy 3:16, 17. (Notice the emphasized words "complete" and "thoroughly equipped" there. There is nothing pertaining to the Christian's faith and life that is not addressed in the Bible.)
"For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book", the risen and exalted Lord Christ speaking in the last book of Scripture, Revelation 22:18,19
So we can sum up the Bible's teaching about ITSELF by saying first that the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, and mankind's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly declared in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture. (In other words, the Bible teaches not merely by direct statement, precept, command, etc. but also by inference.)
Second, that nothing at any time is to be added to Scripture, whether by alleged new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nor is anything ever to be taken away from Scripture.
Third, that Scripture has a timeless nature and an inexhaustible depth, being the very Word of the infinite, eternal God Himself. The Bible is its own interpreter. Understood according to that rule, it is written for, and applies to, all of God's people of all generations. Human "culture" does not diminish the force of the Bible's teaching, nor is the Bible to be revised according to contemporary "culture".
Rather, when true Biblical Christianity takes root among a people, it destroys godless culture and replaces it with Christian culture. So much for the myth that all cultures are equal, they are not. Those cultures that have the most Biblical influence are superior cultures. The apostles and their generation were called men "who turned the world upside down", Acts 17:6. The mighty Gospel toppled and pulverized the idolatrous pre-Christian "culture" of the ancient Graeco/Roman world to the point that within just a few centuries, Constantine declared Christianity the official religion. (That might not have been a good thing, allowing as it did an inroad for apostasy, but that's another huge topic.)
So bearing in mind that the Bible proclaims itself to be timeless, complete, as broad in scope as the entire human experience, and most lucid...bearing in mind that its core teaching, namely the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel, is called the dynamite power of God (Romans 1:16), let's return to our original question: What does the Bible NOT say?
1. The Bible says absolutely nothing about "sexual orientation" in the sense that this buzzword might be used in discussion here, and as it is commonly used in our present godless, idolatrous culture.
2. From Genesis 2:24 onward, Scripture defines marriage as the spiritual and physical union of one man and one woman. Marriage is a Divine institution which typifies the holy and mysterious union of the Lord Jesus Christ and His bride, the Church (cf. Ephesians 5:31, 32, Revelation 21:9). We find nothing else being designated as marriage in the Bible.
3. The Bible speaks (in describing married King David's relationship with Jonathan, in telling of Jesus and His disciples, and elsewhere) of precious friendships between men, but it nowhere institutionalizes a domestic, covenant union between a man and another man, as God did at the beginning in Eden. In other words, the Bible never in any way even remotely hints that something resembling marriage should ever occur between two members of the same sex.
4. Scripture consistently and strictly limits human sexual activity to the Bibically defined, one man and one woman marriage union.
5. Regarding all sexual activity outside of Biblically defined marriage, be it coitus involving a man and woman not married to one another, or acts between two persons of the same sex that are called "sexual", there are no Biblical affirmations of legitimacy, but rather clear condemnation or deafening silence. From that silence only the reckless and foolish, before whose eyes there is no fear of God, will derive Divine approbation of non-marital sexual activity. All non-martial human sexual activity is fornication, of which adultery is one sort, pornography another, homosexuality another.
6. In such passages as Ephesians 5:22 and following, we are given practical instructions for Christian living in the home. Wives and husbands, children and parents, servants and masters are addressed. One will search from Genesis to Revelation in vain for instructions for the domestic (marriage imitating) life of two persons of the same sex.
7. Biblical prophecy nowhere foretells a time of world wide, general acceptance of homosexuality. Rather, Jesus prophesies about what it will be like on Earth before He is "...revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 1:7,8) with these words: "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be", Matthew 24:38. Homosexuality gets no press in prophecy or elsewhere as something having a place among normal human activies.
Has Scripture then failed to be timeless, applicable to all generations, ages, cultures, peoples? Did the omniscient Author of the Bible fail to foresee the day when ancient, incorrect bias would evanesce, and homosexuality would be able to come out of its closet and be honored among men?
Has the Bible then come woefully short of being complete, able to thoroughly equip the man of God, and as broad in scope as the human experience? Did God forget to give "same sex partners" any affirmations, instructions, promises, and words of comfort, whereas He copiously provided the same for married couples? Here are a few of them:
"Be fruitful and multiply", Genesis 1:22, 28, 8:17.
"He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord", Proverbs 18:22.
"Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered", 1 Peter 3:7.
"Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge", Hebrews 13:4.
Where are such statements uttered in Scripture for those who claim to be "sexually oriented" toward their own sex? Silence is not only golden, but often of great value in rightly understanding spiritual truth. We see an example of this in John's Gospel, chapter 10. Jesus' detractors accused Him of making Himself out to be God, verse 33. If Jesus were NOT God, what a wonderful opportunity He missed to correct those in error! He could have said, "Whoa, hold on guys, I never made such an absurd claim!" The fact that Father's only begotten Son made no such denial (as any ordinary man, who is also a godly man, would do) speaks volumes. It teaches us, as Scripture teaches positively elsewhere, that this One is indeed God Almighty incarnate!
Finally, has the Word of the infinitely wise God (Who commends child-like faith), failed to be lucid? While through Christ the Gospel offers salvation to all sorts of sinners such as this writer, God's Word includes numerous statements severely condemning the practice which mere decades ago in our nation was called sodomy. These Biblical statements may be readily grasped by the unlearned and untaught. Is the truth behind those plain statements understood rightly only through "culture" based, torturous, bizarre, and eisegetical reasonings? Has God given His Book to His children only to confuse and puzzle them?
A Christian is a redeemed sinner who is led by God's Word -- the Holy Spirit inspired, holy Bible. The Christian is a person who, with the help of that same Spirit (Who is the Divine Paraclete promised to every true believer) is ever aiming at walking in closer conformity to its teachings. He or she will not exalt the wisdom of man to the place of Scripture. And such a person recognizes that Scripture often instructs, and that quite clearly, by what it does NOT say.
February 28, 2002
Pastor Keith Graham