The Christian Perspective on Homosexuality

Dear Posterity,

Would you believe it if I told you Christians don’t hate gay people, want to deny their existence, or believe they should be treated as inferior? Quite the opposite, actually, but in today’s culture of fiery denunciations, anyone expressing deep concern in regards to homosexuality are often accused of hate speech. So what is it that’s causing the Christian concern? What is it about the topic that Christians believe is worth continuing to defend? Are they truly seething with hatred for this group of people? The answer might surprise you.

Sam Allberry, a Christian who experiences same-sex attraction but remains celibate as a Christian, states that we simply think too much of sex and also too little of it. Too much because we can mistakenly pursue our deepest fulfillment in sexual intimacy. Too little because we’re missing just what our deep, romantic yearnings are meant to point us to. The truth is that the entire Bible story is a romance. If you’re willing to stick around long enough, you’ll learn that the Christian perspective on homosexuality is, surprisingly enough, a love story. Let’s start at the beginning (and I am paraphrasing Allberry throughout here):

Genesis 1:1, the first words of the Bible, state: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

The language of choice for the Old Testament is ancient Hebrew, and like many other languages it assigns genders to nouns. In this case, “earth” is feminine and “heaven” is masculine. The first words of the Bible welcome us with this “couple,” and the expectation is that they’re meant for one another. We soon encounter a second pairing as the creation account unfolds: male and female (Genesis 1:27). They too, belong together, and in the next chapter, the first people we meet actually do get together: Adam and Eve. Their getting together is actually a foretaste of the inevitable and eventual marriage of Heaven and Earth. Here’s what I mean by that.

Throughout the Old Testament we learn of God’s intention for His people bit by bit as each chapter unfolds. The relationship God intends to have with His people is a marriage. He presents Himself as a groom who has come to win a people (His bride), to Himself. Take a moment to read the following passages to see how this plays out:

Psalm 45:2-3; 7—the groom is mighty and gracious, joyful and righteous.
Psalm 45:11-15—the bride is stunning.
Psalm 45:17—this perfect couple will have a family spanning generations and celebrated worldwide.
Psalm 45:6-7—this royal groom’s moral integrity has earned him great favor and blessing…thus, He is the one whom God blesses but also the eternal God Himself—which is only possible if He is a trinitarian God, three persons in loving relationship.

God is the bridegroom and His bride is actually His people (look these up and read carefully):

Isaiah 54:5
Isaiah 62:5
Hosea 2:19-20
Ezekiel 16:8

When God says repeatedly, “You shall be my people and I shall be your God,” He’s using a language of exclusive mutual belonging and covenant love. Thus it becomes clear against the Old Testament backdrop what Jesus means when He refers to Himself as the bridegroom: He’s promising to give Himself to His people as a husband gives himself to his bride. Let’s see how this unfolds in the New Testament (read each passage first):

1 Corinthians 6:16-17—we’ve already read the idea of “the two will become one flesh” in Genesis 2, but now Paul is saying that just as the husband and wife become one flesh, so Jesus and those who believe in Him are one spirit. To emphasize this, Paul pens Ephesians 5:31-32…go read it! It will knock your socks off!).
Revelation 19:7-8—The very end of the Bible describes the very end of the world as a wedding feast celebrating God and His people, the Lamb of God (Jesus) and His bride, the church.

Allberry outlines how powerfully the Bible has impacted the West and its approach to weddings in his book, Why Does God Care Who I Sleep With?:

Wedding Tradition:

The groom arrives first & excitedly waits for his bride to arrive.

Her arrival is a big deal. she is stunning: radiant in white with all eyes on her.

She is presented to him as his bride, making lifelong vows of exclusive commitment.

What is his now becomes hers & vice versa; she even takes his last name.

Later they physically consummate their marriage.

Biblical Root:

Jesus goes ahead to “prepare a place” & make ready everything in Heaven for us.

Jesus’ death & resurrection wipes away all our sin so that we’re beautiful, spotless, & pure.

We are presented to Jesus in an exclusive covenant relationship, forsaking all others.

Our union with Jesus is legally binding: we receive His perfect righteousness & He takes on our sin.

We’re now identified as followers of Christ. Our identity is found in Him.

God made humans into sexual beings with instinctual towards lifelong partnership precisely to point us toward the deeper and greater reality of God’s covenant love for His people through Christ. Marriage is simply a shadow and foretaste of that purpose, and it’s because of this that marriage and romantic fulfillment is not an end in itself; our fascination with romance is actually an echo of a greater tune, a signpost to a greater destination.

“The whole Bible is a romance.”

And all history is finally heading toward that greater destination: the love God has shown us through His Son, Jesus Christ, results in a sensational union between God and His people to be celebrated for all eternity in a rapturous wedding feast celebration. It’s why He pursues our hearts so relentlessly.

For people who experience same-sex attraction, this can seem like an inconvenient truth. But just as one gay woman can write that she believes in “a greater truth than my small mind can fathom, a deeper desire than my weak heart can muster, and a closer relationship than the best human marriage can attain,” so can others choose a better story by which to live than merely fulfilling their own sexual appetites. [1] As Si Rogers stated, “God did not say ‘Go be straight.’ He said, ‘Walk with me.’” There’s something deeper going on here. Something mysterious and powerful that makes our hearts tremble. Something holy.

God cares deeply about how we approach sex and romance because He created us to pursue it in a manner that would lead us directly to an eternity spent with Him. “There is good news,” writes Rachel Gilson, author of Born This Way, “Jesus really is more beautiful, more worthy, and more satisfying than anything else. Same-sex-attracted believers, assaulted as we are from right and from left, need to taste and see that the Lord is good. We must experience this never-ending person who delights in us and delights in righteousness.”

God wants us to know and experience His love forever by using the romantic, exclusive, permanent union of men and women to tell His story, the greatest love story of all time…a story of a holy God who would stop at nothing, not even excruciating death, to win His people over. This is the Christian perspective on homosexuality. [2]

With every sesteem and respect,