The Bible Must Be Our Standard

In Sunday School we have had discussions on the ELCA decisions concerning homosexual issues. This Sunday we will look at the New Testament passages concerning homosexuality. I am only a member of the class but I put together some notes for the class. The main issue for me is not homosexuality.  The issue is what does the Bible say. I have felt part of the ELCA for many years but if the Bible is not going to be the guide which sets the standard how can I stand. I heard a line some years ago that goes… “If you won’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” It is time to take a stand on the Word of God and at the same time love the sinner. Part of loving the sinner is telling the truth and not making sinners feel good about their sin. If you are human, I think we all are, we struggle with sin our entire life. A Christian lives everyday in Christ’s forgiveness. This is where our peace comes from. Sin is sin and my sin is bad as the next person’s. We need to tell anyone struggling with any sin that Jesus Christ forgives sin. That’s the good news!

 Here are my notes…

Thesis 1 – The Bible Categorizes  Homosexuality As Sin

The primary issue is what the Bible says on any given subject must be the Christian’s source and norm. The Bible clearly states that homosexuality is a sin.

Presupposition 1 – All Scripture Is Inspired By God And Useful For Teaching, Reproof, Correction And Training In Righteousness 

2 Tim 3:16-17 (NIV)

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

Presupposition 2 – Christ’s followers must be careful to follow Christ’s words and not the traditions of men and culture.

Col2:8 (ESV)

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

2 Peter 3:17 (ESV)

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.

2 Timothy 2:15 (AMP)

Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.

New Testament Passages Against Homosexuality

Romans 1:26-27 (ESV)

²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Romans 1:26-27 (NIV) 

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (ESV)

⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NIV)

9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Timothy 1:8-11 (ESV) 

⁸ Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
⁹ understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,
¹⁰ the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
¹¹ in accordance with the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

1 Timothy 1:8-11 (NIV) 

8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.
9 We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,
10 for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers–and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine
11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

Greek Words Used In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 And 1 Timothy 1:8-11

733 ἀρσενοκοίτης [arsenokoites /ar·sen·ok·oy·tace/] n m. From 730 and 2845; GK 780; Two occurrences; AV translates as “abuser of (one’s) self with mankind” once, and “defile (one’s) self with mankind” once. 1one who lies with a male as with a female, sodomite, homosexual.

730 ἄρρην, ἄρσην [arrhen, arsen /ar·hrane/] adj. Probably from 142; GK 776 and 781; Nine occurrences; AV translates as “male” four times, “man” three times, “man child” once, and “man child + 5207” once. 1 a male.

2845 κοίτη [koite /koy·tay/] n f. From 2749; GK 3130; Four occurrences; AV translates as “bed” twice, “conceive” once, and “chambering” once. 1a place for laying down, resting, sleeping in. 1a a bed, couch. 2the marriage bed. 2a of adultery. 3cohabitation, whether lawful or unlawful. 3a sexual intercourse.

—————————————

homosexual
ἀρσενοκοίτης
arsenokoitēs – är-se-no-koi’-tās

Thayer
1) one who lies with a male as with a female, sodomite, homosexual
Part of Speech: noun masculine

Strong – G733
From G730 and G2845; a sodomite: – abuser of (that defile) self with mankind.

ἄρσην – G730
arsēn – ä’r-sān

1) a male 

κοίτη – G2845
koitē– koi’-tā

1) a place for laying down, resting, sleeping in
a) a bed, couch

2) the marriage bed
a) of adultery

3) cohabitation, whether lawful or unlawful
a) sexual intercourse

1Cr 6:9	2228 Know ye 1492 not 3756 that 3754 the unrighteous 94 shall 2816 0 not 3756 inherit 2816 the kingdom 932 of God 2316? Be 4105 0 not 3361 deceived 4105 : neither 3777 fornicators 4205, nor 3777 idolaters 1496, nor 3777 adulterers 3432, nor 3777 effeminate 3120, nor 3777 abusers of themselves with mankind 733,
1Ti 1:10	For whoremongers 4205, for them that defile themselves with mankind 733, for menstealers 405, for liars 5583, for perjured persons 1965, and 2532 if there be any 1536 other thing 2087 that is contrary 480 to sound 5198 doctrine 1319;

 

God Design Has Always Been For Union Between A Man And A Woman

Matt 19:3-6 (ESV)

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” ⁴ He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Gen 2:18-25 (ESV) 

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” ¹⁹  So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” ²⁴  Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

The New Testament Writers Recognized The Sin Of Sodom As Sin

Jude 1:5-8 (ESV)

⁵ Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— ⁷ just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. ⁸ Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

(See Genesis 19:1-14)

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