The Apostle Paul and Homosexuality—Answering Homosexual Objections (Part 2)
Objection # 1: Romans 1 is not describing true homosexuals, but heterosexuals who practice homosexuality against their natural inclinations.
In Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality, the late “gay” Yale University professor John Boswell contends that “the persons Paul condemns are manifestly not homosexual; what he derogates are homosexual acts committed by apparently heterosexual persons.”
More recently, “gay” apologist Matthew Vines explained in his viral video, “Those who are naturally heterosexual should not be with those of the same sex, so, too, those who have a natural orientation toward the same sex should not be with those of the opposite sex.” (NOTE: Homosexuals typically deny the obvious implications of 1 Cor. 6:9 and 1 Tim. 1:10 by inaccurately claiming that the apostle Paul had no concept of sexual orientation. However, when considering Rom. 1:26-27, they conveniently attempt to reinterpret these verses on the basis that Paul’s same-sex prohibition applies exclusively to those with a heterosexual orientation. It’s a classic case of speaking out of both sides of their mouths—denying Paul’s understanding of sexual orientation in one case, but appealing to that exact concept in another instance.)
This objection basically argues for a subjective double standard, in which homosexual behavior is forbidden only for certain individuals (those with heterosexual proclivities). Based upon the same faulty reasoning, would theft be permissible for those with kleptomaniacal tendencies or would polygamy be wrong only for those without monogamous predispositions? White and Neill astutely identify this homosexual interpretation as an unwarranted “extra-contextual assertion” and the strained imposition of an “anachronistic definition” into the text. So too, Bishop Bennett Sims pointed out the obvious flaw with this rationale during an interview with Christianity Today magazine: “The logical effect of the exemption argument is to suggest that, given the proper motivation, there are loving ways to be ‘full of envy, murder, strife, malignity’ … this is moral absurdity.” The phrase “consumed with passion” also makes it very unlikely that Paul is referring to heterosexual experimentation with homosexuality. Through the conflating of attractions with actions and the apparent denial of free will, this theory additionally perpetuates the patently false assertion that homosexuals have no choice when it comes to their sexual activity.
Furthermore, the entire premise of this objection is basically based upon the ridiculous notion that naturally-occurring urges, as is argued in the case of homosexual impulses, do not need to be restrained because they simply constitute a morally neutral, innate characteristic of one’s God-given identity. Such a contention dangerously ignores the seductive allure of all sin as illustrated by Paul’s discussion in Romans 7. Every single person is born with an intrinsic inclination or tendency towards all types of temptations and transgressions, not as an inherited “gift” from God, but as a spiritual consequence of the Fall of mankind (Gen. 3), which has significantly impaired and diminished our moral and ethical capacities. Yet, despite humanity’s predisposition or natural desire towards sinful indiscretions, like lust (Matt. 5:28) or worry (Matt. 6:25-33) or homosexuality (1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10), we are still considered culpable and held accountable before God for these actions. For a God-inspired, biblical author like Paul, a propensity to act in a certain way was never considered an automatic excuse or an indication of the permissibility of said conduct. In fact, the Scriptures command us to “deny ourselves” or to put it another way, to resist our inherent, personal desires, including with regards to sexual matters (Luke 9:23).
With the possible exception of one citation, all of Paul’s seven references to “nature” (1 Cor. 11:14-15; Rom. 2:14, 2:27, 11:21, 24; Gal. 2:15, 4:8) denote the biological function or the created order established by God. In the case of Rom. 1:26, the specific meaning of “against or contrary to nature” (para physin) is unequivocally determined by the immediate context. When Paul refers to the way that women “exchanged” (vs. 26) (metēllaxan) and men “gave up” (vs. 27) (aphentes) “natural relations” (vss. 26 and 27) (physikēn chrēsin) with the opposite sex, any objective and unbiased reader immediately understands what is being described. This passage is unambiguously referring to the perverse rejection of the gendered order of human beings as male and female, and the abandonment of the unique, complementary sexual union that can only occur between the two genders. The Greek word chrēsin also points specifically to the biological functionality of the reproductive organs during heterosexual intercourse—an anatomical interaction that absolutely does not, and cannot, occur during homosexual relations.
The apostle Paul’s allusion to the Genesis narrative (vss. 20, 25) lends further support for the connection between God’s creative decree and the natural order for the genders. Although some have argued that para physin refers to that which is culturally out of the ordinary (unconventional; not typical or normal; deviating from a socially constructed norm) as opposed to a violation of an objective, timelessly-applicable natural law, the larger context of Creation terminology actually indicates that Paul was denouncing behavior which falls outside the bounds of the biological, complementary correlation existing between the two genders. Dr. Robert Gagnon has also noted the obvious connection or “intertextual echoes” between Romans 1:23 and Genesis 1:26 (in the Septuagint—the Greek translation of the Old Testament).
Notice the strikingly similar choice of several words:
English Romans 1:23 Genesis 1:26
likeness homoiomati homoiosin
image eikonos eikona
human anthropou anthropon
birds peteinon peteinon
reptiles herpeton herpeton
Although he typically employs the Greek nouns for “man” (andres or anthrōpoi) and “woman” (gynaikes), the apostle Paul underscores the male-female divinely designed compatibility by following the grammatical style found in Gen. 1:27, opting for the more precise (and rarely used) terms “male” (arsenes) and “female (thēleiai) in the Romans 1 text. Aside from Rom. 1:26-27 and Galatians 3:28, Dr. Michael Brown makes the significant observation that “the only other time in the New Testament that the Greek words for ‘male’ and ‘female’ are found is on the lips of Jesus when he affirmed His Father’s intent for marriage—namely one man and one woman joined together for life” (Gen. 1:27; Matt. 19:4; Mark 10:6).
The cultural milieu of the Greco-Roman world provides additional support for the traditional interpretation of the words para physin. Several authors from antiquity utilized this distinctive grammatical construction. Below are several examples:
In Plato’s Laws, we find this statement: “When male unites with female for procreation, the pleasure experienced is held to be in accordance with nature (kata physin), but contrary to nature (para physin) when male mates with male or female with female” (636C).
First-century Jewish historian Josephus described male homosexuality as “sexual intercourse with males which is contrary to nature (para physin)” and “pleasures which were disgusting and contrary to nature (para physin)” (Against Apion 2.273-275, 2.275).
Philo condemns homosexual “pleasure that is contrary to nature (para physin)” (Spec. Laws 3.39).
As Dr. Gagnon notes, “The classic texts among Greco-Roman authors comes from Plato’s Phaedrus 250E, quoted in the late-first century in Plutarch’s Dialogue on Love 751D-E.” It reads in part: “The union with males, either unwilling with force and plunder, or willingly with weakness and effeminacy, surrendering themselves, as Plato says, ‘To be mounted in the custom of four-footed animals and to be sowed with seed contrary to nature (para physin)’—this is an entirely ill-favored favor, shameful and contrary to Aphrodite.”
Aristotle, Musonius Rufus and other ancient and Jewish sources also employed para physin with the same understanding in mind.
Several “progressive” scholars and theologians from the pro-“gay” perspective have also expressed strong agreement with the traditional viewpoint regarding the meaning of the apostle Paul’s words in Rom. 1:26-27.
Professor Abraham Smith, liberal biblical scholar at Southern Methodist University in the Perkins School of Theology, is a New Testament editor for The New Interpreter’s Annotated Study Bible, and he specializes in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, and 1 Thessalonians. Among his recent publications are several introductions and annotations for the Oxford Annotated Bible and the Oxford Access Bible. According to the accomplished Professor Smith, “The statement that such acts are ‘against nature’ [Rom. 1:26] refers to the created order in Genesis and suggests that these acts show a disruption of the natural subordinate/superordinate relations between male and female ordained by God in creation … Paul’s cultural interpretation of the Genesis traditions would indeed have left him with only one option for sexual relationships—that between a male and a female” (The New Testament and Homosexuality, Quarterly Review, Vol. 11, 1991, p. 25).
Lesbian New Testament scholar Bernadette Brooten, Chair of the Dept. of Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, has written one of the most important books on lesbianism in antiquity and its relationship to early Christianity, especially Rom 1:26. In her book Love between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism, Brooten explains, “I believe that Paul used the word ‘exchanged’ [Rom. 1:26] to indicate that people knew the natural sexual order of the universe and left it behind … I see Paul as condemning all forms of homoeroticism as the unnatural acts of people who had turned away from God.”
William Schoedel, professor emeritus of Classics and Early Christianity at the University of Illinois, writes from a stance that is supportive of homosexual unions. Most significantly, Schoedel refuted the false claim that Rom 1:26-27 refers only to “same-sex acts performed by those who are by nature heterosexual [have a heterosexual orientation/preference].” In this regard, he stated in his book Homosexuality, Science and the Plain Sense of Scripture, “We would expect Paul to make that form of the argument more explicit if he intended it … Paul’s wholesale attack on Greco-Roman culture makes better sense if, like Josephus and Philo, he lumps all forms of same-sex eros together as a mark of Gentile decadence.”
Martti Nissinen is the professor of Old Testament at the University of Helsinki, and author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice, which is considered by many to be the best book on the subject of the Bible and homosexuality from a pro-“gay” perspective. In a moment of refreshing candor Nissinen admitted in Homoeroticism in the Biblical World, “Paul does not mention tribades or kinaidoi, that is, female and male persons who were habitually involved in homoerotic relationships, but if he knew about them (and there is every reason to believe that he did), it is difficult to think that, because of their apparent ‘orientation,’ he would not have included them in Romans 1:24-27 … For him, there is no individual inversion or inclination that would make this conduct less culpable … Presumably nothing would have made Paul approve homoerotic behavior.”