Misconception: The Bible is silent on homosexuality
Posted by A.L. Howard in The Biblical View of Homosexuality, tags: bible and homosexuality, bible homosexuality, bible lesbianism, bible verses on homosexuality, christian homosexuality, homosexuality and the bible, homosexuality in bibleMisconception 1: The Bible is silent on homosexuality
The bible is by no means silent on the subject of homosexuality. It can be easy to think that because back in 1611 when the King James Version was authorized, the term Homosexuality had not been coined yet. According to Webster’s Dictionary, there was no such word until nearly 300 years later in 1892. The term “sodomites” was used for homosexuality at least once in the KJV in 1 Timothy (See Below)
So, what does the Bible say about homosexuality?
In the Old Testament, homosexuality was capital offense.
In the New Testament, the Greeks have two words for homosexuality. One for the active partner and one for the passive: mä-lä-ko’s and är-se-no-koi’-tas both acts are forbidden.
Women are not excluded. Lesbianism in the bible is just as bad. (See Romans 1:26, below)
Even cross-dressing is an abomination: A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 22:5 NKJV)
This chart parallels the 1996 Edition of the New Living Translation (NLT) and the King James Version of 1611
| Verse | KJV (AV) | NLT |
|---|---|---|
| Lev 20:13 | If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them. | The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties. They have committed a detestable act and are guilty of a capital offense. |
| Rom 1:27 | And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. | And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved. |
| 1 Cor 6:9 | Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. | Don’t you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers–none of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God. |
| 1 Tim 1:10 | for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, | These laws are for people who are sexually immoral, for homosexuals and slave traders, for liars and oath breakers, and for those who do anything else that contradicts the right teaching |
| Rom 1:26 | For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: | That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. |
Entries (RSS)