3. What the New Testament tells us

The New Testament contains several unequivocal condemnations of same-sex sexual acts. All of these are found in the epistles. The gospels do not contain direct mentions of same-sex sexual acts, but Jesus Himself offers a sweeping statement about the nature of marriage that rules out same-sex marriage as a morally viable alternative to opposite-sex marriage.

Jesus and the eunuchs in Matthew 19

When asked about marriage, Jesus said this:

“Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

—Matthew 19: 8-12

​The key word in this teaching is eunuch, which refers to a man unable to have children. In this teaching, Jesus refers to three different types of eunuchs:

• those born that way

• those made that way by others, and

• those who choose to be eunuchs “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.”

The eunuchs who were “born that way” were probably men who were physically unable to perform sexually due to a congenital birth defect. The eunuchs who were “made eunuchs by others” were probably the so-called “palace eunuchs,” who were sterilized (usually by castration) so they could be put in charge of women without any concern that they might want to have sex with the women. The third category, “those who choose to live like eunuchs,” were men who chose celibacy for God’s own sake.

In the fourth chapter of his famous treatise on Christian ethics called Paedagogus, early Church father Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215 AD) offers this interesting detail about the eunuchs of the time:

[Eunuchs] serve without suspicion … because of the belief that they are unable to indulge in lust. But a true eunuch is not one who is unable, but one who is unwilling, to indulge in (sexual) pleasure.

It is not certain that Jesus was referring specifically to same-sex attracted people in Matthew 19, but his guidance no doubt included them.

Jesus' teaching about eunuchs follows on the heels of a difficult teaching about heterosexual marriage and divorce. According to Jesus, you can either marry a woman and stay with her, or you remain unmarried and live like a eunuch. There was (is) no middle ground.

Paul's warnings

In his Letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul makes perhaps the strongest statement in the New Testament against same-sex sexual acts:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

—Romans 1: 18-26

Despite the clarity of Paul's condemnation, it has become common in recent years to question whether Paul was referring to same-sex sexual acts in general or just certain kinds of sexual acts between certain kinds of people. One common position is that Paul was not against same-sex sexual acts in themselves, but rather only those associated with a pagan ritual or with the forceful exercise of power. This view is incorrect, since elsewhere Paul makes it very clear that same-sex sexual acts of all types are sinful. Paul wrote in Greek, and Greek had several different words to refer to same-sex sexual acts and the people who perform them. Nevertheless, Paul invented a new word to refer to those who engage in such acts: arsenokoites. This word appears twice in his letters:

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men [= arsenokoites] nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

—1 Corinthians 6: 9-10

We also know that the 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, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality [= arsenokoites], for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

—1 Timothy 1: 9-10

Paul’s word is evidently based on the prohibition against same-sex sex acts found in the Greek version of Leviticus:

And with a male [= arsenes] [you shall] not lie down the lyings [= koiten] of the woman.

—Leviticus 18: 22, Greek interlinear

There are different theories as to why Paul invented the word arsenokoites rather than simply using one of the many words already available at the time. The most plausible reason is that the existing words were too specific in one way or another. The word pornos, for example, referred to a male prostitute or call boy. An erastes was an adult male who sought the affection of prepubescent boys, and an eromenos or ganumedes was the youthful, passive object of his affection. All of these words designated specific types of sexual relations. Since it was Paul’s intention to condemn all same-sex sexual acts, it makes sense that he made up a word, since Greek did not have one for all same-sex sexual relations. It also makes sense that Paul would invent a word only if its meaning could be understood by his readers without additional explanation. The easiest way for him to do this was to refer his readers back to the law in Leviticus—with which they were undoubtedly familiar—the law prohibiting all male-male sexual relations.

The fact that Paul’s word arsenokoites does not occur frequently in later Christian writings has often been used to argue that we don’t really know what arsenokoites means or whether other early Christians agreed with Paul. However, an overview of the writings of the earliest Christian theologians shows that they overwhelmingly understood Paul’s condemnation to refer to all types of same-sex sexual relations,not just those involving pagan ritual or the forceful exercise of power:

• Tertullian (AD 210) wrote that “the Christian confines himself to the female sex.”

• Eusebius of Caesarea (AD 319) referred to the “union of men with men and women with women” as an “unseemly practice.”

• Basil the Great (AD 367) wrote: “He who is guilty of unseemliness with males will be under discipline for the same time as adulterers.”

• In his Confessions (AD 400), Augustine wrote in reference to sexual sin between males that God “has not made men so that they should use one another in this way.”

The Vulgate, a translation of the Bible into Latin completed in AD 384, translated arsenokoites as masculorum concubitores, which literally means “(male) bed-fellows of males” (males who go to bed with males in order to have sex). It was not translated as puerorum concubitores (bed-fellows of boys), cinaedorum concubitores (bed-fellows of callboys), servorum concubitores (bed-fellows of slaves), or the like. The Vulgate translation captures the generality of Paul’s arsenokoites and dispels any doubt that Paul’s word was misunderstood or taken to refer only to certain kinds of same-sex sexual relations.

For discussion:

1. Why do you think Jesus brought up eunuchs when talking to the apostles about marriage and divorce, rather than unmarried people in general? Why do you think he said, "Not every man can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given" (Matthew 19: 11)? What do you think he meant by saying, "The one who can accept this should accept it" (v.12)?

2. Look again at Romans 1: 18–26. Why do you think Paul connects same-sex sexual acts with idolatry? In what ways are same-sex sexual acts idolatrous? Do you think this is always the case?