Homosexuality & Sexual Ethics

## Core Position

Scripture defines sexual immorality consistently across both Testaments. Sex is designed by God for one man and one woman within the covenant of marriage. Homosexual practice is named as sin alongside heterosexual sexual immorality. This is not a position of hatred — it is a biblical standard applied consistently to all sexual sin. Every person regardless of sexual orientation is made in the image of God, is loved by God, and the born-again experience is available to all.

Creation Design

Genesis 1:27-28 — "God created man in his own image... male and female he created them." Sexual complementarity is built into creation design from the beginning.
Genesis 2:24 — "A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
Matthew 19:4-5 — Jesus reaffirms Genesis as the design standard.

New Testament Texts

Romans 1:24-27 — "God gave them up to dishonorable passions... 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."

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 — "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... will inherit the kingdom of God."

1 Corinthians 6:11 — "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." The gospel is available and transformative.

1 Timothy 1:10 — Same-sex practice listed in Paul's catalog of what the law addresses.

Old Testament Foundation

Leviticus 18:22 — "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination."
Leviticus 20:13 — Same prohibition repeated with consequence.

These OT passages are carried into NT significance through Paul's explicit language in Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6, which echo Levitical categories.

The Pastoral Dimension

Naming sin accurately is not hatred — it is honesty and genuine pastoral care. The same Scripture that names homosexual practice as sin names heterosexual sexual immorality with equal force: adultery (Matthew 5:27-28), fornication (1 Corinthians 6:18), pornography and lust (Matthew 5:28), sexual immorality broadly (Galatians 5:19).

The standard applies consistently across all sexual sin. There is no hierarchy where homosexual sin is treated as worse than heterosexual sin before God. All sexual immorality is sin. All of it falls under the same grace.

1 Corinthians 6:11 is the pastoral anchor: "Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified." The born-again experience transforms. The gospel is available to every person regardless of sexual history or orientation.

What This Rejects

Affirming homosexual practice as compatible with Scripture — Romans 1:24-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.
Treating homosexual sin as uniquely worse than other sin — 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 lists it alongside adultery, fornication, idolatry.
Using this position as a basis for hatred or dehumanization — every person is made in God's image and is loved by God.
Revising the biblical standard to accommodate cultural pressure — the standard is TEXT, not TRADITION. It does not change with culture.