Hi TL,
I think that there is really only one unambiguous reference to homosexuality in the Bible and that would be the reference in Romans 1:26-27:
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural 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 indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Regarding all the other references to ‘homosexuality’, I think that they are open to more than one interpretation, but Romans 1:26-27 is very explicit.
In the Old Testament, Lev 18:22, 20:13, and the Holiness Code (Lev 17-26), are the only specific condemnations of homosexual acts in the OT. The Holiness Code forbids acts that are ‘abominations’ (to'eba), which are ritual uncleanness or sins associated with idolatrous gentiles (2 Kgs 16:3, Isa 44:19). The reference to homosexual acts may, be a reference to otherwise unknown sexual acts associated with pagan shrines.
The KJV used the word ‘sodomites’, which has obvious homosexual connotations, in Deut 23:17-18, 1 Kgs 14:24, 15:12, 22:46 and 2 Kgs 23:7. There is no justification for such a translation. The term in question,
qades, simply means a male cultic figure, probably a prostitute, whose functions correspond to the female cultic figures also mentioned in the texts. There is absolutely no indication of homosexual activity in the texts.
The Sodom story in Gen 19:1-26 has been interpreted as referring to homosexual acts, the substitute offer of Lot's daughters has clear sexual implications. But if homosexual acts were intended they were clearly of a certain type, same sex rape for example, which was intended to show the dominance of the men of Sodom over these strangers.
OT references to the moral resentment felt toward Sodom, Ezekiel 16:49-50, Isa L 10, 3:9, Jer 23:14, refer to moral and social corruption, cynical selfishness, and lack of justice in Sodom, but make no reference to sexual sins of any sort. It is only in the first century CE (Philo and Josephus), when Jews were coming into contact with the homosexual practices accepted in the Hellenistic world, that the Sodom story was interpreted in terms of ‘sexual sins'. These sexual references were not, however, necessarily homosexual. Sodom's sin is described as ‘licentiousness’ and ‘lust of defiling passion’ in 2 Peter 2:4-10, and Jude refers to their indulging in ‘strange flesh’ which is more than likely a reference to the possible sexual relationship between humans and angels.
The NT references to homosexuality came at a time when even Hellenistic writers (e.g., Seneca and Plutarch) were increasingly critical of the exploitation and self-indulgence of homosexual acts directed against slaves and young boys.
1 Cor 6:9-10 (. I Tim 1:10) are often regarded as referring to homosexual acts, but in fact the exact nature of what is condemned is not clear. In I Cor 6:9-10 two terms are used.
Malakoi, which you pointed out, has as a basic meaning "soft" or "weak," and there is no compelling reason to translate the term as ‘effeminate,’ which is a euphemism referring to the subordinate partner in a homosexual relationship. While not a technical term for pederasty,
malakoi is occasionally used in the first century C.E. to describe people involved in pederastic practices.
Arsenokoitai is a combination of words meaning ‘male’ and ‘sexual intercourse,’ but the precise nature of this sexual activity is not known for certain. The passages may be taken to refer to male sexual activity such as prostitution, or pederasty, but whether such prostitution included homosexual prostitution is not certain. What is quite clear in these texts is the condemnation of exploitive sexual acts such as prostitution, whether heterosexual or homosexual, and the use of children as sexual objects by adults.
So I believe that Rom 1:26-27 is the only unquestionable reference to homosexual acts in the NT. Here same sex acts that are contrary to nature, or contrary to human custom, are seen as the result of a denial of God's sovereignty. Modern applicability of this passage, however, depends upon the weight one gives to the social context of this passage and the possibility that Paul is alluding to the abusive, exploitive forms of homosexual behavior-e.g., the holding of slaves as sexual objects, sex with young boys characteristic of the disbelieving Hellenistic world.
Both OT and NT writers would certainly have assumed heterosexual relations as a social and religious norms. Heterosexual marriages were arranged early and usually without consultation with children. Biblical references to sexual activity (e.g., Gen 1-3) take for granted that they are heterosexual.
Homosexual activity associated with pagan worship and exploitative homosexual activity are clearly condemned by the Bible. What may be debatable is whether involuntary homosexual tendencies or fully commited loving same sex relationships between consenting adults was condemned. I don’t think the Bible addresses these two issues as they are probaby more concerned with modern day societies.
Brian.
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