A study of the New Testaments’ teachings, on adultery and homosexuality- How might these cause problems for Christians today?
A study of the New Testaments' teachings, on adultery and homosexuality- How might these cause problems for Christians today?
Homosexuality as defined by the "New dictionary of Christian Ethics" is "The presence of a predominant and persistent psychosexual attraction towards members of the same sex." The dictionary also says "The homosexual orientation must be distinguished from same-gender sexual acts, which may be engaged in by persons who are predominately heterosexual or which may be refrained from by celibate homosexual persons." Over recent years the term "homosexual" has come to have a somewhat negative association. Members of the homosexual community now prefer to be referred to as "gay men " or "lesbians" because of the negative associations with the word homosexual. The main view is that Homosexuality is a divergence from normal sexual orientation. Throughout history each culture and religion has had several views on the homosexual population. Homosexuals have been institutionalised, tolerated without approval, ignored, or penalised and persecuted depending on the given time and situation. Some would argue that the Jewish and Christian communities in the west have treated the issue of Homosexuality with contempt. The reason for this is that there are many instances in the New and Old Testament where homosexuals and their associated activities are mentioned and disapproved of. These texts have since been used as grounds for disapproval of homosexuality.
The first place to look in the New Testament is the book of Jude where the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is used to criticise homosexual activities and people.
In Jude there is an instance, which refers to Sodom. The book of Jude refers to the people of Sodom giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh." This strange flesh has been translated to mean that the people of Sodom were going after members of the same sex to have intercourse with them.
It is hard to know how to take this section of scripture we could say that Jude s referring to the angels but he knew that the people of Sodom did not know that the messengers were angels; they just wanted to rape the men. So the condemnation of Homosexuality by Jude is difficult to ignore. Though Jude does go against the words of Jesus in "And if anyone does not welcome you or listen to what you have to say, as you walk out of the town shake the dust from you feet. In truth I tell you, on the Day of judgement it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town"1 Jesus compares the punishment given to the people of Sodom, to a punishment given to those who are inhospitable. Saying in no uncertain terms that the punishment of Sodom will be light compared to the punishment that will be inflicted upon a town that is inhospitable. Though just because Jesus says that in inhospitable would be punished to a greater extent it does not mean that Jesus is defending the people of Sodom.
But there are several theories about what "going after strange flesh" actually refers to, a Jewish legend where, allegedly the women of Sodom had sexual intercourse with angels. The idea that the book of Jude would refer to non-biblical material is not without justification as there are several instances in Jude where for example this occurs, the incident where the archangel Michael argues with Satan over the Body of Moses2.
The important scripture from Jude originates in the Old Testament in Genesis 19:1-19. In the passage we are told of how two messengers (messengers because this shows that they had a divine purpose) arrive at the gate of Sodom. At the Gate they found a man called Lot. Lot offered them the opportunity to stay the night in his house. "I beg you my lords" he said, "Please come down to your servants' house stay the night and wash your feet. Then in the morning you can continue your journey". Lots hospitality here is comparable to that of Abraham.
They had not gone to bed when all the men of the City of Sodom surrounded the house and called out to Lot "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out so we may abuse them."
The men of Sodom 3desired the men for unnatural relations hence the modern term Sodomy.
In this case the word abuse has been taken to mean commit Sodomy upon the messengers. In other translations the word abuse has been replaced with "have sex" so the scripture would read:
"Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out so we may have sex them." So it is obvious that at least in most modern Bibles this particular scripture has come to be associated with the punishment of homosexuality.
Lot pleaded with the men that surrounded the house begging them to not harm his guests, as he said "...do nothing to them for they have come under the shadow of my roof". Lot even offered his two virgin daughters to the men to be heterosexually raped so to protect his guests and appease the men. But the men moved forward to attack Lot and enter the house. The messengers pulled Lot inside the house and made all the men outside the house blind so that they were unable to find the door to the house. The messengers then said to Lot "Have you anyone else here? Your sons your daughters and all your people in this town. Take them out of the place. We are about to destroy this place for there is great outcry against them and it has reached Yahweh." So with the help of the messengers Lot and his family fled the city.
"As the sun rose over the land and Lot entered Zoar, God rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire".
The above views of the scripture mainly represent the idea that God killed the people of Sodom because they practiced Homosexuality and its sexual acts. But there could be many other reasons why the city of Sodom was destroyed. Perhaps because of how inhospitable it was towards strangers or the fact that the inhabitants wanted to engage in sexual relations with the messengers in other words rape them.
According to "whosoever" a website which deals with ...
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"As the sun rose over the land and Lot entered Zoar, God rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire".
The above views of the scripture mainly represent the idea that God killed the people of Sodom because they practiced Homosexuality and its sexual acts. But there could be many other reasons why the city of Sodom was destroyed. Perhaps because of how inhospitable it was towards strangers or the fact that the inhabitants wanted to engage in sexual relations with the messengers in other words rape them.
According to "whosoever" a website which deals with the bible from the point of view of Gay men, Lesbians and Transsexuals, nowhere in the story of Sodom does it say that the city was destroyed because of its homosexual activities or inhabitants. Rather it was destroyed because of its inhospitable nature towards strangers and that its inhabitants wished to rape people.
Jesus implied that the sin of the people of Sodom was of being inhospitable to the strangers. ("Mathew 10:14-15", and "Luke 10:7-16").
Also in Ezekiel God states that he destroyed Sodom because of their pride, their excess food while the poor and needy starved and because they worshipped many idols. Sexual activity is not even mentioned.
Whosoever.com then presents us with the irony that the "...condemnation of Sodom had nothing to do with Sodomy."4
St Paul in his Letter to the Romans5 on the subject of Sodom says. "...God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones." And also "...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 themselves the due penalty for their perversion." 6 The contrast between "males" and "females" makes it clear that the sexual perversion that St Paul speaks of is homosexuality. In the first quote St Paul is primarily referring to lesbianism. Towards the end of the second quote from Romans it says, "received themselves the due penalty for their perversion". Some members of the Christian community have used this part of the New Testament according to http://www.whosoever.com, to illustrate that AIDS is the punishment that God gave to homosexuals for their sexual perversion. According to Joseph Fitzmyer S.J.7 the reason that the actions are described as being depraved is because it is a consequence of the pagans exchanging the true God for false ones and so inevitably the pagans also exchanged natural functions for unnatural ones. This is also emphasised in Romans where it says "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie..." The problem with making the assumption that the scripture is referring to the prohibition of homosexual acts is that; the preceding verses to verse 26 make it unclear as to whether St Paul is referring to same sex sexual activities as part of worship, or whether he means homosexual activities in general.
In a letter to the Corinthians on heaven and those who shall be allowed to enter and those who shall not St Paul writes8, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders." According to Richard Kegelman C.P. St Paul did not spare the Corinthians. They were once given over to their shameful vices mentioned. In the above quote from Corinthians homosexuals are mentioned as one of the sinners that will not be able to enter the Kingdom of God. This word has been translated from the word arsenokoitai. It was translated as homosexual yet the actual meaning is very much debated. As according to "whosoever" the word arsenokoitai translates into many different words and this is the reason why there has been much altercation over its meaning. It was once used to refer to a male temple prostitute. It has also been translated to mean "a person of soft morals i.e. an unethical person". And from the time of Martin Luther it has been understood as referring to masturbation. According to whosoever the meaning of arsenokoitai is usually translated according to popular moral opinion so that what ever the vice of the period is most like arsenokoitai that is the translation that is used. There is actually no word in the Greek language that translates exactly to mean the same as the English homosexuality so it is quite clear that the problem that the scripture refers to is not homosexuality. Arsenokoitai has for a long time been interpreted by the Catholic Church to mean, "to lie to a man". Un fortunately the same level of source integrity cannot be given to whosoever because there is no way of verifying the precise meaning of arsenokoitai.
The book of Timothy is another example as in Corinthians, which lists the types of sinners who will not be allowed to enter into the Kingdom of God.9 After this verse Paul emphasises that the Christian teachings while being from God also need to be undertaken with an intelligent and moral soundness. "...that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me." The word pervert in many translations is translated as homosexual or sexual-pervert.10 This is because of the same reasons that have already been mentioned in the analysis of St Paul's letters to the Corinthians where the word arsenokoitai has been mistranslated. So that the scripture should actually be saying: "for adulterers and male temple prostitutes, for slave traders and liars and perjurers-- and for what ever else is contrary to the sound doctrine". Even if the word arsenokoitai could be some how linked to homosexual activities it is unclear which sexual act is deemed to be wrong.
Adultery is according to John L. McKenzie, S.J.11 is "strictly, Sexual intercourse of man and woman one or both of whom are bound to another person by Marriage." Or in the New Dictionary of Christian Ethics12 it says that adultery is: "Sexual intercourse between a man or a woman one or both of who are married with someone other than the marriage partner." In Mathew 5:27 Jesus said "You have heard how it is said: You must not commit adultery. But I say this to you if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart." This is affirmation of the sixth commandment in Exodus 20:14 which states "You shall not commit adultery" When Jesus talked about adultery he did not quote the laws outlined about the punishment for adultery. But this statement is also emphasising one of the other commandments "thou shalt not covert thy neighbours wife"13. In Deuteronomy on adultery and fornication it says, "If a man is caught sleeping with another man's wife both must die, the man who has slept with her and the woman herself. You must banish this evil from Israel."14 Jesus does not mention sexual relations other than adultery. Jesus emphasises the act of lust as being just as bad as the act of adultery itself (Mathew 5:27) "But I say this to you if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart"
Jesus' again disregards the laws set in Deuteronomy in John 8:1-11. Here a woman is found in the act of committing adultery and is brought to the Temple Square to be stoned to death. The scribes and Pharisees were trying to test Jesus to see if he would obey the Jewish laws or ignore them. There was a very angry atmosphere around so Jesus took himself out of that atmosphere by bending down and writing in the sand. He did this to show that he was acting as a servant to the woman. This act alone shows that the act of adultery was not such a huge crime that God would reject the woman. When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees "...Moses has ordered us to condemn women like this to death by stoning. What have you to say?" Jesus used these words "If there is one of you that has not sinned let him be the one to throw the first stone at her"15. It is possible to say here that Jesus does not consider adultery to be a sin but this is wrong. Jesus in fact says later to the woman. "'Has anyone condemned you?' 'No one, Sir' she replied. 'Neither do I condemn you,' said Jesus 'Go away, and don't sin any more.'"16 On this James McPolin, S.J.17 said, "the acquittal of Jesus is authoritative, a free decision of one who is conscious of God's mercy towards sinners". By Jesus saying, "Go away and sin no more" It shows that Jesus did not approve of the act of adultery nor condone it in any way shape or form. Yet Jesus believes forgiving the woman is more important than punishing her. Yet he does not forgive her outright showing that indeed the sin that the woman has committed is indeed a grave offence.
Yet strangely this one forgivable offence is the very thing that Jesus says a man can divorce his wife for. Jesus said, "if a man divorces his wife for anything other than pornea18 and goes out and takes another wife he is committing adultery". So what is this Pornea, which Jesus speaks of? It in fact has several disputed meanings; it can refer to a woman who is not a virgin when she was married. If this is what Jesus had meant then there is no reason for a man to divorce his wife because of adultery. By saying this Jesus is practically forbidding divorce where one or both spouses commit adultery.
If pornea refers to adultery then a man can divorce his adulterous wife but a wife cannot divorce an adulterous husband.
There is a third and final view as to the meaning of pornea. Bernard Hoose of the Heythrop College, University of London says that that pornea refers to the marriage between a believer and a non-believer19. If this were the case for example if a Jew married an Atheist and the marriage does not last in this case a divorce would be perfectly acceptable. As it seems more logical that Jesus should be referring to adultery as the only reason for a divorce it is this view which will be used.
In the modern Wedding ceremony we find the words "The love of a man and a woman is made holy in the Sacrament of Marriage"20 and this is similar to the other phrase used in the wedding ceremony "What God has joined together let no man break apart".21 By the wedding couple agreeing to their vows and taking part in the ceremony, they've effectively said, that they will not divorce and this should include adultery as well. Previously it has been noted that the Old Testament looked on the issue of adultery with much scorn and malice, marriage was seen to be a "...faithful and loving covenant between man and woman symbolising the faith and fidelity between Yahweh and his people."
St Paul saw that marriage was a sacred union and anything immoral that might affect the marriage i.e. adultery would be desecration because in the act of the sin something holy is taken away from the Union of the couple. Paul pleaded with his brothers and sisters and in the lord to "control his own body in holiness and honour." Again a quote that appeared earlier can be included here " Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers...will inherit the Kingdom of God"22 Yet in this instance there is no doubt as to who St Paul is referring to, unlike in the case of homosexuality, it is clear cut that St Paul is condemning adulterers. Yet this is in contradiction to what Jesus shows as true in John 8:1-12 where he meets an adulterous woman he does not forgive her but he shows that the decision about adultery is for God and God alone. So who are we to believe? So his divine judgement would overrule the Judgement of Paul. But it is important to look at who St Paul was writing to He was writing to Pagans and Pagan Converts, he was writing them to tell them what they were doing was wrong and if they were to go against his instructions they would be going against Jesus. So maybe the letters were threats to make the Corinthians, Romans etc. conform to the evolving Church.
The New Testament makes clear that Adultery that is, Sexual union with a person other that one's spouse - is an evil, completely incompatible with the Christian ideals and way of life. Yet adultery is not an evil so bad that it cannot be forgiven. Though this is not an excuse for Christians to go and commit adultery in the knowledge that they will get away with it. But Christians avoid it because of their respect for the divinity that is marriage in that it is a sacrament i.e. a gift from God not just a legal binding contract.
The Holy Father has stressed his views on the immorality of adultery. Saying that it is " terrible breach of conventional love"23 Pope John Paul II is telling us that by letting adultery occur the individual spouse is deliberately going against the will of God and the divinity of their marriage. Adultery violates not only the divinity of marriage but also all the other goods of marriage "the procreative good, the good of the friendship between the spouses, and the indissoluble unity." There is also the violation of trust the foundation on which the Marriage is built and without trust the marriage will crumble.
There is the idea about whether or not Adultery can ever serve a good purpose for example, a married man can help a very good friend of his, and his friends wife conceive by fertilising her. The outcome of the act is a supreme good the man has helped his neighbour and the woman conceives and gives birth to a child. Yet the pope said that if you have to do wrong to gain a good outcome then the outcome would be over shadowed by the bad i.e. the adultery. There is also the problem that maybe the man might enjoy the act of procreation, rather than purely doing it for the satisfaction of helping his friend and his friends' wife.
Having looked at both what the New Testament has to say on Homosexuality and Adultery it is obvious why Christians today are often confused about where they stand in Gods eyes. Members of the Christian homosexual community especially find it difficult to understand what God actually thinks of them and their action. It has been pointed out that neither the Bible, nor Jesus ever condemned Homosexuality, but that is not to say that Jesus agreed with it either. Where homosexuality is condemned in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament there is much controversy as to the actual meaning or context of the text as what is written is very ambiguous.
The Church prefers to label the actions of homosexuals unnatural and immoral, as they go against several fundamental values. That every Sexual act should have the potential, to produce life. Neither the relationship of Lesbians, or Gay men have the ability for this to occur. It is only through scientific means that conception can occur. Of course then there is the other fundamental value that Homosexuality is not moral because it is not in alignment with natural law. In Genesis God created man then he created woman for man. It was man and woman together that were given the task to multiply across the world and have many offspring. It is for this reason that it says in the bible "God made them Male and Female, for this reason a man shall leave his mother and Father and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one"24. So from this we can see that man was made for woman and woman for man and through the act of sex between man and woman, there is the potential to procreation and so anything other than heterosexual sex is outlined as against the Law of God.
Yet why is homosexuality today prohibited so much by the Church when Jesus did not mention homosexuality in his ministry? There may well be reasons why Jesus did not mention Homosexuality in his ministry. There may be the possibility that homosexuality was not of incidence in Jerusalem and Galilee or the surrounding area. Where as when St Paul was writing to pagans, and pagan converts. There was a great deal of unnatural practice around, so by preaching to the pagans about the evils St Paul was therefore trying to guide them to keep in line with natural law. So Christians today would find it hard to be a gay Christian as they might feel that they believe in a God that does not love them. Though we know that God loves all his children. We also know that we were made in Gods' image. No one chooses to be a Homosexual they are born with a certain outlook or attraction to people of the same sex as them. Being a homosexual is far from easy, on a daily basis homosexuals face discrimination in one form or another. The Catholic catechism says on this "The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial.25" What they do not need is to be condemned by the church. The one authority in this world that believes in freedom and forgiveness is oppressing homosexuals though the church does not ban homosexuality out right, in fact the church says that "Homosexuals are called to chastity26". In that they are to suppress their physical and mental urges that may lead them to have homosexual sex with another homosexual. Being a homosexual is hard in today's society but being a Christian homosexual is near to impossible but this is only true, from the viewpoint of www.whosoever.com. The website takes a very radical approach to the issue of homosexuality. In that because Jesus does not explicitly condemn homosexuality whosoever takes this lack of condemnation (for example Mathew 10:14-15) to mean that Jesus agreed with it. In a very subtle way they almost go as far as to say Jesus embraces it. The church in fact says, on the subject of homosexuals "They must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity27".
The Catholic Church sees adultery as "when two partners, of whom at least one is married to another party, have sexual relations - even transient ones - they commit adultery." 28 Christ even condemned the desire or lust as being just as grave as adultery Mathew 5:27. And the sixth commandment condemns adultery outright. Adultery is commonplace in today's society the sacredness of marriage today is violated more and more. People's values have changed and in a way we have become self-centred and the attitude each man for himself, has been adopted. Where as before the marriage was the unity of two separate peoples with god to become one is no longer the same. In fact people now see marriage as a union between people where there is a security of a prenuptial agreement people actually expect for the marriage not to last. So why has marriage taken this sudden change is it because of more relaxed attitudes to relationships in general or is t to do with a new attitude about what one might be missing if one is tied down in marriage. Whatever the reason adultery is a failure to live up to the commitment made to each other and to Christ. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church this is summed up as "He who commits adultery fails in his commitment. He does injury to the sign of the covenant, which the marriage bond is, transgressing the other spouse and undermines the institution of marriage..."29 The spouse also has the children of his family to think of they rely on the security and safety of the family, and when adultery invades this sanctuary, it is the children who suffer the most. That is why the Catechism states "He compromises the good of human generation and the welfare of children who need their parents stable union."30 Surrounded by the modern values of today Christians have to be extremely strong and proud of their morals.
Bibliography
* The Jerome Biblical Commentary
Ed. Raymond E Brown S. S.
Joseph A. Fitszmyer, S.J,
Roland F. Murphy, O.charm.
January 1969
* The Dictionary of the Bible
John L. McKenzie, S.J.
January 1966
* The New Testament Bible
* John the New Testament Message 6
Jones McPolin, S.J.
979
* http://www.whosoever.com
* "Imitating Jesus and following divorce' in priests and People"
Cf Bernard Hoose
Sept. 1987
* Cf Roman Missal - Preface of Marriage III
* The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Geoffrey Chapman
994
* The Gospel according to John in the Standard Revised Tradition
J. C. Fenton
970
* Mathew The New Testament Message 3
John P. Meier
980
* The Cambridge Bible Commentary on the New English Bible
A. M. Hunter
965
Matthew 10:14-15
2 Jude 9
3 According to the Jerome Biblical Commentary
4 http://www.whosoever.com (Genesis)
5 Romans 1:24-27
6 Romans 1:26-27
7 Jerome Biblical Commentary
81 Corinthians 6: 9-10
9 1 Timothy 1:10
0 Information taken from www.whosoever.com
1 Dictionary of the Bible by, John L. McKenzie, S.J. page 14
2 By John Maquarrie and James Childress found under "Adultery"
3 Exodus 20:17
4 Deuteronomy 22:22
5 John 8:7
6 John 8:10-11
7 John The new Testament message 6 Page 123
8Peter Vardy - sixth Form Lecture notes of Sex, Marriage and Divorce.
9 Cf Bernard Hoose "Imitating Jesus and following divorce' in priests and People", Sept. 1987
20 Cf Roman Missal - Preface of Marriage III
21 Cf Roman Missal - Preface of Marriage III
22 Corinthians 6: 9-10
23 Pope John Paul II
24 Matthew 19 verse 4-6
25 The Catechism of The Catholic Church - 2358
26 The Catechism of The Catholic Church - 2359
27 The Catechism of The Catholic Church - 2358
28 The Catechism of The Catholic Church - 2380
29 The Catechism of The Catholic Church - verse - 2381
30 The Catechism of The Catholic Church -verse - 2381
