There are various matters pertaining to sex that raise questions as to whether the Bible regards them as appropriate.  We will consider the following such matters:

• Is the practice of homosexuality condemned by the Bible?

• Does the Bible condone prostitution in some instances?

• Is all sex outside of marriage a sin?

[Note:  When we quote Scripture in this article, we use the wording in the New King James Version of the Bible.]

Is the Practice of Homosexuality Condemned by the Bible?

Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 teach that it is wrong to engage in homosexual practices.   However, the book of Leviticus also forbids eating certain foods, such as pork and shrimp (Leviticus 11:2-3, 10), but in today’s world, these foods are apparently no longer forbidden.  Doesn’t this suggest that it is no longer necessary to regard homosexual practices as wrong?

It is not clear if the dietary prohibitions in Leviticus (a) are actually still in effect, (b) were merely ceremonial and subsequently abolished under the New Covenant, or (c) were based upon practical considerations resulting from the inability to ensure that the prohibited foods were healthy to eat and, therefore, these prohibitions are no longer necessary, as a result of relatively recent advancements in preserving such foods.  In any case, virtually all Christians believe the dietary prohibitions in Leviticus don’t need to be observed now.

In contrast, there are strong reasons to believe that homosexual practices are still wrong.  In this regard, on pages 92-93 of their book entitled When Critics Ask, Norman Geisler, Ph.D., and Thomas Howe, M.A., assert,

[I]f the laws against homosexuality were . . . abolished, then rape, incest, and beastiality would not be morally wrong either, since they are condemned in the same chapter with homosexual sins (Lev. 18:6-14, 22-23).

[E]ven in the Jewish levitical law there was a difference in punishment for violating the . . . law of eating pork or shrimp (which was a few days isolation) and that for homosexuality which was capital punishment (Lev. 18:29).  [Note: Other sources indicate the punishment may have been banishment sometimes, rather than execution.]

[T]he moral prohibitions against homosexuality are still enjoined on believers in the NT (Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10; Jude 7).

Romans 1:18-27, especially verses 26-27, is one of the New Testament passages that strongly indicate homosexual practices are still to be regarded as sin.  Romans 1:26-27 states with regard to people who practice homosexuality,

For this reason God gave them up to vile passions.  For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.  Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

And, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 states that homosexuals – presumably, those who actually engage in sexual activity with a person of the same sex – like other people who lead a life of incessant sin, will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But what about people who are born with homosexual tendencies; i.e., people whose homosexual orientation is inherent, rather than a choice?  Why should they be condemned for a trait that they did not choose to possess?

Although a number of people claim that they were born with homosexual tendencies, adequate proof is lacking.  Even assuming that some people do have an inherent homosexual orientation, the Bible indicates that they will be held accountable for controlling their sexual behavior, just as heterosexual people will be held accountable for controlling their sexual behavior (see our subsequent discussion about “Is All Sex Outside of Marriage a Sin?”). 

Note that each person is held accountable for his or her actions, not for their tendencies or orientation.  Both homosexuals and heterosexuals need to exercise appropriate self-restraint with regard to sex.  To be obedient to biblical teaching, people with homosexual tendencies should abstain from sexual intercourse with members of the same sex, just as heterosexual people who are not married to each other should abstain from sexual intercourse with each other.

Does the Bible Condone Prostitution in Some Instances?

Hosea 1:2 states, “When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: ‘Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry [i.e., a prostitute]. . . .’”  Does this scripture passage indicate that in some instances God condones or excuses prostitution?

On page 294 of his book entitled Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, Gleason L. Archer states,

From the standpoint of Hosea himself, looking back on his domestic tragedy, it was quite clear that when God had encouraged him to marry Gomer . . . who He foreknew would be unfaithful to Hosea after he had married her, this amounted to a divine directive to marry a harlot.  This does not necessarily mean that she had already shown a tendency to sexual promiscuity when he was courting her or that she was already a woman of ill fame when he married her.

Hosea’s unhappy marriage was intended by God to serve as a heartrending illustration of the apostasy of the northern kingdom, whose citizens had turned from the worship of Yahweh [God] to the worship of the various Baals of the degenerate religions of Canaan and Phoenicia.  God, of course, foreknew that Israel would prove false to Him in later centuries, even when He first took her as His covenant wife . . . in the days of Moses at Mount Sinai.  Yet in His marvelous grace He bore with her infidelities, welcomed her back in her times of repentance and revival, and kept faithful to her even though she repeatedly betrayed His love.  Even so was it to be with Hosea.  Gomer would be unblemished in the beginning of their marriage, but would stray from him later on.

In retrospect, therefore, Hosea interpreted God’s encouragement to him to enter into this unhappy match as a directive at the very start: “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry” . . ., even though the Lord may not have used such shocking terms. . . .

Geisler and Howe note on page 297 of their book that the situation regarding God’s knowledge that Gomer would ultimately be unfaithful to Hosea was “similar to the angel of the Lord calling Gideon a ‘mighty man of valor’ before he had fought a single battle,” as recorded in Judges 6:11-12.  They go on to say, “God knew that Gideon would become a great leader in Israel even though he was not yet.” 

Subsequently, on the same page of their book, Geisler and Howe make several other comments about the matter, including the following: 

[T]he passage does not condone harlotry. . . . The fact that the grave sin of idolatry is depicted as spiritual harlotry reveals God’s disapproval of harlotry.

Hosea was commanded to marry a harlot, not to commit adultery with her.

[T]he command in 1 Corinthians 6:16 not to be joined to a harlot is not a command never to marry a woman who was a harlot.  Rather, the command is directed against those who were having sexual relations outside of the marriage relationship.

Is All Sex Outside of Marriage a Sin?

Many people, including a number of Christians, apparently believe that sex between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman is not a sin if it is by mutual consent.  However, the Bible seems to indicate otherwise.

Let’s look at several passages that refer to fornication, fornicators, or sexual immorality.

1 Corinthians 6:9b-10:  Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers . . . will inherit the kingdom of God.

1Corinthians 6:13b:  Now the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord  . . . .

1 Corinthians 6:18a:  Flee sexual immorality.

1 Corinthians 7:2:  [B]ecause of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

Galatians 5:19a-21:  Now the acts of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication . . . and the like; of which I tell you . . . that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 5:3:  But fornication . . . , let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints. . . .

1 Thessalonians 4:3:  For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality. . . .

Unfortunately, the Bible itself does not define fornication, fornicators, or sexual immorality.  However, according to Harper's Bible Dictionary, fornication (or sexual immorality) in the New Testament refers to almost any form of sexual misconduct (that is, sexual activity outside the marriage relationship).

The Tyndale Bible Dictionary states that fornication, in a general sense, refers to every kind of illegal sexual intercourse; that is, any intercourse except that between a husband and wife. Tyndale goes on to say that fornication, in a more limited sense, refers to immoral sexual activity between unmarried people. 

Strong’s Concordance notes that fornication (or sexual immorality) refers to illicit sexual intercourse in some passages, and includes or is distinguished from adultery in other passages.  Two examples are of the latter are 1 Corinthians 6:9b-10 and Galatians 5:19a-21, which are shown above.

Although these sources have provided some perspectives regarding the meaning of fornication, we still need to define sexual activity and sexual intercourse.

Webster’s Dictionary doesn’t attempt to define sexual activity, but it does define sexual as “having or involving sex,” which Webster’s doesn’t clearly define.  In the context of what we are discussing, the closest that Webster’s comes to defining sex is with the term sexual intercourse, which Webster’s defines as both “heterosexual intercourse involving penetration of the vagina by the penis” and “intercourse involving genital contact between individuals other than penetration of the vagina by the penis.”  This implies that sexual intercourse involves any type of genital contact by one person with another (i.e., it doesn’t necessarily involve penetration of the vagina by the penis). 

Whether this definition or some other definition of sexual intercourse was in the minds of those who wrote the scripture passages cited above is uncertain.  Suffice it to say that if a person is in doubt about such matters, but he (or she) wants to be sure that they are abiding by biblical teaching, it would be best for that person to exercise restraint.  In other words, before marriage to someone, any type of contact with their genitals should be regarding as inappropriate and, therefore, avoided.

Furthermore, a man may be guilty of sin if he looks lustfully at a woman to whom he isn’t married, even if he doesn’t actually engage in a physical act of sexual intercourse with her.  Jesus Christ stated in Matthew 5:28, “I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” 

This raises the question as to what it means to lust?  According to Strong’s Concordance of the Bible, the Greek word translated in Matthew 5:28 as lust means, “to set the heart upon, i.e., long for. . . .”  And Webster’s Dictionary defines the verb lust as “to have an intense desire or need: crave; specif: to have a sexual urge.”

Conclusion

Certainly, overcoming temptations, especially sexual temptations, is difficult.  But if we are to be the holy person that God wants each of us to be, we must be willing to be chaste in our relationships outside of marriage.  To do so, we need to allow God, through His Holy Spirit, to control our thoughts, as well as our actions.