HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE BIBLE
Deuteronomy 22:5 (KJV)
The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.
Deuteronomy 22:5 (NIV)
A woman must not wear men’s clothing, or a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.
The only passage in scripture that addresses cross-dressing. The New Oxford Annotated Bible states, "The prohibition against cross-dressing seeks to maintain gender boundaries; a similar concern for boundaries is evident in verses 10-12. These verses read: You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together. You shall not wear clothes made of wool and linen woven together. You shall make tassels on the four corners of the cloak with which you cover yourself. (NIV)
While verses ten and eleven appear to be taking the concept of not mixing "different orders of creation" to the extreme, verse twelve lets us know that it is the concept of separateness that the passages are trying to teach. The Israelites were to be a people set apart--to be a people distinct from others in the lands to which they moved.
Too, we must remember that in this patriarchal culture, for a man to do anything that might in any way be considered womanish would be a degradation of his manliness and, by extension a degradation of masculinity in general. Gender hierarchy in that society was biblically based. God fashioned man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. (Gen. 2:7 NIV) Man was filled with the very breath of God, thus man was the closest thing to God there was. But man was alone, and God realized that was not good. A suitable helper must be found. (Gen. 2:18, 20a) Verses 21-22 tell us that God caused the man to fall asleep, then took one of his ribs and from it formed woman.
The interpretation of these passages was that since God breathed directly into the man to form him, he was the closest thing to God. Woman, however, was formed from out of man, so she was one step lesser than man to God. Further, since the woman was created to be a helper to man, it was interpreted that she was the servant to man, again making her one step lower than the man. Therefore, for a man to dress in woman’s dress would be to lower himself, and by implication all men, to the level of woman. Conversely, a woman was not to wear the attire of the man because by doing so she attained to the status of the man and disgraced it.
Of Deuteronomy 22:5, David Payne in The Daily Study Bible Series, writes:
There is good reason to suppose that the law of verse five is not concerned with the mild sexual aberration (sic) known as transvestism, but is a repudiation of certain pagan religious practices of that era; so this law is no more a fashion guide for today than is the law about tassels in verse twelve. These tassels, whatever their origin, were intended as a visible reminder to every Israelite of the duty to obey God’s laws. In effect, they made the Israelites distinctive in their dress.
There is evidentiary material which indicates that temple prostitutes, especially males, wore clothing of the opposite gender. If we accept this position, then we can infer that the multiple reasons for the instruction in Deuteronomy 22:5 not to cross-dress are:
Jesus apparently wasn’t so uptight about clothing. In fact, in His Sermon on the Mount we find this teaching: "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will God not much more clothe you. O you of little faith?" (Matt. 6:28-30 NIV)
N.B. Lest the author be accused of taking things out of context, I realize that the people to whom Jesus was speaking were, many of them, living from hand to mouth and struggling to survive. Jesus was telling them not to worry but to place their faith in God to supply their needs. The point the author is attempting to make is that God doesn’t worry about the attire people do or don’t wear, so people shouldn‘t either.
SUMMARY OF RELEVANT PASSAGES IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
Note well that of all of the books of the Hebrew scriptures, which consist of twenty-four books in the Jewish Bible and thirty-nine books in the Protestant Bible, (Catholic Bibles have additional books and passages)–out of all of that material–there are only four relevant passages which wrongly purport to condemn homosexuality, and one which addresses cross-dressing. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah condemns not homosexuality, but the Sodomites’ repeated acts of inhumanity to others, culminating in their attempt to rape Lot’s angelic visitors. The cited passages in Leviticus and Deuteronomy are condemnations, not of homosexuality, but of sexual activity performed during the course of idol worship. This condemnation, in keeping with the strictures of the First Commandment, is the condemnation of idolatry. There are several additional passages in which the KJV used the word sodomites, but in all these cases the modern translation of the term is corrected to temple, cult or shrine prostitutes.
Unbelievable as it may seem to some, not only is there no condemnation of homosexuality in the Hebrew Scriptures, there are several stories/passages which provide a positive image to homosexuals. We will deal with these in the second half of this study, in weeks to come.
THE CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
Christians, who at any time attempt to apply their interpretation of certain passages of the Jewish Law to themselves or to others, are themselves in violation of Christian teachings. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians addresses the subject of the Law and says: "All who rely on observing the Law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the Law.’ Clearly no one is justified before God by the Law, because the righteous shall live by faith.” (3:10,11NIV). Paul goes on to explain: "Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the Law, locked up until faith could be revealed. So the Law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith (Christ) has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the Law." (3:23-25 NIV).
Do not misunderstand this teaching. Paul in no way intends to demean or disparage the Jewish Law. Paul was himself Jewish and a Pharisee. Of his younger days he said that he excelled his peers in his zealousness to uphold the Law (Galatians 1:14). But the Law was meant for a certain time in the world prior to the coming of the Messiah.
Jesus, in Matthew 5:17 explained, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, had completed the requirements of the Law. In other words, followers of Jesus are no longer under the Jewish Law but are under God’s grace. Paul explains, "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the Law, Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21)
Consequently, since Christians are no longer bound by the Law, they are under obligation not to attempt to bind themselves or others to this same Law. Those who do so, as Paul so eloquently put it, are "under a curse." They condemn themselves to be bound by the entire Law.
As we previously have seen, it would be quite impossible to obey the Law in its entirety. Wave, burnt, and grain offerings, as well as animal sacrifices for the most part are no longer legal or permissible in our world. In the book of Acts, tenth chapter, we find a little story which demonstrates that the requirements of the Law have been completed and no longer apply. Peter had a vision, in which he was hungry, and heaven opened up and a sheet came down to earth on which were all kinds of animals–clean and unclean–and…a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat. ‘Surely not, God.’ Peter replied. ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’ The voice replied, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’" Acts 10:13-15 NIV)
Further, Hebrews 10:4 tells us it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, and continues on in verse ten to tell us that by God’s will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. So we see according to both the book of Acts as well as the book of Hebrews that the practices dictated by the Law have been completed by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and no longer apply.
Christians, if the Law no longer applies, then you are wrong to try to apply ANY PORTION of it to anyone! The only Law Christians are required to follow is the Law of Love as taught by Jesus–that we are to love God, love our neighbor, and love ourselves.
This ends today’s study. Next week: Romans 1.