Wallowing in Immorality
1 Cor 6:9-11
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the This is where we start hitting up against situational ethics and the moral codes of this era. Jesus came to establish the
Sadly, for many this means that we tolerate the sin, or worse, that we find a way not to call it sin at all.
The first argument is the cultural argument. Paul and Peter write against braided hair, short hair for women, the wearing of gold and pearls and other such indictments which we put in the cultural context of the day when it was the temple prostitutes that adorned themselves in such a fashion. Therefore it would be unseemly for a Christian woman to do the same. The argument is that because homosexuality is now considered acceptable and normal that the same cultural argument should be applied to it or to people who live together outside of marriage.
The second argument is that because homosexuality is indicted by the Levitical or Mosaic code of the Old Testament and we are under a New Covenant it no longer applies.
The third argument is that this refers only to male temple prostitutes.
None of these arguments hold water. The first argument is demolished when we look at context. The cultural argument applies to a subset of behaviors that involve outward appearance and are grouped together as such. Whether a man has long or short hair, whether a man should have his head covered or not in church and the length of a woman’s hair and appearance are all judged by the intent and the cultural mores of the day. Modesty is the overriding sentiment.
The second argument fails because Paul is not quoting the Old Testament or any of the Levitical codes. Paul is addressing a list of sins that are offensive to God and which if left unchecked enslave and destroy.
The third argument does not stand because first, it would be redundant to mention prostitution twice and also because this is not the only place where it talks about homosexuality in the New Testament. The Greek word that is translated homosexuality is arsenokoites which advocates of the gay lifestyle claim cannot directly be translated to refer to homosexuality. The Greek lexicon defines this word as an abuser of self that defiles self with the male sperm. The word has also been translated as a sodomite with implication being quite clear. It is also preceded by the word malakoi which means effeminate or of uncertain affinity.
If this were not clear enough it is spelled out in the book of Romans when it says:
Rom 1:26-27
“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 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.”
Aside from this we have Jesus making it perfectly clear that only sex in marriage, and marriage defined as that between a man and a woman, is acceptable to God.
Matt 19:4-6
"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
It is unfortunate that because of the modern acceptance of homosexuality as normal, we lose sight of the fact that greed, drunkenness and slander are also sins that separate us from God. Sin is sin. We categorize them and rank them according to how we view them. Not so to God, who detests all sin.
But here is the Good News; even the most detestable sin can be forgiven. Even the rankest sinner can be sanctified and justified because of Jesus and His sacrifice.
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