Chapter seven is focused on a favorite argument of the “revisionists” who try to reinterpret the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality. Their contention is: “The Bible isn’t really condemning the loving, committed, same-sex relationships we have in our world today. What Scripture is denouncing is exploitation and violence which expressed itself in the ancient world in homosexual activity. It’s only a bad kind of homosexuality that the Bible is against.”
DeYoung concisely exposes the massive
flaws in this thinking. The revisionist argument requires that we believe ancient
society knew nothing of loving homosexual relationships between equals. But,
as he shows from multiple sources (including proponents of same-sex marriage),
that just isn’t true. Ancient society knew homosexuality in all its forms –
from exploitative and violent to loving, committed relationships. But the Bible is clear that
homosexual behavior in general is condemned
as a violation of God’s design.
A couple quotes:
Nowhere does Paul or any other Jewish writer of this period imply the least acceptance of same-sex relations under any circumstances. The idea that homosexuals might be redeemed by mutual devotion would have been wholly foreign to Paul or any Jew or early Christian. (p. 86. This quote is particularly telling because DeYoung cites it from a gay author, the late Louis Crompton.)
…there is no reason to think the New Testament’s prohibitions against same-sex behavior were only for pederasty and exploitation. (p. 84)
