Someone asked me today how to treat homosexuals as the precious human beings they are to Jesus without condoning their sinful lifestyle. I will try to answer that here.
It isn’t easy. It’s a lot easier to read someone’s writing on the matter and say “Yes! I agree with that!” than to actually put it into practice. Especially when you’re someone like me who tends to live in a “Christian bubble.” But Scripture is clear. We are to love people–ALL people. Not just the ones who look like us, think like us, and believe like us. Remember, Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He came to heal the sick. And if we are truly trying to live in His steps, then it is the lost and sick that we should be concerned with. They are the ones who need our love more than anyone else.
A person is a person above all else. We don’t define people by their sin. As Scot McKnight put it, people “are not morality acts or immorality acts.” A homosexual needs to be respected and loved as a human being above all else.
It seems that Christians like to categorize sin and the people who commit the sin. For example, Joe who just told his mom he finished his homework when he really hadn’t rates a 2 on the sin scale, Mary who lives with her boyfriend rates a 7, but Barry, the homosexual man rates a 10. Why do we do that?
People will often refer you to 1 Corinthians 6 because that chapter contains these verses (9-10): “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 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
This is a great proof-text that says homosexuals will not go to heaven. But you have to take it in context. Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians because, after beginning their new life in Christ, they were beginning to slip back into their old immoral ways. A man in the church was sleeping with his father’s wife and the church was allowing it. The church in Corinth was associating themselves with so-called believers who were sexually immoral and disassociating themselves from those in the world they should have been helping.
Verse 11 is important here: “And that is what some of you were.” Past tense. Paul is telling the church in Corinth that they were sinners but now they are clean. This is the equivalent of Jesus telling the adulterous woman, “Go, and sin no more.”
This is why you can’t use this verse as a prooftext against homosexuality. Paul is speaking to the church. He is reminding them of where they came from and who they are now in Christ. It’s no big secret that sinners who have not surrendered to Christ will not enter into heaven–this includes liars, thieves, idolators, and yes, homosexuals.
So why do we place homosexuality at the top of our “sin scale”? Why do we believe that a homosexual man is a worse sinner than the woman living with her boyfriend? Is homosexuality really any different than fornication? They should both be treated the same–if they are not Christians. We can’t expect someone who has never met Christ to act Christ-like. That’s our job. And in acting like Christ, we show them grace. We show them love. We invite them to our tables so that they may see the light we bring to the dark world. Jesus led by example more than anything else.
