Lest this article come across as “gay-bashing” or “hate-speech,” some introductory words are in order before getting to the main content that is to be put forward for the reader’s examination. Much to the credit of the lesbians & homosexuals in the LGBTQ ‘community’ (and to the everlasting shame of the so-called ‘Bible-believing’ churches), the gay community is not unaware of the hypocrisy and partiality that is being shown in so many ‘conservative, Bible-believing’ churches concerning the types of sexual sin that are allowed to be practiced by those with whom they maintain communion. The LGBTQ ‘community’ is fully aware that many heterosexual members of these churches (including their ‘pastors’ and ‘spiritual leaders’) are living in sexual sin. They know that the modern church has basically become a whorehouse and that most ‘Bible-believing’ churches are willing to tolerate heterosexual sin, and that the heterosexual ‘Bible-believing’ Christians conveniently excuse their brand of sexual sin by employing sayings such as, “we’re all sinners” or “nobody’s perfect,” etc. But the ‘gay’ community also knows that many of these churches suddenly become very willing to take a stand for holiness and to resort to the much neglected, age-old practice known as church discipline whenever one of their regular attenders enters a lesbian or homosexual relationship. In short, the gay community knows that these so-called Bible-believing churches purposely exercise partiality concerning dealing with sexual sin in the lives of those who attend their gatherings.

Many ‘conservative’ churches that will have no communion with homosexuals & lesbians are willing to brush-off, explain away and ignore the heterosexual practice of things that the Bible clearly names as being sexual sin—things which, unless repented of & forsaken, will cause a person to be shut out of heaven. But the modern church’s widespread tolerance of sexual immorality among their heterosexual “church-attenders”—whether it is premarital sex (fornication) or divorce & remarriage (which Jesus & Paul both say is adultery)—is NOT a tolerance Jesus would commend the churches for. We can clearly discern from Revelation 2:20-21 that Jesus would have a few things against such churches, and that He would exhort such churches to repent! He would not commend them for practicing ‘mercy’ by allowing fornicators and adulterers to be their preachers, teachers, and fully participating members.

The ongoing toleration of heterosexual sin is truly the ‘elephant in the room’ in today’s ‘conservative’ churches, but another elephant is following closely behind and has already crossed the threshold! To use another metaphor, the camel was allowed to put its nose under the tent, and now the rest of its body is coming in, too! Churches that were once known to be a ‘Bible-believing’ church are now known to be a ‘gay church.’ Under the guise of practicing mercy, they are now open & affirming to all who desire to be a member, and no one is excluded (unless of course, you are one of those people who believes we should hold to the faith once for all delivered to the saints—those people should either ‘get with the times’ or go find another church)! The same lame & weak methods that were used to explain away and ignore the heterosexual sin in the congregation are now being used to excuse homosexual sin. And why not? After all, gay churches can play that game, too. They too can appeal to love, mercy, culture, the passage of time (‘that was then, this is now’), grace, tolerance, we’re all sinners, nobody’s perfect, or ‘that’s just your interpretation,’ etc.—and the gay churches can twist the Scriptures to their own destruction just as well as the hypocritical heterosexual churches. In fact, they do it even better! Or do they?

Aside from inventing a ‘gay Bible’ like the Queen James Bible (published in 2012), can any amount of Scripture-twisting excuse the practice of “same-sex” sexual relationships among professing Christians? This article is not meant to be unkind or to show partiality. The vast majority of the Scriptures quoted within this article condemn heterosexual sin just as much as they condemn homosexual sin. But as can be easily discerned by the title of the article, it is more specifically intended to put forward Biblical evidence along with evidence from church history that would remove any illusions on how the modern (and very misguided) ‘merciful’ and ‘inclusive’ stance of the church compares with the traditional Christian position regarding a certain type of sexual sin. As can be seen by the Scriptures supplied in this article (which also has footnotes that should be considered), ALL sexual sin is condemned in the Bible—and so, regardless of what the practice & policy of a particular supposedly ‘merciful’ congregation may be, heterosexuals who are in some type of sexual sin will not get ‘a pass’ from God unless they repent & forsake their sin before their time runs out.

It is not enough for us to merely confess our sin if we have no intention of departing from it or discontinuing it. An amendment of life is part of an acceptable repentance. There must be fruits of repentance (Matt 3:8). Proverbs 28:13 says, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” The apostle John wrote: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7). Let us not deceive ourselves by continuing in our sin while claiming that we have been cleansed of it. There are conditions to receiving God’s mercy, cleansing & forgiveness (cf. Luke 1:50; Is 55:7). God does not promise mercy to those who continue fearlessly in their sins or to those who are not merciful (Matt 5:7; James 2:13). But contrary to the ‘woke’ philosophy of the slumbering, hell-bound world, it is a spiritual work of mercy to instruct the ignorant & admonish the sinner. Jesus called sinners (Lk 5:32), but He called them to repentance—because He did not want them to perish (Lk 13:3, 5). Both the world and worldly churches need to take the apostle Paul’s advice when he wrote: “Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame” (1 Cor 15:34).

So, it is freely admitted that there is MUCH shame upon most of the so-called ‘Bible-believing’ churches that are currently ‘open for business’ to the general public, and it is freely admitted that heterosexual premarital sex (fornication) and heterosexual adultery (including most cases of divorce & remarriage) is clearly condemned in the Christian Scriptures. But there is no getting around the fact that the homosexual or ‘gay’ lifestyle is also condemned. This is evident in the Bible itself and by examining the earliest teachings of the Church. Let us honestly examine the truth of this matter by thoughtfully considering the logic of Dr. William Lane Craig, who wrote:

“The question of the legitimacy of the homosexual lifestyle is a question of what God has to say about it. If there is no God, then there is no right and wrong, and it doesn’t make any difference what lifestyle you choose—the persecutor of homosexuals is morally equivalent to the advocate of homosexuality. But if God does exist, we can no longer go just on the basis of our own opinions. We have to find out what God thinks on the issue.

“So how do you find out what God thinks? The Christian says, you look in the Bible. And the Bible tells us that God forbids homosexual acts. Therefore, they are wrong. So basically the reasoning goes like this:

(1) We are all obligated to do God’s will.

(2) God’s will is expressed in the Bible.

(3) The Bible forbids homosexual behavior.

(4) Therefore, homosexual behavior is against God’s will, or is wrong.”[1]

For those profess to believe in the Bible, please consider the evidence given below:

Genesis 19:4-9: ⁴ “Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old & young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. ⁵ And they called to Lot & said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.’ ⁶ So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, ‘Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! ⁸ See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.’ ⁹ And they said, ‘Stand back!’ Then they said, ‘This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.’ So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door.”

Leviticus 18:22: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.”

Leviticus 20:13: “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.”

Deut 22:5: “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God.”

Deut 23:17-18: “There shall be no ritual harlot of the daughters of Israel, or a perverted one [i.e., a male temple prostitute] of the sons of Israel. ¹⁸ You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog [i.e., a sodomite; cf. Rev 22:15] to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.”

Mark 7:21-23 [Jesus said]: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications [porneia^[2]] murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness [aselgeia^[3]], an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” [cf. Matt 15:19-20]

Romans 1:24-32: ²⁴ “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. ²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. ²⁷ 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. ²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; ²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality [porneia^[4]], wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, ³⁰ backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹ undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; ³² who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

1 Corinthians 5:9-11: ⁹ “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral [pornos] people. ¹⁰ Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral [pornos] people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹ But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral [pornos], or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-10: ⁹ “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators [pornos^[5]], nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals [malakos^[6]], nor sodomites [arsenokoites^[7]], ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 6:13: “Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality [porneia] but for the Lord, & the Lord for the body.”

1 Corinthians 6:18: “Flee sexual immorality [porneia]. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality [porneuo] sins against his own body.”

1 Corinthians 7:2: “Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality [porneia], let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.”

1 Corinthians 10:8: “Nor let us commit sexual immorality [porneuo], as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;”

2 Corinthians 12:21: “lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication [porneia], and lewdness [aselgeia] which they have practiced.”

Galatians 5:19-21: “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication [porneia], uncleanness, lewdness [aselgeia], idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Ephesians 5:3-7: ³ “But fornication [porneia] and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; ⁴ neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. ⁵ For this you know, that no fornicator [pornos], unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not be partakers with them.”

Colossians 3:5-6: “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication [porneia], uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,”

1 Thessalonians 4:3: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality [porneia];”

1 Timothy 1:9-11: ⁹ “knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, ¹⁰ for fornicators [pornos], for sodomites [arsenokoites], for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine ¹¹ according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.”

Hebrews 12:14-16: ¹⁴ “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: ¹⁵ looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; ¹⁶ lest there be any fornicator [pornos] or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.”

Hebrews 13:4: “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators [pornos] and adulterers God will judge.”

2 Peter 2:1-9: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, & bring on themselves swift destruction. ² And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. ³ By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. ⁴ For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; ⁷ and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked ⁸ (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— ⁹ then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,”

2 Peter 2:17-19: ¹⁷ “These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. ¹⁸ For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. ¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.”

Jude 7: ⁵ “But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; ⁷ just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality [ekporneuo^[8]] and pursued unnatural desire [sarkos heteras[9]], serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. ⁸ Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.”

Revelation 2:14 [Jesus said]: “But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality [porneuo^[10]].”

Revelation 2:20 [Jesus said]: “Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality [porneuo] and eat things sacrificed to idols.”

Revelation 2:21 [Jesus said]: “And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality [porneia], and she did not repent.”

Revelation 9:21: “And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”

Revelation 21:8 [Jesus said]: “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral [pornos^[11]], sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Revelation 22:15 [Jesus said]: “But outside are dogs [i.e., male prostitutes; cf. Dt. 23:17-18] and sorcerers & sexually immoral [pornos] & murderers & idolaters, and whoever loves & practices a lie.”

As for what the earliest Christian tradition says on this matter, please see the evidence below:

Didache (c. 80-140 A.D.): “Thou shalt not commit murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not commit pederasty,[12] thou shalt not commit fornication, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not practice magic, thou shalt not practice witchcraft, thou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is begotten.” [ANF Vol. 7, p. 377]

Polycarp (c. 100-150 A.D.): “In like manner, let the young men also be blameless in all things, being especially careful to preserve purity, and keeping themselves in, as with a bridle, from every kind of evil. For it is well that they should be cut off from the lusts that are in the world, since ‘every lust warreth against the spirit;’ and ‘neither fornicators, nor effeminate [homosexuals or malakos], nor abusers of themselves with mankind [sodomites or arsenokoites], shall inherit the kingdom of God’[13]…Wherefore it is needful to abstain from all these things…” [ANF Vol. 1, p. 34]

Aristides (c. 125 A.D.): [while speaking of the things done in the stories of the fictitious Greek gods which the Greek people then imitated, Aristides writes:] “…and some polluted themselves by lying with males.” [ANF Vol. 9, p. 269]

Justin Martyr (c. 160 A.D.): [speaking of how the pagans raised up male & female human infants who had been abandoned as infants to die, and then reared them like a herd of animals only to use them as sex-slaves or force them into a life of prostitution, Justin writes:] “…we see you rear children only for this shameful use; and for this pollution a multitude of females and hermaphrodites, and those who commit unmentionable iniquities, are found in every nation…And any one who uses such persons, besides the godless and infamous and impure intercourse, may possibly be having intercourse with his own child, or relative, or brother. And there are some who prostitute even their own children and wives, and some are openly mutilated for the purpose of sodomy.” [ANF Vol. 1, p. 172]

Tatian (c. 160 A.D.): “The Greeks consider intercourse with a mother as unlawful, but this practice is esteemed most becoming by the Persian Magi; pederasty is condemned by the Barbarians, but by the Romans, who endeavor to collect herds of boys like grazing horses, it is honored with certain privileges.” [ANF Vol. 2, p. 77]

Athenagoras (c. 175 A.D.): [speaking of the sexually immoral pagans who falsely accuse chaste Christians, Athenagoras says that these pagans:] “…have set up a market for fornication, and established infamous resorts for the young for every kind of vile pleasure,–who do not abstain even from males, males with males committing shocking abominations, outraging all the noblest and comeliest bodies in all sorts of ways, so dishonoring the fair workmanship of God…these men, I say, revile us [i.e. Christians] for the very things which they are conscious of themselves, and ascribe to their own gods, boasting of them as noble deeds, and worthy of the gods. These adulterers and pederasts defame the eunuchs [i.e. Christian virgins] and the once-married[14]….” [ANF Vol. 2, p. 147]

Theophilus (c. 180 A.D.): “…show me yourself, whether you are not an adulterer, or a fornicator, or a thief, or a robber, or a purloiner [i.e. pilferer]; whether you do not corrupt boys; whether you are not insolent, or a slanderer, or passionate, or envious, or proud, or supercilious; whether you are not a brawler, or covetous, or disobedient to parents; and whether you do not sell your children; for to those who do these things God is not manifest, unless they have first cleansed themselves from all impurity. All these things, then, involve you in darkness…iniquities, O man, involve you in darkness, so that you cannot see God.” [ANF Vol. 2, p. 89]

Clement of Alexandria (c. 195 A.D.): “But life has reached this pitch of licentiousness through the wantonness of wickedness, and lasciviousness is diffused over the cities, having become law. Beside them women stand in the stews, offering their own flesh for hire for lewd pleasure, and boys, taught to deny their sex, act the part of women….Men play the part of women, and women that of men, contrary to nature; women are at once wives and husbands: no passage is closed against libidinousness; and their promiscuous lechery is a public institution…O miserable spectacle! Horrible conduct! Such are the trophies of your social licentiousness which are exhibited: [because of prostitution…] fathers, unmindful of children of theirs that have been exposed [i.e. left out to die, but ‘rescued’ by pimps], often without their knowledge, have intercourse with a son that has debauched himself, and daughters that are prostitutes.” [ANF Vol. 2, p. 276]

“I admire the ancient legislators of the Romans: these detested effeminacy of conduct; and the giving of the body to feminine purposes, contrary to the law of nature, they judged worthy of the extremist penalty, according to the righteousness of the law.” [ANF Vol. 2, p. 277]

“The fate of the Sodomites was judgment to those who had done wrong, instruction to those who hear. The Sodomites having, through much luxury, fallen into uncleanness, practicing adultery shamelessly, and burning with insane love for boys; the All-seeing Word, whose notice those who commit impieties cannot escape, cast His eye on them.” [ANF Vol. 2, p. 282]

“A true gentleman must have no mark of effeminacy visible on his face, or any other part of his body. Let no blot on his manliness, then, be ever found either in his movements or habits.” [ANF Vol. 2, p. 289]

Tertullian (c. 197 A.D.): “The Christian [man] confines himself to the female sex….The Christian husband has nothing to do with any but his own wife….But it will be said that some of us, too, depart from the rules of our discipline. In that case, however, we count them no longer Christians.” [ANF Vol. 3, p. 51]

“In short, I find no dress cursed by God, except a woman’s dress on a man: for ‘cursed,’ saith He, ‘is every man who clothes himself in woman’s attire.’” [c. 200 A.D.; ANF Vol. 3, p. 71]

“The coupling of two males is a very shameful thing.” [c. 200 A.D.; ANF Vol. 3, p. 509]

“…whoever enjoys any other than nuptial intercourse…makes himself guilty of adultery and fornication….But all the other frenzies of passions—impious both toward the bodies and toward the sexes—beyond the laws of nature, we banish not only from the threshold, but from all shelter of the Church, because they are not sins, but monstrosities.” [c. 208 A.D.; ANF Vol. 4, p. 77]

Origen (c. 230 A.D.): “But even in regard to those [more simple Christians] who…have not gone into these deep questions, we find that they believe in the Most High God, and in His Only-begotten Son, the Word and God, and that they often exhibit in their character a high degree of gravity, of purity, and integrity; while those who call themselves wise have despised these virtues, and have wallowed in the filth of sodomy, in lawless lust, ‘men with men working that which is unseemly.’”^[15] [ANF Vol. 4, p. 631]

“But observe here that every great sin is a loss of the talents of the master of the house, and such [great] sins are committed by fornicators, adulterers, abusers of themselves with men [sodomites or arsenokoites], effeminate [homosexuals or malakos], idolaters, murderers.” [ANF Vol. 9, p. 500]

Cyprian (c. 250 A.D.): “Still further, what a degradation of morals it is, what a stimulus to abominable deeds, what food for vice, to be polluted by histrionic gestures, against the covenant and law of one’s birth, to gaze in detail upon the endurance of incestuous abominations! Men are emasculated, and all the pride and vigor of their sex is effeminate in the disgrace of their enervated body; and he is most pleasing there who has most completely broken down the man into the woman. He grows into praise by virtue of his crime; and the more he is degraded, the more skillful he is considered to be….Oh, if placed on that lofty watch-tower you could gaze into the secret places—if you could open the closed doors of sleeping chambers, and recall their dark recesses to the perception of sight,–you would behold things done by immodest persons which no chaste eye could look upon; you would see what even to see is a crime; you would see what people imbruted with the madness of vice deny that they have done, and yet hasten to do,–men with frenzied lusts rushing upon men, doing things which afford no gratification even to those who do them.” [ANF Vol. 5, p. 277-278]

Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c. 390 A.D.): “For the conjunction of man and wife, if it be with righteousness, is agreeable to the mind of God….If, therefore, the difference of sexes was made by the will of God for the generation [i.e. reproduction] of multitudes, then must the conjunction of male and female be also acceptable to His mind. But we do not say so of that mixture that is contrary to nature, or of any unlawful practice; for such are enmity to God. For the sin of Sodom is contrary to nature, as is also that with brute beasts. But adultery and fornication are against the law; the one whereof is impiety, the other injustice, and, in a word, no other than a great sin….For [those who practice homosexuality] attempt the dissolution of the world [i.e. because it does repopulate the world], and endeavor to make the natural course of things to change for one that is unnatural…” [ANF Vol. 7, p. 462-463]

Eusebius of Caesarea (c. A.D. 325 A.D.): “Having forbidden all unlawful marriage, all unseemly practices, and the union of women with women and men with men, [the Word] adds: ‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for in all these things the nations were defiled, which I will drive out before you’ [Lev. 18:24].” (Proof of the Gospel IV:10)

Oecumenius (6^th century; commenting on Jude 7): “The unnatural lust in which the Sodomites indulged was homosexuality, which is wrong because it cannot lead to procreation. Jude mentions them [the fallen angels of v. 6?] in order to point out that if God destroyed them, regardless of their earlier state of blessedness, how will He spare us if we act in an ungodly and lustful way? However well-disposed and kind He may be toward us, He is still the righteous God, and because of His righteousness He does not spare those who have sinned against him.” [ACCS, N.T. Vol. 11, p. 251, Commentary on Jude]

NOTES:

[1] https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/practical-issues/a-christian-perspective-on-homosexuality/#.WyNawIa2ix0.facebook

[2] Porneia—Strong’s #4202; a general term for sexual immorality that is also used by Jesus in Matt 5:32 & 19:9; The term would include all illicit sexual intercourse, such as: a. fornication, adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals, etc. b. Sexual intercourse with close relatives (Lev. 18). c. Sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman (which Jesus says is adultery—see Mk 10:11; Matt 5:32, 19:9).

[3] Aselgeia—Stong’s #766; unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence.

[4] Porneia—a general term for sexual immorality that is also used by Jesus in Matt 5:32 & 19:9. Strong’s #4202; The term would include all illicit sexual intercourse, such as: a. adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals, etc. b. Sexual intercourse with close relatives (Lev. 18). c. Sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman (Mk 10:11-12 is adultery).

[5] Pornos—Strong’s #4205; 1. A man who prostitutes his body to another’s lust for hire; 2. A male prostitute; 3. A man who indulges in unlawful sexual intercourse, a fornicator.

[6] Malakos—Stong’s #3120; I. soft, soft to the touch; II. metaph. in a bad sense. A. Effeminate: i. of a catamite (i.e. a boy kept for homosexual practices); ii. of a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness; iii. of a male prostitute.

[7] Arsenokoites—Strong’s #733; one [a male: árrhēn, #730] who lies [on a bed/mat: koítē, #2845] with a male as with a female; sodomite; homosexual; abuser of (that defile) self with mankind.

[8] Strong’s #1608; to be utterly unchaste:–give self  over to fornication.

[9] Possibly referring to strange, unnatural sex acts—i.e. using the genitals in fleshly acts for which they were not designed. 

[10] Porneuo—Strong’s #4203; to act the harlot, i.e. (lit.) indulge unlawful lust (of either sex), or (fig.) practice idolatry:–commit (fornication).

[11] Pornos—Strong’s #4205; 1. A man who prostitutes his body to another’s lust for hire; 2. A male prostitute; 3. A man who indulges in unlawful sexual intercourse, a fornicator.

[12] Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary says that a “pederast” is (literally) a “lover of boys”: “one that practices anal intercourse esp. with a boy.”

[13] 1 Cor 6:9-10

[14] The majority consensus among the pre-Nicene Christians appears to have been that if a Christian were to ever get a divorce due to their spouse committing unrepentant adultery or due to their spouse simply abandoning or leaving them, the Christian was to remain by himself/herself and not get remarried to another person—at least so long as their original spouse was still alive. Otherwise, it would be adultery. As Athenagoras wrote: “…a person should either remain as he was born [i.e. a virgin], or be content with one marriage; for a second marriage is only a specious adultery. ‘For whosoever puts away his wife,’ says He, ‘and marries another, commits adultery’” (ANF Vol. 2, p. 146-147).

[15] Rom 1:27