What does the Bible say about homosexuality?

From the beginning, the Bible presents marriage as the union of a man and a woman (Genesis 2:24), affirmed by Jesus himself (Matthew 19:4-6). Within this framework, both Old and New Testaments describe homosexual acts as contrary to God's design (Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

It is important to distinguish between temptation and action, and between a person's identity and their conduct. Experiencing same-sex attraction is not itself the same as acting on it, and the Bible's call to holiness in this area is the same call to sexual faithfulness it gives to everyone, including heterosexual people, who are equally called to chastity outside marriage and faithfulness within it.

Crucially, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 lists many sins — including greed, slander, and drunkenness — and then says, 'And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified.' The gospel offers cleansing and a new identity in Christ to all who come to him, whatever their past.

The biblical sexual ethic flows from the doctrine of creation: God made humanity male and female and gave marriage as a picture of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31-32). Sexuality is therefore not a private preference but part of God's good created order.

Because all have sinned (Romans 3:23), the church approaches this topic with humility, never with self-righteousness, holding together both truth and grace as Jesus did (John 1:14).