What Does The Bible Say About Lesbians?

what does the bible say about lesbians

Leviticus 18:22 –  “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.

Leviticus 20:13 – “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. 

I have recently heard the argument that although the bible speaks against homosexuality in males, it does not state that being a lesbian is wrong. However, this is a misconception.

Romans 1:26-28 – That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.

Homosexuality in both men and women is wrong as per the Bible. This is not to say that homosexuality is any more sinful than lying, cheating, stealing, favoritism or greed. All these types of sins are equal in God’s eyes.

James 2:10-11 –  For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

Some people may quote 1 Corinthians 6:18 in which some translations reference ‘sexual immorality’ and suggest that homosexuality is a greater sin than others. However, this scripture is not speaking about sexual immorality. The original text does not include the word ‘sexual’ and refers only to ‘immorality’. This verse is referring to twisting the word of God as ‘immorality’. 

1 Corinthians 6:18 says “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.” 

1 Corinthians 6:18 means to ‘flee’ from twisting the word of God and confusing what is right and wrong. Doing this is a sin called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This is the only sin that cannot be forgiven.

Matthew 12:31 – And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

Mark 3:28-29 – Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” 

Luke 12:10 – And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

This is what Paul means by ‘fleeing immorality’. Once you twist right and wrong through compromise and manipulation of God’s word, how will you ever straighten this out?

1 Corinthians 6:18 – “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.” 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

All other sins are committed outside the spiritual body, meaning you commit the sin knowing what you have done is wrong so that you can repent and ask God for forgiveness.

1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

We must be able to recognize the sins we commit in order to admit them to God and ask Him for forgiveness, and then receive forgiveness for them. Anyone who twists and compromises the word of God, sins against his own spiritual body/conscience and blasphemes against the Holy Spirit. This is because the person will never ask for forgiveness for their sins due to manipulating right from wrong and covering up their sin, to make what was wrong, right in their own mind.

1 Corinthians 6:19 – Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

The body in this context is a spiritual body, not a physical one.

1 Corinthians 15:39-40 – Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.

Paul also refers to the spiritual body as the inner man or inner being:

2 Corinthians 4:16 –  Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

Ephesians 3:16 – I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.

Paul also states:

1 Corinthians 6:15-16 – Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”

Even the scripture from Genesis 2:24 does not mean sexually.

Genesis 2:24 – That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

This scripture is referring to a spiritual union (spiritual flesh), through the Holy Spirit.

Malachi 2:15 – Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring.

Through a Holy Spirit union, a husband and wife become children of God. A husband and wife become one in spiritual flesh through a wife’s complete submission to her husband and her husband’s complete submission to the teachings of Jesus. They become one in spirit by being partakers of the Holy Spirit this way.

Ephesians 5:22-24 – Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

This is also how Jesus and God are one; through Jesus’ complete submission to the Father.

1 Corinthians 11:3 – But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

Paul explains this concept in:

Ephesians 5:31-32 – “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 

Paul is explaining that becoming ‘one in flesh’ is a mystery, because it is not referring to sexual intercourse. Then, he relates ‘becoming one’ to the relationship of Christ and the church. The church becomes one with Christ through the Holy Spirit. 

So we can see that in 1 Corinthians 6:15, Paul is not meaning this in a sexual way. He meant this in a spiritual way, meaning do not unite your way of interpreting the Bible with a compromiser of the word. This person is one who is like a prostitute; following after many gods by following false interpretations of God’s word. Rather, you should become one in spirit with Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

This cannot mean sexual sin, as Paul also says:

1 Corinthians 6:17 – But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

Paul is speaking of a spiritual connection through the Holy Spirit with Jesus and not a spiritual connection with a ‘prostitute’, meaning a compromiser and manipulator of the word of God (a person following after many gods through compromise of God’s word).

Judges 2:17 – Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands.

God refers to many different groups of peoples and nations as spiritual prostitutes. For example, God refers to the Israelites as prostitutes.

Revelation 2:22 – Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.

In the next scripture, Jesus is referring to a church that has compromised the word of God as an adultress.

Revelation 17:1-4 – One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”

3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.

God refers to compromisers and manipulators of the word of God as prostitutes.

Ezekiel 23:1-49 – The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. 3 They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed. 4 The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

God is referring to Samaria and Jerusalem as prostitutes.

1 Corinthians 6:13-15 – Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 

Although in the beginning of this scripture, Paul is speaking of the physical body, in 1 Corinthians 6:14, Paul makes the transition from physical body to spiritual body. Since God will not raise our physical bodies from the dead (although He did do this for Jesus), Paul is referring to the spiritual portion of the resurrection that we will share with Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:35-38 – But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

Paul begins speaking about the physical body and transitions into the spiritual body with some difficulty in understanding. Paul may be difficult to understand, but anyone who renders Paul as wrong or twists his words, does so at their own demise. Although he may be hard to understand, he is accurate.

2 Peter 3:15-16 – Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

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