Is the Bible LGBTQ+ Affirming? A Biblical Answer

The question starts with a phrase everybody has heard: “love is love.” The claim says that if two people genuinely love each other, then nobody should call that relationship wrong. The Bible’s claim that “God is love” does not mean God approves every desire that sinful humans have. The better question asks whether a loving God can still say no to his creatures.

The Bible does not affirm LGBTQ plus relationships. God’s design for sexuality is revealed from the beginning as marriage between one man and one woman. Genesis gives the creation order: male and female, one male and one female in marriage for a lifetime, and sex belonging inside that marriage. Culture does not change God’s design, because sexuality does not begin with culture. It begins with creation.

Jesus reaffirms that design in Matthew 19. The Pharisees try to trap him with divorce, but Jesus goes back to the beginning. Jesus does not loosen the created order. Jesus affirms that marriage is male and female, and that human hardness of heart has screwed up what God made good.

Romans 1 shows humanity rejecting that design. Paul says people exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped the creature rather than the Creator. Because of that rejection, God gave them over to shameful lusts, with women exchanging natural relations and men abandoning natural relations with women. Paul describes homosexuality as unnatural, shameful, impure, and as a rejection of God’s truth and design.

First Corinthians 6 calls homosexuality sin, but it also gives hope. Paul lists men who have sex with men alongside other sins, including idolatry, adultery, greed, drunkenness, slander, and swindling. Then Paul says, “that is what some of you were.” The gospel does not leave people stuck. The gospel washes, sanctifies, and justifies sinners in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit of God.

The modern objections fall flat. The word “homosexual” not appearing in English translations until 1946 does not matter, because the Bible was not written in English, and the action is clearly described and condemned. The claim that Scripture only condemns abusive same-sex relationships adds qualifiers that the text does not give. The claim that Jesus never addressed homosexuality ignores that Jesus affirmed the creation design for marriage.

The gospel calls everyone, homosexual and heterosexual, to repentance. Identity is not found in sin, sexuality, or desire. Identity is found in Christ alone. The Bible is not the story of God affirming every desire, but the story of God rescuing sinners from bondage through Jesus Christ.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Love does not equal approval God being love does not mean God celebrates every desire that rises up in sinful humanity. Love can be tender and still say no, because a holy God does not call bondage freedom. The phrase “love is love” sounds compassionate, but it fails if it asks God to bless what goes against his own design. [34:53]
• 2. Creation sets sexuality’s design Genesis places sexuality inside God’s created order, not inside whatever culture currently celebrates. Male and female, marriage, and sexual union are not presented as flexible social inventions. God’s design begins before modern politics, before identity language, and before any culture tries to rewrite it. [43:22]
• 3. Romans names rejected design Romans 1 does not treat homosexuality as a random taboo or merely a cultural problem. Paul ties it to humanity exchanging God’s truth for a lie and worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. Sin bends desire until the created order itself gets resisted, and God’s judgment includes giving people over to what they insist on having. [47:57]
• 4. The gospel washes real sinners First Corinthians 6 names sin plainly, but it does not end with condemnation. “That is what some of you were” means the church is not made of people who never needed rescue. The gospel does not affirm sin as identity, but it does wash, sanctify, and justify people who bring their sin to Christ. [49:56]
• 5. Identity belongs to Christ alone A Christian may struggle with temptation, but sin cannot become a positive title placed beside Christ. The bare minimum is calling evil things evil and good things good, even when the struggle is personal and painful. The gospel gives a deeper identity than desire, and that identity calls for surrender rather than self-affirmation.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [32:51] - Prayer for Uganda and Outreach Update
• [33:58] - Asking Whether Love Is Love
• [35:39] - Is the Bible LGBTQ Plus Affirming?
• [37:54] - God’s Design for Sexuality
• [43:58] - Jesus Reaffirms Marriage
• [45:36] - Romans 1 and Rejected Design
• [48:48] - First Corinthians Calls Sin Sin
• [51:59] - Objection: Added in 1946
• [60:01] - Objection: Only Abusive Relationships
• [63:24] - Objection: Jesus Stayed Silent
• [66:53] - The Gospel Calls for Repentance
• [67:52] - Identity and Transformation in Christ
• [70:50] - Surrendering Every Desire

Bible Reading

Genesis 1:27-28
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”

Matthew 19:4-6
“He answered, ‘Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’”

Romans 1:24-27
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” [45:54]

1 Corinthians 6:9-11
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” [49:10]

Observation questions

1. In Genesis 1 and Matthew 19, what repeated details are given about who God made and what marriage is? [43:22]
2. In Romans 1:24-27, what words and phrases does Paul use to describe humanity’s exchange, worship, and desires? [47:57]
3. In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, what kinds of sins are listed together, and what three things does Paul say happened to some of those people? [49:56]
4. What are the three main objections raised here: about 1946, about abusive relationships, and about Jesus being silent? [51:59]

Interpretation questions

1. If Jesus answers a question about divorce by going back to creation, what does that show about how he understands marriage and God’s design for sexuality? [44:56]
2. Romans 1 ties sexual sin to exchanging the truth about God for a lie. How does that connection help explain why this issue is bigger than behavior alone? [48:17]
3. In 1 Corinthians 6, why does “such were some of you” matter so much for how sin, repentance, and hope should be understood in the church? [50:48]
4. If love does not automatically equal approval, how can a loving God still forbid something people strongly desire? [35:24]

Application questions

1. Where is there pressure right now to call something good simply because it feels loving, sincere, or widely accepted? How can truth and love both be held together in that situation? [01:07:10]
2. Identity belongs to Christ alone. Are there any desires, struggles, labels, or past sins that have started to speak louder than that identity? What would it look like to put Christ’s name above those things? [01:08:25]
3. The gospel calls both homosexual and heterosexual sinners to repentance. Is there any area of sexual sin, hidden compromise, or cherished desire that needs to be brought honestly before the Lord? [01:07:34]
4. “Such were some of you” means no one is beyond cleansing and change. Is there any sin pattern that has started to feel normal or permanent? What would it look like to believe that real transformation is still possible? [01:09:13]
5. Not every desire that rises up in the heart is good. What is one desire that has felt especially persuasive lately, and how can it be tested instead of trusted automatically? [01:07:52]
6. The Bible is not a story of God affirming every desire, but of God rescuing sinners from bondage. Has following Jesus recently felt more like surrender or self-protection? What may still be held back from him? [01:10:50]
7. The bare minimum is calling evil evil and good good. In personal life, friendships, or family conversations, where has it been hardest to speak with that kind of clarity and humility? [01:08:29]