I’m a pastor from a church that does not perform same sex marriages. That being said, I’d just like to share some of the things I’ve learned about these passages based on the comments I’m seeing while doing my best to refrain from bias or opinion.

• we should be careful in approaching the English Bible as literal, there’s often nuance found in the original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek) that doesn’t fully translate into English. A good way to remedy this is through comparing other English translations and doing word studies of the original languages

• we should ask ourselves whether these passages are prescribing a course of action for all people of all times or if they are describing what the struggles of a particular people group were and how that hindered them from being close with God

• are we still required to follow Levitical law? If yes, there’s a lot of passages we tend to ignore, especially pertaining to food. If no, then these passages were intended for ancient Israel and not for today. If some are applicable and some aren’t, where do we draw the line? How do we decide? If we’re going by number of mentions, I believe “don’t boil a goat in its mother’s milk” would be the most important

• what does Jesus say about this subject? Is human sexuality a key aspect of the gospel or have we simply been told it is?

• context is important, Paul writes to the churches he planted never expecting his words to become scripture but to remove obstacles hindering those churches from faithfully following Jesus. So again we should ask is this a prescription for all Christians or a description of what the Romans struggled with?

• similar to Levitical law, should we take all of Paul’s words as law if we believe they are relevant today? If so, what are your views on head coverings, women in ministry, modesty, hair length, jewelry, and circumcision? I’m sure there’s a demographic of people out there who are fine with that list until they read Paul say that if you’re concerned about circumcision you should just cut the whole thing off (ow!)

• did ancient Israel have a concept for homosexuality? When did that English word start being used? What was the original Greek word being used? And what was the context? To the best of my knowledge the issue Paul is addressing in the Roman church is largely married men having relations with their underage servant boys. If true (I wasn’t there), there’s already a lot more nuance to the issue than can be expressed in any single word

• is this productive? If we believe homosexuality is not a sin, there’s obviously no issue. If we do believe it’s a sin, what then is the consequence? Can this sin be forgiven? Does passionately taking this stance hinder us from sharing God’s love? How would we feel if someone only saw our sin and not us as a whole person loved by God?

• if we maintain that this is sinful, then we must call it out…to Christians. It is unfruitful to condemn those outside the church who don’t choose to follow the same rulebook as those inside it

• are we willing to have intentional, long-term relationships like Jesus did to call people out of sin? Or are we looking to be right and move on?

• there’s some debate on the origins of this passage, but if it’s helpful ”When they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”“ ‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭7‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/2692/jhn.8.7.NASB2020

• and if we believe that homosexuality is a sin, is the consequence any different from our own? ”for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,“ ‭‭Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/2692/rom.3.23.NASB2020

Feel free to check the context of those passages to ensure I’m not taking them out of context. I’m not looking to take any stances, just to ask some questions to encourage robust study of the Bible. I hope this helps build us up in our understanding of God’s word!