The stakes could not be higher in the homosexuality debate, because —
to put it rather bluntly — homosexual activity is a sin that parallels
idolatry. The Apostle Paul seems to draw this connection in Ephesians 5:5 and Colossians 3:5, and he certainly does in Romans 1:18–27.
Robert Gagnon, a leading scholar on sexuality in Scripture, says
these themes are closely related for Paul because both idolatry and
same-sex intercourse equally oppose the designs of the Creator. He sees
several strong connections that link Romans 1 to the creation account in
Genesis 1–2. In his acclaimed book The Bible and Homosexual Practice,
Gagnon writes, "Idolatry and homosexual behavior are in some measure
parallel (not just successive) phenomena since both are presented as
willful suppression of the obvious truth about God and God's design in
the natural world."1
Pagan idolatry is twisted because it is the act of rejecting the
Creator and replacing worship of him with the worship of what he has
made. Similarly, homosexual acts are twisted because they reject God's
natural design for human sexuality.2
Thus, homosexuality and idolatry are related. Both are evidence of a
twisted distortion of God's design for men and women, both dehumanize
men and women, both are rooted in a rejection of the Creator. That is to
say, the distortions of idolatry and same-sex intercourse are foremost
rooted in a worship disorder (Romans 1:21, 24–25). Continue at Tony Reinke
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