When wrestling with ancient texts, one of the most difficult things is to discern how the ancient texts coexists with our modern understandings. We most certainly need to read the texts in their historic context to properly discern their meaning, while at the same time we must discern how that ancient meaning translates into our modern world. This becomes especially challenging when our modern understandings seemingly include things that the ancient world has little or no understanding of, let alone trying to address them. For the purposes of this ongoing examination, we rightly need to address sexual orientation and how that does, or does not, influence what the text is telling us.

For the purposes here, I am going to use and refer to the American psychological Association, and their understandings of sexual orientation, and all that comes with it. “Sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, or both sexes. Sexual orientation also refers to a person’s sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions. Research over several decades has demonstrated that sexual orientation ranges along a continuum, from exclusive attraction to the other sex to exclusive attraction to the same sex.” This simple definition seems to me to be adequate enough to use in addressing the texts from Leviticus that were examined previously.

Also relevant to this examination is considering what causes a person to be a part of a specific sexual orientation. For the purpose of this writing, I will again refer to the APA for their research and understanding. “There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay, or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles; most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.” My thinking on the matter is that sexual orientation is the result of a complex interplay of nature and nurture that we simply do not fully understand.

Looking at the texts from Leviticus, and in truth form other ancient near eastern legal codes, you will see very little, if anything, that deals specifically with sexual orientation. This makes an enormous amount of sense as there was not a modern notion of this in the ancient world. The legal codes of the ancient near east, including Leviticus, were simply unconcerned about attraction, focusing rather upon action. In the absence of anything that addresses sexual orientation in Leviticus, we must look to the whole council of Scripture for clarification. You are free to do so for yourself, but I have taken the time to do so, and there is nothing that scripture has to say about sexual orientation specifically. Again, this makes sense because the current understanding about sexual orientation This makes sense as sexual orientation is a modern understanding born in psychology and psychiatry which are secular disciplines. This does not mean that the understanding is incorrect, it simply means it is not born of scripture specifically.

Identity Then And Now

Identity in the ancient world was complex and complicated, just as it is now. I am an American male who happens to be heterosexual. I am a husband and a father. I am a Christian. I am of Germanic decent and thus would be considered caucasian. There are numerous other statements of identity that I could make. With each statement, certain assumptions can, and will be made, based upon the identity of the person making the assumptions. The more things change, the more they stay the same it seems as it was no different in the ancient world.

There are things today that we consider part of identity that the ancient world simply did not. We mentioned sexual orientation already, but we can add gender identity (it’s modern understanding), strong political affiliations, gang affiliations, and many more. Some identity markers still exist, but are not as significant as before. While I am part of the Fritzsche family, that means very little in the modern world as the Fritzsche family has spread across the globe. Even in America, being a part of the Fritzsche family has little meaning, while in the ancient world it would have likely told you where I lived, what my options for marriage were, what I did for a living, and nearly every aspect of my life. Even my religion could be determined by this. Even famous families in modern times such as the Kennedy family, while they tell us a little more due to their prominence, they are not nearly so revealing as they were in the ancient world.

In the ancient near east, we know a great deal about the Canaanites. They lived in the promised land before the Jews arrived. They were horribly immoral people. They were polytheistic. We know more from the biblical descriptions. The point here is that when you mentioned a Canaanite to a Jew, they knew, or thought they knew, a great deal about them. The Canaanites thought the same. While we might like to think that things are different today, Jewish blood libel is alive and well, there are still many who believe every Muslim is a terrorist, or potential terrorist, and we are not so far from the attempted genocides in Germany, the Cambodian killing fields, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Darfur, Rowanda, and more. The point here is that identity is not new, even if how we classify it is different.

Identity Of God’s Followers

While Scripture does not address sexual orientation specifically, it does have a lot to say about our identity in general. In the ancient texts in Leviticus, we can read the following: “The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:1-2). In an examination of the entire book of Leviticus, you can easily see that holiness is the key theme and purpose of the book. The word ‘holy’ appears more times in Leviticus than any other book in the Bible in fact. Israel, and by extension all of God’s people, are to be totally consecrated to God. Our holiness is to be expressed in every aspect of life, to the extent that all of our life has a certain ceremonial quality in the sense that all we do is to be consecrated to God, through Christ. This is echoed in the New Testament for Christians in several places, but Romans 12:1 is likely the best example. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Because of who God is, and because of who Christ is, and what they have done, God’s people must fully dedicate themselves to them. This is a tall order, and let me be the first to admit that I fall well short of it. The identity of a Christian should be holiness.

While for a Christian, we have the imparted righteousness of Christ, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians:5:21), the idea is no different than it is in Leviticus. There is a temptation to see the various laws spelled out in the Old Testament as new individual commands, the better understanding is that this is God through Moses, the prophets, the wisdom literature, etc providing examples of what the Ten Commandments look like when lived out. Rather than a list of do not do this or that, they should be seen as a guide and example of what holiness looks like when lived out. Even the call to be holy because God is holy is echoed in the New Testament on more than one occasion. “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16). Being holy is not supposed to be a series of things that we do, it is supposed to be who we are.

A People Set Apart

While the Jewish people had the Ten Commandments as the basics of God’s eternal moral law, they were also leaving Egypt where they had lived for generations, and were being led to a land which did not follow God. God speaks to Moses and instructs him to speak to the people. “The Lord said to Moses,  “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.  You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God.  Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 18:1-5) The essence of this is that the Jewish people, and consequently Christians, are to be set apart from the cultures that surround them, that is to say that they are to be noticeably different. In this section of Leviticus, the Jewish people, and Christians as well, are being given instructions on a morality that reflects God’s holiness, thus setting them apart from the cultures around them. To emphasize the origin of this morality, between chapters 18 and 26, the phrase “I am the Lord” occurs 42 times. Also, to emphasize the purpose of this morality, the warning not to do follow the example of the pagans is repeated 6 ties in this chapter alone.

When we are looking at this, verse 5 stands out as especially significant to understand how being set apart looks. “Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.” The significance of the language here can not be over stated. While the phrasing of those who obeys the Lord will live is repeated numerous places in scripture, it should be understood that this is not simply indication that their life will go on, but rather that their life would be lived with God’s full blessing. This is to say that this is not a way of salvation for the lost, but rather the way of life for those whom God has redeemed. (Romans 10:5-15; Galatians 3:12)

We need to consider all of these things, as well as the things that I have written before, when considering a Wesleyan sexual ethic and what that look alike lived out. In the last part of this I wrote about how removing any single item from the list of prohibited sexual practices would need an iron clad argument, and also, for the sake of consistency, need to be applied to the rest of the items on the list, the same idea applies here. In the so called holiness code in Leviticus, God has given instruction to be holy, because He is holy, and given examples of what that looks like lived out based upon His moral law. That of course has to be balanced against what scriptures says, and honestly does not say, about the identity of a Christian. If we accept that the identity of a Christian is holiness, and if we are to remove a part of what God has provided as an example of holiness we are to emulate to reflect that holiness, then we must establish under what conditions can an example of holiness be removed.

As I have mentioned, I recognize that there are differing thoughts on proper sexual ethics in Christianity. While I believe that I am correct, I am not so arrogant that I will not listen to different thoughts, and consider them. With my current understanding however, I can not find a way to ignore, or remove, and example of holiness that God has given us for the purposes of us emulating it, and being a reflection of God’s holiness. I simply can not find a way to remove parts of the moral aspects of this section of scripture while still being able to, as best as I can, live into the command to be Holy because God is holy. If our identity is to be holiness, and God is the author of holiness, then His examples must set the bar and be what we strive toward.