Can You Love Someone and Still Call It Sin?

The Bible’s teaching on sexuality gets argued about constantly, but the text itself makes a different kind of demand: be holy because God is holy. We walk through that claim from Leviticus 19 and Leviticus 18, where God’s people are called to a radically different sexual ethic rooted in creation, not in cultural trend. From there, we connect the dots to Genesis, showing why Scripture frames sexual intimacy as one man and one woman and why the prohibitions are stated without modern qualifiers meant to soften them. 

Then we move into the New Testament to ask a practical question: does the church carry forward God’s moral law, or does it leave it behind? We point to Acts and then spend significant time in Romans 1, where Paul lays out a sobering progression of “exchanges” that begin with suppressing truth and end with dishonoring the body. We also talk plainly about the phrase “against nature,” what it claims about God’s design, and why the passage treats gender as central to the moral argument. 

Finally, we face the pressure point many Christians feel today: the warning in Romans 1 about approving what God calls sin, even when it involves people we love. We hold that hard line alongside an equally clear hope: Scripture does not only expose sin, it points to the Savior, and repentance is not a side issue but a core part of the gospel that leads to real forgiveness and real change. If this teaching helps you think clearly and walk humbly, subscribe, share the episode, and leave a review so more people can find it.

Transcript

Opening And Message Context

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You're listening to Foundations of Truth, the Bible-teaching ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann. Our mission is to help you build your life on the unshakable foundation of God's Word, rooted in Scripture, anchored in the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each week, Dr. Timothy Mann opens the Bible to bring clarity, conviction, and encouragement for everyday life. This message comes from Genesis chapter 19, along with other key passages in the Old and New Testaments that reveal God's design for human sexuality and his gracious call to repentance and redemption. Now here's Dr. Timothy Mann.

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Leviticus

Leviticus And The Call To Holiness

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19. Leviticus 19 actually gives the underlying command as motivation. It says, You shall be holy. Why? For I, the Lord your God, am holy. That's the motivation. So chapter 18, when you get to chapter 18, it's all about holiness as it relates to the family and sexual activity. And now Leviticus 18 doesn't tell us everything we need to know about sex, but it gives us the basic rules. And the basic rules are these incense is bad. Taking a rival wife is bad. Killing our children is bad. Homosexual activity is bad. And the book says, Leviticus says that if God's people become unclean by participating in these things, they would be driven out of the land just like the nations before them had been vomited out. So the question about what is prohibited by the holiness code in Leviticus is really straightforward. All the other laws about sexual sin in Leviticus 18 are not qualified in any way. What do I mean by that? Well, it doesn't say don't do this unless you love each other. It doesn't say don't do this unless you're committed to one another. No, there's no qualification. Sin in chapter 18, verse 22, and Leviticus chapter 20, verse 30 is described in a way that harkens back to the created order of a man and a woman in Genesis. It's very straightforward language. It recalls Genesis chapter 2, where God made the first woman from the side of the man so that she might be his helper and his unique complement. And so the reason for the prohibition against homosexuality, homosexual behavior in the Old Testament, and the reason the prohibitions are stated so absolutely is this because men were designed to have physical intimacy with women. Not a man with a man or a woman with a woman. That's not the creator's design. And so the key consideration, well, really the only one mentioned in the text is the gender of those engaged in sexual activity. Just the gender. And of course, this act falls under the umbrella of the big umbrella of sexual immorality. So the book of Leviticus is doing more than just simply outlawing unwanted same-sex sexual behavior by the people of Israel. They were to be holy, they were to be different from the rest of the people around them because Almighty God was holy. And as a holy people, God's people were to be different from the surrounding peoples, the surrounding cultures, which entailed a radically different sexual ethic. And that meant an absolute prohibition against homosexual behavior of any kind, every kind. God's plan for sexual intimacy was one man with one woman, not close relatives, not the wife of another man, not a man and a man, not a woman and a woman, not an animal. And so the pattern we see in Genesis at creation is the pattern we see reflected in the Holiness Code in Leviticus.

Creation Design Behind Sexual Ethics

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The moral law and the moral will of God then is reaffirmed in the New Testament by Jesus and by all the apostles. The sexual ethic of the Old Testament code is not done away with, like the sacrificial system, but is carried forward into the church. Every sexual sin, and this is an amazing thing because it's about God's design. Every sexual sin articulated in, and you should read chapters 18, 19, and 20 of Leviticus. Every sexual sin articulated in Leviticus is against God's design. And every new offense that's mentioned moves another step away from God's design, farther and farther and farther away from God's design. Each one. And we need to remember that Leviticus was part of the Bible that Jesus read. It was the Bible that Jesus believed. It was the Bible that Jesus did not come back to abolish, he fulfilled it. And we ought to take very seriously how the holiness code in Leviticus reveals to us the character of God and how the holy people were supposed to be. Because even on this side of the cross of Jesus dying, the moral commands in Leviticus still matter. They still

Moral Law Carried Into The Church

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matter. And when the Gentiles, that's non-Jews, by the way, if you just want a definition, and that's probably most of us listening, unless you're an ethnic Jew, when the Gentiles entered the church centuries later in the New Testament, the book of Acts, they had to have a business meeting about this because they had a church vote. They didn't have to become Jews, but in keeping with God's moral law, they did have to leave sexual immorality behind. The uniform testimony of Scripture is that sexual immorality, including homosexual activity, is against God's design.

Romans One And God’s Wrath

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Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one. This is the most detailed and probably significantly significant treatment of homosexuality that it's here, it's found in the first chapter of maybe the most important letter in the history of the world. Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one reinforces with unambiguous clarity all that we've seen up to this point from the Old Testament. And it's namely that homosexual practice is a serious sin and a violation of God's created order. It's clear in Romans chapter 1, verses 18 through 32 that same-sex sexual activity is like idolatry. It's an affront to the design of the Creator. And here's what happens in verses 18 and 20, verses 18 through 20. We see this the wrath of God being revealed because of rejection of God. That's really clear. Wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They're suppressing it, they're pushing it down, right? Trying to keep it down. They want to keep God's truth down, and we press it down in unrighteousness. We don't want it because we know God exists. We know that. We can easily see that clearly from all that he's made and from the law of God that's actually written upon our hearts. God has made it clear. He's let us know that he's there. Verses 19 and 20 inform us that none are innocent, that none are innocent, none are holy or completely ignorant from the natural world, creation itself, and from the law written on our own hearts. We know the truth about God, or at least enough of the truth to leave us without excuse. And he goes on to say the truth of God is being suppressed by unrighteousness. We don't want it, we push it down, and so there's this rampant wickedness that begins to be seen through an exchange. And

Trading God For Idols

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so, verses 21 through 23, we see the ungodliness of humanity coming through very clearly in exchanging the glory of the immortal God for the foolishness of idolatry. We worship other things. We worship ourselves, we worship our husband, we worship our wife, we worship our children, we worship our house, we worship our cars, we worship our money, we worship our recreational activities. I mean, we worship dumb stuff like things that we carve and set on a mantle and other things. We worship the creature, he says, rather than the creator. So we're exchanging the glory of God for the foolishness of idolatry. That's what happens. And then we begin to see in another exchange, verses 24 through 25, because we begin to see the ungodliness of man, of humanity. First, we suppress the truth. We're trying to hold it down, we're trying to keep it down. We don't want it. And now, though, we move from trying to hold the truth down. It says now in verses 24 through 25, they actually exchange the truth of God for what? For the lie. Now we don't just try to hold the truth down. Now we just all out believe the lie. Believe the lie. And so we see now God allowing mankind, humanity, to go their own way. He says, You don't want me? You don't want to acknowledge me? You don't want to acknowledge my glory? You don't want to give thanks to me? You don't want to glorify me? You want to run after all of these other things and have idols in your life? Well, go your way. Go your way. The Bible says he gives them over, gave them up. It's just an uncleanness. And when God allows you to go your way, you know what happens when you get to go your own way? Well, it just leads to more ungodliness and more ungodliness. The Bible says God gives them over to uncleanness, which is always associated with immorality,

Exchanging Truth For The Lie

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especially sexual immorality. And when God says, okay, you want to ignore me, go your own way. And we begin to see it says, uh they began in verse 24, therefore God gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. We begin to see them dishonoring their bodies among themselves. This is a sexual revolution. Marriage doesn't matter. Let's do what I want to do. And then we see the third exchange. We see in verses 26 through 27. Because the next progression, the next step in the progression here of sin is dishonorable passions. It says, For this reason God gave them up, that's letting you go, to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another,

God Gives Them Over

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men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. This is the giving up of natural physical relations with the members of the opposite sex for relations with those of the same sex. This is clearly homosexual sin. This is clearly homosexual activity. And the Apostle Paul here, the Word of God, here speaks of being consumed with lust for one another, passions for one another of the same sex. So gender here again is the point. Gender is the point. Biological sex, biological gender, not orientation, not exploitation. Gender is the point. The issue is exchanging the natural relations between a man and a woman for unnatural same-sex relations. So homosexual behavior is sin. Because the act itself, the very act itself, is a truth-suppressing exchange that's contrary to God's good design. The phrase here, against nature or contrary to nature, that's really straightforward. Homosexual practice is sinful because it violates the divine design in creation. The Bible is saying here that men and women who engage in same sex, sexual behavior, even if they're being true to their own feelings, even if they're being true to their own desires, which by the way is the God in the United States these days, across the board, it seems like, whatever you desire, whatever you feel, you do you. Well, that is so anti-Bible, so anti-God's word. The Bible is saying here, men and women who engage in same-sex sexual behavior, even if it's being true to their own feelings and desires, which are corrupted, by the way, because they're fallen, just like every human is, it says that they have suppressed God's truth and unrighteousness. They've exchanged the fitness and the rightness of male and female physical relations for those that are contrary to nature against nature. And then in verses 28 to 32, those are very strong because it just keeps going. Even as they didn't like to retain God in their knowledge, we don't even

Against Nature And Gender Clarity

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want to think about him. Or if we do, we want to make up a version of him that we like. My God is, listen, there's either the God of the Bible or He's not. Period. When you turn away from God and God gives you up to a debased mind, that debased mind then, that depraved mind, produces a multitude of unrighteous thoughts, unrighteous attitudes, and unrighteous actions. The sentence for which is death, physical death, which started with Adam and Eve, and spiritual death. The book of Revelation calls it the second death. It's being eternally separated from God forever, and that's torment. And so, as you can see, homosexual sin is just in the middle of all of these other sins. But it's important for us to understand. Listen, that we must not soft pedal, that there's no big deal. What God, what what the Bible underlines here is a particularly egregious rebellion. And it also means that we must face it squarely. I mean, look it in the eye. The serious indictment that God's word imposes upon individuals and churches that give approval to those who practice these things. And again, the Bible is really straightforward. Look at verse 32, Romans chapter 1, verse 32. Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them, approve of those who practice them. Again, the Bible is really straightforward. God's people not only ought not engage in homosexual behavior, but also give approval to those who do, which includes your son, or your daughter, or your sibling, or your grandson, your granddaughter, your friend, your neighbor, your co-worker. Well, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 through 10 says this. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. See, there it is again. What happens? Well, we exchange the truth for what? A lie. And now you can be deceived. It goes on to say, do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

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The Warning About Approval

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Now turn to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy 1 verses 8 through 11. And I'll say some things about those. 1 Timothy 1, verse 8 through 11 says, But we know that the law is good. Again, that's the law of God, like Leviticus, for example. We know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, correctly, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person. That means those who are saved, those who are born again, those who are truly Christians, following Jesus. He goes on to say, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers, for murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjers, and if there's any other thing, and there is, there's a whole lot that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust, the Apostle Paul says. So we come to the New Testament and we see the Holy Spirit of God here through the Apostle Paul addressing this issue, not only to the church at Rome that we just read, but also to the church at Corinth and to the church at Ephesus through their pastor Timothy. And again, what the Bible says is really straightforward. The context of 1 Corinthians 6 is all about living in such a way that demonstrates that you are truly saved, genuinely born again, that you do have the righteousness of Jesus in you coming out in how you live. And now that that list in verse 9 and 10, it's not comprehensive. I mean, that means it's not listing every potential sin or every practice of life. It's not comprehensive, but it is representative of the life that cannot be practiced if you're truly a follower of Jesus. And clearly in this list are people who engage in homosexual behavior because it says it. The Bible is saying this. God is saying this, if these actions characterize your life. Now, the context of 1 Timothy chapter 1, verses 8 through 11, is that the law of God is good because it points out to people what is contrary to God's moral law. And he says that the Creator who made the law has the right to say, This is lawless. The Creator has the right to say this is insubordinate to my design. The creator has the right to say this is unrighteous. And again, this is a representative list, but it is a straightforward list. And included in that list is a sin that is reminiscent of the city of Sodom, those who practice homosexuality.

Repentance And Gospel Hope

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And so we find in these New Testament letters the Bible saying what is hard to hear for some people. But what the rest of the Bible supports in the vast majority of church history has actually assumed and affirmed really up until recently. And that is this. This is what the Bible teaches. Homosexual activity is not a blessing to be celebrated. Homosexual activity is not a blessing to be solemnized by ceremony, but it's a sin to be repented of. It's a sin to be forsaken. And praise God, it's a sin to be forgiven, just like every other sin in the same way. Now we do need to remember that this sin is in a list of sins. It's in a list of sins. And we should not listen, church people, we should not overlook or excuse other sins just to make homosexual sin seem worse or look worse. Whether it's greed or whether it's gossip, whether it's gluttony or anything else that we need to own up to, our own failings, wherever whenever we're sinning, we need to own up to those things. Why? Because we all need to be forgiven. We all need God's grace. We all need God's mercy. The church is supposed to be comprised of sinners who have been forgiven and who have been saved by God's grace and have been declared by God to be saints, that is, to be holy ones, by God's own declaration. But the church, the membership of the church, like the membership of heaven, is to be made up of born-again repentant people. And so if we preach a gospel with no repentance, if we preach a gospel with no call to repentance, then we're preaching something other than the biblical gospel. And if we think people can find the Savior without forsaking their sin, then we don't know what sort of Savior Jesus Christ is. Few things are that are in this life are actually more important than repentance. Because it's so important that the gospels and the letters and the Old Testament even make clear that you don't go to heaven without it. Ezekiel said, repent and turn from your transgressions. John the Baptist said, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus said, repent and believe in the gospel. Peter said, repent and be baptized. Paul said, God commands all people everywhere to repent. So no doubt. I mean, no doubt. There is no doubt that the church is for broken and imperfect people. There's not a person in the church who's perfect. There's not a church in the there's not a person in the church who was not broken. I mean, we're all a mess. We're all we're all cracked eggs. Some of us are just a little bit more cracked than others, I think. But we're all dysfunctional in one way or another. We're all cracked eggs. Yes, the church is for broken and imperfect people, but broken people who hate what is broken in them. And imperfect people who have renounced and continues to renounce their sinful imperfections.

Support The Ministry And Book

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You've been listening to Foundations of Truth, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann. Today's message reminds us Scripture doesn't merely identify sin, it points us to the Savior. Every one of us stands in need of God's grace. And the good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ came to redeem sinners of every kind who repent and place their faith in him. If you'd like to hear this message again or learn more about this ministry, visit us online, foundationsoftruth.net. Join us next time as Dr. Mann continues this important series, Divine Design. Until then, stand firmly in God's truth, walk humbly in grace, and may the Lord richly bless you.

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Before we close today, I want to tell you about a resource that I believe will be a genuine help to you. I've recently published my first book, Saved, Understanding God's Work in Us. In over 30 years of pastoral ministry, one of the questions I've encountered more than almost any other is this: How can I know that I am truly saved? It is a question that deserves a careful biblical answer. And that is exactly what this book is designed to give. Saved, understanding God's Work in Us, walks through what the scripture teaches about salvation, what God has done for us, what he is doing in us, and the assurance that every believer can have because of his work. You can find it on Amazon, Barnes Noble, in Books a Million, and pretty much anywhere you buy books. Just search Saved, Understanding God's Work in Us by Dr. Timothy Mann. I pray it strengthens your faith. Thanks for being with us today. God bless you.