A question, read by SIFT

Is homosexuality a sin?

Read by SIFT · 4 Nov 2026 About this reading

DEVELOPMENT: written up by Claude from an OpenAI reading

Every verse in it is shown whole.

The word "homosexuality" is not in Scripture. A search for it found nothing. That does not mean Scripture is silent. It speaks to the matter directly, in other words, by describing the people and the acts.

The one word in the question can mean several different things:

sexual acts between two people of the same sex
sexual desire for those acts that someone deliberately feeds
an attraction or temptation that someone does not want and resists
deep love and friendship between two people of the same sex
a name someone uses to describe themselves

Scripture does not judge all of these alike, so this answer takes each in turn. Your question says nothing about your own life, and nothing about it is assumed here.

Here the replay stays still. This is the reading in brief; every step of it is listed below, in order.

"Is homosexuality a sin?"

28 minutes 24 seconds of reading, by an AI from OpenAI
69 searches of Scripture
2,366 verses opened, from 81 chapters
23 false readings struck out
11 conclusions handed on
then the answer, written by Claude in 5 minutes 7 seconds

The readings it struck out, and the verses each would break

Same-sex sexual acts are never condemned; only violence is wrong. Romans 1:27
Every direct male prohibition is restricted to a temple rite. Leviticus 18:22
The male-sexual category means menstealing and nothing else. 1 Timothy 1:10
A person acting against a previously heterosexual psychology is the only person reached by Romans 1. Romans 1:27
A committed relationship or an identity label by itself supplies an exception to the sexual verdict. Romans 1:27
Because nature is mentioned, everything contrary to nature must be sinful. Romans 11:24
Only bodily acts can be sin; inner sexual purposes never are. Matthew 5:28
Every temptation is already a committed sin. Hebrews 4:15
Everything described as natural, or every desire experienced, is therefore morally right. Ephesians 2:3
Deep love between two men is itself the sexual offence named in Leviticus. 1 Samuel 18:1
Love fulfils law by cancelling its sexual commands. Galatians 5:13
Equal belonging in Christ means every form of sexual conduct is approved. Galatians 5:19
Not being under law means sin is allowed. Romans 6:15
All things are lawful permits every sexual act. 1 Corinthians 6:13
Remaining in one's calling cancels commands about sexual conduct. 1 Corinthians 7:19
Romans 14's purity means that no sexual act is morally wrong. Romans 14:17
Romans 2 withdraws the judgment that precedes it. Romans 2:2
Sodom's only sin was homosexual intercourse. Ezekiel 16:49
Sodom's sexual wrongdoing can be removed entirely from the account. Jude 1:7
A person who was assaulted must share the assailant's guilt. Deuteronomy 22:26
A sin verdict permits hatred. 1 John 4:20
These warnings mean cleansing and mercy are unavailable to people in the list. 1 Corinthians 6:11
Cleansing promises that every temptation or attraction vanishes. 1 Corinthians 6:11

Verdicts

The reading reaches a firm verdict about same-sex sexual acts: Scripture teaches that they are sin.
Leviticus states the male sex-and-act contrast without a condition restricting it to rape, boys, payment, or worship.
The classification as sin is supported by the texts' own account of transgression and unrighteousness, rather than a definition limited to visible harm.
Mutual desire, commitment, or calling the relationship marriage does not by itself provide an exception to the act verdict.
Being tempted is not itself identical with committing sin.
Inward sexual wrong must not be restricted to outward acts.
Deep same-sex love and friendship cannot simply be identified with the sexual offence.
Unmarried life is positively commended. The answer must not prescribe marriage as everybody's necessary remedy.
The warning is serious, and the report of cleansing must be retained beside it.
Hatred and self-exempting hypocrisy are excluded.
The read-back added explicit requirements for sincere love, practical good, impartiality, gentle restoration, burden-bearing, and refusal of degrading speech.

The rest of the answer · Every step of the reading

The answer

How it was read, replayed from its own logs in the order it happened, at eight times its real speed (slower through its record, so each part can be read). It pauses once, at the reading's conclusions. The clock is the real time it happened.

What this reading did

Scripture alone. By its words, and by the Greek and Hebrew behind them. The first search, homosexuality, found nothing.
In its own context. Never a verse on its own: whole passages, and 80 whole chapters.
False readings fall. It struck out 23 readings, each by a verse it would make false.
Traceable. Every verse it quotes opens in its chapter, as the reading opened it.

The Greek and Hebrew word searches use data from STEP Bible.

Is homosexuality a sin?

Sexual acts between people of the same sex

Paul, writing to the believers in Rome, says this:

"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:" ()

"And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." ()

Verse 27 describes men leaving sexual relations with women for sexual relations with other men. It judges what they did plainly: it is "unseemly", and it is an "error". The desire it describes is mutual ("one toward another"), and that does not make the acts approved. Verse 26 calls the affections behind them "vile".

Verse 26 does not itself say who the women's partners were. Verse 27 opens with "likewise also the men", so it is the matching case: men leaving women for men. The women's change is therefore read as women with women. Another suggestion is that verse 26 means some unnamed practice between women and men. That leaves the word "likewise" unexplained, and nothing in the passages read supports it. So the conclusion about women rests on this parallel with verse 27, not on verse 26 alone.

The setting in Romans

Romans 1 describes people who turned from the worship of God to idols, and God giving them over:

"And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things." ()

"Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:" ()

"Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." ()

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;" ()

"Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." ()

The link between idolatry and these acts is real: Paul presents one as the cause and the other as judgment on it. But the passage never says that only acts tied to idol worship are wrong. The other wrongs in the same chapter are not made righteous when no idol is involved either. Other passages, below, condemn these acts with no idol setting at all.

Paul then turns on the person who judges:

"Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." ()

"But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things." ()

"Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" ()

Romans 2 does not take back Romans 1. Verse 2 says straight away that God's judgment is true. What Romans 2 forbids is exempting yourself. No one may treat one group of people as uniquely wicked while ignoring the greed, malice, pride, lack of mercy and other sins listed in the same passage. God's goodness aims at repentance.

The law given to Israel

Through Moses, the LORD told Israel:

"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." ()

This command stands among commands about relatives, adultery and sex with animals. The command just before it, about Molech, is a separate command, worded separately:

"And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD." ()

Nothing in verse 22 limits it to rape, to boys, to payment, or to worship. The reason given for these commands is that these things defiled the nations before Israel, and the commands bound the stranger living among Israel too:

"Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:" ()

"Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:" ()

So these commands cannot be explained only as marks that set Israel apart from other nations. How the law of Moses applies today is taken up further down.

Paul's letter to Timothy

"Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers," ()

"For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;" ()

"According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." ()

Here "them that defile themselves with mankind" are listed among the lawless and sinners, against sound doctrine, in line with the gospel. "Menstealers" are a separate group in the same list. They do not narrow or redefine the group before them. Nothing in the passage limits it to a temple, payment, violence, slavery, an age difference or idol worship. The same chapter also says what the commandment is for:

"Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:" ()

What "sin" means here

Scripture explains sin in its own words:

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." ()

"All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death." ()

So sin is not only whatever visibly harms another person.

Readings that fall

Several other readings were tested against these verses:

"Same-sex acts are never condemned; only violence is wrong." This fails Romans 1:27, which judges mutual desire and the acts themselves. Nothing in it is about violence.
"Leviticus 18:22 is only about temple rites." The verse has no such limit, and the Molech command is a separate verse. 1 Timothy 1:9-11 gives no support for that limit either.
"The group in 1 Timothy 1:10 just means menstealers." The verse names the two groups separately. Treating them as one has no support, and it erases the sexual description. (This answer makes no claim about how the original word is built.)
"Romans 1 only reaches people who went against an attraction to the opposite sex they had before." Romans says nothing about anyone's earlier attraction. It names the sex of the partners and the act. Nothing positive supports that exception, and Leviticus 18:22 sets out the same contrast between the sexes without condition.
"Romans 2 cancels Romans 1." Romans 2:2 says the opposite.
"Whatever is 'against nature' must be sin." This is false. Paul uses the same words for something good God does:

"For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?" ()

So the word "nature" cannot carry the verdict by itself. The verdict rests on what Romans 1 actually describes, the sex of the partners and the acts, and on its own words of judgment: "vile", "unseemly", "error".

Scripture teaches this: sexual acts between people of the same sex are sin. This rests on what these passages actually say, not just on finding no approval anywhere.

Commitment, love and marriage

Shared desire, faithfulness to each other, or calling the relationship a marriage does not by itself make these acts an exception. Romans 1:27 names no exception for commitment.

The pattern Scripture gives for marriage

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." ()

"And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." ()

"And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." ()

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." ()

When the Pharisees asked Jesus about divorce, He answered from these very words:

"The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?" ()

"And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female," ()

"And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?" ()

"Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." ()

Mark tells of the same answer:

"But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female." ()

"And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh." ()

Mark's account confirms Matthew's. It is the same teaching, not a second, separate proof.

Paul gives the same pattern:

"Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." ()

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;" ()

"For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." ()

"This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church." ()

This is Scripture's positive teaching: marriage is the union of a man and his wife. It supports the verdict above, but it is not the argument for it. The argument is not "whatever Scripture doesn't mention is forbidden". The passages that speak directly about the acts carry the verdict.

A sexual union is not automatically a marriage

"What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh." ()

"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." ()

Paul uses Genesis' words "one flesh" about a union with a harlot, and then commands flight from it. A sexual union is real, but that does not make it right.

Not everyone is called to marry

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul is answering questions the church had written to him:

"Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman." ()

"For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that." ()

"I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I." ()

"But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn." ()

Unmarried life is called good, and people have different gifts. Scripture does not prescribe marriage as everyone's remedy. The counsel to marry in verse 9 does not change who marriage joins. Paul also says marrying is no sin:

"But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you." ()

"But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry." ()

Both verses speak within the chapter's discussion of husbands and wives. Neither names any other pairing.

What love is

These passages are real commands, and they bind everyone:

"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." ()

"For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." ()

"Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." ()

Love fulfils the law by including its commands, as verse 9 shows, not by cancelling them. The same holds elsewhere:

"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." ()

"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." ()

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness," ()

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," ()

"And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." ()

"But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;" ()

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up," ()

"Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;" ()

"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." ()

"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." ()

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." ()

"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." ()

Jesus Himself ties love to keeping His commands:

"If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." ()

"This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." ()

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." ()

"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." ()

In Scripture, love is patient, kind, truthful and self-giving, and it does not rejoice in wrongdoing. Real care for a partner does not, by that fact alone, turn every chosen act into obedience. And calling an act sin never permits hatred of anyone. That is covered further down.

The law of Moses and its penalty

Leviticus also gives a penalty:

"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." ()

This was a law with a penalty, given to Israel. It is quoted whole here, penalty included. Your question is about sin, and nothing here is an instruction to harm anyone today.

The law of Moses does not carry over into the present all in one piece. The same part of Leviticus also has these commands:

"Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee." ()

"Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean." ()

When some demanded that believers from other nations keep the whole law, the apostles refused, but they kept sexual restraint:

"But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." ()

"Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:" ()

"That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well." ()

"Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;" ()

So the verdict above does not depend on simply carrying the whole code of Moses into today. Romans 1 and 1 Timothy 1 judge these acts directly, after Christ, and Acts keeps the call to sexual restraint.

What the church is told to do is different from Israel's penalty. It concerns its own members, and it leaves outsiders to God:

"For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?" ()

"But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person." ()

Personal revenge is ruled out:

"Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men." ()

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." ()

Paul quotes the song of Moses here:

"To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste." ()

In that song, vengeance belongs to God. It is not a command to anyone to take revenge.

Desire and temptation

Being tempted is not the same as sinning

"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession." ()

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." ()

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." ()

Jesus was tempted, yet without sin. So temptation and sin are not the same thing. (Hebrews does not say that Jesus felt any particular modern kind of sexual attraction, and this answer does not claim it.)

James traces the steps:

"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." ()

"But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." ()

"Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." ()

The one who endures temptation is blessed. Being drawn and enticed comes first. Sin is what desire "bringeth forth" once it has "conceived".

Scripture teaches this: being tempted, even with a temptation that is unwanted and resisted, is not in itself committing sin. The reading "every temptation is already sin" is false: it would make Hebrews 4:15 impossible.

But sin is not only in outward acts

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:" ()

"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." ()

This rules out the idea that only bodily acts can be sin. Jesus' own example is a man looking at a woman, and adultery. Applying it to same-sex desire is not done by simply swapping the nouns. Other passages speak to it directly. Romans 1:26 calls the affections "vile", and Romans 1:27 names the act the men desired. Paul also writes:

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:" ()

"Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:" ()

In the original language, the word for "affections" in Romans 1:26 is the same word as "inordinate affection" in Colossians 3:5 and "lust" in 1 Thessalonians 4:5. All three settings reject sexual disorder.

Scripture teaches this: deliberately feeding a sexual desire for a forbidden act can itself be sin.

Holding both together

Neither of these truths may be used to cancel the other. James' steps cannot be used to call every inward sexual craving innocent until it is acted on. Nor can the passages against wrong affections be used to prove that every unwanted awareness or temptation is already consent.

An earlier stage of this reading argued too broadly about feelings that are not chosen, and it was corrected. It had leaned on this verse:

"For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." ()

That verse describes wrongdoing that someone does against their own will. It does not settle the moral character of every feeling that arrives unasked. So the argument was narrowed to what the text does show. Paul writes:

"Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." ()

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" ()

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." ()

So "it feels natural to me" or "I desire it" does not make something right. Ephesians 2:3 speaks of desires, and of a condition "by nature", within an account of disobedience and wrath. Then mercy, grace and good works follow. This does not pass judgment on every first, unchosen impulse, and it does not explain any one person's attraction.

The same holds for the promise about desires in the Psalms:

"Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." ()

"The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." ()

"Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah." ()

The promise is tied to delighting in the LORD, in a psalm where God's law is in the heart. It is not approval of every wish. Another psalm prays that wicked desires not be granted.

Words for "desire" do not always mean wrong desire. Jesus used them of His own wish:

"And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:" ()

The setting decides. The same goes for "affection": Scripture also commands it in a good sense, using a different original word, one also used for how a person thinks:

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." ()

"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." ()

Where this leaves the word "homosexuality"

None of the passages read defines the modern word or category. So if "homosexuality" means an inward experience, which truth applies to a particular person depends on what that experience is. Is it an unwanted temptation being resisted, or a desire being deliberately fed? Your question does not say, and nothing is assumed.

It depends on something we don't know yet. If you want this applied to your own inward experience, the reading needs one thing from you:

"Does homosexuality here mean sexual acts, deliberately cultivated sexual desire, or an attraction being resisted?"

The general answer above does not wait on that question.

Love and friendship between people of the same sex

Scripture records deep love between two men:

"And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." ()

"Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul." ()

"For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die." ()

"And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded." ()

"And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, The LORD be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city." ()

"I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women." ()

These accounts record love, a covenant that reached to their descendants, kissing at parting, and grief. The conflict they name is Saul's plan to kill David and the question of Jonathan's throne. They never say the two had sexual relations. Their love must not be condemned just because both were men. Nor can these accounts be read as approving a sexual act they never mention, and they do not reveal what the two men felt beyond what is written.

John records closeness between Jesus and a disciple:

"Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." ()

"Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved." ()

"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." ()

Affection and closeness cannot simply be called the sexual sin of Romans 1:27. And this narrative does not describe any sexual act or permit a forbidden one.

Scripture commands sexual restraint and brotherly love side by side:

"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:" ()

"But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another." ()

The claim "deep love between two men is itself the sin Leviticus names" has no support. Nothing in these accounts makes that link, and it would condemn the very love Scripture records.

Two other accounts sometimes raised

The centurion in Luke 7:

"And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die." ()

"When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." ()

The person dear to him is called his servant, and Jesus praises the centurion's faith. The account describes no sexual relationship, so the healing cannot be made into approval of one.

Eunuchs:

"Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree." ()

"For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;" ()

"Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." ()

"For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." ()

God's promise to faithful eunuchs is real: a place and a name that will not be cut off. They are not to count themselves shut out. The conditions in the passage stay too: keeping, choosing, taking hold. Neither passage says that eunuchs are the people the modern word describes, and neither sets up another kind of sexual pairing as marriage.

Names and labels

A modern identity word, on its own, is not evidence that someone has committed a particular act or fed a forbidden desire. Nothing about anyone's guilt, forgiveness or standing with God follows from a label.

Sodom

Sodom is often brought into this question, so the reading looked at it closely.

"And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;" ()

"And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;" ()

"And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them." ()

"Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof." ()

"And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door." ()

The men of the city demanded the visitors, threatened Lot, and tried to break in. This was an attempted sexual assault, not a peaceful, faithful couple. Lot's offer of his daughters is only a record of what he said. God did not command it, and the account does not approve it. And God had called Sodom's sin "very grievous" before that night.

Through Ezekiel, the LORD named other sins of Sodom when He rebuked Jerusalem:

"Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." ()

"And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good." ()

"Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters." ()

Jude names sexual sin:

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." ()

"Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." ()

Peter speaks of Lot living among them:

"(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)" ()

Two opposite readings fall:

"Sodom's only sin was homosexual intercourse." False. Ezekiel 16:49 names pride, plenty, idleness and neglect of the poor, and verse 50 adds haughtiness and abomination.
"There was no sexual sin at Sodom." False. Jude 1:7 names fornication and "going after strange flesh".

This reading did not settle exactly what "strange flesh" means. Two readings remain possible. It may mean flesh of a different kind, since the visitors were angels (Genesis 19:1) and Jude has just spoken of angels (Jude 1:6). Or it may mean wrongful sexual pursuit as such, which the men's demand and Jude's own words make plain. The original word behind "strange" was followed to other places it is used:

"And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" ()

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." ()

There it means "another" person and "the other" master. That does not decide what kind of difference Jude means.

The answer does not turn on this. Under either reading, Sodom included both sexual sin and other sins. Under either reading, Sodom is not an example of a peaceful partnership between two consenting people, and it cannot be the only proof about one. The verdict on same-sex acts rests on Romans 1:26-27 and the other passages above, not on Sodom.

A person who is assaulted is not guilty

"But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:" ()

"But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter:" ()

Scripture separates the one who forces from the one forced. So the words "both of them" in Leviticus 20:13 cannot be turned into a rule that someone who was assaulted shares the attacker's guilt. That claim is false.

The old word "sodomite"

"There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel." ()

"Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God." ()

"And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel." ()

"And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made." ()

"And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land." ()

"And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove." ()

The same original word is translated "unclean" once, in a warning Elihu speaks to Job:

"They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean." ()

In Kings this word is tied to idols and to worship at the grove, and that tie is real. But it does not define a modern identity. Nor does it make every other passage about sex between men apply only to worship rites. The verse in Job describes no practice. These passages back up the warning; they are not what the verdict rests on.

The warning, and the mercy

In 1 Corinthians 5–6, Paul is dealing with reported sexual sin in the church, with lawsuits, and with believers cheating one another:

"It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife." ()

"Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren." ()

Then he warns them:

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind," ()

"Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." ()

"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." ()

The warning is serious, and it does not single out one group as beyond hope. The same list names thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers, and the people Paul is writing to had just been cheating each other. Verse 11 belongs with verses 9 and 10. Some of those Paul wrote to had been in that list, and they were washed, sanctified and justified.

That is not permission to keep doing what the list names. It is not a statement about any person's standing with God today. And it does not promise that every attraction disappears. The verse says washed, sanctified and justified, and says nothing about attraction.

Two readings fall:

"People in this list cannot be cleansed or shown mercy." False, by 1 Corinthians 6:11 itself.
"Being cleansed means every temptation or attraction goes away." The verse does not say this, and nothing in the reading supports it.

Scripture speaks of forgiveness, with its condition:

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." ()

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." ()

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:" ()

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." ()

John also wrote so that believers may know:

"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." ()

None of these is used here to decide anyone's standing with God.

About the word "effeminate"

This reading could not reliably check the original word behind "effeminate" in 1 Corinthians 6:9, because the word index it used is visibly misaligned at that verse. A nearby original word, possibly the one, is used elsewhere only of soft clothing and luxury:

"But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses." ()

"But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts." ()

None of this shows that gentleness, soft clothing, feminine mannerisms, an identity, or an attraction someone did not choose is a sexual sin. No precise meaning for the word has been worked out here. It also has not been shown that "abusers of themselves with mankind" here and "them that defile themselves with mankind" in 1 Timothy 1:10 use the same original word, and no argument here depends on that. This limit belongs to this reading's tools, not to Scripture. The verdict on same-sex acts does not depend on it.

How people must be treated

Saying that an act is sin never permits hatred, contempt or cruelty toward anyone. These commands are part of the answer, not a softening of it:

"Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." ()

"Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD." ()

"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" ()

"Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." ()

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" ()

"Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." ()

"But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth." ()

The idea that a verdict of sin permits hatred is false, by 1 John 4:20.

Scripture asks for more than the absence of hatred. It asks for active good, gentle restoration and fairness:

"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." ()

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." ()

"As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." ()

"If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:" ()

"But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors." ()

"For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." ()

"For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment." ()

"Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God." ()

"Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be." ()

James 2:11 quotes these commands:

"Thou shalt not kill." ()

"Thou shalt not commit adultery." ()

Every person is made in God's likeness (James 3:9; Genesis 1:27). Favouritism is sin. Mercy is commanded. No one may use the verdict on an act to reduce a person to a sexual category, to humiliate them, or to withhold ordinary care.

Those who judge must start with themselves:

"Judge not, that ye be not judged." ()

"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." ()

Jesus does not forbid every moral judgment. He forbids hypocrisy, and He puts correcting yourself first. Romans 2:1 says the same, and Ezekiel 16:52 shows Jerusalem, which judged Sodom, judged worse than Sodom.

Finally, no one may claim to know another person's heart or final judgment:

"Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." ()

The same letter corrects sinful acts plainly (1 Corinthians 5–6). So this limit does not make acts impossible to judge. What it rules out is claiming to know what God has decided about a person. This answer says what Scripture teaches about acts and desires. It says nothing about whether anyone, including you, is forgiven, saved, or right with God.

How the reading checked its words, and its limits

This section is for anyone who wants to check the reading for themselves.

"Nature" and "natural." These words were followed through other places they are used:

"For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:" ()

"And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?" ()

"For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:" ()

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." ()

"But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;" ()

"Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" ()

"But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering." ()

"But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God." ()

None of these defines a person's sexual orientation. The passage about hair does not prove that "nature" always means fixed biology, or always means custom, or always means approval. Together with Romans 11:24, this is why the verdict rests on what Romans 1 actually describes and judges, not on the word "nature" alone.

"Unseemly." The original word in Romans 1:27 is used once more, of exposed shame:

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." ()

That verse does not define a sexual act. The sexual sense in Romans 1:27 comes from Romans' own description of men with men.

"Women" and "men" in Romans 1. The original words are the same ones translated "female" and "male" in Matthew 19:4 and Galatians 3:28. The distinction is between the sexes, not a class of people or an age group.

"Mankind" in Leviticus. The original word is used for male in Genesis 1:27 ("male and female"). It is not a word limited to boys, slaves or prostitutes. One use was compared only to see how the phrase "lying with" refers to sexual experience. It is a command in war, and it is not brought into this question as moral instruction:

"Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him." ()

"But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." ()

The word "mankind" in James concerns animals tamed by people, not sexual categories:

"For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:" ()

"Tempted." The original word is also used of Jesus testing Philip:

"And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do." ()

So the word alone does not mean being lured into evil. The difference between temptation and sin rests on what Hebrews 4:15 and James 1 actually say.

Where quotations come from. Where a passage relied on quotes older Scripture, the source was found and read:

"Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith." ()

This is the source for:

"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." ()

"Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed." ()

This is the source for:

"For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written." ()

The point about hypocrisy rests on Romans 2:1-2, not on Isaiah.

"In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:" ()

"That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this." ()

These are the source for:

"That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things." ()

Amos' wording differs from Acts, and no argument here depends on that difference.

"I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." ()

This is the source for:

"For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." ()

It speaks of accountability to God. It does not permit any sexual act.

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." ()

This is the source for:

"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." ()

Exodus 20:14 is the source of the adultery command in Matthew 5:27 and Romans 13:9. Leviticus 19:18 is the source of "love thy neighbour" in Romans 13:9, Galatians 5:14 and James 2:8. Genesis 2:24 is the source of "one flesh" in Matthew 19:5, 1 Corinthians 6:16 and Ephesians 5:31. Deuteronomy 32:35 is the source for Romans 12:19. In each, the later passage keeps what the source forbids. None reverses it.

Jesus also quoted words about hatred:

"But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause." ()

Two psalms carry those words:

"Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause." ()

"They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away." ()

The reading did not pick one of these as the only source. Jesus applying one line does not make every line of the psalm about Him, such as this one:

"O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee." ()

Nothing about sexual conduct is drawn from this quotation.

Other passages found and set aside. The searches also turned up other passages, which were read in place and add nothing that changes this answer. Among them: further warnings in 1 John, which are not used here to decide anyone's standing; Jesus' comparison of other towns with Sodom; the restoration passages in Ezekiel 16; the forgiven woman in Luke 7; and Saul's words about David's marriage.

What was not checked:

This reading did not open the whole of Scripture. Across 69 searches, 567 passages that appeared in results were listed but not read, and some broad searches had further pages that were never seen. So nothing here claims that Scripture says nothing more on this.
No outside history, dictionary, commentary or psychology was used. The causes of attraction, and whether it lasts, have not been decided.
The original word behind "effeminate" in 1 Corinthians 6:9 could not be checked with the tools available, as explained above.
The exact sense of "strange flesh" in Jude 1:7 was not settled. As shown above, the answer does not turn on it.
What the word "homosexuality" means in your question, and anything about your own life, is not known. That is why the one question above is offered, if you want the answer applied to your own experience.

Every step of the reading

Everything the replay shows, as plain text, in the order it happened. Times are from the moment the reading began.

Every search, in order (69)

0:28 words homosexuality 0 found
0:28 word family sin 1286 found
0:29 words mankind 6 found
0:29 words natural 12 found
0:29 words effeminate 1 found
0:29 words sodom 47 found
1:02 all of love + law 10 found
1:02 all of sin + law 23 found
1:02 words sodomite 1 found
1:02 all of love + women 2 found
1:02 words male nor female 1 found
1:02 words tempted 22 found
1:03 words one flesh 6 found
1:12 all of judge + not 51 found
1:12 words lust 18 found
1:12 all of fornication + idols 5 found
1:12 words sodomites 4 found
1:12 word family mankind 1772 found
1:12 original word G3120 3 found soft 3 · nor 1
1:12 original word G3715 1 found lust 1
1:12 original word G808 2 found shame 1 · unseemly 1
1:12 original word G5446 3 found natural 3
1:12 original word G733 1 found mankind 1
1:12 word family effeminate 45 found
1:12 original word G5540 2 found use 2
1:12 original word G5449 11 found nature 10 · natural 2 · kind 1 · mankind 1
1:12 original word G3806 3 found affection 1 · affections 1 · lust 1
2:42 words Corinth 6 found
2:42 words nothing of itself 0 found
2:42 all of name + blasphemed 6 found
2:42 words Thou shalt not commit adultery 4 found
2:42 words love thy neighbour 8 found
2:42 words just shall live 4 found
2:42 words soft 7 found
2:42 all of sin + unrighteousness 2 found
2:42 original word H2145 80 found male 37 · males 30 · child 5 · man 5 · mankind 2 · him 1 · men 1
2:42 original word H2145 (page 2) 80 found male 37 · males 30 · child 5 · man 5 · mankind 2 · him 1 · men 1
2:42 original word H4904 44 found bed 29 · beds 5 · bedchamber 4 · lying 4 · couch 1 · lain 1 · lieth 1 · with 1
2:42 original word G266 151 found sin 94 · sins 78 · offence 1 · sinful 1
3:14 all of eunuchs + name 1 found
3:14 all of love + iniquity 1 found
3:14 words abusers 1 found
3:14 words affections 2 found
3:14 words circumcision 32 found
3:14 all of damsel + sin 1 found
3:44 words eunuchs 16 found
3:44 all of charity + iniquity 0 found
3:44 original word G1939 37 found lusts 22 · lust 9 · concupiscence 3 · desire 3 · after 1
3:44 original word H6945 6 found sodomites 4 · sodomite 1 · unclean 1
3:44 original word G3985 35 found tempted 15 · tempting 7 · ye 4 · tried 3 · tempt 2 · tempter 2 · about 1 · assayed 1 · being 1 · examine 1 · he 1 · prove 1 · tempteth 1 · try 1 · was 1
3:44 original word G1937 16 found desire 4 · covet 2 · desired 2 · shalt 2 · after 1 · coveted 1 · desireth 1 · desiring 1 · fain 1 · lust 1 · lusted 1 · lusteth 1
4:23 words tabernacle of David 3 found
4:23 words messenger before 3 found
4:23 words sinned and come short 0 found
4:23 words every knee 3 found
4:23 words rejoiceth not 1 found
4:23 original word G26 106 found love 85 · charity 28 · charitably 1 · dear 1 · love's 1
5:35 original word G2338 5 found female 3 · woman 1 · women 1
5:36 original word G730 7 found male 4 · men 3 · man 2
5:36 words love without dissimulation 0 found
16:16 words desires 3 found
16:16 words affection 6 found
16:17 words vengeance and recompence 0 found
16:39 words recompence 18 found
16:39 words hated me without a cause 1 found
16:57 original word G5426 21 found mind 8 · be 4 · think 4 · minded 3 · regardeth 3 · let 2 · likeminded 2 · savourest 2 · affection 1 · care 1 · careful 1 · doth 1 · of 1 · regard 1 · thinkest 1 · understood 1 · were 1
16:58 words without a cause 8 found
18:27 words strange flesh 1 found
18:44 original word G2087 94 found another 44 · other 30 · others 11 · next 2 · some 2 · altered 1 · another's 1 · else 1 · man 1 · matters 1 · one 1 · seventy 1 · strange 1 · thing 1 · things 1

Every time it opened Scripture (11 times, 2,366 verses)

0:40 Leviticus 18 30 Leviticus 19 37 Leviticus 20 27 Romans 1 32 Romans 2 29 1 Corinthians 5 13 1 Corinthians 6 20 1 Corinthians 7 40 1 Timothy 1 20 248 verses, 248 new
1:22 Genesis 18 33 Genesis 19 38 Ezekiel 16 63 Jude 1 25 2 Peter 1 21 2 Peter 2 22 James 1 27 1 John 1 10 1 John 2 29 1 John 3 24 1 John 4 21 313 verses, 313 new
1:39 Genesis 1 31 Genesis 2 25 Matthew 5 48 Matthew 6 34 Matthew 7 29 Matthew 19 30 197 verses, 197 new
2:06 Romans 11 36 Romans 13 14 Romans 14 23 Galatians 3 29 Galatians 4 31 Galatians 5 26 Hebrews 4 16 Colossians 3 25 1 Thessalonians 4 18 218 verses, 218 new
3:35 Acts 15 41 Deuteronomy 22 30 Deuteronomy 23 25 1 Kings 14 31 1 Kings 15 34 1 Kings 22 53 2 Kings 23 37 Romans 6 23 Romans 7 25 1 John 5 21 320 verses, 320 new
3:55 1 Samuel 18 30 1 Samuel 19 24 1 Samuel 20 42 2 Samuel 1 27 Matthew 11 30 Luke 7 50 203 verses, 203 new
4:40 Exodus 20 26 Habakkuk 2 20 Isaiah 52 15 Amos 9 15 Isaiah 45 25 Isaiah 56 12 1 Corinthians 1 31 1 Corinthians 13 13 Ephesians 5 33 Luke 22 71 Numbers 31 54 Job 36 33 348 verses, 348 new
15:59 Romans 12 21 1 Corinthians 4 21 1 Corinthians 11 34 Galatians 6 18 James 2 26 James 3 18 Ephesians 2 22 160 verses, 160 new
16:16 John 15 27 John 6:1–21 21 Revelation 16 21 Mark 10 52 121 verses, 121 new
17:17 Deuteronomy 32 52 Psalms 35 28 Psalms 69 36 Psalms 37 40 Psalms 140 13 169 verses, 169 new
26:55 John 13 38 John 14 31 69 verses, 69 new

The reader's own notes (9)

0:00–0:28 The reading will first open the two named SIFT files in full, then find and fetch the relevant passages through the permitted tools. RECORD.md will be completed and checked before HANDOFF.md is written.
0:40–1:02 The first passages distinguish sexual conduct from the broader word in the question. The reading is checking the words for acts, desire, and sin, alongside the passages about love, judgment, and the law’s application.
2:42–3:14 Several passages limit what a blanket answer could say: temptation is distinguished from sin, love and mercy remain commands, and the Sodom account describes a violent assault. The supplied word index also misaligns parts of 1 Corinthians 6:9; the record will flag that fault and avoid deriving definitions from it.
5:36–15:59 The gathered texts support a verdict on same-sex sexual activity, with separate treatment of temptation and a person’s identity label. RECORD.md will preserve both the reasons for that verdict and its limits, especially the passages about love, mercy, and judging others.
5:36–15:59 RECORD.md has been written with the passage readings, alternatives tested, word-index limitations, and search results. The next step is the required read-back, including a check for unread search hits that could qualify its explanations. HANDOFF.md will follow that review.
5:36–15:59 The read-back identified further checks on impartiality, restoring someone gently, judging hidden motives, and the use of “nature.” It also found an argument about involuntary desire that needs narrower wording: its cited verse describes unwanted wrongdoing, without defining every unwanted feeling.
18:44–26:55 The review has strengthened the requirements for impartiality, gentle restoration, and refusing personal vengeance. It also corrected the overbroad argument about involuntary desire. The revised record preserves those changes, and its 244 whole-verse quotations have been checked against the fetched text.
18:44–26:55 HANDOFF.md has been drafted from the revised record. A final check is verifying the surrounding text that identifies the speaker and hearers of John 15, along with the quotations in both files.
26:55–28:24 Completed and checked: - RECORD.md - HANDOFF.md All Scripture quotations match fetched verses. The answer itself has not been written.

What its record and its hand-off say, in their order

The person's complete question and the permitted sources

“Is homosexuality a sin?”

This is a question, not a disclosure of the person's conduct, desires, sex, relationships, faith, danger, or purpose. No such circumstances are assumed. The single noun could refer to same-sex sexual acts, sexual desire, a continuing pattern of attraction, a relationship, or a person's chosen description. Those uses must not receive one undifferentiated judgment.

The reading opened these files, in full together, before gathering passages:

/Users/Shared/before-god-sift-library-2026-11-03/runs/homosexuality/inputs/SIFT-v3-CORE.md
/Users/Shared/before-god-sift-library-2026-11-03/runs/homosexuality/inputs/SIFT-v3-POLICY.md

The supplied SHA256 values were not independently computed: the allowed command set does not include a hash command. No other run, worked answer, commentary, dictionary, website, or external account was opened. Scripture was obtained only through the named kjv.py tool; discovery used the named search.py and tag.py tools. Only the two requested output files are being written. This record was subsequently opened in full with the permitted cat at /Users/Shared/before-god-sift-library-2026-11-03/runs/homosexuality/out/RECORD.md, before the hand-off was written. The read-back revisions are recorded below. No assistants were delegated work.

SIFT is the supplied reading discipline, not independent evidence deciding the result. References below designate fetched verses; every verse carrying a claim is quoted whole in the verse table. The table names the larger reading range instead of reproducing that range.

From its hand-off to the writer

Their words

“Is homosexuality a sin?”

This is a general question, not a disclosure of conduct, attraction, relationship, faith, danger, or purpose. No personal circumstances are assumed. The answer must distinguish sexual acts, inward cultivation, unwanted temptation, friendship, and an identity description.

This hand-off is drawn from the finished, revised RECORD.md after its full read-back and additional checks. The answer itself has not been written. The answer must retain the review's changes to reasoning and treatment of people, even though the act verdict remained.

Hard passages

Love fulfilling law, equal belonging in Christ, receiving one another, and refusing judgment are the strongest qualifications to a blanket condemnation of everything the modern noun might mean. They remain binding.

"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." ()

"Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." ()

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." ()

"I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean." ()

"Judge not, that ye be not judged." ()

Romans 13 includes particular commands within love. Galatians' unity concerns belonging in Christ and inheritance; the same letter retains its sexual warnings. Romans 14's actual examples are foods and days. Matthew 7 commands the hypocrite's own correction before help with another's fault. These texts do not remove Romans' act assessment.

"For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." ()

"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness," ()

"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." ()

"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." ()

Love is patient, truthful, self-giving care, not a rule approving every chosen act. The read-back added Jesus' direct connection between love and commandment-keeping.

"Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;" ()

"If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." ()

"This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." ()

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." ()

Acts 15 and the read-back's Ephesians 2 oppose treating every Mosaic provision as identically applicable now. The Levitical verdict therefore is not carried into the present by an unqualified code-transfer argument. Romans and 1 Timothy provide subsequent direct moral assessment, while Acts retains sexual restraint.

"Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:" ()

"That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well." ()

"Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;" ()

Leviticus 20:13 includes a death penalty for its Israelite legal hearers. Do not hide the penalty by shortening the verse, and do not turn this question about sin into a present instruction to harm people. Paul's community instruction concerns removal and distinguishes God's judgment of outsiders. The read-back adds the express refusal of personal vengeance, with its source found and read in Deuteronomy 32.

"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." ()

"But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person." ()

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." ()

"To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste." ()

Nature alone cannot decide the moral question. Romans 11 describes beneficial divine grafting as contrary to nature. The read-back's hair discussion also does not establish a universal definition of personal orientation, an exclusively biological meaning, or an exclusively customary meaning. Romans 1's actual sex contrast and evaluative language carry the act verdict.

"For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?" ()

"Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" ()

"But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering." ()

"But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God." ()

For Romans 1:26, an alternative unnamed heterosexual practice does not explain the parallel male-male case as directly as the female same-sex reading, and lacks positive support in the fetched passages. Retain that explanatory dependence instead of claiming verse 26 independently names female partners.

"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:" ()

"And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." ()

The Sodom account is not a sufficient sole proof about a peaceful same-sex couple. Genesis narrates a proposed sexual assault; Lot's offered daughters are reported speech, not approved instruction. Ezekiel names pride, abundance, idleness, neglect, and further abomination. An exclusively sexual explanation of all Sodom's wrongdoing fails, while an explanation with no sexual wrongdoing fails Jude.

"And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them." ()

"Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof." ()

"And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door." ()

"Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." ()

"Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." ()

The old legal term's cult association is real. It does not establish a modern identity definition and cannot insert a cult-only restriction into every other male-sexual prohibition.

"And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove." ()

The friendship passages record strong affection, parting kisses, covenant, and grief; they neither narrate nor explicitly approve intercourse. Do not condemn their love simply because both people are men. The narratives do not settle the men's unreported sexual psychology.

"I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women." ()

"And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded." ()

Faithful eunuchs are promised a place and name, with the passage's conditions retained. Their inclusion must not be erased, but it does not identify all people called homosexual with eunuchs or authorize a different sexual pairing. Jesus' varied eunuchs likewise do not supply that identification.

"For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;" ()

"Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." ()

"For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." ()

The centurion's dear person is called his servant; Jesus' stated commendation concerns faith. A sexual relationship is not established by the narrative, so the healing cannot be converted into approval of its unreported sexual acts.

"And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die." ()

"When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." ()

The original-language alignment at 1 Corinthians 6:9 is visibly faulty. The effeminate concept query points to a connective, while a nearby G3120 candidate leads to soft clothing. Neither these clothing contexts nor the indexing fault establishes an identity, mannerism, unchosen attraction, or precise sexual role as the meaning of the term. The tools also do not demonstrate a shared original word for the male-sexual phrases in Corinthians and Timothy. The answer must not claim that lexical demonstration.

"But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses." ()

"But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts." ()

Changes and checks added at read-back

The additions concerning impartiality, gentle restoration, practical good, refusal of retaliation, and hidden judgment have already been carried into Verdicts and Hard passages. The following additional review findings must also survive into the answer's explanation or its stated limits.

The read-back corrected an overbroad argument about involuntary desire. Romans 7:19 describes unwanted wrongdoing, not the moral character of every unsolicited feeling. Ephesians 2 was then read whole: desires and natural condition occur within the account of wrath, followed by mercy, grace, good works, and reconciliation. This defeats a universal inference from natural experience to moral approval; it does not classify every first involuntary impulse or explain a specific person's attraction.

"For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." ()

"Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." ()

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" ()

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." ()

The read-back's plain-English desires search also found a promise attached to delighting in the LORD and a prayer against wicked desires. The promise is not unconditional approval of every wish. The law-in-the-heart setting remains part of its sense.

"Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." ()

"The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." ()

"Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah." ()

The positive direction of affection in Colossians was checked through G5426 against sober thinking in Romans 12. It is not made identical to the rejected G3806 affection simply because English uses a similar word.

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." ()

"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." ()

James 2's neighbour-love and command quotations were checked against already-fetched Leviticus 19 and Exodus 20. James' partiality, mercy, and speech teaching is now an explicit part of the answer's treatment of people. James 3's kind/mankind occurrence concerns creatures and human taming, not sexual categories.

"If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:" ()

"For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." ()

"For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:" ()

Mark 10 was added in review and confirms Jesus' application of Genesis' sexes and union in response to a divorce question. The parallel does not create an additional independent proof by simple counting.

"But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female." ()

"And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh." ()

John 6:1-21 was read for the complete feeding episode and the following sea crossing. Its G3985 occurrence concerns testing Philip, not inducing moral evil. The word number does not identify every test as sinful enticement; the moral distinction rests directly on Hebrews 4:15 and James 1.

"And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do." ()

Revelation 16 was read whole for G808 under shame. The warning amid judgments concerns watching, garments, and exposed shame; it does not independently define a sexual act. Romans 1's sexual sense comes from its stated participants and conduct.

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." ()

John 15's hatred quotation was checked in whole Psalms 35 and 69. Both contain the corresponding complaint amid unjust hostility; the record does not select one exclusive source. Applying the complaint does not transfer every psalmic statement to Jesus, including the psalmist's admission of sin. No sexual verdict is derived from this quotation.

"But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause." ()

"Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause." ()

"They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away." ()

"O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee." ()

The annotation on 1 Corinthians 5:1 was corrected: the report concerns an act exceeding what is named among Gentiles, not Gentiles doing the same act. The already-read marriage-without-sin clauses were made explicit in the review table; neither redefines the sexual partners discussed in the chapter.

"It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife." ()

"But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you." ()

"But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry." ()

The closing review opened John 13-14 whole to establish John 15's speaker and hearers directly. Jesus is named speaking to disciples before his departure to the Father, in the supper setting. The loved disciple's reclining closeness cannot simply be identified as the condemned sexual act, nor does the narration assert intercourse or authorize forbidden conduct. The love command stands with keeping Jesus' words. This strengthens the distinction between affection and sexual activity without changing the act verdict.

"Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." ()

"Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved." ()

"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." ()

"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." ()

Ruled out

These are readings tested in the record, not assertions about named people or schools. Direct contradictions are distinguished from conditions or definitions that lack positive textual support. An unsupported restriction must not be described as though the verse expressly names and refutes it.

Proposed reading	Test, with the carrying verse quoted whole	Result
Same-sex sexual acts are never condemned; only violence is wrong.	"And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." ()	Fails the stated negative evaluation of mutual male desire and male acts; it substitutes violence for the passage's sexual contrast.
Every direct male prohibition is restricted to a temple rite.	"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." ()	This command has no such restriction; 18:21 is separately worded. The restriction also lacks support in 1 Timothy 1:9-11.
The male-sexual category means menstealing and nothing else.	"For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;" ()	The text separately names the two categories; equating them lacks support and removes the independent sexual description. Exact original compound analysis is not claimed.
A person acting against a previously heterosexual psychology is the only person reached by Romans 1.	"And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." ()	Prior psychology is not stated. Partner sex and sexual use are stated. The proposed exclusive exception lacks positive evidence; Leviticus 18:22 independently supplies an unqualified sex contrast.
A committed relationship or an identity label by itself supplies an exception to the sexual verdict.	"And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." ()	Commitment is not named as an exception; a label establishes neither conduct nor permission. The positive sexual pattern is given in Matthew 19:4-6 and 1 Corinthians 7:2. This is not a claim to know anyone's unreported acts.
Because nature is mentioned, everything contrary to nature must be sinful.	"For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?" ()	False; beneficial divine grafting is described that way. Romans 1 needs its own additional evaluations.
Only bodily acts can be sin; inner sexual purposes never are.	"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." ()	Directly false. Romans 1:26 and Colossians 3:5 also concern affections.
Every temptation is already a committed sin.	"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." ()	Directly false. It would make temptation without sin impossible.
Everything described as natural, or every desire experienced, is therefore morally right.	"Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." ()	The passage includes desires and a condition described as natural within its account of disobedience and wrath. A universal inference from natural experience to moral approval fails. No claim about every first involuntary impulse follows.
Deep love between two men is itself the sexual offence named in Leviticus.	"And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." ()	No sexual act is asserted here. The identification lacks the required link and would condemn the very love the narrative records without grounds.
Love fulfils law by cancelling its sexual commands.	"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." ()	False as an unrestricted rule; the surrounding love teaching rejects fleshly licence, and 5:19 names sexual wrongdoing.
Equal belonging in Christ means every form of sexual conduct is approved.	"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness," ()	False: the same letter that gives equality still names these works of flesh.
Not being under law means sin is allowed.	"What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." ()	Explicitly denied.
All things are lawful permits every sexual act.	"Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body." ()	False in the immediate context; 6:18 also commands refusal.
Remaining in one's calling cancels commands about sexual conduct.	"Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God." ()	False in context; keeping commands is expressly retained.
Romans 14's purity means that no sexual act is morally wrong.	"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." ()	The expansion changes the food discussion into what it does not assert and would contradict Romans 1:27 and 1 Corinthians 6:18.
Romans 2 withdraws the judgment that precedes it.	"But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things." ()	Directly false; the judgment's truth is reaffirmed.
Sodom's only sin was homosexual intercourse.	"Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." ()	Directly false: several other wrongs are named.
Sodom's sexual wrongdoing can be removed entirely from the account.	"Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." ()	Directly false. Its precise kind does not decide the independent Romans passages.
A person who was assaulted must share the assailant's guilt.	"But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter:" ()	False as a universal claim; the forced-woman case expressly distinguishes guilt.
A sin verdict permits hatred.	"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" ()	Directly false.
These warnings mean cleansing and mercy are unavailable to people in the list.	"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." ()	Directly false. No present person's standing is inferred.
Cleansing promises that every temptation or attraction vanishes.	"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." ()	The verse asserts cleansing, sanctification, and justification; disappearance of every attraction is not asserted. That addition lacks support.

Verdicts

The reading reaches a firm verdict about same-sex sexual acts: Scripture teaches that they are sin. Romans 1:27 explicitly describes male-male sexual activity and evaluates it negatively. Romans 1:26 describes the corresponding change among women; the female conclusion rests on the parallel with verse 27, since verse 26 does not independently name the women's partners. Give the direct teaching before its verdict, and retain the distinction between the acts and the broader noun in the question.

"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:" ()

"And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet." ()

Leviticus states the male sex-and-act contrast without a condition restricting it to rape, boys, payment, or worship. In 1 Timothy the male-sexual category belongs to the list concerning lawless people, sinners, and what opposes sound doctrine. Menstealers are listed separately; their presence does not define the preceding sexual category. These give independent support beyond Romans' real idolatry setting.

"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." ()

"Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers," ()

"For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;" ()

"According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." ()

The classification as sin is supported by the texts' own account of transgression and unrighteousness, rather than a definition limited to visible harm.

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." ()

"All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death." ()

Mutual desire, commitment, or calling the relationship marriage does not by itself provide an exception to the act verdict. The positive marriage pattern is the man-wife union, explicitly applied by Jesus from creation. This corroborates the direct prohibitions; the argument is not that every unmentioned relationship is forbidden merely because unmentioned.

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." ()

"And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female," ()

"And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?" ()

"Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." ()

Being tempted is not itself identical with committing sin. Hebrews' statement is about Jesus; it supplies the general distinction without establishing any particular modern sexual category as his experienced temptation. James also distinguishes endurance, enticement, conception, and sin's production.

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." ()

"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." ()

"But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." ()

"Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." ()

Inward sexual wrong must not be restricted to outward acts. Cultivating desire for forbidden sexual activity can itself be sin. Matthew's exact example is adultery involving a woman; the same-sex application also requires Romans 1:26-27's evaluation of sexual affections and acts. No description of the person's inward experience has been supplied, so neither every attraction nor every label can be equated with deliberate sexual cultivation.

"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." ()

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:" ()

Deep same-sex love and friendship cannot simply be identified with the sexual offence. The narratives record love and covenant without asserting intercourse. Neither an approved sexual relationship nor a complete account of unreported sexual psychology is established by them. Sexual restraint and brotherly love are positively commanded together.

"And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." ()

"I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women." ()

"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:" ()

"But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another." ()

Unmarried life is positively commended. The answer must not prescribe marriage as everybody's necessary remedy.

"I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I." ()

The warning is serious, and the report of cleansing must be retained beside it. This is not a verdict about the person asking, nor a promise that every attraction vanishes. The forgiveness assurance retains its stated condition.

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind," ()

"Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." ()

"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." ()

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." ()

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." ()

Hatred and self-exempting hypocrisy are excluded. The answer must say what the acts are without pronouncing on a person's hidden heart, forgiveness, or final standing. The read-back strengthened the latter limit with Paul's statement about appointed judgment and hidden counsels.

"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" ()

"Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." ()

"Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." ()

The read-back added explicit requirements for sincere love, practical good, impartiality, gentle restoration, burden-bearing, and refusal of degrading speech. These belong to the result, not an optional softening of it.

"Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." ()

"Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men." ()

"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." ()

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." ()

"As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." ()

"But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors." ()

"For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment." ()

"Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God." ()

"Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be." ()

Open

The person's intended use of the umbrella word remains unspecified. A general answer can be completed by distinguishing acts, cultivated desire, temptation, friendship, and labels. Applying a verdict to a specific inward experience requires its description; missing circumstances must not be treated as disclosed facts. The texts distinguish temptation without sin and the production of sin, while also rejecting inward sexual disorder.

"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." ()

"Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." ()

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:" ()

The exact emphasis of Jude's flesh distinction remains unresolved in this record. Angel-human transgression is kept live by the adjacent angel example and Genesis' identification of the visitors; illicit sexual pursuit remains explicit in the demand and Jude's evaluation. Neither remaining emphasis removes the independently grounded Romans verdict. Under either, Sodom includes sexual and other wrongdoing and is not a narrated case of peaceful consensual human partnership.

"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." ()

"And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;" ()

"Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." ()

The read-back followed G2087 from Jude to another/other in other fetched settings. These uses concern another expected person and another master; the number does not decide the kind of difference meant in Jude. A reading with no sexual wrong is eliminated by Jude 1:7, while a precise modern category definition from that number has not been earned.

"And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" ()

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." ()

The exact original-language mapping at 1 Corinthians 6:9 remains unverified with the permitted tools. This is a tool limitation, not a finding that the direct act passages leave their verdict open. No precise sexual-role definition or orientation classification has been derived from that term.

The reading did not open the whole canon. The final record identifies every shown search hit and the 567 distinct references still unread across sixty-nine queries; some broad queries also have unseen pages. No exhaustive claim of scriptural silence is earned or required. Causes and persistence of attraction, and a present person's spiritual standing, have not been decided.

Is homosexuality a sin?

How it was read, replayed

The readings it struck out, and the verses each would break

Verdicts

What this reading did

The setting in Romans

The law given to Israel

Paul's letter to Timothy

What "sin" means here

Readings that fall

The pattern Scripture gives for marriage

A sexual union is not automatically a marriage

Not everyone is called to marry

What love is

Other readings that fall

Being tempted is not the same as sinning

But sin is not only in outward acts

Holding both together

Where this leaves the word "homosexuality"

Two other accounts sometimes raised

Names and labels

A person who is assaulted is not guilty

The old word "sodomite"

About the word "effeminate"

Every step of the reading

The person's complete question and the permitted sources

Their words

Hard passages

Changes and checks added at read-back

Ruled out

Verdicts

Open

Other readings that quote its verses