Clobber Verses and Cultural Constructs

There's a popular article making the rounds right now, raising the question: has homosexuality always been part of our Bible? It's a question that invites curiosity, concern, and no small amount of confusion. But as with most things, the answer is more complex than a simple yes or no. The article explores how key verses have shifted in translation over time, especially those that have historically been used to condemn LGBTQ persons.

And that exploration? It matters. But we also need a wider frame. If we're going to let the Bible speak to us and shape us, we need to move past proof-texting and into the deeper wisdom the text offers.

The Word That Wasn't

First, let’s acknowledge something important. The word "homosexual" didn't enter the German lexicon until the 19th century, and it didn’t appear in English until the 20th. That’s why you don’t see it in older Bible translations. Before then, homosexuality wasn't understood as an identity—it was seen simply as an act. Something you did, not someone you were.

So what did Bible translators do? They translated verses using terms like "boy molester." They weren’t making this up out of thin air—they were drawing from the most visible examples of sexual exploitation in their own culture. The Greek word often cited, arsenokoites, literally means "man-bed." And when the idea of homosexuality as an orientation doesn’t exist yet, it makes a certain kind of sense that translators saw this as referring to abuse, especially of young boys.

Old Testament, New Complications

In Leviticus, we see a similar phrase: "a man shall not take a male into his bed." The wording shifts from "man" to "male," which is interesting. But even LGBTQ-affirming rabbis today point out that "male" (zakar) doesn’t mean "boy." It means, quite plainly, a man. The word for "child" in Hebrew is different. So what we see here is a modern interpretation—the reading of "boy molester"—being retrofitted onto an ancient text. It's a layered, complex interweaving of translation, culture, and evolving understandings.

Victorian Shadows

Naomi Klein's recent research into Victorian-era views on homosexuality adds another layer. She found references to men sentenced to death for homosexual activity. But upon further review, many of these cases appear to have involved not adult relationships, but child abuse. Again, what we today would name and understand as "homosexuality" was likely not even in view. And these men weren’t executed; they were imprisoned. Still condemned, yes—but in a different way.

This is important: we often read ancient or historical texts through the lens of our current cultural understanding. But the frameworks people had back then were radically different. And this includes the translators who shaped our Bibles between the 1600s and 1900s.

What the Ancient Texts Actually Say

So what’s really going on in the Bible?

In Leviticus, many scholars believe the concern was about maintaining gender roles. The active male role in sex was to be preserved; to take the passive role was seen as shameful. It's not about identity, it's about order, purity, and the social structures of the time.

Paul, writing in a very different world, is probably responding to Greco-Roman practices, particularly pederasty — relationships between older men and boys. This was a normalized but predatory aspect of the culture. Paul, rooted in Jewish thought and cultural boundaries, creates a new word—arsenokoites —likely as a mashup of Levitical language and his cultural observation.

Is that the same as condemning all modern expressions of same-sex love? Likely not.

Beyond Better Readings

So what do we do with all this? Should we keep trying to find "better" readings of these ancient texts?

Well, maybe not. Because the deeper issue is the way we use the Bible in the first place.

If we’re constantly trying to extract rules for every new situation, we’ll end up stuck. We’ll be forever searching for a verse to tell us what to do, who to love, who to include. But that’s not how Scripture works. Not really.

The Bible is a story. A narrative arc. And it points us toward Jesus. Jesus is the living Word, the ultimate revelation of divine love. And when that story gets embedded deep in us, we become people who can discern, adapt, and respond to our world with grace and compassion.

A Hermeneutic of Love

So yes, let’s study. Let’s ask better questions. Let’s refine our interpretations. But even more than that, let’s live out the story. Let’s embody the ethic of love that Jesus showed us.

Not proof-texting. Not weaponizing Scripture.

Wisdom. Compassion. Curiosity.

Because the Bible isn’t a rulebook. It’s an invitation. To know Jesus. To love better. To be shaped by the story.

That’s how we live in the Spirit. That’s how we walk in love.