Is homosexual orientation sinful?

Excellent article.

Articles on the topic here at SI

http://sharperiron.org/search-tool/content?type_1[] =frontarticle&uid=&body_value_op=allwords&body_value=&title_op=allwords&title=&tid=&tid_1=Homosexuality

I very much sympathize with the conclusion Denny is arguing for as detailed in his “Pastoral Implications” section.

All of us are born with an orientation toward sin in all its varieties. Homosexual orientation is but one manifestation of our common experience of indwelling sin—indeed of the mind set on the flesh (Rom. 7:23; 8:7). For that reason, the Bible teaches us to war against both the root and the fruit of sin… The ordinary means of grace must be aimed at the heart as well. Prayer, the preaching of the word, and the fellowship of the saints must all be aimed at the Holy Spirit’s renewal of the inner man.

However, I’m not sure this article is very helpful overall. In order to establish that an “orientation” is sinful, Denny necessarily uses the term “sinful” so broadly as to include every part of the fallen nature as well as active sinful choices. Here is his support:

The Bible says that our sexual desires/attractions have a moral component and that we are held accountable for them. Jesus’ remarks on the nature of heterosexual desire are a case in point:

Mathew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

We need to point out here that Jesus is addressing an active sin, a choice to look and lust. That is not the same thing as having a fallen nature with a proclivity to lust.

It is absolutely important for all of us to be proactively fighting the flesh and fortifying ourselves in areas of weakness. But this is not the same thing as assigning guilt to someone for having a sin nature. Our sin nature is worthy of condemnation, to be sure, but that condemnation was born by Christ on the cross. What we don’t want to do to a Christian who struggles in this area is to constantly direct his attention to his guilt. Rather we should direct his attention to the gospel and help him lay claim to the truth that his old man died with Christ and he is free to live through Christ’s resurrection power.

Certainly we are all sinful to the core, but we should not lump our sin nature and sinful choices together as if they are the same thing. Denny Burk offers some needful caution to not ignore the tendencies of our fallen nature. But he needs to nuance his argument in order to avoid confusing and overwhelming his weak, struggling brethren with guilt.

Ian,

Being a sinner is sinful, to answer your title question. We are born condemned by God as part of the fallen race inheriting a sinful nature and the condemnation of sin. The reason we commit personal acts of sin is because we are sinful. Any deviation from God’s prescribed order for creation is sinful, including a desire for sin. I think you may be conflating the outward temptation of sin and the inward desire for sin. One is an opportunity to sin that does not have to produce the fruit of wickedness, but the other is the very fruit of wickedness at work in our heart rebelling against what God has decreed.

Chip,

I think it depends on what you mean by “sinful.” As I said, “We are all sinful to the core.”

Please notice that I did not suggest that desire for sin is not sinful. A desire is a thought, which Jesus equates to an internal action. Instead, I’m objecting to Denny Burk’s assumption that the particular wiring of someone’s sin nature is the same thing morally as a desire or an action.

Denny Burk is conflating the sin nature and the sinful act. The real problem is that he assigns guilt for both. I understand that we are accountable for our sin nature as well as our desires and acts, but treating those two as the same is unhelpful.

Ian, we are guilty for both. The “wiring” you speak of is not innate by order of creation as, say, the color of a person’s skin. It is a learned rebellion. It is a personal desire that is in open conflict with God’s decree of what is good and right. It is sin.

Chip,

The wiring I spoke of (the sin nature) is innate by inheritance. It is thoroughly depraved, but not technically sin (sin is a verb that can only describe an action). As such it merits condemnation (though there is no condemnation of those in Christ), but not guilt, which is defined as 1. “the responsibility or culpability for having committed an offense” or 2. “the feeling of culpability for an offense.”

Chip, is temptation sin, and if not, how do you distinguish between temptation and the desires that you call sinful?

Greg,

I see the temptation as being external but the desire, in this case homosexual orientation, as being internal. While I am not responsible for the things others may present me with, I am responsible for the response of my heart toward what is presented.

I have a desire for sex with heterosexual women—any and all of them.* Is that sinful?

*Given that I am a heterosexual male with normal sexual desires, that I of course channel into a monogamous loving relationship with my wife.

You actually aren’t desiring sex with any and all heterosexual women. What you really have is a desire for a physical relationship with your wife, and only your wife. This is good and right. If your desires wander to focus on other women, it is sin.

No, Chip, I have desires within me that temptation can prey upon. If I only had desire for my wife, then there would never be any temptation for any other woman. Temptations don’t cause desires; temptations prey upon desires. I am able to channel and control (by God’s grace) my desires so that they are only focused on and acted upon my wife.

I am talking about basic, natural physical desires (sexual attractions), not desire in the sense of actively lusting.

[Greg Long] I have a desire for sex with heterosexual women—any and all of them.

If a desire must be channeled and controlled by God’s grace, then would it not itself be a perversion of normal desire and therefore sinful?

I suggest that, had there been more women than Eve around pre-fall, Adam’s love would have been impossible to awaken except at the appropriate time.

Do you think Jesus was tempted by any of the women around him, yet without sin? And if so, how did that temptation come about?

Remember, he was tempted to turn stones into bread because he was hungry. The outward temptation played upon his natural human desire, which in and of itself was not sinful.

Can we affirm that Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are without necessarily affirming He wanted to but was able to control Himself?