The first five books of the Old Testament are called the Pentateuch (literally 5 tools).  They are traditionally attributed to Moses’ authorship and contain the Law (Torah).  The Law contains more than six hundred regulations governing everyday living for the Children of Israel. They cover everything from instructions on how to wear clothes and prepare ceremonial foods to laws concerning the observance of holy days and punishments requirements for certain crimes.  The Law was specifically given to the Israelites and never intended to be the law for the Gentiles.  In that sense, none of us have ever been under the Law and there is no need for us to be under it now.

The Apostle Paul observed that the ones who have fallen away from grace (Galatians 5:4) are the ones who have put themselves under the Law.  This was sect known as the Judaizers and not those without the Law.  The Law was given to show the righteousness of God could not be obtained by legalistically keeping rules.  It gave the people knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20) and demonstrated the impossibility of anyone being able to measure up and be accepted by God on the basis of keeping it.

The major source of condemnation today against homosexuality and other social moral issues, has come from those who have fully grasped the significance of the law of Grace as opposed to the Law of Moses and their belief that homosexuality is a violation of God’s Law.  Nearly every argument against homosexuality has at its root the Law of Moses.  They mistakenly believe that sodomy is forbidden by the Law.  This is not true.  The word sodomy is a modern word, coined under the mistaken belief that Sodom was destroyed because of rampant homosexuality. The word sodomy does not appear in any of the main translations (KJV, RSV, NASB, or NIV).  It has taken on new meaning in this century referring to any sexual act other than copulation between a man and a woman who are married to each other. It varies from state to state in its legal definition.  This variance illustrates one of the prime difficulties in understanding the Scripture in its original language.  To understand and explain what the writer has written, one must understand the words the writer used as the writer understood them.  Word meanings change over time and the unlearned can come away from passages with a total misunderstanding of the writer’s meaning.

Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 are the traditional condemnation passages against homosexual acts and appear in our modern translations to be clear cut prohibitions.  Some have said these passages would justify capital punishment of homosexuals.  Would these people also bring the same judgment against adulterers (Leviticus 20:10)?  Following suite, they would also have to prescribe the death penalty for their stubborn and rebellious sons (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).  One thing is clear from Paul’s teaching: anyone who puts themselves under any one point of the Law obligates themselves to keep the whole Law (Galatians 5:3) or they are worthy of death.

In truth, it is uncertain what Leviticus 18:22 is saying.  The literal transliteration reads:

“You must not sleep the sleep of a woman with a man; it is ritually impure.”

Many scholars believe this saying represents an idiom that has lost its meaning over time due to cultural traditions of the time long since forgotten.  John Boswell makes a case in Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality that this prohibition cannot be a blanket condemnation of homosexuality, because the writer uses the Hebrew word toevah *#844) referring to the act as being “detestable” or an “abomination”.  The Hebrews used special words to condemn specific wicked or abominable misdeeds.  If this passage had been referring to sexual misconduct, the writer would have used the zimmah (#2154) instead of toevah.

The land was full of idolatry.  The Palestinian god of the sun, Baal and his consort, the fertility goddess Ashtoreth, were commonly worshipped in the area and toevah appears throughout the Law to denounce these idolatrous practices.  But zimmah is used wherever immoral acts such as prostitution or rape are the subject.  Whatever  detestable acts here are being prohibited have something to do with idolatry.