Clobbered? Or A Call to Repentance?
Hey there! So, as you’ve probably gathered from the title and the picture attached to this post, I’m going to be talking a bit about pride month today- sort of. At the time that I am writing this, we are just a little bit over a week into pride month (June) 2026. Over the years, I have had a lot of gay friends; like, a surprising amount. When I was in college, I found out pretty quickly that somewhere around half of the people that I met in the first week were some degree of gay (which was surprising to me because, having been homeschooled through high school, I knew homosexuality/LGBT stuff was common, but didn’t realize it was that common). A lot of them were genuinely lovely people, and I’d still be glad to see some of them again today. Some of them were less so, but I also wasn’t exactly a great person in college, so I’m not going to throw stones over unrelated issues. Anyway, I digress. What I’m really wanting to talk a little bit about today are these two issues: the idea of “clobber passages” in scripture (verses that are supposedly wielded like weapons against the LGBT community) and how that idea relates to all the rest of us. You may not agree with me about everything I say here, but I hope you’ll stick around till the end.
“Clobber Passages”
I started this whole thing letting you know about some of my history with members of the LGBT community on purpose; not to show off my “token” gay friends (I’m not really in contact with any of them these days; our lives have gone different directions) but to lead all of this demonstrating that I am not some sort of “homophobe” that hates gay people. I love them, I have laughed with them, I have gone to grab burgers at 2 in the morning with them, and I have partied with them. (Not proud of that last one; another one of those stupid decisions I’ve made over the years.) All of that said, however, I don’t affirm the LGBT lifestyle, and neither should you.
Commonly in conversations about the Christian faith and homosexuality, a few specific passages will come up: Genesis 19, Leviticus 18, Romans 1:20-32, and 1 Corinthians 6, to name several of the most prominent ones, though there are others. These are what have collectively come to be referred to as “clobber passages” that have traditionally been used to beat down individuals who experience homosexual attractions. 1 Corinthians in particular catches a lot of flak for this because the words used to describe homosexuality– malekoi and arsenokoitai– don’t directly translate to the word homosexual. Instead, they literally mean “soft” and “man-bedder.” “Man-bedder” may seem self-evident, but why is “soft” an issue? Well, not to be graphic, but it is based on the notion that, during intercourse, one party– presumably male– will be more assertive, dominant, “hard,” while the other party– presumably female– will be more receptive, submissive, “soft.” The idea encapsulated by the words in context is that men who play the passive role for other men will not inherit the kingdom of God, and neither will men who take other men to bed, lying with them as they would a woman.
If you were curious or unfamiliar with the Biblical aversion to lesbianism or bisexuality, Romans 1 addresses that in verses 26-28: “26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,...”
Arguments have been made against these two interpretations for many years now- one being that, quite frankly, homosexuality isn’t addressed by name nearly as often in scripture as, say, adultery and idolatry, so we have a much smaller sample size to pull from in discussing the biblical perspective. Fortunately, though, that smaller pool of reference material is dense and specific, and it spans from one end of the Bible nearly to the very end. Starting in Genesis 19, we are presented with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities who, while it can be argued that one of their many sins was their failure to show hospitality, Jude 7 makes it clear that their sexual immorality was a major component in their judgement.
After Genesis, we have Leviticus 18:22, which says “22 You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.” Pretty straightforward, but some would look at that and respond by saying, “well, yes, it does say that, but that’s only because they didn’t have any concept of a loving, faithful homosexual relationship. That passage was about pederasty; young males– possibly prostitutes– being with older men.” I don’t think that this is a position that can be adequately supported, not because the wording of Leviticus itself renders it impossible, but because other passages– like Romans 1, mentioned above– don’t seem to agree with that interpretation. A general rule of Biblical interpretation is that whatever conclusion you come to should be able to be supported by the full or majority counsel of scripture, and the pederasty defense just isn’t supported like that. Additionally, it seems presumptive to me to assert that the writer of Leviticus had no concept of a loving, committed, homosexual relationship for at least two reasons: firstly, it is inconsistent. A common talking point for the LGBT community in recent years has been that their community has always been around and that historians have just chosen not to acknowledge them. Secondly, when scripture discusses sexual immorality of any kind, it never bothers to ask whether the participants are loving or committed; it simply tells them that what they are doing is wrong and that the behavior needs to stop.
A better- though still not great- argument to all of that might sound more like this: “that was under the law, we’re not under the law anymore. Plus, that was Leviticus! It’s not like one of the ten commandments; Leviticus is all the ceremonial stuff that isn’t about us.”
There’s an assumption made by this statement that seems to say that God’s law is somewhat capricious and inconsistently arbitrary.
My response would be this: why is it wrong if someone steals your laptop? Why do you want to see justice for that crime committed against you? Well, answer number 1 is that, while we are not under the law for righteousness we are still emphatically told to be careful to guard and observe the commandments of God (Ecclesiastes 12:13 ) and the “law” isn’t just the ten commandments; it’s the first five books of the Bible, Leviticus included. Secondly, you want justice because we all intrinsically have an understanding built into us that some things are wrong and some things are right. The law is inherently good, even if we don’t understand it or have a natural inclination to disagree with it on some point(s). You may want to see consequences befall the guy who stole your laptop, but he might not see anything wrong with the act; finders keepers. If we make our lifestyle decisions based solely off of our vibe, we will quickly find ourselves in the same position as the nation of Israel time and time again in the book of Judges: “11 Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, 12 and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the Lord to anger.” and “6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 2:11-12; 17:6)
In summary, the word of the Lord endures forever. (Isaiah 40:8) Still, another argument might latch onto that passage in Isaiah and say, “well, why do I have to obey this rule if you don’t have to keep your shirt fabrics separate?” (Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:9-11)
Honestly, as funny as it sounds, that’s the strongest of the arguments in my opinion; it basically asks, “why this but not that?” James says in James 2:10 that breaking one law makes you as guilty as if you had broken them all, so why harp so much on this one sin? Well, for one, Leviticus 18:22 specifically categorizes homosexuality as an abomination. (I want to point out that the actors involved are not referred to as an abomination, but specifically the act itself. I’m not trying to twist the passage to demonize anybody, just trying to represent it according to the plain reading of the text.) That is a very particular, very strong word to use, and it is simply not applied to every single other sin described in the law. Secondly, different offenses bear different penalties. This should be a fairly straightforward concept to us; jaywalking doesn’t carry the same penalty as first-degree murder, after all, though they are both clear violations of the law of the land and shouldn’t be done. Likewise, while something that seems small- like mixing fabric materials- does make you guilty, the guilt is not identical to that of committing sexually immoral acts.
The bottom line is that sin is sin, however different it may be, and the condemnation of one does not somehow lessen the condemnation of another. This brings me to my next point…
Judge Not, Lest You Be Judged
In Matthew 7 there is an extraordinarily popular phrase that is probably on par with “Jesus wept” and “For God so loved the world…” in the public lexicon; this phrase is profoundly simple, profoundly sobering, and yet- more often than not- is taken profoundly out of context. “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” This is the first verse of Matthew chapter 7, and it is being misquoted nearly every time you hear it today. It is commonly used in much the same way as “Only God can judge me,” i.e., mind your own business, what I do shouldn’t concern you. The thing about this perspective is that, if you read the next verses, the thought is rounded out; here is the statement in its entirety: “1 Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard measure, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” It’s a little different now, isn’t it? Taken with the verses around it, verse 1 has nothing to do with this “mind your own business” attitude and says entirely the opposite: judge yourself, deal with your own problems, then you can help your brother do the same. Shortly after this instruction comes what is known as the Golden Rule: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12) Now, whether the proximity of these two instructions is noteworthy or not, I don’t know for sure, but it seems significant to me that, shortly after He tells us how to judge ourselves and others, Jesus tells us to treat others how we want to be treated. This is antithetical to the “mind your own business, I’m not hurting you” kind of attitude; if anything, it is a call to be very (caringly) invested in other people’s business and to take responsibility for your own actions so that you can be a better help to others.
I don’t know about you, but if I were running blindfolded to the edge of a high cliff, I’d appreciate it if somebody stopped me before I reached the edge. Do you know what I’d appreciate more, though? If my rescuer was not also wearing a blindfold. Even if they were to have some sort of visual impairment, it would be better than being totally blind, because at least with an impairment you can have a sense of what's ahead and respond to it.
Let’s talk about that impairment for a minute, now; I think that it is important to make it clear that I don’t think every follower of Christ does everything right or has every answer right. There are many disagreements within the body of Christ, some big and some small, and all of them very real to the people who have them. Some of them amount to specks, and others to logs; neither of them are good to have in your eye, but one will irritate and one will kill. Scripture clearly teaches that homosexuality is a gross sin, but it mentions a few other things that likewise bear a hefty penalty for their committance; in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, the apostle Paul gives us this list: “9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” So we can see displayed here that while, yes, homosexuality is a very serious sin, so are several other kinds of sexual immorality! I just referenced the NASB 1995, but the ESV actually just lists it all as “the sexually immoral.” That includes: adultery, fornication, prostitution (gay or straight), pornography, pedophilia, incest, bestiality, rape, etc. In either case, it seems somewhat clear to me that if this passage “clobbers” the LGBT community, it “clobbers” all of these groups, too. Same for thieves, coveters, drunks, revilers (people who are sharp, mocking, slanderous, and cruel with their words), and swindlers; these are not lifestyles congruent with the Christian faith.
This, I think, demonstrates the impartiality of God’s word, giving real application to Hebrews 4:12-13: “12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” and Romans 2:11: “For there is no partiality with God.” My point in saying all of this is that I hope to demonstrate the ridiculousness of many people’s aversion to “clobber passages” for calling out a particular type of sin, because the whole of scripture speaks against all sin indiscriminately. Citing these passages to call a gay person to repent isn’t any more pointed than telling a straight man or woman to stop having extramarital sex because they are profaning the marriage bed and sinning against their own bodies. (Hebrews 13:4;1 Corinthians 6:18) Additionally, I wanted to highlight the hypocrisy that many of us demonstrate towards members of the LGBT community by living out our own immoral lifestyles and having the audacity to deride them like we do not sin, too. I think it is deeply unfortunate how some sins have been singled out as repulsive, while others get a pass by many believers. I have known- and have been- the Christian who drank himself stupid, fornicated, stole, coveted, and reviled others, among many other things which I have shared elsewhere. I have had someone refer to my own sexual sin in the past as just being me “sowing my wild oats.” I have heard and seen outright scandalous deviancy go uncontested in church environments while the actions of unbelievers are ridiculed and scorned as being uniquely reprehensible.
Living in such blatant, arrogant hypocrisy gives credence to arguments against the faith because, if God’s own people won’t fear and obey Him, why should anybody else? The teachings of scripture are clear, but to those who don’t already believe them, they are often easy to disregard. What is harder to disregard is the daily, active, living witness and testimony of people who take those words to heart and guard them with their lives. We do a disservice to the name of God and to our unbelieving neighbors when there is no discernable, meaningful difference in how we speak or conduct ourselves. The clobber passages exist for us, too, and us primarily; remember, 1 Corinthians 6:11 says “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”
Were. Past tense. If we still are doing these things, then it doesn’t lessen the need to judge and confront sin around us, but it means that we need to look again at the words of Christ in Matthew 7 and start getting the logs out of our eyes so that we can really help those around us.
I hope this has been clear and understandable, and that you were able to receive it in the spirit it was meant. I don’t usually say this sort of thing in my posts- I don’t want to sound disingenuous- but to whoever happens to be reading this, I love you. I care for you. You are made in the image of God, and He loves you far more than you could possibly imagine. He is, however, holy, and will not ignore sin, whether from His own people or the world at large. Hebrews 4:7 says: “7 He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.” I want to encourage you: if there is anything in you that feels troubled or tested after reading this, examine it. Pray about it. Crack open your Bible if you have one, or check out the website/app Blue Letter Bible to read one for free with all sorts of reference materials. You are neither so holy that you have nothing left to learn and nowhere to grow, nor are you so unholy that God cannot change your heart and draw you near to Himself, however far off from Him you are. I hope to enjoy your company again in the future, and in the meantime, have a blessed rest of your week!
