Dr. Manfred Brauch and Dr. William Hertzog, II
at the American Baptist Assembly in Greenlake, Wisconsin

Part Two - Manfred Brauch
Created Order and Divine Purpose:
Genesis 1-3; Romans 1:26-27

The second text group that we are concerned about in this presentation and subsequent dialog and discussion is in general Genesis 1 to 3 and Romans 1:26 through 27.

The straightforward, traditionally understood meaning of the Romans 1 passage, that Paul condemns homosexual behavior, has become increasingly questions. Is Paul addressing homosexuality as we know it today (dults who desire same sex intimacy with one another) or only pedarasty, adult men with young boys or young men? Or is Paul condemning homosexual acts committed by heterosexual people who thus contradict their own "true nature?" Is Paul's understanding of "nature" in tention with our contemporary understanding of homosexual orientation as a given rather than as freely chosen? Does the passage function only to set up Paul's Jewish (self-righteous) readers without intending to point to homosexual acts as particularly objectionable?

These are serious questions and issues that must be answered and dealt with. The following reflections deal with three areas: the theological context of Paul's thought, the structure and flow of the passage, and the meaning of critical terms in light of the Greco-Roman and Jewish historical context.

A. Theological context.

The Romans text is perhaps the most important for a discussion for a Biblical view of homosexuality because Paul places the negative evaluation of homosexual behavior in an explicitly theological context, namely a theology of creation. That Paul has the Genesis narrative of creation and fall in view can hardly be disputed: allusions to humanity's creation and fall are plentiful. -- "ever since the creation " (v.20); "the things that have been made" (v. 20); "claiming to be wise they became fools" (v.22); an appeal to the Creator (v.25). Specifically this theology is about God the Creator and the creation of humanity as male and female. Human beings are created as relational creatures, for relationship with God and for relationship with each other.

The general expression of that relational structure in God's image is the polarity and complementarity of the male/female duality of humanity (Gen.1:26-27). The most particular expression of that male/female duality of humanity is the relation between man and woman in the covenant of marriage (Gen. 2:18 -25).

Both of these Genesis creation narratives present these "orders of creation" as the result of divine creativity and purpose. By implication, and so all subsequent Jewish and Christian understanding confirms, the divine intention excludes all expressions of human sexuality which fall outside the categories of: one, sexual complementarity (male/female) and two, covenant faithfulness (marriage).

Some have argued that the foundational Biblical norm for human relativeness is covenant and that therefore the expression of homosexual desire in sexual intimacy, if practiced in a covenant relationship, characterized by faithfulness and permanence, is in keeping with the Biblical standard of morality.

However, in the Biblical structure of human reality, creation design preceded covenants. That is, the design of creation, it's male/female polarity and complementarity, this order of creation provides the concrete structure of humanness, male/female, while covenant provides the divinely intended dynamic reality within those boundaries.

B. The structure and flow of Romans 1:18 through 32.

romans 1:26-27 is part of a larger passage that is clearly a unit. Over against the "righteousness of God" (1:16) stands human and godliness and unrighteousness (1:18). This ungodliness and unrighteousness is then given content. The universal rejection of God the creator, the suppression of the truth about God's nature and glory as revealed in the created order (1:18-23), is expressed in three closely related areas of human brokenness, each introduced with the rhetorical repetition, "God gave them up."

* 1:24-25 refers to idolatry and the resulting general distortions in human sexual practices, probably including the whole range of distortions, such as adultery and rape and promiscuity.
* 1:26 through 27 then goes on to describe a specific distortion of human sexual behavior, namely same sex intimacy.
* 1:28-32 gives a representative list of other vices which distort humans and their relationships.

This 3-fold analysis of the fallen human condition establishes an inherent connection between

* idolatry as the lie or error about one's creaturely identity,
* sexual distortion as the untruth about one's sexual identity
* destructive human attitudes and acts as the lie about our relational identity.

Within this scheme, same sex relations are singled out (1:26-27) as a most vivid image and unambiguous evidence that the rejection of the creator has, as one of its most striking consequences, the rejection of God's created order (since God created them male and female).

There is no question that Paul is one with the perspective of Hellenistic Judaism (e.g., Philo, Josephus), which regarded same sex acts as representing a revolt against the created order.

Now the vast majority of commentators agree that Paul focuses on the two most vivid exemplars of gentile sin, idolatry and same sex behavior because he is setting up his Jewish readers. They will whole heartedly agree with his diagnosis of gentile transgression and their condemnation. And then he follows with the sting (2:1) following. You, he says, are equally condemned. "Both Jews and Greeks are under the power of sin," (3:9). "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (3:23).

This word of Paul declares all of us under God's judgment and therefore all of us in radical need of God's mercy and grace. That word of both warning and hope must surely temper all of our discussions about homosexuality, particularly for those of us who share the conviction that homosexuality is out of keeping with God's loving purposes for human life.

C. Critical terms in Romans 1:24-27.

Much exegetical debate has centered on Paul's claim that women and men have "exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural." Is Paul talking about individuals who make choices to engage in same sex relations even though they are, by nature, heterosexual and thus violate their "essential being?" If so, then this categorization of homosexual behavior as "unrighteous" would not apply to homosexual persons who are" naturally" of homosexual "orientation."

Such an understanding of Paul and the meaning of the text must be seriously called into question, I believe, on both exegetical and contextual grounds.

Paul is not describing individual acts and choices, but the corporate human rebellion against God and the kinds of behavior which result. In 1:23 and 25, he uses the word "exchange" to describe the move from worship of God to worship of idols. He is not saying that each gentile personally chooses idolatry over against theism. Rather, he is describing the sweep of human history.

The term "exchange" is then used in our passage to describe the move from male/female to same sex relations (1:26-27). The point, it seems to me, is that same sex relations are a specific falsification of God's intention for human sexual intimacy, emerging out of the general falsification of right thinking about God, idolatry. Paul is not talking about individuals who deny their true nature, that is, heterosexuals committing homosexual acts, but about humanity that both in general idolatry and in specifics in morality, has replaced the truth about God and the truth about God's creative design with error.

Further, Paul's use and meaning of the terms natural and unnatural (physin/ para physin) must be understood and interpreted in light of the usage of this terminology, particularly in discussions of male/female and same sex behavior in both the Greco-Roman and Jewish context. In numerous classical and contemporary Greek texts, the expression para physin (unnatural or contrary to nature), is the standard terminology for homosexual relations, as opposed to "natural" or (kata physin) relations between male and female. This categorization of homosexual behavior as "contrary to nature" was particularly at home among Hellenistic Jewish writers such as Philo and Josephus, approximate contemporaries with the Apostle Paul. In contrast to their understanding of male/female sexual union as kata physin, that is, according to nature.

Though Paul does not define the term nature, it is clear from his use of this conventional terminology in this context, Romans 1:26, that he identifies "nature" with the created order as designed and intended by the Creator. Paul treats all homosexual activity as such, (not just the common pederasty as his inclusion of female homosexual demonstrates) as evidence of humanities tragic distortion and alienation from the purposes of God.

A final observation of the significance of this text is called for, because of the view of some that, since the modern understanding of homosexual orientation, as a given disposition, mostly not freely chosen, was not available to Paul and his contemporaries, their negative evaluation of homosexual behavior, cannot, therefore, be applied to today. While it must be freely granted that Paul and his contemporaries, did not have access to modern insight into the various and complex (possible) causes of homosexual orientation, the concept of deep seated causes for human behavior which are beyond individual control or choice is deeply imbedded in Pauline and Jewish thought. Fallen humanity and it's tragic blindness, (Romans 1:21), is characterized by a whole host of orientations, desires and inclinations and tendencies which, for Paul, fall under the power of sin, (Romans 3:9), and enslavement to sin, (Romans 6:6). As such, they are beyond our control and our choice.

From a Biblical theological perspective, our identity determined by complex biological psychic and social forces, is not our behavioral destiny. The whole point of the gospel of God's grace and transforming power in Jesus Christ is that we can be set free from compulsions and orientations that drive us or we can be empowered to resist the behavioral incarnations of compulsions and desire and orientations that, from the Biblical perspective or view of human nature and relationships can harm and destroy us and each other.

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