Gay Jesus – Same Sex Couples in the Bible

Modern progressives, for various reasons, promote a gay Jesus and claim that he used same sex couples in his sermons. Some people go even further and suggest that Jesus condemned only Hebrew homosexuals but gave Romans a free pass.

Over the last few years, not a week goes by without someone asking us (The Jesus of History Project) “Is this true? Is there any evidence to support the claims that Jesus was Gay and taught about same sex couples?”

The problem is that these claims – Gay Jesus and Gays in the Bible – are often made by people who hold prestigious degrees from divinity schools and are themselves part of the clergy.

So is it true?

In order to answer the question let’s examine the evidence.

In Luke 17:34 and Matthew 24:40 both Gospel writers have their Christ character give a sermon, both versions of this sermon include the following Christological points:

1. The rapture is imminent. The rapture is supposed to be the time when all those who believe in Christ will be magically transformed into heavenly beings. Unfortunately, it was supposed to occur within the lifetime of the people listening to his speech.
2. Those who are to be saved and those who are condemned will be together, in close proximity, but one will be taken up to be with Christ and the other condemned.
3. Both accounts, suggest that Christ (the Son of Man) will initiate the event and judge who is to be saved and who is to be condemned.

I will quote here the English translation of the oldest text – from the Codex Sinaiticus – from both Luke and then Matthew. I have expanded the quotes to include the narrative context.

Luke 17:22-34

22 But he said to his disciples: Days will come when you shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and shall not see it.

23 And they shall say to you: Lo here, lo there: go not after them nor follow them.

24 For as the lightning flashing out from one place under heaven shines to the other place under heaven, so shall the Son of man be in his day.

25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation.

26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

27 They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were giving in marriage till the day on which Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all.

28 Likewise as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building;

29 but on the day in which Lot went out of Sodom, there rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed all.

30 So shall it be in the day in which the Son of man is revealed.

31 In that day he that shall be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not come down to take them away; and he that is in the field let him likewise not turn back.

32 Remember Lot‘s wife.

33 Whoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it: and whoever shall lose it shall save it alive.

34 I say to you, on that night there shall be two men lying on one couch: one shall be taken and the other left:

35 There shall be two women grinding together: the one shall be taken, but the other left.

Matthew 24:34-43

34 Verily I say to you, this generation shall not pass away till all these things take place.

35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

36 But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of the heavens, nor the Son, but the Father only.

37 But as the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of man be.

38 For as they were in the days that were before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till the day in which Noah entered the ark,

39 and knew not till the flood came and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.

40 Then shall two men be in the field, one shall be taken and one left:

41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill, one shall be taken and one left.

42 Watch therefore: for you know not in what day your Lord comes.

Discussion:

The first question that comes to mind is “Is this something that the Jesus of History would say?”

Those of you who have followed my work and have read my book “The True Sayings of Jesus” will know about the common source sayings (Q Source). If you haven’t had the chance yet, the Q Source refers to the core set of Hebrew sayings that we can tentatively attribute to the Jesus of History. They represent only 18% of the words attributed to Christ.

(Read more HERE about the search for the actual words of the Jesus of History.)

The Jesus of History had a vision of God that differed radically to that shared by the Pharisee movement. If you want to know more, get a copy of my book already!

The important thing to note is that he did not see himself as a God or anything more than just a man.

“Why call me good? There is none good but one! God!”
Mark 10:18, Matthew 19:17, Luke 18:19

The Jesus of History understood that God does not judge us:

“God sends his sun on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
Matthew 5:45

He did not believe that he was a judge in any sense of the word:

“Who made me a judge over you?”
Luke 12:14

Preliminary conclusion:

It is obvious therefore; that whoever spoke those three phrases above did not give the two sermons in Luke 17:22 or Matthew 24:40.

Those three sayings above – from the Q Source – enshrine a philosophy that is the exact opposite to the idea of God judging us based on faith rather than volition (what you choose to do). If we assume that the Jesus of History was sane, he could not have made both statements above and the sermon on two women grinding.

So if the Jesus of History didn’t give the sermon about two women grinding, who did?

Textual Detectives: Who gave this sermon?

It was Saint Paul who taught the dogma of the rapture and the judgement of his Christ. It was Saint Paul who taught that Christ would return within Paul’s lifetime to judge those who are alive and those who are dead. When those people who believed in Paul’s radical message would be taken up to heaven.

Evidence that suggests Paul did it:

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also those that have fallen asleep, will God through Jesus bring with him.

15 For this we say to you in the word of the Lord, that we, the living, who remain over to the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those that have fallen asleep;

16 because the Lord himself, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall arise first;

17 then we, the living, who remain over, shall, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we always be with the Lord.”

1 Thessalonians 4:14

Second Preliminary conclusion:

I won’t bore you with too many textual examples here as I think it is obvious exactly whose words the Gospel writers were copying into their Gospels.

So if the sermon of the two women grinding was from Saint Paul, was Saint Paul teaching about same sex couples and a Gay Jesus?

Textual evidence for same sex couples in the two sermons on women grinding:

Gay Men:

Well, Luke says that two men will be lying on a couch (Klinè – Strong’s Greek 2825 – often this word is translated as “Bed” but that it is incorrect – Kliné actually means pallet, stretcher or couch) so people have jumped on the image of two men in one bed or on the same couch and suggest that they must have been Gay, but when you read the text in Greek, it is obvious that is not what the text is implying.

In the first century Southern Levant all civilized people ate whilst reclining, which is where we get the name Recline (From the Greek word Kliné). (Find out more HERE)

It is obvious from the text that the entire point of the narrative was the proximity of the two men, not their activity. In Matthew’s example, two men are working in a field and in Luke they are eating. It is only our modern obsession with all things homosexual that suggests that there is anything more than that to the story.

Gay Women:

The next line that Luke includes tells us that two women will be grinding (“Alaytho” Strong’s Greek 229) at the same place. Again the Gay lobby have jumped on this line to suggest that the two women were lesbians (“Grinding!!!” Get it?) But if Luke had intended to describe a sexual act he would not have felt the need to add “in the same place” so that connection is a little weak. (However, please note that the Hebrew word for “Grind” is a metaphor for sex but just because a word has a secondary meaning as a metaphor that doesn’t change its primary meaning – otherwise it would no longer be a metaphor!)

In  Matthew’s Gospel, it is clear that the Greek word “Alaytho” (Grinding) is used to describe grinding grain as the writer adds “at the millstone.”

So where does that leave us? When we actually read the Gospel of Matthew in Greek the whole issue becomes clearer – the two men were in a field and the two women were grinding at the mill.

Conclusion:

As you have seen, it is obvious that the Jesus of History did not give the sermon on same sex couples. This is a perfect example of how Saint Paul’s words were often put into the mouth of Christ by the Gospel writers and it would be easy to just dismiss the issue as an example of Christian fanaticism – both then and now.

But, what of us, in this modern world, how are we any different? Once again people are trying to put words into the mouth of the Jesus of History in order to justify their own agenda.

And that would be fine but for the fact that yet again the words of the Jesus of History are being ignored.

Ironically, it is those words – the words of the Jesus of History – which enshrine clarity – a holistic philosophy – that offers us a way to re-balance our lives from within – without the need to judge each other. Maybe it’s time that we gave the Jesus of History a chance to speak for himself.

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