Can you imagine specializing in the study of same-sex relationships in Bible times?

That is what Dr. Preston Sprinkle has done.

He has tried to explore the meaning of those controversial texts in their original context. 

Why do that?

That is what more serious students of the Bible do; they try to explore the original context of the Bible as much as they can.  They recognize that the Bible was written over a 1,500 year period and those times are far removed from today.  The writers of Scripture lived in a particular time in history and a particular culture and it is certainly not our time or our culture.  Sprinkle considers such questions as what did these texts mean to the people who wrote them?  What did they think about God?  How did they understand themselves?

This is called exegesis.*

Some may say this is useless.  God’s word has eternal relevance.  It speaks to all people in all ages and in all cultures.  I would agree to a certain extent, but ignoring the fact that we can understand the Bible better with more accurate interpretation is a form of denial.  Arguing  that we can’t gain insight with increased study of ancient times and ancient cultures does not make sense.   Authors Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart don’t denigrate what they call “devotional” reading of Scripture but they do encourage “reading for learning” and “reading for understanding.”  Exegesis would be part of a Bible reader learning and understanding.

Exegesis is what Dr. Sprinkle has done in Chapter 4 of his book People to be Loved: Why Homosexuality is Not Just an Issue, a chapter entitled “Rated R.”

First of all, we will discuss what homosexuality meant in Greco-Roman culture in this post; then we will discuss what homosexuality meant for the Jews in the next post.  

A word of warning: Sprinkle tries to take this subject and present it with a “PG” rating, but when one turns to a consideration of same-sex relations in Greco-Roman culture, the discussion can get very graphic. 

Why go there?  Why consider this culture?  The Bible is a Jewish text, the Old Testament writers were Jews and New Testament writers were Jews. 

Here’s why. 

“The Biblical writers were not writing to a modern Western nation.  They were writing to ancient people living in a time and culture different than ours.  The Old Testament writers were interacting with concepts and world views trafficked into Israel from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and other surrounding cultures, and the New Testament was written to a people steeped in a Jewish and Greco-Roman environment.  To understand what the Bible means, we’ll need to understand the world in which it was first written and read—especially with a topic as important as homosexuality.” [Sprinkle, 55].

Too often we put on a contemporary “Western” lens to view the Bible and nowhere is that more evident when it comes to homosexual behavior. Sprinkle reveals that homosexual practice was accepted in the ancient world as long as it was not among equals.  A man could have sex with another man who was of lower class or a slave and not be thought of as strange.  Sprinkle cites numerous sources to support this idea, sources from the historical period. 

Too often we think of this behavior as a sexual identity issue, that people who are attracted to members of their own sex are not masculine or not feminine.  In the ancient world, concern for sexual identity was nonexistent.  “Ancient people didn’t think in terms of sexual identity; they thought in terms of gender identity” [Sprinkle].  Homosexuality is a modern sociological term coined in the nineteenth century and gay and lesbian refers to people who label themselves based on their personal sexual attraction.

Today, there is a long-running debate about the nature of homosexual behavior.  Some declare that it has a biological origin and some declare that it is socialized behavior.  Many ancient writers did not consider this issue at all.  Again Sprinkle cites contemporaneous writers like Aristotle and Parmenides to support his assertions.  However, there is also some evidence that there was an attitude that same sex attraction was fixed at birth.  Sprinkle cites the book Love Between Women by Bernadette Brooten.  Brooten has seen in some ancient literature the discussion that same-sex desires were fixed at birth.  Brooten is an affirming author** so naturally she would hold this point of view.  Sprinkle has studied her work and declares that even though Brooten has a bias, her work has some merit.  The notion that the idea that sexual orientation occurs from birth was totally absent in the ancient world is probably inaccurate. 

In the section of his chapter entitled “Diversity in Same-Sex Relations” Sprinkle goes into an extensive discussion of the Greco-Roman worldview regarding same-sex relations.  As we have seen power differential was a main factor in this activity, with unequal power as the reason for its acceptance.  However, the attitude of sexual openness [flagrant expression of sexuality] was common in this world.  Murals were often pornographic.  Sprinkle even talked of pornographic images on water pitchers which would be passed around the family at the dinner table.  The culture was a breeding ground for sexual expression.

A practice that we would find very questionable today which was found in ancient times was pederasty or love for a younger boy by an older man.  That was not condemned in Greco-Roman culture and its practice led to acceptance of same-sex relations in this culture.  Sprinkle writes this “had a massive influence on the way people thought and lived for many years to come.” 

Lesbian relationships were written about in the literature of the period and Sprinkle cites documents that support this idea, even to the point that lesbian marriage was sometimes allowed.  Lucian of Samosata and Clement of Alexandria refer to woman as having other women as their “lawful wives.” 

After considering the wide spectrum of same-sex relations in the ancient world and the obvious acceptance of these practices, what is the relevance for Judaism on this topic?  Again, “The Biblical writers were not writing to a modern Western nation.  They were writing to ancient people living in a time and culture different than ours…. To understand what the Bible means, we’ll need to understand the world in which it was first written and read.”

But how much did the “world” influence the Jewish faith and Old Testament writers and how much did the “world” influence New Testament writers who wrote for a more Gentile audience.  Sprinkle has thoughts on this important issue that directly relate to the attitude that Christians have toward same-sex relations today.

His basic concern is this:  some of today’s Christians want to endorse same-sex relations.  Is there support for this in God’s word or are we reading the Bible through twenty-first century lenses?  Sprinkle says he has studied the ancient context.  In my next post, we learn the answer to the question, what would the Jewish Biblical writers feel?

*for a more thorough explanation of techniques of exegesis, see How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart.

**an affirming author is an author who desires to affirm positive positions regarding homosexual behavior.