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Question: What is the scriptural basis for the restriction on homosexual sexual behavior in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Introduction to Question

In recent years, it has become an item of interest and controversy to know what scriptural grounds are for prohibiting homosexual sexual behavior in different Christian religions.

This article provides some resources for answering this question as well as other relevant scriptural texts from the Latter-day Saint canon for answering this question.

See also: Question: What sort of scriptural support is there for the doctrines of The Family: A Proclamation to the World?

It demonstrates, despite lengthy and intelligent cases to the contrary,^[1] that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stands on solid scriptural grounds in their prohibition of homosexual sexual behavior and has effectively no theological workaround for incorporating neither homosexual sexual behavior nor same-sex unions/sealings into their theology.

Response to Question

Resources for Understanding the Biblical Perspective on Homosexuality

For understanding the biblical perspective on homosexuality, there are three great resources online that explain it.

1. Richard B. Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics (New York: HarperOne, 1996), 379–406 online at https://www.heartlandchurch.org/d/The_Moral_Vision_of_the_New_Testament_excerpt.pdf. This gives an academic, exegetical perspective from the New Testament about homosexuality, concluding that whenever homosexual sexual behavior is discussed, it is unremittingly negative.
2. Justin W. Starr, "Biblical Condemnations of Homosexual Conduct," FAIR Papers, November 2011, https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/starr-justin-BiblicalHomosexuality.pdf. This paper gives an academic, exegetical perspective from the entire Bible regarding homosexual sexual behavior. It concludes that the Bible is against all homosexual sexual behavior.
3. Robert A. J. Gagnon, one of the foremost experts on homosexuality and the Bible, has a website where he has links to his many articles and video presentations defending the traditional view from scripture.

Book Resources

The best book resource defending the traditional interpretation of scripture regarding homosexual sexual behavior:

1. Robert A. J. Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001).

These resources thoroughly refute any notion that the bible is either indifferent, silent, or in favor of homosexual sexual behavior.

Latter-day Saint Scripture and its Addenda to the Case Against Homosexual Sexual Behavior

Uniquely Latter-day Saint texts offer many important addenda to the conversation about proper sexuality.

1. The great Greek philosopher Aristotle taught that all things were created with a telos or purpose. By adhering to this telos or being used according to it, things, including people, flourish. Along similar lines, Jacob 2:21 teaches that all men and women were created with the end of keeping God’s commandments and glorifying him forever. Doctrine and Covenants 49:15-17 teaches that the Lord’s definition of marriage is that it is between a man and a woman. Men and women are commanded to be married and have sexual relations. Scripture consistently associates keeping the commandments with flourishing and happiness. See, for example, Mosiah 2:41.
2. Restoration scripture echoes Genesis in affirming that men and women should become “one flesh”—affirming the creative order discussed in Justin W. Starr’s paper above.^[2] These are therefore affirmations of the created order whereby only relations between men and women are ethically proper.
3. Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-2 teaches that one must enter into the covenant of marriage in order to reach the Celestial Kingdom.
4. Doctrine and Covenants 132:19-20 lays out more of Latter-day Saint theology of marriage. According to that section, men and women’s glory as gods consists in part in having “a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.” Thus, the capacity to have spiritual offspring is a necessary condition of becoming gods in Latter-day Saint theology. Doctrine and Covenants 132 teaches that only men and women joined together in marriage have this capacity. Verse 63 of the revelation teaches that men and women are sealed together in part to “bear the souls of men.” The revelation teaches that a binary sexual complementarity is required in order to achieve spiritual creation.^[3]
5. The Family: A Proclamation to the World teaches that all men and women were born of Heavenly Parents in the pre-mortal life. Latter-day Saint theology affirms the existence of a Heavenly Mother by whom the spirits of all of humanity from Adam to the present day has been sired.^[4] It has been affirmed that the Proclamation came by way of divine inspiration and revelation many times.
6. The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible adds comments and restores much of the text of the Bible that is relevant to discussions of the Biblical witness regarding homosexual sexual behavior. Readers can see this for themselves in Joseph Smith's revision of Genesis 19 and the Sodom narratives, Romans 1:26-32,^[5] and 1 Corinthians 6:12 and 6:18.^[6] In each of these cases Joseph Smith either agrees with or intensifies the biblical witness against homosexual sexual behavior.

Personal Revelation Justifying the Practice of Homosexual Sexual Behavior

Some have claimed that they have received revelation that homosexual sexual behavior is correct and use this as justification for not keeping the scriptural commandment of abstaining from them. This revelation, given its incongruity with scripture and other prophetic revelation, must be a form of false revelation from false spirits.

Main article: Question: How does official teaching of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints view those that receive revelation that contradicts that of the Prophet?

Scriptural Concordance of Words Relevant to Considerations About Homosexuality

Fornication is defined as any sexual activity between people outside of marriage. If one defines marriage as between a man and a woman, then any sexual contact between homosexual partners is going to be considered fornication. Below is a concordance of the mentions of fornication and its derivatives in scripture.

Fornication

• Ezekiel 16:26
• Ezekiel 16:29
• Isaiah 23:17
• 2 Chronicles 21:11
• Matthew 5:32
• Matthew 15:19
• Matthew 19:9
• Mark 7:21
• John 8:41
• Acts 15:20
• Acts 15:29
• Acts 21:25
• Romans 1:29
• 1 Corinthians 5:1
• 1 Corinthians 5:1
• 1 Corinthians 6:13
• 1 Corinthians 6:18
• 1 Corinthians 7:2
• 1 Corinthians 10:8
• 2 Corinthians 12:21
• Galatians 5:19
• Ephesians 5:3
• Colossians 3:5
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3
• Jude 1:7
• Revelation 2:14
• Revelation 2:20
• Revelation 2:21
• Revelation 9:21
• Revelation 14:8
• Revelation 19:2
• Jacob 3:12
• 3 Nephi 12:32
• Helaman 8:26
• Doctrine and Covenants 35:11
• Doctrine and Covenants 42:74
• Doctrine and Covenants 88:94
• Doctrine and Covenants 88:105

Fornications

• Ezekiel 16:15

Fornicator

• 1 Corinthians 5:11
• Hebrews 12:16
• Doctrine and Covenants 42:77

Fornicators

• 1 Corinthians 5:9
• 1 Corinthians 5:10
• 1 Corinthians 6:9
• Doctrine and Covenants 42:76

See also: Question: Did Christ teach against same-sex relationships during his mortal ministry? and Question: Isn't the Mormon opposition to same-sex marriage hypocritical, considering that they used to ban black from holding the priesthood until 1978?

Notes

1. ↑ See Taylor G. Petrey, “Toward a Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 44, no. 4 (2011): 106–41; Tabernacles of Clay: Sexuality and Gender in Modern Mormonism (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2020); Blaire Ostler, Queer Mormon Theology: An Introduction (Salt Lake City: By Common Consent Press, 2021). For a lengthy and cogent rebuttal and review of Petrey’s book Tabernacles of Clay, see Gregory L. Smith, “Feet of Clay: Queer Theory and the Church of Jesus Christ,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 43 (2021): 107–278.
2. ↑ Doctrine and Covenants 49:15–17; Moses 3:21–24; Abraham 5:14–18
3. ↑ It should be noted that Joseph Smith never appears to have taught in his public sermons that human spirits were birthed by Heavenly Parents in the pre-mortal existence. Indeed, he seems to have taught in his public sermons that spirits were never created. See Kenneth W. Godfrey, “The History of Intelligence in Latter-day Saint Thought,” in The Pearl of Great Price: Revelations from God, ed. H. Donl Peterson and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1989), 213–36; Blake Ostler, “The Idea of Pre-Existence in the Development of Mormon Thought,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 15, no. 1 (Spring 1982): 59–78. Although that is true, it is also the case that his revelations teach that men and women can create spirit children and that our spirits were at one point created. The Book of Moses teaches this doctrine of spirits having a moment when they were created and the majority of Latter-day Saint scriptural exegetes have recognized this. See Moses 3:5 and especially in connection to Moses 1:8 where Moses sees "all the children of men which are and were created." All scripture assumes real pre-existence instead of ideal pre-existence and virtually all Latter-day Saint exegetes with the exception of perhaps one have recognized this. See Elder Bruce R. McConkie, “Christ and the Creation,” in Studies in Scripture: Volume Two, The Pearl of Great Price, ed. Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson (Salt Lake City: Randall Book, 1985), 88; Milton R. Hunter, Pearl of Great Price Commentary (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1951), 80–86; Richard D. Draper, S. Kent Brown, and Michael D. Rhodes, The Pearl of Great Price: A Verse by Verse Commentary (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2005), 222; H. Donl Peterson, The Pearl of Great Price: A History and Commentary (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1987), 129–30; Shon D. Hopkin, “Premortal Existence,” in Pearl of Great Price Reference Companion, ed. Dennis L. Largey (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2017), 240–41; Hyrum L. Andrus, Doctrinal Commentary on the Pearl of Great Price (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1973), 99–136; Aaron P. Schade and Matthew L. Bowen, The Book of Moses: From the Ancient of Days to the Latter Days (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 2021), 153–54n30; Book of Mormon Central and Jeffrey R. Bradshaw, “Book of Moses Essays: #54 Moses Sees the Garden of Eden (Moses 3) Spiritual Creation (Moses 3:5-7),” The Interpreter Foundation, May 8, 2021, https://interpreterfoundation.org/book-of-moses-essays-054/; Terryl L. Givens, “The Book of Moses as a Pre–Augustinian Text: A New Look at the Pelagian Crisis,” in Tracing Ancient Threads in the Book of Moses: Inspired Origins, Temple Contexts, and Literary Qualities, ed. Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, David R. Seely, John W. Welch and Scott Gordon, 2 vols. (Orem, UT: The Interpreter Foundation; Springville, UT: Book of Mormon Central; Redding, CA: FAIR; Tooele, UT: Eborn Books, 2021), 1:293–314. It appears that all those who have commented on spiritual creation in the Doctrine and Covenants have accepted that spirit birth is a reality. Exactly how is not specified. See Roy W. Doxey, Doctrine and Covenants Speaks (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1970), 422; Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Doctrine and Covenants, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1978), 1:664.
4. ↑ David L. Paulsen and Martin Pulido, “‘A Mother There’: A Survey of Historical Teachings About Heavenly Mother,” BYU Studies Quarterly 50, no. 1 (2011): 70–97.
5. ↑ Smith, "Feet of Clay," 129.
6. ↑ Scott H. Faulring, Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004), 501.