Our last text is also the one that seems to be the clearest condemnation of homosexual activity. Of all verses in the Bible, it is the only one which could possibly refer to lesbians in the original language.
There are no words that are difficult to translate, even if we might need to look at interpretation and meaning in context, and the passage is clearly part of the new covenant that applies to Christians.
This single verse has stopped many Christians from affirming their LGBT brothers and sisters in relationships, from conservative Christian ethicist scholar William Hays to myself for a long time. Yet, by now you may agree with me that many texts which on the surface seem clear and unambiguous can take on new meanings and alternative valid interpretations as we study them carefully.
Here are the questions:. Laying aside our prior assumptions, what could Paul be describing as natural and unnatural intercourse?
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance defines physis as: " nature. It could be used to designate:. James V. The word physis cannot be found in the Greek version of the Tanakh, and it only began to appear in later Jewish writings around BCE as the Hebrews encountered Greek philosophy.
