What the prohibitions of Leviticus say to today's Christians. Let's talk about it!

Text published on the website The Reformation Project (United States), freely translated and annotated by Luca Canetti

Negative Biblical Statement: The book of Leviticus prohibits sexual relations between men as a true abomination, contextualizing them within the moral norm and not in the context of ritual norms.

Positive Biblical Affirmation: The prohibitions of Leviticus do not apply to Christians, as they are rooted in gender roles imposed by the cultural context.

Leviticus 18:22 prohibits sexual relations between men, and Leviticus 20:13 prescribes capital punishment for those who violate those prohibitions. But Christians never lived under the 'law' of the Old Testament. (1)

• The Old Testament contains 613 rules for the faithful. Leviticus includes regulations regarding offerings, clean and impure foods, diseases, excrement, sexual taboos, and the conduct of priests. (2)

• But the New Testament teaches that the Passion, death and resurrection of Christ brings the 'law' to fulfillment (3), and precisely for this reason the numerous norms present in the Old Testament in general, and in Leviticus in particular, are never been applied to Christians. Romans 10:4 says that "the end of the law is Christ". Colossians 2:13-14 says that God "he also gave life to you, who were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, forgiving us all our sins by canceling the written document of your debt, the conditions of which were unfavorable to us". He overcame all this by binding it to the wood of the cross.

«However, by calling it a new alliance, God has declared the first to be antiquated; what becomes ancient and ages is destined to disappear." (Hebrews 8:13)

Prohibitions on matters such as wearing clothing made of mixed fabrics are part of the ceremonial law, but didn't the prohibition on homosexual relations have something to do with the moral law?

• There are those who argue that all laws regarding sexual conduct are all in the New Testament, but Leviticus also prohibits sexual intercourse with a menstruating woman (Leviticus 18:19), which many Christians think is not sinful.

• Others however argue that the term«abomination» refers to the fact that homosexual behavior is particularly evident, but today we accept other practices that were considered then «abominations»: usury (Ezekiel 18:13), burning incense (Isaiah 1:13), eating pork, rabbit and shellfish (Deuteronomy 14:3-21).

• There was even the death penalty for certain practices that we accept today: working on the Sabbath (Exodus 35:2) and usury (4) (Ezekiel 18:13). The Old Testament does not distinguish between “moral” and “ceremonial” laws.

Doesn't the reason why Leviticus prohibits homosexual relations depend on something that will not change over time, namely God's plan for man and woman?

• The fact that Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 specifically prohibits homosexual sexual relations involving anal penetration (hence not all homosexual relations) was the subject of discussion between the Hebrew scholar Saul Olyan and the rabbinic scholar Daniel Boyarin . An act of that type is seen as humiliating for men, as it places them in an inferior social role, i.e. that intended for 'sissies'.

• In a first-century commentary on the Scriptures, Philo of Alexandria inveighed against pederasty, making it clear that men could be afflicted “because they are treated like women”. The active partner was also seen as «a guide and a teacher in carrying out seriously illicit actions from a moral point of view, that is, in not being men and in being effeminate».

• The Talmud, a collection of rabbinic commentaries dating back to the first centuries AD, clearly distinguishes between anal intercourse and other types of sexual acts between men. The authors of the Talmud note that Leviticus prohibits only and exclusively the first case. Other cases of sexual acts between men are considered less serious cases.

• Sexual relations between two men were prohibited because they called into question the iron rule that provided for male predominance in patriarchal families, in a society that devalued women.

Why does Leviticus not distinguish between active and passive partners?

• «You will have the same law both for the foreigner and for the one born in the land» (Leviticus 24:22).

• Old Testament scholars Richard Elliot Friedman and Shawna Dolansky argue that prohibitions on same-sex relationships exist for “an intercultural issue, as an act of this type could not only denigrate the passive partner, but even change his or her equal status in the eyes of God” (5). It follows that both partners would be guilty.

• Leviticus, among other things, does not specifically speak of female homosexual relations, which makes the fact that sexual relations between men were prohibited as they undermined the complementarity between man and woman appear unlikely.

Can we therefore say that the Bible is a misogynistic text?

• While patriarchal norms shaped the text of the Old Testament, patriarchy did not exist exclusively in ancient Israel. But even if the Old Testament does not give women the same treatment as men, there are still countercultural elements in the Old Testament, including the presence of women leaders.

• In the New Testament women such as Lydia, Phoebe, Euodia, and Syntyche had leadership positions.

“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28)

• In Matthew 19:8 Jesus said: “Because of the hardness of your heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so”.

• As John Piper wrote, «There are laws in the Old Testament that are not the expression of God's will for every time, but rather the expression of an optimal management of sin in a specific historical period and for a specific people». This, among other things, is the Christian thought regarding slavery and polygamy; and it should also be the thought that Christians have about patriarchy.

• The testimony of the New Testament (6) moves Christians away from patriarchy and towards gender equality (see Galatians 3:28). This means that the logic of Leviticus' prohibitions does not apply to Christians.

(1) I put the word in quotation marks law, because actually the Hebrew word Torah, in itself, means 'education, teaching'. For further information, see: Letter from the secretary of the Biblical Commission to the archbishop of Paris, card. Suhard, in Denz. 3862-3864. See also: J. Alberto Soggin, Introduction to the Old Testament. From the origins to the closure of the Alexandrian canon, Paideia, Brescia 1974.

(2) This is because in Leviticus there is exclusively the priestly tradition. Abbreviated with P (i.e. Priester Kodex), it is characterized precisely by its importance for ritual norms and ritual purity. See: Jeremiah 23:1-6.

(3) I put in the word law in quotation marks, as the Hebrew word Torah, in itself, means 'education, teaching'.

(4) For further information, see: Second Lateran Ecumenical Council, Canons, in Denz. 715-718; Gregory IX, Letter to Fra' R. «Naviganti vel», in Denz. 828; Council of Vienne, Session III, Constitution «Ex gravi ad nos», in Denz. 906 and Synod of Tours, in Denz. 747. See also: Leo I the Great, Letter to the bishops of Campania, Piceno and Etruria «Ut nobis gratulationem», in Denz. 280-281.

(5) In this passage, the text uses the word 'Law', but it must be kept in mind that the Hebrew Bible, instead, uses the word 'Torah', which instead means 'education, teaching'. See: J. Alberto Soggin, Introduction to the Old Testament. From the origins to the closure of the Alexandrian Canon, Paideia, Brescia 1974 and V. Mannucci, Bible as the Word of God. General introduction to Sacred Scripture, Queriniana, Brescia 2007. For an introduction to questions of fundamental moral theology, see: Don Massimo Cassani, Fundamental moral theology. Introduction and methodological issues, Institute of Religious Sciences 'Blessed Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano' 2008/2009 (handouts) and John Paul II, Encyclical letter «Veritatis splendor», in Denz. 4950-4971. See also: G. Benzi, The Bible, 'Great Cultural Code' I, ISSR 'Santi Vitale e Agricola' 2011-2012 (notes for the course).

(6) It should not be forgotten that the Old Testament must always be read in the light of the New. For further information, see: Raymond E. Brown, Introduction to the New Testament, Queriniana, Brescia 2008. See also: Response from the Biblical Commission, in Denz. 3398-3400; Response from the Biblical Commission, in Denz. 3561-3567 and Response of the Biblical Commission, in Denz. 3568-3578.

Original text: 7. The prohibitions in Leviticus don't apply to Christians.