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\(^{2b}\)I am the LORD your God. \(^3\)You shall not do as they do

\(^4\)You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God.

This chapter is all about unlawful sexual relations. Before getting into the details we are told that these rules are going to be distinct from the rules of the Egyptians where Israel came from, and the Canaanites in the land they were going to. It is a very human thing to compare ourselves to others and to copy other people’s behaviour. We naturally want to fit in, we also want what we see other people getting to have. God warns the Israelites and us against this way of thinking. God should be our Lord, the one who gets to say what we can and can’t do. Following God’s rules may make others think we are self righteous, or no fun, or that we have a totally warped idea of morality. We may strongly desire to do the things we see other people doing. But God wants what is best for us, which (as sinful people) isn’t always what we want for ourselves.

\(^5\)You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

The chapter forbids sexual relationships with relatives; parents, siblings, aunts, grandparents. These are prohibitions that are quite normal to us.

The prohibition that jars most strongly with our culture is the prohibition of homosexuality in verse 22. Many people would assert that it is a positively good thing that people can choose homosexual relationships if they want. However, this chapter sandwiches the prohibition of homosexuality in between prohibitions on child sacrifice (verse 21) and beastiality (verse 23), calling homosexuality an abomination.

Some people construct a false argument that Jesus himself didn’t say anything against homosexuality, therefore, it’s ok. But Jesus used a word rendered “porneia” in Greek which means “sexual sin”. Both Jesus and his audience knew what the Old Testament considered sexual sin to be; it clearly includes homosexuality. If Jesus intended to condone homosexuality he wouldn’t have been able to use that general term without explicitly redefining it. Furthermore, Paul makes it very clear in Romans 1:26-27 that this teaching hasn’t changed or been superseded.