Excerpt from “Kansas or Nepal”
J. D. Greear, president of the SBC has this to say in reflecting on Romans 1:26-27:
In terms of frequency of mention and passion, it would appear that quite a few other sins are more egregious in God’s eyes than homosexuality. Jen Wilkin says we should whisper about what the Bible whispers about and shout about what it shouts about. The Bible appears more to whisper on sexual sin compared to its shouts about materialism and religious pride.”
There are several concerns that I have with this kind of thinking. First, declaring that certain sins are equally sinful based on the fact that they end up on the same list is not any kind of reasonable hermeneutic. We have already looked at this error. Second, using frequency of mention to ascertain the seriousness of sin is fundamentally flawed. If we weighted various kinds of sexual sins in this way, we would end up with the following chart:
If we weigh sin by how many times the Bible references it, bestiality is a far better option than straight up lust. Perhaps pedophilia is better than prostitution, as it is never mentioned at all. I think J. D. Greear and Jen Wilkens would be appalled if I suggested to them that heterosexual erotic fantasy is a far worse sin than rape or incest. I think we can see the uselessness of weighting sins by their frequency of appearance. If there is any pattern we may be able to discern from the Biblical data it would be that the more perverse a deviation from righteousness is, the less it gets mentioned. When these greater perversions are dealt with, the more likely the passage will be a prohibition. Why does the Bible then seem to “whisper” about rape, sodomy, incest and bestiality? Paul writes,
“Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret” (Ephesians 5:11-12).
To be fair, Greear and Wilkens maintain the distinction between sexual sins and others like greed and religious pride. It seems to them that the Bible only “whispers” about sexual sin in contrast to the shouting it does about other kinds of sin, like greed and religious pride. Yet, in addition to the 70 references to sexual sin already surveyed above we find 15 references to sensuality, 37 references to immorality, 74 references to adultery and 135 references to harlotry. Some of these refer to spiritual unfaithfulness. Yet such metaphors are grounded in the physical sin-acts. It is difficult to agree that the Bible only whispers about sexual sins with over 340 references.
It is also difficult to agree that greed and materialism are more emphasized by word count when all the biblical references to extortion, swindlers, unjust gain, trusting in wealth, loving money, oppressing the poor, greed, coveting, theft and stealing amount to a grand total of 161. Furthermore, a search for haughtiness, hypocrisy, arrogance and pride delivers up 213 references. Not all of these refer to religious pride. One may of course add idolatry (175) to the religious pride category and best the total of sexual sin references. At this point I hope all my readers can see the silliness of the exercise.
It is obvious that Greear and Wilkens are not aware of the biblical data when they say that the Bible only whispers about sexual sin due to the paucity of references. The Bible does not shout about materialism in contrast to sexual sin. It says far less. One might stretch the references out to gain an equal footing for religious pride and sexual sin, but the original claim concerning the frequency of mention is thereby disproved.
Greear also cites “passion” as a distinguisher between sins. How are we to evaluate the affective tone of any given reference to sin to determine how severe it is? Shall we measure sin based on our perception of how angry or forceful God speaks in the text? This seems to lend itself to subjectivity. We should, however, acknowledge God’s anger poured out on the wicked such as in Sodom and Gomorrah. The whisper/shout theology of sin fails to accurately convey the biblical truths about sin. Are word counts and mood rings really indicators of anything at all? Perhaps the terms God uses of various sins and His sentencing of those sins provide a more consistent measure.
*Heterosexual Lust: Genesis 12:11-13; 20:11-13; 26:7; 34:1-3; 38:16; 39:7; Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21; Judges 14:1-3; 2 Samuel 11:2-5; 1 Kings 11:1-3; Job 31:1; Proverbs 6:25; 7:25; Jeremiah 5:8; Ezekiel 23:5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 16, 20; Matthew 5:28.
Prostitution: Genesis 38:21ff; Deuteronomy 23:17; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 2 Kings 23:7; Job 36:14; Isaiah 57:3; Hosea 4:14; Matthew 21:31f; Luke 15:30; 1 Corinthians 6:15ff.
Rape: Genesis 34:2; Judges 5:30; 19:24-25; 20:5; Deuteronomy 22:25, 28; 2 Samuel 13:12, 14, 32; Isaiah 13:16; Lamentations 5:11; Zechariah 14:2.
Homosexuality: Genesis 19:5; Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13; Deuteronomy 23:18; Judges 19:22; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 Timothy 1:10; Revelation 22:15.
Incest: Genesis 19:30-38; 38:18; Leviticus 18:6-18; 20:11-14, 19; Deuteronomy 27:22; 2 Samuel 13:12; Ezekiel 22:11; 1 Corinthians 5:1.
Bestiality: Leviticus 18:23; 20:15-16.
Pedophilia: Child rape often incestuous and sodomite, is not specifically mentioned.
