Q. In your discussion of the Levitical case law where same-sex sexual activity is prohibited, you link that with the ten commandments and specifically the prohibition of adultery. Can you explain the connection? Are you say that all forms of sexual activity except within heterosexual marriage are forms of adultery? How so? I would have thought that adultery is something only already married persons can commit.
A. The ten commandments are general ethical principles that are then applied to specific situations according to the redemptive and sociological situation of the people of God at the time. So we can look at the case law to see what is included specifically in the purview of the commandment, which would include I would argue any sexual intercourse (I would not put it as broadly as sexual activity, but for that see the book I have written with the psychologist Dan Allender entitled God Loves Sex [if you don’t want to be seen carrying around a book with a cover with that title, get the Kindle version!]). Then there are relationships where sexual intercourse is prohibited and therefore marriage is prohibited in Leviticus 18 and 20 which includes same-sex relationships.
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