Re-Interpreting “Sodom and Gomorrah” Passages in the Context of Homosexuality Controversy: A Nigerian Perspective

Abstract

The issue of human sexuality is a complex one, and it has been a controversial issue from time immemorial. Scholars have appealed to various evidences to support their arguments for or against any sexual issues they are interested in. One of the passages used to support or argue against homosexuality, for instance, is Gen 19 which contains the story of the destruction of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Traditionally, Sodom and Gomorrah were known and described as cities which God destroyed because of their sin of homosexuality. To call a man Sodomite is to refer to the person as a homosexual. This has been the interpretation of the Church until recently when certain scholars began to challenge this interpretation. Such scholars interpret Gen 19 differently in contrast to the orthodox interpretation. The sin of the people of Sodom is “inhospitality and not homosexuality” as this new interpretation proposes. Hence, this paper examines some of the passages relating to Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old and New Testaments in order to assert the rightness or otherwise of the two interpretations given above. The methodology adopted is linguistic analysis and exegetical method. The study maintains that top on the list of sins in Gen 19 is homosexuality as it is clearly stated in the passage. It concludes that since the two angels came to Lot and not to the men of Sodom the people could not have been guilty of inhospitality as being proposed by scholars like Bartlett1 and Phyllis Bird.