If you flip through the red letters in a standard New Testament looking for a specific, clear-cut quote where Jesus mentions same-sex relationships, you’re going to be looking for a long time. You won't find one. It’s one of those weird, jarring realities that catches people off guard because of how loud the modern debate has become. Does Jesus say anything about homosexuality? The short, technical answer is no. He never brings it up. He doesn't condemn it, he doesn't explicitly bless it, and he doesn't use the Greek word arsenokoitai—which Paul famously used later—even once.
But that’s not where the story ends. Not even close.
Religion is messy. History is messier. When people argue about what Jesus thought, they usually fall into two camps. One side says his silence is a green light, suggesting he didn't care or was inclusive. The other side argues that as a first-century Jewish rabbi, his silence was a given because he already agreed with the strict laws of the Torah. To understand the "silence" of Jesus, you have to look at the world he walked in, the way he talked about marriage, and the people he chose to eat with.
The Silence of the Gospels
It is a historical fact that the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—contain zero direct mentions of homosexuality. It's fascinating. Think about all the things Jesus ranted about. He went off on hypocrisy. He talked endlessly about money and how it rots the soul. He spent a massive amount of time talking about divorce. Yet, on the topic that dominates modern church politics, he stayed quiet.
Why?
Context matters more than we think. In first-century Judea, the moral framework was built on the Mosaic Law. Many scholars, like Dr. Robert Gagnon, argue that Jesus didn't need to mention it because his audience already considered same-sex acts a sin based on Leviticus. In this view, silence isn't permission; it’s an assumption.
On the flip side, scholars like Dr. James Brownson point out that Jesus was never shy about challenging the status quo. He broke the Sabbath. He touched lepers. He chatted with "unclean" women. If he wanted to reinforce or redefine sexual boundaries, he had the floor. He just didn't.
The "One Flesh" Argument in Matthew 19
When people try to find a "hidden" answer to the question, they usually go to Matthew 19. It’s the most common pivot point. Some Pharisees come up to Jesus and try to trap him with a question about divorce. They want to know if a man can divorce his wife for "any and every reason."
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Jesus responds by quoting Genesis. He says, "Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?"
Traditionalists love this verse. They argue that by quoting Genesis, Jesus was establishing a "complementarian" view of sex—basically saying that marriage is only for one man and one woman. It’s a logical jump. If he defines marriage this way, then anything outside that box is, by default, not what God intended.
But there is a counter-argument that feels more honest to the actual text. Jesus wasn't giving a lecture on sexual orientation. He was defending women. In that culture, a man could dump his wife for burning dinner, leaving her destitute. Jesus was saying, "Hey, stop treating people like property. Marriage is a high calling of unity, not a legal loophole for abandonment." Using a specific example of heterosexual marriage to answer a question about heterosexual divorce doesn't necessarily mean he was slamming the door on every other type of relationship.
The Centurion’s Servant: A Weird Translation Twist
There’s a story in Matthew 8 and Luke 7 that gets brought up a lot in more progressive circles. A Roman centurion comes to Jesus because his pais (servant or slave) is paralyzed and suffering. Jesus is impressed by the man's faith and heals the servant instantly.
Here is where it gets interesting. The Greek word pais can mean a young servant, but in some contexts of that era, it was also used to describe a younger male lover in a same-sex relationship. Theodore W. Jennings Jr., a professor of biblical theology, has argued that the centurion’s intense distress suggests a relationship deeper than just "boss and employee."
If Jesus knew this was a same-sex couple and healed the partner anyway without a lecture, that would be a huge deal. However, most mainstream linguists are skeptical. Pais is a common word for "child" or "servant." To assume it means "lover" in this specific story requires a lot of reading between the lines. It’s an intriguing theory, but it’s not a "smoking gun."
What Jesus Hated vs. What He Loved
If we want to know what Jesus thought about morality, we have to look at his "Greatest Hits." He was obsessed with the heart. He famously said it’s not what goes into a person that makes them "unclean," but what comes out of their heart—thoughts of malice, greed, and deceit.
He was also a master of the "Radical Inclusion" move. He went to dinner with tax collectors, who were basically the "traitorous scum" of his day. He defended the woman caught in adultery when the religious leaders wanted to stone her. He consistently prioritized the person over the policy.
This is where the debate gets really heated. One side says, "Jesus loved everyone, so he wouldn't care about who you love." The other side says, "Jesus loved everyone, but he also told the woman caught in adultery to 'go and sin no more.'"
Both can be true. Jesus was a figure of extreme grace and extreme challenge. He didn't just pat people on the back; he asked them to give up everything to follow him. The real question is whether he viewed a committed same-sex relationship as a "sin" to be walked away from or a form of "love" to be celebrated. Since he didn't say, we're left to look at the trajectory of his ministry.
The Eunuch Conversation
In that same chapter of Matthew (chapter 19), Jesus says something else that often gets ignored. After talking about marriage, he mentions eunuchs. He says some are born that way, some are made that way by others, and some choose to live that way for the kingdom of heaven.
In the ancient world, "eunuchs" were the sexual "others." They didn't fit the standard male-female binary of the time. By acknowledging people who were "born that way" and validating their place in the kingdom, Jesus was expanding the borders of who "belongs." Some LGBTQ+ theologians see this as Jesus carving out a space for anyone who doesn't fit the traditional family structure. It’s a significant moment of recognition for people living on the margins of sexual norms.
The Paul Factor
Most of the "clobber passages" people use against homosexuality come from the Apostle Paul, not Jesus. Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6, and 1 Timothy 1 are the heavy hitters.
This creates a tension. For many Christians, Paul’s letters are divinely inspired and carry the same weight as Jesus' words. They argue that Paul was simply clarifying the teachings of Jesus for a Greek and Roman audience.
Others argue that Paul was a man of his time, writing to specific churches about specific issues—like exploitative pederasty or temple prostitution—which are totally different from a modern, consensual, loving relationship. They point out that Jesus had many opportunities to back up the Old Testament’s sexual prohibitions, yet he focused his energy on condemning the religious elite for their lack of mercy.
Acknowledging the Complexity
It’s okay to admit this is complicated.
The Bible wasn't written in 2026. It was written in a world of goats, sandals, and Roman occupation. The concept of "sexual orientation" as an innate identity didn't exist back then. People viewed sexual acts as things you did, not necessarily who you were.
When we ask "Does Jesus say anything about homosexuality?", we are asking a modern question of an ancient text.
- The Traditional View: Jesus upheld the Genesis creation mandate. He was a Jew who kept the Law. His silence was an agreement with the status quo.
- The Progressive View: Jesus prioritized love, mercy, and justice. He never mentioned homosexuality despite it being present in the Greco-Roman world around him. His silence is a sign that it wasn't a concern for him.
What Do We Do With This?
So, where does that leave you?
Whether you are a person of faith, a seeker, or just someone trying to understand the cultural wars, the "red letters" of the Bible provide a surprisingly quiet landscape on this topic. If you’re looking for a verse to use as a weapon, you won't find it in the mouth of Jesus. If you’re looking for a verse that explicitly "approves," you won't find that either.
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What you will find is a man who was radically obsessed with how we treat the vulnerable. You'll find a teacher who said the entire Law can be summed up in two commands: love God and love your neighbor.
Actionable Insights for Navigating the Conversation
If you find yourself in a debate or just thinking through this for your own life, here are some ways to ground the discussion:
1. Distinguish between Jesus and Paul.
When someone says "The Bible says..." regarding homosexuality, they are almost always quoting Paul. It is helpful to clarify that Jesus himself never addressed it. This doesn't dismiss the rest of the Bible, but it changes the weight of the argument for those who prioritize the life of Christ.
2. Focus on the "Fruit."
Jesus said you can recognize a tree by its fruit. In modern pastoral care, many look at the "fruit" of certain teachings. If a specific interpretation leads to despair, self-harm, or the breaking of families, it's worth asking if that interpretation aligns with the "abundant life" Jesus promised.
3. Study the Greek context.
If you want to go deep, look into words like porneia (sexual immorality). Jesus used this word often. Traditionalists argue it includes all non-heterosexual acts. Scholars like Jennifer Wright Knust suggest it was a broader term for "misuse of others." The definitions aren't as fixed as modern translations make them seem.
4. Look at the company he kept.
Jesus was constantly criticized for hanging out with "sinners" without demanding they change first. His methodology was "belonging before believing" or "belonging before behaving." Regardless of one's stance on the morality of homosexuality, the Jesus model is one of radical proximity and friendship.
5. Read diverse perspectives.
Don't just stay in your bubble. Read The Bible and the Transgender Christian by Austen Hartke or God and the Gay Christian by Matthew Vines. On the other side, read Is God Anti-Gay? by Sam Allberry. Understanding the best arguments from both sides is the only way to have a sophisticated view.
Ultimately, the silence of Jesus on homosexuality is a Rorschach test. It often tells us more about the person interpreting the silence than it does about the historical Jesus himself. But perhaps that silence is an invitation. Maybe it's a nudge to stop looking for rules and start looking at the person standing right in front of us.
Jesus may not have said anything about homosexuality, but he said a whole lot about how we should treat people who are different from us. He talked about the Good Samaritan—the "outsider" who was more righteous than the religious leaders. He talked about the sheep and the goats, where the final judgment was based on whether you fed the hungry and clothed the naked.
If we spend all our time arguing about what he didn't say, we might miss the very clear instructions he actually gave. Love. Mercy. Humility. Those aren't silent at all.