---
product_id: 15379468
title: "God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships (Revised and Expanded)"
price: "R688"
currency: ZAR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/15379468-god-and-the-gay-christian-the-biblical-case-in-support
store_origin: ZA
region: South Africa
---

# God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships (Revised and Expanded)

**Price:** R688
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships (Revised and Expanded)
- **How much does it cost?** R688 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.za](https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/15379468-god-and-the-gay-christian-the-biblical-case-in-support)

## Best For

- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Description

2025 REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION • The landmark book exploring what the Bible actually says—and doesn’t say—about same-sex relationships As a young Christian man, Matthew Vines harbored the same basic hopes of many young people: to one day share his life with someone, to build a family of his own, to give and receive love. But when Vines realized he was gay, those hopes were called into question. The Bible, he’d been taught, condemned gay relationships. Feeling the tension between his understanding of the Bible and the reality of his same-sex orientation, Vines devoted years to intensive research into what the Bible says about homosexuality. He asked questions such as: • What was the real sin of Sodom? • What did Paul have in mind when he wrote about same-sex relations? • Is mandatory celibacy biblical? • Can same-sex marriage fulfill Scripture’s vision for marriage? Accessibly written and carefully argued, this expanded edition of God and the Gay Christian includes an updated introduction, two new chapters, and two new appendices. In the book, Vines engages with leading critiques of his work and shows readers how affirming same-sex relationships can go hand in hand with maintaining moral boundaries and upholding an orthodox Christian faith.

Review: If you're a Christian with an opinion on gay marriage, you need to read this book - As controversy has swirled in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision upholding gay marriage I wondered if anyone had managed to write a rigorous, Biblically-grounded defense of gay marriage. The answer is: yes, this book is it, and boy is it a doozy. For author Matthew Vines, the issue is personal: he was raised in a loving, Christian, Bible-believing home, but realized when he was 19 that he was gay. What to do? After coming out to his dad, the two of them began an in-depth reexamination of scripture that would ultimately change both their minds on the subject. If you've studied what the Bible has to say on the topic of homosexuality at all you probably know two things: one, 'homosexuality' is not a word in either ancient Hebrew or Greek and indeed not something they had a cultural concept for (relevant Biblical passages tend to relate to specific acts); and two, there are six 'clobber passages' strewn across the Old and New Testament which have generally been used to show that the Bible comprehensively condemns gay sexuality. Vines of course digs into those six passages, but before he does so he spends several chapters laying some important conceptual groundwork. He examines the tools scripture gives us to judge whether a doctrine is good or bad, he delves into the history of the church changing its mind when presented with new information, and then he presents some new information: to wit, the church has only known about sexual orientations for about 200 years. What follows is one of the most fascinating parts of the book, an examination of the framework within which ancient peoples actually understood homosexual practices. It was a radically different one than we have today. In essence, virtually everyone believed that all men could be attracted to either men or women, but that interest in men generally arose when someone was no longer satisfied merely with women. Also, male-male sex usually occurred within the framework of pederasty, older men involved with young boys. The great taboo was not to be the 'effeminate' member within a relationship. It was an incredibly strange and rather icky cultural practice, but as they say, "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there." Suffice it to say, concepts of fixed sexual orientation are quite modern and would not have crossed the minds of early Christians. Having explored this critical cultural context, Vines breaks down the relevant passages of scripture chapter by chapter: Sodom's sin, the 'abominations' of Leviticus, the list of sins in Romans 1, and so on. He dives deep into the text, wrestling with words whose meanings are often quite obscure (remember, the ancient Greeks and Hebrews didn't have a concept of 'homosexuality' let alone words for it, so if you see those crop up in your translation of the Bible, that is lazy translation). Honestly, most of the 'clobber passages' are quite easily dismissed (the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not homosexuality but being generally horrible people, something that is easily proved from other scripture and backed up by contemporary sources). The real sticking point, in my mind, has always been Romans 1, which is not easily hand-waved away. However, after we have a framework in mind for how people of Paul's time would have viewed 'gay behavior', especially the common gentile sexual and cultural customs of the day, Romans 1 appears in quite a different light, one that is certainly not a blanket condemnation of homosexuality. Whether you find Vines convincing on these passages will be up to you, but he does grapple directly with them as they are. He takes scripture seriously and does not attempt to simply dismiss passages that he finds inconvenient. In the final chapters of the book, Vines turns the tables on the reader and asks the question, "Is forbidding gay marriage un-Biblical?" It's a pretty gutsy move, but I think he is right to re-frame the debate on the people who have suffered the most at its hands: gay believers. He makes a compelling case that forced celibacy is in every way un-Biblical and not a scriptural answer to the question, "What do we do with gay believers?" Vines also reminds us that sexuality and sexual behavior cannot be divorced. Gay believers who attempt to deny their sexual impulses as sinful almost invariably suffer great psychological damage and engage in self-destructive behaviors. Sexuality is a part of the God-created human identity: to say it is not good is to say that the whole created person is not good. Our gay brothers and sisters are created in God's image too, as the author rightly reminds us. I can't over-state how important this book is right now for Bible-believing Christians. The story that a Bible-believing Christian can only properly have one valid opinion on gay marriage is flat out wrong. There isa scripture-based argument in favor of gay marriage, and I doubt you will ever find it more compellingly stated than in this book. Of course at the end of the day, it is just that, an argument. It is possible to read God and the Gay Christian and be ultimately unconvinced by it. But it is also possible to read arguments for or against predestination, clerical celibacy, or infant baptism and be unconvinced. Most Christians don't think that people who believe differently than they do on those topics are heathens or heretics. If nothing else, I think that reading this book will show that gay marriage is something that genuine believers might find Biblical support for, whether you think they are right or wrong. If you are a Christian wrestling with this topic, I strongly urge you to read this book. Too often the Christian response to the topic of gay marriage has been to quote some out-of-context verses at each other and end the discussion. This book goes much, much deeper into what the Bible actually says about a very complex topic, while still maintaining a Godly perspective about the fact that yes, we are all created in God's image and loved by God. On a final note, it is possible that someone may wish to debate points of this review in the comments. Please refrain unless you have read the book. I have given Matthew Vines' arguments a pretty thin gloss here. Debate the book, not the book review.
Review: This Book May Change Your Mind - Matthew Vine’s book, God and the Gay Christian, faces in a very straightforward manner an important issue in the Church and in our culture today that simply will not go away. Whether we like it or not, many states in the USA and our nation as a whole are changing course on the issue of gay marriage. As we all know, even many Christian denominations have come to embrace the LGBT community in one way or another. What Vine’s book does is to deal with the issue of homosexuality from a biblical perspective, while at the same time giving a biblical argument for same-sex marriage. Whether the reader agrees in the end with Vine’s argument, I believe every reflective Christian needs to hear both sides of this story. Many, if not all evangelical Christians today, have heard the biblical argument against homosexual practice and same-sex marriage in particular. Now we have the opportunity to hear the other side, from a winsome young gay man, who also happens to be an evangelical Christian. Reading the endnotes alone should prove to any reader that Vines has done his homework. I have been reading both scholarly and popular works on this subject for a number of years, and Vines leaves virtually no stone unturned. He certainly brings the necessary intellectual equipment to this vital discussion, having initially taken a year off from his classes at Harvard to study the issue. However, many great minds have tackled this subject from various vantage points in the past. So what makes Vines’ book different? Perhaps it is the fact that he skillfully weaves his own story into a detailed scholarly argument for Christian gay marriage and presents the whole in a way that is most accessible to the average reader. Vines is nothing if not honest. He begins the book by sharing his own story of coming to terms with his sexual orientation and how this made him want to re-examine what the Bible has to say about same-sex relationships. Vines takes an entire chapter to explore how the Church has been wrong in the past on certain issues: the earth as the center of the universe, and slavery, to name two. Vines outlines how these issues caused the Church to re-evaluate what she believed the Bible was saying, then he delicately invites the reader to do the same with the issue of homosexuality. The position of most evangelicals on this issue in the past has been to say that if a person with homosexual tendencies cannot change their sexual orientation, then they should remain celibate. Vines takes an entire chapter to address this advice and he reveals how the idea of enforced celibacy, apart from a calling of God to the single life, is simply not a fair or biblical way to treat LGBT Christians. Next, Vines spends four chapters examining the six Scripture passages that seem to deal most directly with homosexuality. This is the part of this book that I believe every Christian needs to consider in detail. Vine’s conclusion is: "The Bible doesn't directly address the issue of same-sex orientation—or the expression of that orientation. While its six references to same-sex behavior are negative, the concept of same-sex behavior in the Bible is sexual excess, not sexual orientation. What’s more, the main reason that non-affirming Christians believe the Bible’s statements should apply to all same-sex relationships—men and women’s anatomical complementarity—is not mentioned in any of the texts." However, Vines does not stop there. He goes on to spend an entire chapter outlining a biblical argument for same-sex marriage. A number of people attempting to make a similar argument to that of Vines in the past have focused, as Vines does, on the six Scriptures that address this issue directly. However, some authors addressing this issue in the past have also avoided the overall picture that the Bible paints of human sexuality in general. Vines does not fall into this trap. He even spends an entire chapter talking about God’s creation as outlined in Genesis, the meaning of the image of God in humanity, and how all of this applies to the LGBT community. Vines ends the book with a plea for a new reformation to take place in the Church on this issue. He, very helpfully, gives some practical examples of the seeds of this new reformation that he sees being planted in our world today. Matthew Vines will certainly not have the last word on this topic. Those whom he calls “non-affirming” Christians will no doubt point out in reviews, articles and even books where they think Vines is wrong. Christians who are already affirming of the idea of Christian same-sex marriage will applaud Vines’ work. However, there may also be no small number of people, especially evangelicals, who will change their minds on this issue because of reading this book, and resorting to further study of the vast amount of literature that Vines cites. For my own part, while I choose not to take sides on this issue, at least in this review, I do wish to heartily applaud Matthew Vines for his courage. The Christian community owes Vines a debt of gratitude for not only facing this issue in his own life forthrightly, but for taking the time to thoroughly research what the Bible has to say about same-sex relationships, and for sharing the fruit of his life and research so effectively with the world through this book.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #46,166 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #4 in Religious Intolerance & Persecution #13 in Gender & Sexuality in Religious Studies (Books) #63 in Self Help for Catholics |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 2,192 Reviews |

## Images

![God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships (Revised and Expanded) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81dkiSUcxBL.jpg)

## Available Options

This product comes in different **Media Format** options.

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If you're a Christian with an opinion on gay marriage, you need to read this book
*by T***N on July 2, 2015*

As controversy has swirled in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision upholding gay marriage I wondered if anyone had managed to write a rigorous, Biblically-grounded defense of gay marriage. The answer is: yes, this book is it, and boy is it a doozy. For author Matthew Vines, the issue is personal: he was raised in a loving, Christian, Bible-believing home, but realized when he was 19 that he was gay. What to do? After coming out to his dad, the two of them began an in-depth reexamination of scripture that would ultimately change both their minds on the subject. If you've studied what the Bible has to say on the topic of homosexuality at all you probably know two things: one, 'homosexuality' is not a word in either ancient Hebrew or Greek and indeed not something they had a cultural concept for (relevant Biblical passages tend to relate to specific acts); and two, there are six 'clobber passages' strewn across the Old and New Testament which have generally been used to show that the Bible comprehensively condemns gay sexuality. Vines of course digs into those six passages, but before he does so he spends several chapters laying some important conceptual groundwork. He examines the tools scripture gives us to judge whether a doctrine is good or bad, he delves into the history of the church changing its mind when presented with new information, and then he presents some new information: to wit, the church has only known about sexual orientations for about 200 years. What follows is one of the most fascinating parts of the book, an examination of the framework within which ancient peoples actually understood homosexual practices. It was a radically different one than we have today. In essence, virtually everyone believed that all men could be attracted to either men or women, but that interest in men generally arose when someone was no longer satisfied merely with women. Also, male-male sex usually occurred within the framework of pederasty, older men involved with young boys. The great taboo was not to be the 'effeminate' member within a relationship. It was an incredibly strange and rather icky cultural practice, but as they say, "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there." Suffice it to say, concepts of fixed sexual orientation are quite modern and would not have crossed the minds of early Christians. Having explored this critical cultural context, Vines breaks down the relevant passages of scripture chapter by chapter: Sodom's sin, the 'abominations' of Leviticus, the list of sins in Romans 1, and so on. He dives deep into the text, wrestling with words whose meanings are often quite obscure (remember, the ancient Greeks and Hebrews didn't have a concept of 'homosexuality' let alone words for it, so if you see those crop up in your translation of the Bible, that is lazy translation). Honestly, most of the 'clobber passages' are quite easily dismissed (the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not homosexuality but being generally horrible people, something that is easily proved from other scripture and backed up by contemporary sources). The real sticking point, in my mind, has always been Romans 1, which is not easily hand-waved away. However, after we have a framework in mind for how people of Paul's time would have viewed 'gay behavior', especially the common gentile sexual and cultural customs of the day, Romans 1 appears in quite a different light, one that is certainly not a blanket condemnation of homosexuality. Whether you find Vines convincing on these passages will be up to you, but he does grapple directly with them as they are. He takes scripture seriously and does not attempt to simply dismiss passages that he finds inconvenient. In the final chapters of the book, Vines turns the tables on the reader and asks the question, "Is forbidding gay marriage un-Biblical?" It's a pretty gutsy move, but I think he is right to re-frame the debate on the people who have suffered the most at its hands: gay believers. He makes a compelling case that forced celibacy is in every way un-Biblical and not a scriptural answer to the question, "What do we do with gay believers?" Vines also reminds us that sexuality and sexual behavior cannot be divorced. Gay believers who attempt to deny their sexual impulses as sinful almost invariably suffer great psychological damage and engage in self-destructive behaviors. Sexuality is a part of the God-created human identity: to say it is not good is to say that the whole created person is not good. Our gay brothers and sisters are created in God's image too, as the author rightly reminds us. I can't over-state how important this book is right now for Bible-believing Christians. The story that a Bible-believing Christian can only properly have one valid opinion on gay marriage is flat out wrong. There isa scripture-based argument in favor of gay marriage, and I doubt you will ever find it more compellingly stated than in this book. Of course at the end of the day, it is just that, an argument. It is possible to read God and the Gay Christian and be ultimately unconvinced by it. But it is also possible to read arguments for or against predestination, clerical celibacy, or infant baptism and be unconvinced. Most Christians don't think that people who believe differently than they do on those topics are heathens or heretics. If nothing else, I think that reading this book will show that gay marriage is something that genuine believers might find Biblical support for, whether you think they are right or wrong. If you are a Christian wrestling with this topic, I strongly urge you to read this book. Too often the Christian response to the topic of gay marriage has been to quote some out-of-context verses at each other and end the discussion. This book goes much, much deeper into what the Bible actually says about a very complex topic, while still maintaining a Godly perspective about the fact that yes, we are all created in God's image and loved by God. On a final note, it is possible that someone may wish to debate points of this review in the comments. Please refrain unless you have read the book. I have given Matthew Vines' arguments a pretty thin gloss here. Debate the book, not the book review.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This Book May Change Your Mind
*by W***S on April 22, 2014*

Matthew Vine’s book, God and the Gay Christian, faces in a very straightforward manner an important issue in the Church and in our culture today that simply will not go away. Whether we like it or not, many states in the USA and our nation as a whole are changing course on the issue of gay marriage. As we all know, even many Christian denominations have come to embrace the LGBT community in one way or another. What Vine’s book does is to deal with the issue of homosexuality from a biblical perspective, while at the same time giving a biblical argument for same-sex marriage. Whether the reader agrees in the end with Vine’s argument, I believe every reflective Christian needs to hear both sides of this story. Many, if not all evangelical Christians today, have heard the biblical argument against homosexual practice and same-sex marriage in particular. Now we have the opportunity to hear the other side, from a winsome young gay man, who also happens to be an evangelical Christian. Reading the endnotes alone should prove to any reader that Vines has done his homework. I have been reading both scholarly and popular works on this subject for a number of years, and Vines leaves virtually no stone unturned. He certainly brings the necessary intellectual equipment to this vital discussion, having initially taken a year off from his classes at Harvard to study the issue. However, many great minds have tackled this subject from various vantage points in the past. So what makes Vines’ book different? Perhaps it is the fact that he skillfully weaves his own story into a detailed scholarly argument for Christian gay marriage and presents the whole in a way that is most accessible to the average reader. Vines is nothing if not honest. He begins the book by sharing his own story of coming to terms with his sexual orientation and how this made him want to re-examine what the Bible has to say about same-sex relationships. Vines takes an entire chapter to explore how the Church has been wrong in the past on certain issues: the earth as the center of the universe, and slavery, to name two. Vines outlines how these issues caused the Church to re-evaluate what she believed the Bible was saying, then he delicately invites the reader to do the same with the issue of homosexuality. The position of most evangelicals on this issue in the past has been to say that if a person with homosexual tendencies cannot change their sexual orientation, then they should remain celibate. Vines takes an entire chapter to address this advice and he reveals how the idea of enforced celibacy, apart from a calling of God to the single life, is simply not a fair or biblical way to treat LGBT Christians. Next, Vines spends four chapters examining the six Scripture passages that seem to deal most directly with homosexuality. This is the part of this book that I believe every Christian needs to consider in detail. Vine’s conclusion is: "The Bible doesn't directly address the issue of same-sex orientation—or the expression of that orientation. While its six references to same-sex behavior are negative, the concept of same-sex behavior in the Bible is sexual excess, not sexual orientation. What’s more, the main reason that non-affirming Christians believe the Bible’s statements should apply to all same-sex relationships—men and women’s anatomical complementarity—is not mentioned in any of the texts." However, Vines does not stop there. He goes on to spend an entire chapter outlining a biblical argument for same-sex marriage. A number of people attempting to make a similar argument to that of Vines in the past have focused, as Vines does, on the six Scriptures that address this issue directly. However, some authors addressing this issue in the past have also avoided the overall picture that the Bible paints of human sexuality in general. Vines does not fall into this trap. He even spends an entire chapter talking about God’s creation as outlined in Genesis, the meaning of the image of God in humanity, and how all of this applies to the LGBT community. Vines ends the book with a plea for a new reformation to take place in the Church on this issue. He, very helpfully, gives some practical examples of the seeds of this new reformation that he sees being planted in our world today. Matthew Vines will certainly not have the last word on this topic. Those whom he calls “non-affirming” Christians will no doubt point out in reviews, articles and even books where they think Vines is wrong. Christians who are already affirming of the idea of Christian same-sex marriage will applaud Vines’ work. However, there may also be no small number of people, especially evangelicals, who will change their minds on this issue because of reading this book, and resorting to further study of the vast amount of literature that Vines cites. For my own part, while I choose not to take sides on this issue, at least in this review, I do wish to heartily applaud Matthew Vines for his courage. The Christian community owes Vines a debt of gratitude for not only facing this issue in his own life forthrightly, but for taking the time to thoroughly research what the Bible has to say about same-sex relationships, and for sharing the fruit of his life and research so effectively with the world through this book.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Everyone should read this.
*by N***S on September 3, 2026*

This book is very well written, and explains the case extraordinarily well. It's flooded with empathy and historical and biblical evidence, and the author does a good job of accepting ambiguity where it exists. The references section also points the reader toward other books that might be helpful for someone like me who sometimes feels like they're drowning in the controversy. Ten out of ten, would recommend for anyone who's struggling with their own identity anywhere in the LGBTQ+ umbrella without neglecting or questioning your identity in Christ, or for anyone looking to understand someone close to them who is under that umbrella or might be, struggling or not. It could also be helpful for mentors, teachers, parents... yeah, I think I was right to say "anyone." I think everyone should read this. I really do.

---

## Why Shop on Desertcart?

- 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016
- 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories
- 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price
- 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members)
- 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection
- ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews

**Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/15379468-god-and-the-gay-christian-the-biblical-case-in-support](https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/15379468-god-and-the-gay-christian-the-biblical-case-in-support)

---

*Product available on Desertcart South Africa*
*Store origin: ZA*
*Last updated: 2026-10-12*