Unnatural Retrogression Of Man Series

Unnatural Retrogression of Man

Romans 1:24-32

Now we see the results of man’s revolution against God. In the remainder of this chapter it says three times that God gave them up.

24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness. The word therefore indicates that the retribution to follow finds its grounds in the sins of the past and is therefore justifiable. Because the heathen participated in idolatry, God gave them up to uncleanness. Uncleanness means sexual deviation by which they would dishonor their own bodies among themselves. Three times it is said that God gave man up (literally, handed them over). He gave them up to uncleanness, to vile passions (1:26), and to a reprobate mind (1:28). In other words, God’s wrath was directed against man’s entire personality.

25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie. The suppression of the truth which God gave to the heathen became the basis for their idolatry and as a result they worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator. They degraded themselves by the things they worshiped, and exalted those things created to a higher position than the One who created them.

They were abandoned by God because they first abandoned the truth about Him for the lie of idolatry. The lie is a denial of God’s existence and His right to be obeyed and glorified. An idol is a lie, a false representation of God. An idolater worships the image of a creature, and therefore insults and dishonors the Creator, who is eternally worthy of honor and glory, not of insult.

26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.

For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. These vile passions spawned homosexual activity. The apostle goes on to explain that their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Sexual perversion always accompanies idolatry.

For this reason God gave people up to erotic activity with members of their own sex. Women became lesbians, practicing unnatural sex and feeling no shame. Homosexuality was practiced commonly in the pagan world of Paul’s day. Paul condemned this practice as contrary to God’s design (see Lev. 18).

27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

Men became sodomites, in total perversion of their natural functions. Turning away from the marriage relationship ordained by God, they burned with lust for other men and practiced homosexuality. But their sin took its toll in their bodies and souls. Disease, guilt, and personality deformities struck at them like the sting of a scorpion. This refutes the notion that anyone can commit this sin and get away with it.

Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men. Homosexuality is also the result of idolatry. Although today the world seeks to popularize and legitimize homosexuality, nevertheless it is despicable to God and condemned by Him. Increased homosexuality is a sign of the soon return of the Lord—“For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy” (II Tim 3:2). God never overlooks this blatant misuse of the body and consequently those who have engaged in this perversion may eventually pay a terrible price by receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due—aids or one of the other sexually transmitted diseases.

Homosexuality is being passed off today by some as a sickness and by others as a legitimate alternative lifestyle. Christians must be careful not to accept the world’s moral judgments but to be guided by God’s word. In the Old Testament, this sin was punishable by death—“For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people” (Lev. 18:29); and “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them” (Lev. 20:13); and here in the New Testament those who practice it are said to be worthy of death—“who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Rom. 1:32). The Bible speaks of homosexuality as a very serious sin, as evidenced by God’s obliteration of Sodom and Gomorrah, where militant “gays” ran riot (see Gen. 19:4–25).