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26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. ~ Romans 1:26-27
Today, we return to our study of Romans 1. In this chapter the phrase "God gave them over" appears three times. This phrase comes in response to man violently rebelling against God. He believed the lie of Satan that says, "You can make it on your own without God."
The first time the Apostle used this phrase, in v.24, he uncovered the essence of sin which is the worship of self. Today, we will consider his second usage of the phrase where the Apostle reveals the ultimate expression of sin.
In v.26 of today's passage we read, "Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones."
It is at the root of our sin that we find the essence of our sin: the worship of self. Apart from God, the pursuit of pleasure becomes our god. In fact, if we get far enough away from God, we pursue pleasure at all costs. Trying to satisfy our pleasure in a way contrary to the way God has instructed us to only leads to extreme expressions such as "exchanging natural sexual relations for unnatural ones."
Mankind started with revelation from God in his conscience and through creation. But, we embraced rejection of that revelation from God. This, ultimately, led us to a reprobate mind. The phrase "God gave them up,” describes what God does in response to man's rejection of Him. Literally that phrase speaks of turning someone over to a judge in a courtroom, and they are sentenced to death. The man who rejects God suffers the sentence of death, and death brings with it destruction.
Pleasure is a God-given idea. Temptation is the desire to meet a God-given desire in a way that is not God-designed. In this chapter is described the downward spiral of ignoring God's definition of the way human life is supposed to be lived. Blasé Pascal once said it well, "God has created us with a God-shaped vacuum that only He can fill." Today, we must be mindful to allow God to define our lives for us or we go the way of self that so many down throughout time have gone. And, that way will always lead to destruction.
The Romans of Paul's day were very good at pursuing their pleasures apart from God. In his article, Rome didn't Fall in a Day, Edward Gibbon wrote, "Decadence is the first word that comes to mind in almost any discussion on the fall of Rome. Tales of wanton sexual excesses and the gorging of food within Roman vomitoriums are often used to explain how something as enduring as the Roman Empire could possibly be laid to waste by German barbarians. The fall of Rome is often pitched as an antithesis for family values, with pornography and homosexuality touted as the hallmarks of modern moral decadence.”
Someone once said, "Sin is a death always dying." In our passage for today, the Apostle shows us the extreme to where such a pursuit to fulfill our desires in an ungodly way leads us. Psychological confusion with regard to the truth is one of the many consequences of rejecting God and His truth. In v.24-25 we saw that this leads to sexual immorality. When a society becomes pornographic, immorality has definitely gained the upper hand.
The heart of fallen man is wretched. And, apart from God lust dominates the unforgiven heart. This inevitably leads to impurity and the bodies of those who reject God follow in the most dishonorable ways. This is what is being described in today's passage.
The word "nature" at the end of v.26 means the natural order of things. God has established a natural order of things and when we ignore His definition of things and we operate according to that which is contrary, we are being defined by sin. Errant theology leads to errant understanding of all things, including our sexuality. When we get God wrong, we get humanity wrong. As a result man defiles and dishonors his body through his vile passions. And, the evil desires that we know to be in us. or the flesh, as the Apostle Paul writes, are never satisfied.
In v.27 of today's passage we read, "In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error."
During the first century world in which Paul lived and wrote, homosexuality was commonplace. Most of the great philosophers extolled it & practiced it. Men like Socrates were homosexuals. Out of the first fifteen Roman emperors, fourteen of them practiced it. Once again, when the restraints are removed, the lies of the enemy define. Homosexuality is against the God of creation. Not even animals don't do this.
But, the beauty of it all is God loves homosexuals. He hates what any distortion of truth does to people. At the end of v.27 we read, "received in themselves the due penalty for their error."
The consequence of rejecting God and His definition of things leads to error and destruction. This is what sin does, it destroys us. The essence of man's sinfulness is an unclean heart. The expression of his sinfulness is perversion. Evil gets its way when we resist Gods involvement in our lives. Our only hope is found in the Lord Jesus Christ who took sin on directly, so that we could be freed from the clutches of sin itself.
