Untitled Sermon (2)

Romans 1:26–27: Dishonorable Passions, Unnatural Relations

Introduction Undoubtedly the central and most important passage to wrestle with in terms of a biblical response to homosexuality is Rom 1:26–27, written by Paul, obviously. But it also doesn’t deal with any of the questions or baggage that seems to come up with a lot of the ot questions. So let’s take a look at this passage closely and then respond to some objections that come up against it. Romans 1:26–27 Romans 1:26–27 says this: For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. Traditional Understanding Now, traditionally, this is meant by saying Paul is writing a general description of mankind rejecting and rebelling against God; and then specifically in verse 26 [where] it says, “For their women, when they exchanged natural relations to those contrary of nature,” it’s referring to natural sexual relations with men, which they were designed to be with, and reject that and engage in lesbian behavior. And then it says, “Likewise, men gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for each other, committed these shameless acts and then received the penalty” for rejecting God’s truth in this way. This is the traditional understanding of this passage.