Romans 1.27-God Gave Men Over to Homosexuality for Rejecting Him
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday July 3, 2007
Romans: Romans 1:27-God Gave Men Over to Homosexuality for Rejecting Him
Lesson # 34
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 1:18.
This evening we will continue with our study of the second major section in the book of Romans, which appears in Romans 1:18-3:20 and deals with the universal need of the righteousness of God.
This passage is divided into three major sections: (1) The unrighteousness of the Gentiles (1:18-32). (2) The unrighteousness of the Jews (2:1-3:8). (3) The universal unrighteousness of men (3:9-20).
We are currently engaged in a study of Romans 1:18-32, which is divided into two sections: (1) The basis for Gentile guilt (1:18-23). (2) The results of Gentile guilt (1:24-32).
We have completed a study of the first section and at the present time, we are studying the second section.
In Romans 1:24, we read where God gave the human race over to immoral degeneracy as a result of rejecting His revelation of Himself in creation.
Then, in Romans 1:25a, we saw that God gave the human race over to immoral degeneracy who were of such evil character that they exchanged the truth of God for the lie.
In Romans 1:25b, Paul writes that the human race was of such evil character that not only did they exchange the truth of God for the lie but they also worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.
Next, in Romans 1:26a, Paul writes that because the human race exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than Him as their Creator, God gave the human race over to disgraceful perversions, which he identifies in Romans 1:26b and 27 as lesbianism and homosexuality.
We left off last Thursday evening, studying Romans 1:26b, in which Paul identifies that one of the “disgraceful perversions” he mentions in Romans 1:26a is lesbianism.
This evening we will study Romans 1:27 and read that God not only gave heathen Gentile women over to lesbianism for their rejection of Him but also He gave the men over to homosexuality for the same reason.
Romans 1:18-19, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.”
Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”
Romans 1:21, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
Romans 1:22-23, “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”
Romans 1:24, “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.”
Romans 1:25, “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
Romans 1:26, “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural.”
Romans 1:27, “and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.”
In Romans 1:26-27, we have the “correlative” use of the conjunction te (tev), “not only…but also,” which shows the “correlation” between the conduct of men and women, namely, that both sexes were in total rebellion against God’s original design for men and women.
Also, we have the “ascensive” use of the conjunction kai (kaiV), which advances upon the previous statement made about unregenerate women of the cosmic system of Satan in Romans 1:26.
The ascensive use of the conjunction kai denotes that what is to follow, as an addition to the previous statement in Romans 1:27, is out of the ordinary or unexpected and should be translated, “even.”
The “ascensive” use of the conjunction kai expresses the shock and how repulsive it is to the apostle Paul that men have sex with men since they were not designed by the Lord Jesus Christ to have sex with men (See Genesis 2:18-24).
“In the same way” is the comparative adverb homoios (o(moivw$), which introduces a clause that demonstrates that the conduct of unregenerate males living according to the standards of Satan’s cosmic system is “equally” or “just as” bad as that of unregenerate females living in the cosmic system of Satan.
Paul does not use the usual word for “men” aner (a)nhvr) but rather uses the articular nominative masculine plural form of the adjective arsen (a*rshn), which means, “male” since he wishes to emphasize that these men have degraded themselves by having sex with men.
The terms gune, “woman” and aner, “man” imply a certain dignity, thus Paul does not attach these terms to those who practice lesbianism and homosexuality but instead substitutes thelus, “female” and arsen, “male” to emphasize that those who practice such things have disgraced themselves.
Like the women, the men have degraded themselves by their homosexual behavior in the sense that they have rejected God’s original design for them since they were designed to have sex in a loving, caring and affectionate relationship with a woman for recreational and procreation purposes in the context of marriage.
Romans 1:27, “and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.”
“Abandoned” is the nominative masculine plural aorist active participle form of the verb aphiemi (a)fivhmi), which in the active voice means that these men were “not” born homosexuals but rather they “chose” to abandon sex with women since the active voice means that the subject performs the action of the verb.
The active voice of the verb aphiemi in Romans 1:27 teaches that homosexuality is “not” biological or something one is born with and can’t control but rather is a choice to not acknowledge God as Creator and to adhere to His laws.
“The natural function” is composed of the adjective phusikos (fusikov$) (foo-see-kos), “the natural” and the noun chresis (xrhsi$), “function.”
The noun chresis refers to the “sexual function” of the woman, which is modified by the adjective phusikos, which pertains to that which is in accordance with the Lord Jesus Christ’s original design for the man to have sex with a woman.
Therefore, together they mean, “natural sexual function” or in other words, the sexual function that was designed by the Lord for the woman.
“Of the woman” is the articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun thelus (qhlu$), “female” and is used rather than the usual term for “woman,” which is the noun gune (gunhv) since Paul wishes to emphasize that these females have degraded themselves by departing from the Lord’s original design for them.
“Burned” is the 3rd person plural aorist passive indicative form of the verb ekkaio (e)kkaivw), which in the passive voice means, “to be inflamed, to be consumed with fire.”
“In their desire” is composed of the preposition en (e)n) and the articular feminine singular dative form of the noun orexis (o&reci$), which means, “to have a strong, intense desire for something, thus to be inflamed with lust.”
“Lust” is a manifestation of the old Adamic sin nature and is an uncontrolled or illicit sexual desire, a passionate overmastering desire (See Galatians 5:19-21).
The preposition en is a marker of means and the noun orexis is a dative instrumental of means indicating that lust was the means by which these men were inflamed or consumed with desire.
“Toward one another” implies that these males were mutually united in their homosexual attitudes and willingly committed homosexual acts with one another.
The phrase “males with males” emphasizes the repulsiveness of these homosexual relationships from the divine perspective.
“Committing” is the nominative masculine present (deponent middle) participle form of the verb katergazomai (katergavzomai) (kat-er-gad-zo-mai), which means, “to accomplish, to do something, to commit a particular act.”
“Indecent acts” is the articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun aschemosune (a)sxhmosuvnh) (as-kay-mos-oo-nay), which means, “to act in defiance of social and moral standards set by God with resulting disgrace, embarrassment and shame.”
Therefore, the noun should be translated with the English word “indecent” since this word means, “offending against recognized standards of propriety or good taste; vulgar” (Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary).
Romans 1:27, “and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.”
“Receiving” is the nominative masculine plural present active participle form of the verb apolambano (a)polambavnw) (apo-lam-ban-o), which means, “to receive back as what is due, to receive by way of retribution.”
“The penalty” denotes a negative recompense based upon the homosexual acts of these unregenerate cosmic Gentile males with special emphasis on the reciprocal nature of the recompense, i.e. they bring it on themselves.
“Due” refers to the necessary negative recompense or consequences due to the homosexual as required by the law of God.
“Their error” is composed of the genitive 3rd person masculine plural of the personal pronoun autos (au)tov$), “their” and the articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun plane (plavnh) (plan-ay), “error.”
The noun plane means, “perversion” since it refers to “behavior that deviates seriously from that which is morally correct” as stipulated by the law of God in the original design for the man and the woman by the Lord Jesus Christ.
The noun plane is a “genitive of production” meaning that this perversion in the form of homosexual behavior “produced” the inevitable, negative consequence.
Thus, they brought the inevitable, negative consequence upon themselves for their homosexual behavior and are volitionally responsible.
“In their own persons” identifies the location or the place of this inevitable and negative consequence as being in the souls and bodies of these homosexuals.
Paul’s statement “receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error” means that homosexuality and its consequences is punishment in itself for exchanging the truth of God for the lie and worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator.
Homosexuality and lesbianism were the punishment for men and women who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature as indicated by Paul’s statements in Romans 1:24-25 and the prepositional phrase dia touto, “because of this” in Romans 1:26.
The Greco-Roman society of Paul’s day tolerated homosexuality and viewed it as superior to heterosexuality but in Jewish culture, it was considered an abomination since the Mosaic Law condemned and prohibited it (See Leviticus 18:22).
Leviticus 20:13, “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.”
In the Greek New Testament, Paul teaches that Christians who are practicing “homosexuals” will not inherit the kingdom of God meaning they will not receive their eternal inheritance.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Lesbianism and homosexuality is a manifestation of the old Adamic sin nature (See Galatians 5:19-21; 1 Timothy 1:9-10; Ephesians 5:3-5).
We must remember that God hates the sin of homosexuality but loves the sinner (Jn. 3:16-17) as manifested by the fact that Jesus Christ died for the homosexual in order that they might be saved and be freed from the bondage of homosexual sins.
2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”