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Read Introduction to Romans

 

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.

 

Homosexuality in Greco-Roman society was common and commonly accepted. This was true in Plato (Symposium) and Plutarch (Lycurgus). The gods and emperors participated in it. Nero seduced boys. Fourteen out of the first 15 Roman emperors were homosexuals.

Likewise also the men,

Man also violated God’s natural order for creation.

leaving the natural use of the woman,

These homosexual men left natural intercourse with women for sodomy.

Le 18:22, You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.

Le 20:13, 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.

burned in their lust for one another,

The word “burned” is literally to set on fire (sexually). Their sexual desires were intense; there was a rage to their lusts for one another. This passion towards one another consumed, dominated, and drove them. Sexual perversion runs uninhibited when God is not honored.

men [males] with men

This is male homosexual relationship.

committing what is shameful,

These men committed indecent acts. They did not merely burn in their lusts towards one another in a sexual-orientation sense, but they participated in actual genital sex.

And receiving in themselves the penalty of their error

Unnatural sexual practice receives its own penalty. They took vengeance upon themselves.

“Error” is a wandering, roving; thus it is a deviation from God’s norms.

Which was due.

These practices of departing from God have their own natural outcome. The sin pays the sinner back for what he does. He gets what he deserves.

PRINCIPLE:

Homosexuality produces its own negative outcomes.

APPLICATION:

Modern homosexuals try to twist verses 26 and 27 to mean that it is perverse for heterosexuals to engage in homosexuality. There is no basis for this interpretation in these verses. It was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. God’s norm for sex in the Bible is heterosexual relations.

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