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.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
There are no breaks in this letter such as chapters and verses. It continues to the next chapter 2:1a “You are without excuse”. Since you know the truth, what are you doing with it? Man is without excuse because of their unbelief. The wrath of God will come on them who godless and wicked. The wrath of God is being revealed right now.
Some commentaries say this is a wrath to come, or hell, or tribulation, but this is in the present case. There are present consequences for living against God’s laws. When people choose to follow the Lord, society is changed, but, when people choose to live without God, everyone suffers. He abandons us to our own desires as we continue to descend into greater depravity. God gave people up to uncleanness in lusts of body. What were the results? Moral deviation and mental depravity. Moral deviation involves vile passions that dishonor, shame Him and are contrary to His plan. The product of our deciding is uncleanness, including sexual misconduct and demonism, “unclean spirits”. When God lets us go our own way, we fall into ruin.
To dishonor your body leads also to disease. God designed that man and woman covenant together in a marriage, enjoying sex leading to having children raised by a dad and a mom. Our society is based on the family and without families our society falls apart. Matthew 5 discusses the unique sexual differences in marriage by which there is fulfillment. In our present culture, Biblical marriage is rejected. Passions and desires are uncontrolled. Women exchange natural sexual relations against nature. Men also burn in lusts for one another. Paul is talking about homosexual relationships. This is contrary to the original plan of God. People are left to follow their sinful passions and its long-range consequences.
Leviticus 18:22 “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable. Lev 20:13ff speaks clearly against adultery, bestiality, homosexuality and incest. There are many in the homosexual world who have gotten saved and changed. By the Holy Spirit we learn to say no to our fleshly desires and unclean a behavior. Say no to sex until marriage. Say no to sex outside of marriage. Say no to unholy sexual attractions. Free sex is later misery. Studies abound with the consequences of immoral actions. Jesus loves you enough to stop you from ruining your lives with increased chances of addictions, disease, broken relationships, hurt emotions, and broken families.
Johns Hopkins University studies are clear, there are earlier deaths, increased depression, suicides, breakup of relationships, increased abuses of partners, and increased by far sexually transmitted diseases.
A.P. Bell and M.S. Weinberg, in their classic study of male and female homosexuality, found that 43 percent of white male homosexuals had sex with 500 or more partners, with 28 percent having 1,000 or more sex partners. Only 2.7 percent claimed to have had sex with one partner only. Western Sexuality: Practice and Precept in Past and Present Times", M. Pollak found that few homosexual relationships last longer than two years.
Another study published in Nursing Research found that lesbians are three times more likely to abuse alcohol and to suffer from other addictive and compulsive behaviors.
In their book Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them: Battered Gay Men and Domestic
Violence, D. Island and P. Letellier report that "the incidence of domestic violence among gay men is nearly double that in the heterosexual population."
Hollywood and the media relentlessly propagate the image of the fit, healthy, and well-adjusted homosexual. The reality is opposite. homosexual and lesbian relationships are typically characterized by instability, promiscuity, unhealthy and risky sex practices. These practices greatly increase the incidence of serious and incurable sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including hepatitis, HPV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and AIDS.
God’s Word tells us how we are created, why we're created and how we work best. When we reject Him and rebel against Him, we carry the consequences of His response by His letting us wallow in our sin or we can repent and He will save us by faith in Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11 explained many new believers in Corinth were part of these activities and gained forgiveness and victory. They were washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord.
There is hope. It is found through faith in Jesus Christ. We can be free from temptations of sexual addictions of all kinds. We can have pure relationships as God intended. It is by asking God to forgive, come into our lives and take over.
Let us offer all people the power of Jesus Christ to bring healing. Let us offer them the one thing that can set them free from sin so that they can be made into a new creation in Christ Jesus. Change is real if God is in control.
Dale
