Romans 1:27

27 In the same way the men give up natural sexual relations with women and burn with passion for each other. Men do shameful things with each other, and as a result they bring upon themselves the punishment they deserve for their wrongdoing.

Romans 1:27 Meaning and Commentary

Romans 1:27

And likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the
women
The very sin of "sodomy" is here designed, so called from Sodom, the place where we first hear of it, ( Genesis 19:5 ) , the men of which place, because they

burned in their lust one towards another,
as these Gentiles are said to do, God rained upon them fire and brimstone from heaven: an exceeding great sin this is, contrary to nature, dishonourable to human nature, and scandalous to a people and nation among whom it prevails, as it did very much in the Gentile world, and among their greatest philosophers; even those that were most noted for moral virtue are charged with it, as Socrates, Plato, Zeno, and others {m}: it is a sin which generally prevails where idolatry and infidelity do, as among the Pagans of old, and among the Papists and Mahometans now; and never was it so rife in this nation as since the schemes of deism and infidelity have found such a reception among us. Thus God, because men dishonour him with their evil principles and practices, leaves them to reproach their own nature, and dishonour their own bodies:

men with men working that which is unseemly;
and of which nothing like it is to be observed in the brutal world:

receiving in themselves the recompence of their error, which was
meet:
God punishes sin with sin; for as the Jews say F14, as

``one commandment draws on another, so one transgression draws on another; for the reward of the commandment is the commandment, (hrybe hrybe rkvw) and the reward of transgression is transgression.''


FOOTNOTES:

F13 A. Gellius Noct. Attic. l. 2. c. 18. Laert. Vit. Philosoph. l. 2. in Vit. Socrat. & l. 3. in Vit. Platon.
F14 Pirke Abot, c. 4. sect. 2.

Romans 1:27 In-Context

25 They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever! Amen.
26 Because they do this, God has given them over to shameful passions. Even the women pervert the natural use of their sex by unnatural acts.
27 In the same way the men give up natural sexual relations with women and burn with passion for each other. Men do shameful things with each other, and as a result they bring upon themselves the punishment they deserve for their wrongdoing.
28 Because those people refuse to keep in mind the true knowledge about God, he has given them over to corrupted minds, so that they do the things that they should not do.
29 They are filled with all kinds of wickedness, evil, greed, and vice; they are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, deceit, and malice. They gossip
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.