And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
In the last verse we looked at what I call the “death spiral” in which a person or community who rejects God starts to fall deeper into sin and rebellion and deception.
At this stage of the spiral, people have rejected God’s truth and gone from immorality to what the KJV calls “vile passions”, which is essentially homosexuality.
This verse here tells us five important facts about homosexuality that we should all be aware of.
1. It is unnatural.
It is natural, according to this verse, for a man to be with a woman. Indeed going back to creation, this is obvious. God created Adam and Eve, one man and one woman. Looking at how we are designed biologically this is obvious. Thinking about the continuation of the human race, it is clear. You do not need to be a genius to realize that this is the case!
2. It is destructive.
Romans 1.27 says that the homosexual men burned in their lust. This word is ekkaio in the Greek which means to burn until completely destroyed. The normal word for burning in Greek is kaio, the “ek” part means “out of”, implying to burn until completely out of resources and out of fuel. Homosexual desire will lead to destruction – it will lead to you burning out of control, and running out of strength, energy and life.
3. It leads to shame.
aschēmosynē is the Greek word that the KJV translates as unseemly. Strong’s defines it as shameful, nakedness or deformed. Men having sex with men ends up in inappropriate nakedness and shameful acts: acts in public, public displays of nudity and sexuality. The root of this is fear – the fear that they will be separated from this sin leads to increasingly public displays of it. Homosexuality over time always leads to open displays of nudity and shame.
In the UK, homosexuality has always been around. However, as our nation is starting to descend down the “death spiral” of Romans 1, it has been leading to more and more open displays of nudity and shame.
4. It is an error
The Greek word in this verse for error is plane (pronounced plan-ay) which means to wander the wrong way or to follow the wrong directions. Obviously the Manufacturer’s Directions for sexuality involve one man and one woman for life. To be involved in anything else is following the wrong directions. It is a fallacy to say that it is an alternative lifestyle – it is an erroneous lifestyle.
5. It has consequences
It says at the end of this verse that people receive their recompense for homosexual behaviour. The Greek word for recompense is antimisthia, which comes from the words anti- and misthia. Misthia is the Greek word for wages received for working (cf. 1 Cor. 3.14, 1 Thess. 5.18). Antimisthia is the opposite of wages received for working. It is destruction for not working, for not following God’s plan.
You will end up with consequences for your behaviour. Social consequences, financial consequences, mental consequences, physical consequences.
That is not the main reason to avoid it though: the main reason is that it will lead to spiritual consequences. It will lead to an inability to discern right and wrong, truth and error, life and death. It will ensure you that you descend even further into the “death spiral” outlined in Romans 1, and in the next few verses we will find how destructive that will be for you.
Glory and freedom,
Benjamin
Tree of Life Blog 