Man’s regression from God seems complete in that the Creator
has been replaced by the created thing.
But one equation that is consistent in the Bible is that behavior is
directly related to faith or religion.
Thus we read three times in these verses God gave them up (v24,26,28) to sinful behavior. And each phrase is preceded by a logical
connector (there, for this reason,
and even as). God gives man over to behavior that is the
logical consequence of man’s choice to reject the Creator and worship the
creature. In considering these three
steps we see the beginning of God’s wrath on sinful man. The Creator is giving man what he asks
for. The law of the harvest says, what
a man sows that shall he reap. That
law is in operation here.
First, God gives mankind up to uncleanness so as to dishonor their bodies. This I the consequence of man exchanging the truth of God for the lie
and because he worshiped the creature
rather than the Creator. Man
believed the lie perpetrated by Satan
when he told Eve, you will be like God
(Gen. 3:5). Man has turned from God to worship
himself (Rom. 1:23). The result is that
man follows the lusts of his own heart, resulting in uncleanness. This term has to do with sexual sin, the
means by which man dishonors his body.
God does not say that sex or the sexual desire is sinful. Rather the sin is man’s rejection of God’s
boundaries that the desire is to be satisfied within the marriage relationship
(Gen.2). Since man becomes his own “god”
he satisfies the desire according to his own lusts and thus in fact dishonors
the body God created.
Having rejected the Creator man is now given over to a
rejection of what is natural in creation.
Ruled by his own lust (v24) he
is prone to vile passions (v26). The uncleanness
(v24-25) becomes that which is against
nature. The homosexual desires and
relationship spoken of here are the result of replacing the boundaries of a
loving Creator with insatiable or burning lust. Thus they commit shameful acts. Note how this
is a just penalty; it is the law of the
harvest at work. What is being
described here is more than a few instances of homosexual behavior that might
be dealt with in the context of a society that generally honors the
Creator. Instead it involves unnatural
behavior that becomes tolerated, accepted, and then promoted in the life of the
community. As an illustration, God’s
judgment on Sodom (Gen. 19) came at a time when homosexuality had become a
widely accepted lifestyle.
Given man’s unbridled lust and vile passions, God gives man
over to a debased or depraved mind (v28-32). Man’s lack of personal control and his
desires becomes lack of control in every aspect of life. This grievous list of sins is evidence of a
totally selfish mindset and lifestyle.
And the selfishness extends beyond the individual man to the society
around him. He rejects the idea that
those who do these things deserve death, as the Creator says. On the contrary, the society comes to approve
of this selfishness. How can this
happen? It happens because man
determines to remove God from his knowledge.
Without God the man and society have no restraint of conscience.
What a sad situation.
Man imagines a good life doing everything he desires to do. But in the end man loses his significance
because he rejects the purpose of the One who made him. We would be immensely benefited if we were to
consider our own mindset in relationship to these verses. Have we retained God in our knowledge? Do we seek for and accept His boundaries for
our desires?
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