In previous articles we have looked at the positive vision of God’s design for sex and relationships, marriage between one man and one woman. So, what does God and his word think about same sex relationships? Romans 1:18-32 has been the starting point for many. Early in his letter to the Romans, Paul brings good news. He declares his pride in the gospel because it reveals God’s righteousness. This is necessary because something else is revealed, God’s wrath at our unrighteousness. In this section, Paul elaborates on that.
In that context, Paul talks about humans becoming fools with darkened minds, something God handed us over to, the consequences of our sin. The result is that we exchange “the glory of the immortal God for images”. This ties into both the revelation in Genesis 1 that we are made in God’s image and the command against idolatry in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.
As well as handing us over to foolishness, God gives us over to our own sinful desires. We have “exchanged the truth of God for a lie” and so the consequence is that thirdly God gives us up or hands us over to “dishonourable passions.” And so both men and women exchange “natural passions” for unnatural, heterosexual relationships for homosexual ones.
Note though that this is not the culmination of the exposition. Paul tells us that
“28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
I want to observe a few things about this. First that same-sex relationships are unavoidable identified as outside of and contrary to God’s good creation purposes. They are evidence of futility. Secondly notice that desire is separated out from the act but that our desires are in themselves not good either. Our disordered desires come from disordered minds that have become foolish, Note too that foolishness is about our affections not just our intellect.
The problem with homosexuality is seen in the it crosses or runs contrary to God’s ordering of creation. It breaches boundaries. This perhaps helps us to see why the Old Testament Law will categorise it in terms of abomination, not the yuk factor but rather that this is evaluated as against God and part of the disordered mess of uncleanness.
Finally, we should not ignore that this example of what it means to be handed over by God to our futile desires and to exchange truth for lie is not the pinnacle of Paul’s condemnation of human sin. Rather, Paul moves on to condemn “what ought not to be done”, or indeed, we might say “abominations” that focus on our minds, hearts, words and action: malice, gossip, lies, disobedience and that these are placed alongside murder.
Faithroots 