Romans 1:26-27

Romans 1:26-27

[26] For  cause God  them  up  unto  vile  affections:  for  even  their  women  did change  the natural  use  into  that which is against  nature:  [27] 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. 

What does Romans 1:26-27 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Because mankind "exchanged" the truth for the lie God allowed him to degrade himself through his passions. The result was that he "exchanged" natural human functions for what is unnatural. In the Greek text the words translated "women" (thelus; Romans 1:26) and "men" (arsen, Romans 1:27) mean "females" and "males." Ironically the homosexuality described in these verses does not characterize females and males of other animal species, only human beings. Homosexuality is a perversion because it uses sex for a purpose contrary to those for which God created and intended it ( Genesis 1:28; Genesis 2:24).
"This need not demand the conclusion that every homosexual follows the practice in deliberate rebellion against God"s prescribed order. What is true historically and theologically is in measure true, however, experientially." [1]
AIDS, for example, is probably the consequence of man"s rebellion against God rather than a special judgment from God. The "due penalty" is what man experiences as a result of God giving him over and letting him indulge his sinful desires (cf. Romans 6:23).
"Sin comes from the mind, which perverts the judgment. The effect of retribution is to abandon the mind to that depravity." [2]
"Contemporary homosexuals insist that these verses mean that it is perverse for a heterosexual male or female to engage in homosexual relations but it is not perverse for a homosexual male or female to do so since homosexuality is such a person"s natural preference. This is strained exegesis unsupported by the Bible. The only natural sexual relationship the Bible recognizes is a heterosexual one ( Genesis 2:21-24; Matthew 19:4-6) within marriage." [3]
"A contextual and exegetical examination of Romans 1:26-27 reveals that attempts by some contemporary writers to do away with Paul"s prohibitions against present-day same-sex relations are false Paul did not impose Jewish customs and rules on his readers; instead he addressed same-sex relations from the trans-cultural perspective of God"s created order. God"s punishment for sin is rooted in a sinful reversal of the created order. Nor was homosexuality simply a sin practiced by idolaters in Paul"s day; it was a distorting consequence of the fall of the human race in the Garden of Eden. Neither did Paul describe homosexual acts by heterosexuals. Instead he wrote that homosexual activity was an exchange of the created order (heterosexuality) for a talionic perversion (homosexuality), which is never presented in Scripture as an acceptable norm for sexuality. Also Hellenistic pederasty does not fully account for the terms and logic of Romans 1:26-27 which refers to adult-adult mutuality. Therefore it is clear that in Romans 1:26-27 Paul condemned homosexuality as a perversion of God"s design for human sexual relations." [4]
Pederasty is a form of sodomy between males, especially as practiced by a man with a boy.