For This Reason

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. Romans 1:24-32


"For this reason," v. 25. Because they rejected God’s truth and made up lies, making earthly creatures the objects of their worship. As a rule, humans will always worship something. It is an inborn need. Those who reject God’s revealed truth will believe ANYTHING else. That explains cults and counterfeit religions among those who consider themselves smarter than God.

"Degrading passions," KJV: vile affections. Perverted sexual behavior. When the males abandoned the normal design of mating with females, the females exchanged their sexual habits, also. This has brought about sexual chaos on a grand scale. It is a characteristic of a nation and a people who have rejected the authority of God’s divine institutions (volition, marriage, family and nation) and have chosen instead to gratify their lusts in unnatural ways.

This answers the question of "if it’s wrong, why did God make homosexuals?" God didn’t make them homosexual, or any other deviation. Because of their rejection of Him, He allows it, to their own eventual destruction ("due penalty of their error", v.27). Each of us is born spiritually dead, with an old sin nature that contains areas of strength (morality, benevolence, human good) and areas of weakness (lust patterns, selfishness, evil imaginings). When we ignore God’s standard, we are naturally drawn to our own human good (strength) which makes us feel superior…..or we are drawn deeper into our lust patterns and invent our own justification for those bad behaviors. The highly refined unregenerate has managed to perfect a blend of the two. The amazing thing about lust is that it’s insatiable. It feeds on itself and grows into an all-consuming monster, all the while telling its human host that “God must really love us deviants, since he made so many of us…”

God does love all His creation, that’s why He made a way of salvation and wants everyone to know and believe in the Savior. Keep ignoring God’s Word, and this lust monster will destroy your own life as it spreads its evil to other obscured souls around you and consumes them, too. The only thing that overpowers evil is God, the Holy Spirit in the life of one who believes in Jesus Christ. Believe Him and be saved. If you’re breathing, it is not too late.

Vss 28-32 give us the result of the depravity being cultivated by those who have chosen not to acknowledge God: a vacuum in the soul which sucks in all manner of unrighteous thinking, with personally disastrous results. V 32: Mind you, it is not that they don’t know the rules and consequences (death); this is what they choose to do, and they encourage others to practice these evils also.

Paul has just described to the Roman Christians and to us what happens to a people who, having known there is a God, choose to reject Him in favor of their own human standards and lust patterns. Heathenism and hatred toward God is the ultimate outcome of such depravity.

Paul had a message for these unregenerate Gentiles: you don’t have to continue this way. Hear God’s Word, believe in Jesus Christ and be saved.