Romans 1:26

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: FOR THIS CAUSE GOD GAVE THEM UP (SEE THE NOTE AT ROMANS 1:24 ) UNTO VILE AFFECTIONS, [ pathee (G3806) atimias (G819)] - 'shameless passions.' The expression is very strong, but not so strong as the monstrousness of the thing intended would have warranted. FOR EVEN THEIR WOMEN - that sex whose priceless jewel and fairest ornament is modesty, and which, when that is once lost, not only becomes more shameless than the other sex, but lives henceforth only to drag the other sex down to its own...

26._God therefore gave them up_, _etc. _After having introduced as it were an intervening clause, he returns to what he had before stated respecting the judgment of God: and he brings, as the first example, the dreadful crime of unnatural lust; and it hence appears that they not only abandoned themselves to beastly lusts, but became degraded beyond the beasts, since they reversed the whole order of nature. He then enumerates a long catalogue of vices which had existed in all ages, and then prevailed everywhere without any restraint. It is not to the purpose to say, that every one was not laden with so great a mass of vices; for in arraigning the common baseness of men, it is proof enough if all to a man are constrained to acknowledge some faults. So then we must consider, that Paul here records those abominations which had been common in all ages, and were at that time especially prevale...

26-32 In the horrid depravity of the heathen, the truth of our Lord's words was shown: "Light was come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil; for he that doeth evil hateth the light." The truth was not to their taste. And we all know how soon a man will contrive, against the strongest evidence, to reason himself out of the belief of what he dislikes. But a man cannot be brought to greater slavery than to be given up to his own lusts. As the Gentiles did not like to keep God in their knowledge, they committed crimes wholly against reason and their own welfare. The nature of man, whether pagan or Christian, is still the same; and the charges of the apostle apply more or less to the state and character of men at all times, till they are brought to full submission to the faith of Christ, and renewed by Divine power. There never yet was a man...

Verse 26. _FOR THIS CAUSE GOD GAVE THEM UP_, c.] Their system of idolatry necessarily produced all kinds of _impurity_. How could it be otherwise, when the highest objects of their worship were adulterers, fornicators, and prostitutes of the most infamous kind, such as _Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, Venus_, c.? Of the abominable evils with which the apostle charges the Gentiles in this and the following verse I could produce a multitude of proofs from their own writings but it is needless to make the subject _plainer_ than the apostle has left it....

FOR THIS CAUSE - On account of what had just been specified; to wit, that they did not glorify him as God, that they were unthankful, that they became polytheists and idolaters. In the previous verses he had stated their speculative belief. He now proceeds to show its practical influences on their conduct. VILE AFFECTIONS - Disgraceful passions or desires. That is, to those which are immediately specified. The great object of the apostle here, it will be remembered, is to shew the state of the pagan world, and to prove that they had need of some other way of justification than the law of nature. For this purpose, it was necessary for him to enter into a detail of their sins. The sins which he proceeds to specify are the most indelicate, vile, and degrading which can be charged on man. But this is not the fault of the apostle. If they existed, it was necessary for him to charge them on th...

EXPOSITION ROMANS 1:1 I. INTRODUCTORY. ROMANS 1:1 A. _Salutation_ with long interposed parenthesis, suggested by "gospel of God." The parenthesis, expressing thoughts of which the writer's mind is full, intimates the purport of the coming treatise. It also intimates his claim, afterwards more fully asserted (Romans 15:15, seq.), to demand a hearing from the Roman Church. It is St. Paul's way, when full of an idea, thus to interrupt his sentences at the suggestion of a word. Somewhat similar interpositions are found in the opening salutations of Galatians and Titus, especially in the latter; but this is peculiar for its l

FOR THIS CAUSE GOD GAVE THEM UP UNTO VILE AFFECTIONS,.... Because of their idolatrous practices, God left them to very dishonourable actions, sodomitical ones, both among the men and women: FOR EVEN THE WOMEN DID CHANGE THE NATURAL USE INTO THAT WHICH IS AGAINST NATURE; either by prostituting themselves to, and complying with the "sodomitical" embraces of men, in a way that is against nature h; or by making use of such ways and methods with themselves, or other women, to gratify their lusts, which were never designed by nature for such an use: of these vicious women, and their practices, Seneca i speaks, when he says, "libidine veto nec maribus quidem cedunt, pati natae; Dii illas Deoeque, male perdant; adeo perversum commentae, genus impudicitiae, viros ineunt:'' also Clemens Alexandrinus k has respect to such, saying, "gunaikev andrizontai para fusin, gamou men ai te kai γαμουσαι...

2. THE NEED OF SALVATION DEMONSTRATED. The Whole World Guilty and Lost. Chapter 1:18-3:20. CHAPTER 1:18-32. _ 1. Wrath Revealed from Heaven. 18._ 2. Gentile Knowledge of God. 19-20. 3. Turning from God to Idolatry. 21-23. 4. God Gave Them Up to Corruption. 24-32. Romans 1:18 God now demonstrates that the whole world is destitute of righteousness and needs salvation. Romans 1:18; Romans 2:1; Romans 3:1 is parenthetical, showing the moral condition of the whole race, away from God and lost and therefore under wrath. In this verse we read that wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodli

Mankind is in a ruinous plight: GOD'S ANGER, which is His righteousness reacting against wrong, rests upon the race. ROMANS 1:18_ A_. The Divine wrath is being revealed from heaven in action against all impiety and unrighteousness of men. The revelation is apparent in the moral outcome of irreligion described in Romans 1:21 an apocalypse more appalling than earthquake or famine. Romans 1:18 _b_ - Romans 1:20. Man is responsible for his perdition: in committing unrighteousness men hold down the truth; they ignore the knowledge of God lodged in conscience (cf....

A CALL, A GOSPEL AND A TASK (Romans 1:1-7)...