Romans 1:27

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. 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. The practices here referred to, though too abundantly attested by classic authors, cannot be described and illustrated from them without trenching on things 'which ought not to be even named among us as becometh saints.' 'At the period when the apostle wrote, unnatural lusts broke out (says Tholuck) to the most revolting extent, not at Rome only, but over the whole empire. He who is unacquainted with the historical monuments of that age-especially Petronius, Suetonius, Martial, and Juvenal-can scarcely figure to hi...

27._Such a reward for their error as was meet. _They indeed deserved to be blinded, so as to forget themselves, and not to see any thing befitting them, who, through their own malignity, closed their eyes against the light offered them by God, that they might not behold his glory: in short, they who were not ashamed to extinguish, as much as they could, the glory of God, which alone gives us light, deserved to become blind at noonday....

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 27. _RECEIVING IN THEMSELVES THAT RECOMPENSE_, c.] Both the women and men, by their unnatural prostitutions, enervated their bodies, so that _barrenness_ prevailed, and those disorders which are necessarily attendant on _prostitution_ and _sodomitical_ practices....

AND LIKEWISE THE MEN ... - The sin which is here specified is what was the shameful sin of Sodom, and which from that has been called sodomy. It would scarcely be credible that man had been guilty of a crime so base and so degrading, unless there was ample and full testimony to it. Perhaps there is no sin which so deeply shows the depravity of man as this; none which would so much induce one “to hang his head, and blush to think himself a man.” And yet the evidence that the apostle did not bring a railing accusation against the pagan world; that he did not advance a charge which was unfounded, is too painfully clear. It has been indeed a matter of controversy whether paederastry, or the love of boys, among the ancients was not a pure and harmless love, but the evidence is against it. (See this discussed in Dr. Leland’s Advantage and Necessity of Revelation, vol. i. 49-56.) The crime with...

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

AND LIKEWISE ALSO THE MEN LEAVING THE NATURAL USE OF THE WOMEN,.... The very sin of "sodomy" is here designed, so called from Sodom, the place where we first hear of it, Genesis 19:5, the men of which place, because they BURNED IN THEIR LUST ONE TOWARDS ANOTHER, as these Gentiles are said to do, God rained upon them fire and brimstone from heaven: an exceeding great sin this is, contrary to nature, dishonourable to human nature, and scandalous to a people and nation among whom it prevails, as it did very much in the Gentile world, and among their greatest philosophers; even those that were most noted for moral virtue are charged with it, as Socrates, Plato, Zeno, and others m: it is a sin which generally prevails where idolatry and infidelity do, as among the Pagans of old, and among the Papists and Mahometans now; and never was it so rife in this nation as since the scheme

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)...