Natural and unnatural relations (Romans 1:26–27)

These verses concern matters that touch many readers personally. The commentary sets out what the text says, the reasons for the historic reading, and the main alternative readings stated fairly. It draws no application.

Says "For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. Likewise, the men abandoned natural relations with women and burned with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error" (1:26–27, BSB). In the Greek, the "women" are θήλειαι (thēleiai, "females") and the "men" are οἱ ἄρσενες (hoi arsenes, "males"). The females exchanged (μετήλλαξαν) τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν ("the natural use") for τὴν παρὰ φύσιν ("that which is contrary to nature"). "Likewise" (ὁμοίως) the males, abandoning (ἀφέντες, aphentes) the same natural use, burned "for one another" (εἰς ἀλλήλους), ἄρσενες ἐν ἄρσεσιν ("males with males"). Says These verses illustrate the "dishonoring of their bodies" (1:24) and the "dishonorable passions" (1:26) to which God handed people over after they exchanged the Creator for the creature (1:25). Within the argument they stand as a sign of the wider exchange, not as a separate topic.

Implies On the historic reading, held across the church's history and by the team, Paul here judges same-sex intercourse, by men and by women, to be contrary to the Creator's design. The grounds are these. - "Contrary to nature." The phrase παρὰ φύσιν ("contrary to nature") is set against φυσικὴ χρῆσις ("natural use"; note.language.Rom.1.26.physiken-para-physin; lex.G5446; lex.G5449). In a passage framed by "the creation of the world" (1:20) and "the Creator" (1:25), "nature" is the order God made, not personal disposition or local custom. Paul shares the moralists' vocabulary, which Plato, Musonius Rufus, and Philo apply to the same acts (Plato, Leg. 636c; Musonius, Lecture 12; Philo, Spec. 3.39). He does not share their foundation (note.historical.Rom.1.1-Rom.1.32.stoic-physis). - The Gen 1 echoes. Paul uses the sex terms θήλειαι and ἄρσενες ("females," "males"), not the usual words for women and men. These recall Gen 1:27, "male and female He created them" (BSB): זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה (zakhar uneqevah), LXX ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ. Gen 1:20–26 already stands behind 1:23 (note.language.Rom.1.20.gen-1-creation-order; xref.Rom.1.26-Rom.1.27.Gen.1.27.heb). - The Levitical background. Lev 18:22 forbids lying with a male מִשְׁכְּבֵי אִשָּׁה (mishkeve ishah, "as one lies with a woman") and calls it תּוֹעֵבָה (to'evah, "an abomination"). Lev 20:13 applies the prohibition to both partners. The LXX wording is general (μετὰ ἄρσενος … κοίτην γυναικός), with no qualification of age, status, or cultic setting. Lev 18:24–28 says the nations were defiled by these practices, so the law is not only Israel's ritual code (note.language.Rom.1.26.lev-18-22-20-13; xref.Rom.1.26-Rom.1.27.Lev.18.22.heb; xref.Rom.1.26-Rom.1.27.Lev.20.13.heb). Jewish writers of Paul's time read these laws in the same way (Philo, Spec. 3.37–42; Josephus, C. Ap. 2.199; Pseudo-Phocylides 190–192; note.historical.Rom.1.1-Rom.1.32.sexual-ethics). - Mutuality. "For one another" (εἰς ἀλλήλους) describes mutual desire. The verse is not limited to exploitation or to the abuse of boys, and the women of 1:26 fit no pederastic model.

Implies "Likewise" (ὁμοίως, 1:27) ties the men's abandoning of "the natural use" (ἀφέντες τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν) to the women's exchange of it in 1:26 (μετήλλαξαν τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν). Both leave the same natural use, so the women's "unnatural relations" are best taken as same-sex relations. The pairing of male and female same-sex relations in Plato (Leg. 636c) and Pseudo-Phocylides (190–192) supports this.

A minority historic view reads the women's exchange in 1:26 differently. Augustine took it of unnatural acts between women and men, not of relations between women (Nupt. 2.20.35), and some other early readers followed him (note.historical.Rom.1.1-Rom.1.32.sexual-ethics).

Several modern scholars read these verses differently. John Boswell argued that "nature" means a person's own disposition, so that Paul condemns heterosexual people acting against their own nature (src.boswell-csth). Robin Scroggs argued that the only model of same-sex relations Paul knew was pederasty, often exploitative, so his words do not address committed adult relationships (src.scroggs-nt-homosexuality). Bernadette Brooten agrees that Paul condemns female as well as male same-sex relations. She argues that his idea of "nature" rests on an ancient hierarchy of gender that modern readers need not share (src.brooten-love-between-women). Dale Martin argues that the passage describes a mythic fall of humanity into idolatry, with disordered desire as its consequence, and is not a statement about homosexual orientation (src.martin-bibint-1995). Responses to these readings include Richard Hays, who answers Boswell from Paul's creation framework (src.hays-jre-1986), and Robert Gagnon, who answers the exploitation and orientation readings at length (src.gagnon-bhp, ch. 4).

Uncertain The meaning of "the due penalty for their error" (τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν … τῆς πλάνης). The "error" is most likely the exchange of God for idols (1:23, 25; compare πλανᾶσθαι in Wis 14:22, non-canonical). The "penalty" is most likely the handing over itself, the dishonorable passions and acts, and not a particular disease. The text does not say more.

Implies The passage does not single out one group. It describes humanity's turn from the Creator, and its examples continue at once in 1:29–31: envy, deceit, gossip, arrogance, disobedience to parents. Romans 2:1 turns on the reader who agrees with the verdict: "you who pass judgment do the same things" (BSB). The whole section ends at 3:22–24 with all people sinners and all justified "freely by His grace" through Christ (BSB).