Vile Passions and Sexual Uncleanness

Vile Passions and Sexual Impurity

Shelby G. Floyd

April 22, 2007

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. –Romans 1:24-25 ESV

In the New Testament era, the Gentiles had descended from knowledge of God to idolatry:

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Romans 1:21-23).

The steps of their descent into sexual impurity and vile passions are:

1. They knew God.

2. They did not honor him as God.

3. They were ungrateful.

4. They became foolish in their reasoning.

5. Their foolish hearts were darkened.

6. They ended up worshipping and serving the creature instead of the Creator.

7. They therefore became worshippers of idols.

8. They were given up by God to degrade themselves.

9. They descended lower and lower into physical corruption and vile passions.

God Gave Them Up To Vile Passions

As to how they degraded and dishonored their bodies among themselves, Paul reveals this in Romans 1:26-27:

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

These “vile passions,” or “shameful lusts,” were the unnatural desires which females had for females and males cherished for males. These verses describe several divisions of homosexual behavior prevalent in ancient Greece and Rome. These same practices are becoming more prevalent also in our society. Some educational, political, and yes, even some religious leaders are sanctioning such behavior as morally acceptable.

Some of these practices may be listed and described and their modern counterpoints identified:

1. Pederasty, “embraces a wide range of erotic practices between adult and adolescents.” Almost every day we hear of adolescents being abused by sex offenders. This shocking behavior must be exposed and the offenders held accountable by the courts.

2. Lesbian is a female homosexual, having a sexual attraction to persons of the same sex.

3. Homosexual, can be gender related, a male having a sexual attraction to another male; or a female having a sexual attraction to another female. Or it can be used inclusively to describe all types of homosexual behavior.

The ancient historians of Rome and Greece—Plutarch, Xenophon, and Lycurgus all state that these vices were practiced by some citizens and some of the ruling class as well. And discoveries from the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii confirm the Biblical record of Paul in Romans 1:21-27.

The Due Penalty for Sexual Perversion

Notice that Paul said that those guilty of all manner of sexual impurity “received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion” (Romans 1:27). He does not identify what that penalty would be, but it is not difficult for us to figure it out. All sexual uncleanness—adultery, fornication, prostitution and homosexual practices, degrade, dishonor and bring severe consequences to the human body, mind and soul. The Bible explicitly declares,

“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).

Do Not Be Deceived

The due penalty of all sexual perversion is no doubt the premature decline of body and mind. Let no one be deceived by how attractive the devil makes the blandishments of sin:

“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders” (1 Corinthians 6:9).