Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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 recompense of their error which was meet.
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. Lelands Advantage and Necessity of Revelation, vol. i. 49-56.) The crime with which the apostle charges the Gentiles here was by no means confined to the lower classes of the people.
It doubtless pervaded all classes, and we have distinct specifications of its existence in a great number of cases. Even Virgil speaks of the attachment of Corydon to Alexis, without seeming to feel the necessity of a blush for it. Maximus Tyrius (Diss. 10) says that in the time of Socrates, this vice was common among the Greeks; and is at pains to vindicate Socrates from it as almost a solitary exception. Cicero (Tuscul. Ques. iv. 34) says, that Dicearchus had accused Plato of it, and probably not unjustly. He also says (Tuscul. Q. iv. 33), that the practice was common among the Greeks, and that their poets and great men, and even their learned men and philosophers, not only practiced, but gloried in it. And he adds, that it was the custom, not of particular cities only, but of Greece in general. (Tuscul. Ques. v. 20.) Xenophon says, that the unnatural love of boys is so common, that in many places it is established by the public laws.
He particularly alludes to Sparta. (See Lelands Advantage, etc. i. 56.) Plato says that the Cretans practiced this crime, and justified themselves by the example of Jupiter and Ganymede. (Book of Laws, i.) And Aristotle says, that among the Cretans there was a law encouraging that sort of unnatural love. (Aristotle, Politic. b. ii. chapter 10.) Plutarch says, that this was practiced at Thebes, and at Elis. He further says, that Solon, the great lawgiver of Athens, was not proof against beautiful boys, and had not courage to resist the force of love. (Life of Solon.) Diogenes Laertius says that this vice was practiced by the Stoic Zeno. Among the Romans, to whom Paul was writing, this vice was no less common. Cicero introduces, without any mark of disapprobation, Cotta, a man of the first rank and genius, freely and familiarly owning to other Romans of the same quality, that this worse than beastly vice was practiced by himself, and quoting the authority of ancient philosophers in vindication of it. (De Natura Deorum, b. i. chapter 28.) It appears from what Seneca says (epis. 95) that in his time it was practiced openly at Rome, and without shame.
He speaks of flocks and troops of boys, distinguished by their colors and nations; and says that great care was taken to train them up for this detestable employment. Those who may wish to see a further account of the morality in the pagan world may find it detailed in Tholucks Nature and moral Influence of Heathenism, in the Biblical Repository, vol. ii., and in Lelands Advantage and Necessity of the Christian Revelation. There is not the least evidence that this abominable vice was confined to Greece and Rome. If so common there, if it had the sanction even of their philosophers, it may be presumed that it was practiced elsewhere, and that the sin against nature was a common crime throughout the pagan world. Navaratte, in his account of the empire of China (book ii. chapter 6), says that it is extremely common among the Chinese. And there is every reason to believe, that both in the old world and the new, this abominable crime is still practiced. If such was the state of the pagan world, then surely the argument of the apostle is well sustained, that there was need of some other plan of salvation than was taught by the light of nature.
That which is unseemly – That which is shameful, or disgraceful.
And receiving in themselves … – The meaning of this doubtless is, that the effect of such base and unnatural passions was, to enfeeble the body, to produce premature old age, disease, decay, and an early death. That this is the effect of the indulgence of licentious passions, is amply proved by the history of man. The despots who practice polygamy, and keep harems in the East, are commonly superannuated at forty years of age; and it is well known, even in Christian countries, that the effect of licentious indulgence is to break down and destroy the constitution. How much more might this be expected to follow the practice of the vice specified in the verse under examination! God has marked the indulgence of licentious passions with his frown. Since the time of the Romans and the Greeks, as if there had not been sufficient restraints before, he has originated a new disease, which is one of the most loathsome and distressing which has ever afflicted man, and which has swept off millions of victims. But the effect on the body was not all. It tended to debase the mind; to sink man below the level of the brute; to destroy the sensibility; and to sear the conscience as with a hot iron. The last remnant of reason and conscience, it would seem, must be extinguished it those who would indulge in this unnatural and degrading vice. See Suetonius Life of Nere, 28.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This was the sin of the Sodomites of old, for which they were destroyed, Gen 19:5; see Lev 18:22. How meet was it that they who had forsaken the Author of nature, should be given up not to keep the order of nature; that they who had changed the glory of God into the similitude of beasts, should be left to do those things which beasts themselves abhorred! God only concurred as a just judge in punishing foregoing with following sins: see Rom 1:25.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. and receiving in themselves thatrecompense of their error which was meetalluding to the manyphysical and moral ways in which, under the righteous government ofGod, vice was made self-avenging.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, Ge 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 schemes of deism and infidelity have found such a reception among us. Thus God, because men dishonour him with their evil principles and practices, leaves them to reproach their own nature, and dishonour their own bodies:
men with men working that which is unseemly; and of which nothing like it is to be observed in the brutal world:
receiving in themselves the recompence of their error, which was meet: God punishes sin with sin; for as the Jews say n, as
“one commandment draws on another, so one transgression draws on another; for the reward of the commandment is the commandment, and the reward of transgression is transgression.”
m A. Gellius Noct. Attic. l. 2. c. 18. Laert. Vit. Philosoph. l. 2. in Vit. Socrat. & l. 3. in Vit. Platon. n Pirke Abot, c. 4. sect. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Turned (). First aorist passive indicative, causative aorist, of , old verb, to burn out, to set on fire, to inflame with anger or lust. Here only in N.T.
Lust (). Only here in N.T.
Unseemliness (). Old word from (deformed). In N.T. only here and Re 16:15.
Recompense (). See on 2Co 6:13 for only other N.T. instance of this late Pauline word, there in good sense, here in bad.
Which was due ( ). Imperfect active for obligation still on them coming down from the past. This debt will be paid in full (, pay back as in Lu 6:34, and due as in Lu 23:41). Nature will attend to that in their own bodies and souls.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And likewise also the men,” (homois te kai hoi arsenes) “Likewise also the males,” after the same manner of deranged desires of unclean lusts.
2) “Leaving the natural use of the woman,” (aphentes ten phusiken chresin tes theleias) “Leaving or turning away from the natural use (need use) of the female,” in normal sex relations in sanctify of marriage.
3) “Burned in their lust one toward another,” (eksauthesan en to oreksei auton eis allelous) “burned in them the sexual desire of them toward one another,” craving and cultivating sex relations men toward men.
4) “Men with men,” (arsentes en arsentes) “Males among (with) males, homosexuality exciting and inflaming one another, inclusive of acts of sodomy for momentary excitement of passions. Jud 1:8; Jud 1:10.
5) “Working that which is unseemly,” (ten aschemosunen katergazomenoi) Continually repeatedly working that which is shameful, unseemly, morally perverting.”
6) “And receiving in themselves,” (kai en heautois apoiambanontes) “And in themselves receiving back,” as a law of sowing and reaping, Gal 6:7-8.
7) “That recompense of their error which was meet,” (ten antimisthian hen edei tes planes) “The requital (returned dishonor) which their moral error behooved. Those who practice such shall neither enter heaven nor have an heir-setting inheritance in the kingdom of our Lord except they repent. Rev 21:27; Gal 5:19; Gal 5:21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(27) In themselvesi.e., upon themselves, upon their own persons thus shamefully dishonoured.
That recompence of their error which was meet.The error is the turning from God to idols. The recompence of the error is seen in these unnatural excesses to which the heathen have been delivered up.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And in the same way also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due.’
And in the same way men, ‘leaving the natural use of women’, indulged in sex with one another, burning with lust for one another, with men ‘working unseemliness with men’, by indulging in practising homosexuality. We have here a clear Biblical condemnation of practising homosexuality. Those who indulge in it are seen as walking in disobedience to God and as ‘unseemly’. The receiving ‘in themselves’ of the recompense which was their due may refer to sexually transmitted diseases and other problems, or may have the final day of judgment in mind. But either way the emphasis is on the fact that judgment inevitably follows. That this is an indictment of homosexuality cannot be denied, although it is paralleled by the sexual sins of the women. Both are equally sinful (as are the practises that follow in Rom 1:28-32).
We must remember that in Paul’s days such homosexual practices were nothing new. They were widespread and not necessarily disapproved of by a society which was very liberal in its tendencies. It was a society which was as ‘sexually liberated’ as the Western world is today. Paul was not thus following the norms of his time. He was rather very much condemning the norms of his time. Although, of course, as is true today, there were many in the society who did disapprove. It was only among people like the Jews, however, that such things were frowned on by the whole of society. Paul’s indictment of these practises is therefore to be seen as all the more significant, for we must remember that Paul did not see himself as bound by Jewish practises. Yet he clearly saw any sex outside Biblical marriage (that is, outside of marriage of a man to a woman) as exceedingly sinful, and as basically disgusting (‘vile passions’, ‘changed their natural use’, ‘burned in lust’, ‘working unseemliness’), and this in words which typically of Scripture sought not to be too blatant.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 1:27. And likewise also the men How just the Apostle’s reflections are, and how pertinently he has placed this most abominable abuse of human nature at the head of the vices into which the heathen world were fallen, will be seen, if we observe, that Cicero,the greatest philosopher in Rome,a little before the Gospel was preached,in his book concerning the Nature of the Gods, (where you will find a thousand idle sentiments upon that subject,) introduces, without any mark of disapprobation, Cotta, a man of the first rank and genius, freely and familiarly owning to other Romans of the same quality, this worse than beastly vice as practised by himself; and quoting the authority of ancient philosophersin vindication of it. See lib. 1: sect. 28. Nay, and do we not even find the most elegant and correct both of the Greek and Roman poets, avowing this vice, and even celebrating the objects of their abominable affection?Indeed it is well known, that this most detestable vice was long and generally practised among the heathens by all sorts of men, philosophers and others: whence we may conclude, that the Apostle has done justice to the Gentile world in the other instances that he gives of their corruption. Error is used also for idolatry, 2Pe 2:18. See Calmet and Bos.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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.
Ver. 27. Leaving the natural ] As at this day in the Levant, sodomy is held no sin. The Turkish pashas have many wives, but more catamites, a which are their serious loves. (Blount’s Voyage.)
Burned in their lust ] Gr. , “were scalded.” Some men put off all manhood, become dogs, worse than dogs. Hence Deu 23:18 ; “The price of a dog,” that is, of a sodomite, as Junius and Deodatus expound it.
a A boy kept for unnatural purposes. D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
27. ] . perhaps, as De W., ‘ the (well-known, too frequent) indecency ,’ ‘cui ipsa corporis conformatio reclamat,’ Bengel: but more probably the article is only generic, as in 2Pe 1:5-8 repeatedly.
] The Apostle treats this into which they fell, as a consequence of, a retribution for , their departure from God into idolatry, with which in fact it was closely connected. This shame , and not its consequences , which are not here treated of, is the of their , their aberration from the knowledge of God, which they received. This is further shewn by in the past tense. , , . , . Chrys. Hom. v. p.457.
, in their own persons , viz. by their degradation even below the beasts.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
also the men = the men also.
men. App-123.
leaving = having forsaken. App-174.
burned = were inflamed. Greek. ekkaiomai. Only here.
lust. Greek. orexis. Only here.
toward. App-104.
working. Greek. katergazomai. Occurs eleven times in Romans, seven in 2 Corinthians. See also Jam 1:3, Jam 1:20; 1Pe 4:3.
that which is unseemly. Greek. aschemosune. Only here and Rev 16:15. Compare Gen 19:7.
receiving = receiving back, or in full. Greek. apolambano.
that = the.
recompence. Greek. antimisthia, retribution; only here and 2Co 6:13.
error. Greek. plane, literally a wandering = wrong action, wickedness. Here, Mat 27:64. Eph 4:14. 1Th 2:3. 2Th 2:11. Jam 5:20. 2Pe 2:18; 2Pe 3:17. 1Jn 4:6. Jud 1:11.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
27.] . perhaps, as De W., the (well-known, too frequent) indecency,-cui ipsa corporis conformatio reclamat, Bengel: but more probably the article is only generic, as in 2Pe 1:5-8 repeatedly.
] The Apostle treats this into which they fell, as a consequence of, a retribution for, their departure from God into idolatry,-with which in fact it was closely connected. This shame, and not its consequences, which are not here treated of, is the of their , their aberration from the knowledge of God, which they received. This is further shewn by in the past tense. , , . , . Chrys. Hom. v. p.457.
, in their own persons, viz. by their degradation even below the beasts.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 1:27. , were all in a flame) [burned] with an abominable fire (, viz., of lust.)- , that which is unseemly) against which the conformation of the body and its members reclaims.- ) which it was meet [or proper], by a natural consequence.- , of their error) by which they wandered away from God.-), the antithetic word used to express the punishment of the Gentiles; as , that of the Jews, Rom 2:6. In both words, has the same force.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 1:27
Rom 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 unseemliness,-We have examples of this degrading perversion of the natural and proper gratification of the desires on the part of men in the case of the men of Sodom. (See Gen 19:4-8).
and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due.-When nations and peoples forget God, lose their sense of responsibility to him, they follow the degrading lusts to depravity that is worse than brutal. Men are created with faculties which, if rightly used, will raise them above the brutes; but if perverted and used to drag them down instead of to lift them up, they will carry them as far below the brute as the right use would lift them above. [The apostle refers to the women first, probably as the most glaring proof of the general depravity, on the principle that the corruption of the best thing is the worst of all corruptions. The degrading vices are still so common among the heathen that modern missionaries have been accused by them of forging this account, and it has sometimes been difficult to convince them that so accurate a picture of their morals was painted so long ago. Hence, we see why the apostle refers so particularly to practices so disgusting-they were very common among the heathen; they were intimately connected with the rites of idolatry, especially with the worship of Venus; and they were particularly illustrative of the depth of degradation into which the human race had plunged.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
that recompense: Rom 1:23, Rom 1:24
Reciprocal: Gen 13:13 – But the Gen 19:5 – General Lev 18:22 – General Lev 20:13 – General Deu 23:17 – sodomite Jdg 19:22 – Bring forth 1Ki 15:12 – the sodomites 1Ki 22:46 – the remnant 2Ki 23:7 – the sodomites Psa 81:12 – I gave Eze 16:50 – and committed 1Co 6:9 – abusers
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
:27
Rom 1:27. The common name for the iniquity referred to in this verse is sodomy. It is the sin meant in 1Co 6:9, last sentence. A case of it is that predicted in Dan 11:37, and the man was a Syrian king by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes. The historical fulfillment of that prediction is recorded in Prideaux’s Connexion, year 175. Recompence of their error. This is not described in any work that I have seen, but the circumstances indicate it refers to some physical derangement of the organs involved in the shameless act. We know that the promiscuous intimacies between the sexes has produced the well-known “social disease,” and in a similar manner some terrible disorder was the result of the horrible practice of sodomy, which is the unnatural immorality between men and men.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 1:27. The men; lit., males. The vice of sodomy was very prevalent in the ancient world. The description here is more intense, corresponding with the prevalence and intensity of the immorality.
Receiving in themselves; in their own persons. The unseemliness points to something well known.
That recompense of their error. The unnatural lusts and vices were the recompense, the due punishment, of their error, namely, their departure from God into idolatry.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due. [In this horrible picture Paul shows in what way they dishonored themselves among themselves. The sin of sodomy was common among idolaters. The apostle tells us that this depth of depravity was a just punishment for their departure from God. Petronius, Suetonius, Martial, Seneca, Virgil, Juvenal, Lucian and other classic writers verify the statements of Paul. Some of their testimonies will be found in Macknight, Stuart and other larger commentaries.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
27. These two verses describe a horrible state of humanity, cohabitation with animals, and other abominations unmentionable, peculiar to the inhabitants of Sodom and in the hell dens of many other cities in all ages. When I was in that country I went to the site of Sodom and Gomorra and found it all covered by the Dead Sea. Not only is the sea utterly desolate, no fish competent to live in its poisonous waters, but the surrounding country is all a burning desert waste without a drop of rain, whereas in the days of Abraham and Lot it was well watered, God having sent the withering desolation because of their wickedness. As this wicked age fast ripens for destruction, the horrors of Sodom are fast multiplying with the inventions of the age utilized by Satan. I write these pages in New York. A sanctified man, saved out of the horrors of slumdom, tells me that we need not leave the American metropolis to find all the horrors of ancient Sodom.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
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 {l} recompence of their error which was meet.
(l) An appropriate reward and that which they deserved.