The Test, the Text, and the Testimony
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 1:25
Romans 1:24–27 – Romans: The Righteousness of God
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – February 5, 2023 (am)
Introduction - Texts that Test Us
As we preach through whole books of the Bible – we will inevitably come to texts that are more difficult than others.
Sometimes it’s because they are written in a genre that is foreign from the way we write today. Sometimes it’s because they contain customs and practices that we know nothing. But sometimes, it’s not because the text is unclear or foreign to us but because the topic it addresses is so hotly debated and contested at the cultural moment in which it is preached that to engage such a text can feel quite uncomfortable, difficult, divisive, and even dangerous.
When we come to such texts, they test us. They test our faithfulness to Scripture. They test our commitment to what God teaches is true. And they test our courage to live by God’s truth in a world where it increasingly seems like no one else does.
But when it comes to our text for today, the test comes from more than one direction – it is not just the text that tests us, for our world and our cultural has issued us a test of its own.
I first encountered this test when I was on a mission trip to New York City about 15 years ago. It was the spring of 2008, and my wife and I were the chaperones on a spring break missions trip for a group of college students. The trip was to New York City and its purpose was to introduce us to various types of inner-city ministries taking place there.
One of the items listed on our agenda, which was prepared for us ahead of time, was “subway evangelism.” To give you a little insight into my personality back then, I can tell you that this was the one activity of the trip that I was least looking forward to.
When our “subway evangelism” day rolled around, we left the hostel we were staying in to meet up with a precious couple from South Africa who had followed a leading from the Lord to become missionaries to New York City. Their names were Michael and Angela and they were to be our guides in our day of subway evangelism.
Now I don’t know what you picture when you think of doing evangelism in the subways of New York, but I can tell you that I was not prepared in any way for what Michael and Angela were about to have us do. They gathered our group around in a circle there in the subway station and explained that the way we would do evangelism was by hopping on a commuter subway that went back and forth between two locations on a route that lasted around 7 minutes each way. Once the doors would close and we would have a captive audience, one of us would then preach the gospel to the subway car for the duration of the trip, leaving a minute or so at the end to see if anyone would like to be prayed for or respond to the gospel, before we arrived in the station.
And while the shock of this assignment was still settling in on us, Michel said – who here is the leader – we’ll have them go first, and all eyes turned to me.
Now you have to understand that there are two types of people who yell for everyone’s attention on a subway – people asking for money and people who have a few screws loose. So I wasn’t eager to enter into this venture and sure enough, when I began my sermonette by calling for the attention of those in the car, I was met by a few audible groans.
That said, the Lord was faithful and gave me the grace to tell a car full of busy commuters in New York City about our Lord Jesus Christ when I finished a few people even said “thank you” as they exited the train – but one man stayed a moment longer and caught my eye. Turning to face me, he said to me – “And what does your Bible have to say about homosexuality?”
It was clear in that moment that for this gentleman, the litmus test for whether the good news of Jesus Christ was really good news at all, and whether the Bible was trustworthy, and, for all I knew, whether Christianity and the church were worthy of any consideration, depended entirely upon my answer to his question: “What does your Bible say about homosexuality.”
This experience illustrates the world we now live in – it is a world in which homosexuality specifically and the LGBTQ agenda more broadly – has become the litmus test – in our schools, our work places, our politics, our media, our sports, and our pronouns – for who is good and loving who is hateful and bigoted, who is kind and accepting and who is cruel and out of touch, who is worthy of our society’s praise and acceptance and who is to be condemned and rejected.
So the test comes at us from two directions – it is a test that has been issued to us by the world – and at the same time it stands before us this morning because of our text – and both demand an answer.
How we answer will say much about us. For one, it will say much about our ability to speak to and about topics, and to speak to and about people, with whom we might have much disagreement. But it would be unhelpful to assume that this is just a topic between us in here and them out there. We cannot – should not – assume that this is just a topic between them and us. We cannot assume that the ideologies of the LGBTQ revolution and the temptations to same sex relationships and experiences like same sex attraction and gender dysphoria are only things that exist out there. We must assume they are in here too. And so our answer will also say much about our ability to speak to and about these topics with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
You may have noticed the title for my message today is “The Test, The Text, and the Testimony” – and as we’ve sufficiently laid out the test – let us now turn to the text.
1) What does the text say?
While there are a number of places in Scripture that speak about homosexuality, Romans 1:24-27 is known to be “the text” on this topic. The reason being that it is unmistakable that some form of homosexuality is what is being addressed here. As such, it is the text receiving the most attention and most debate when it comes to this topic
Our text falls in the middle of Paul’s argument in Romans 1:18 – 32 which itself is part of the larger argument that is found in 1:18 – 3:20. My favorite description of this portion of Romans is that it is the dark backdrop of human sin and depravity upon which the jewel of the gospel will shine all the more brightly.[1] It is Paul’s answer to the question – why is salvation, why is the righteousness of God, only available to us by faith? It is the answer to the question, why is the gospel good news?
Paul paints this dark backdrop in three strokes. First, in 1:18-32 he explores the depravity of irreligious Gentiles. Then in chapters 2 and into 3 he address the depravity of religious and self-righteous Jews. Finally, continuing on in chapter 3, he concludes that all of humanity is sinful and depraved.
Our passage falls in this first section, the depravity of irreligious Gentiles who, as 1:18 says, suppress the truth, and against whom, God’s wrath is being revealed because of their ungodliness and unrighteousness. The point of this section is to show both why God’s wrath is being revealed against them and how it is being revealed against them so that, at the end of the day, Paul can conclude that this segment of humanity is without excuse and rightly condemned before Holy God.
Where our text for today fits into that flow of thought is that it is the point in the passage where Paul, moves from explaining why God’s wrath is being revealed to how it is revealed with the why being that His is creatures have rejected the glory of their Creator, for that of idols resembling His creation and the how being that God is going to give them over to their sinful desires.
We see this most clearly in the phrase “God gave them up.” A phrase that occurs three times – in verse 24, 26, and 28. In verse 24, God gives them up to impurity, further explained as the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. In verses 26 and 27, God gives them up to dishonorable passions, further explained as homosexual relationships. And in verse 28, God gives them up to a debased mind, further explained by a long list of sinful vices.
A common theme each time Paul says “God gave them up,” is that when people break their vertical relationship with God – that brokenness is then reflected in their horizontal relationships with one another.[2] So that when they exchanged the glory of God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things – God gave them up to impurity, the dishonoring of their bodies among one another. When they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, God gave them up to dishonorable passions, unhealthy passions that led them to commit shameless acts with one another. When they gave up the knowledge of God, God gave them up to do what ought not to be done among one another. (implied)
But does this make God responsible for their sins? Is that what his phrase means? No. God is not introducing them to these sins, or leading them into them, rather, he is a letting them go in the direction their hearts are already going. We see this in verse 24 where God is giving them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity. God is not making them do these things, but he is not stopping them from doing them either.
As Chrysostom says - They are like boats that have rowed into the current of sin and God, in his wrath, has let go of the rope that would keep them from going where sin would take them.[3] He has given them what they wanted. He has sent them into their hearts desires. And they will reap the consequences of their choices – which is the due penalty for their error in v. 27.
So when it comes to our text today – being handed over to impurity in general and homosexuality specifically should be understood as two expressions of horizontal sins – sins with and against one another – that reflect a broken vertical relationship with God. They are two examples of sin that God has let sinful humanity pursue, and reap the consequences of, as a revelation of his wrath. They are also two examples of sin especially characteristic of irreligious Gentiles. Furthermore, they are two examples of sin that serve to paint the dark backdrop of human depravity upon which the jewel of the gospel will shine all the brighter.
That is what Paul is doing here. But it is at this point that we must acknowledge something Paul is not doing here. Paul is not condemning homosexuals as the worst of sinners here. While he is condemning homosexuality as a sin – alongside other sins – he is not condemning homosexuals as those who are too far gone in their sin or incapable of being saved or as hopeless cases. He is not encouraging a false stereotype that has existed for too long in the church community, and that is important for us to understand.
Important because one of the reasons the church is losing people, especially young people, to the LGBTQ revolution is that we’ve made them think their whole lives that those in this community are terrible people to be avoided at all costs. Then one day, they finally meet someone who identifies as gay or lesbian or bi-sexual or trans or queer and they find that they aren’t that way at all. They find they are kind and loving and funny and thoughtful and nice to be around. The result being that they stop believing what the church teaches about homosexuality because their experience has proven it wrong.
Paul is not teaching a false stereotype – that homosexuals are unsavable sinners – but he is listing homosexuality as a sin, among others, from which we can only be saved by faith.
But what is really being condemned in Romans 1? That is the question that is being asked more recently of this text. Let’s turn to it now.
2) What is really being condemned?
That is the question being asked by members of the LGBTQ community who claim to still hold to the authority of Scripture. And the argument they make is that Paul is not universally condemning all forms of homosexuality in Romans 1.
One line of argumentation states that what Paul is condemning in Romans 1 is not mutual, loving, same-sex relationships but rather homosexual acts that sought to exploit one of the parties involved – like prostitution or pederasty. The problem with such a view is that verse 27 says what is being condemned is a scenario where men were consumed with passion for one another – something that mirrored what was happening with the women in verse 26. This means Paul is not condemning only exploitative relationships but consensual ones – ones where both parties are willingly involved – ones where we could imagine both partners might profess love and commitment to one another.
Another line of argumentation states that Paul couldn’t be arguing against those who were born with a “homosexual orientation” because the ancient world didn’t have any concept of “sexual orientation.” But this is also proven to be false, for we find in the writings of the Greek Philosopher Plato, who predated Paul by many hundred years, the belief that the Greek God Zeus had split the original human into heterosexuals and homosexuals from the beginning.[4] Thus, Paul and those in his day would likely have been conversational on the argument that homosexuality is a “god” given orientation.
Yet a third line of argumentation states that when Paul says that men and women gave up natural relations for those contrary to nature – what he is talking about is giving up what was natural for them. So the sin here is one of heterosexuals committing acts of homosexuality – not homosexuals committing acts of homosexuality. In making this argument, they take natural to mean “customary” or “socially acceptable” and contrary to nature to mean “contrary to what was customary.”
The problem with this idea is that this is not how Paul is using that word here. Throughout Romans 1 Paul is alluding to Genesis 3. It is the retelling of how the Creator was rejected by His image bearing creation with the result that they experienced shame and deserved death. A retelling of how humanity has not lived in accordance with their created nature – the nature given to them by God at Creation – not just their felt nature. In the beginning God created humans male and female and His solution to a lonely male Adam was a female Eve for a life-long marriage relationship – and this, we are told in Scripture, was very good.
This is what we ought to understand Paul means by “natural.” This is what was transgressed by the men and women in Romans 1 – not one’s felt orientation – but God’s original design for humanity.
This makes the most sense in Paul’s line of the argument as well for verse 25 first identifies “dishonorable passions” as the sin, then explains it further as homosexuality. Nowhere do we find in Paul’s argument the idea that he is referring to dishonorable passions “for some but not for others.” To argue such a way distorts the text and reads into it a meaning that is not there. Thus, the actions described in vv. 26 and 27 are to be understood to be the product of sinful passions in anyone – no matter how they identify in our modern era.
At the end of the day we must understand that what Paul is condemning here is homosexual relationships in all their forms. Again, not condemning homosexuals as the worst of sinners, but condemning homosexuality as a sin. Not condemning those who wrestle with same sex attraction or gender dysphoria as beyond help, but condemning as sinners – alongside many other manifestations of sin – those who follow those passions into same sex relationships. With no exceptions. It doesn’t matter how loving the partners involved are. It doesn’t matter how long their commitment is to one another. And it is not because they aren’t nice or thoughtful or kind people – but because it goes against God’s created plan for human relationships.
Tim Keller helpfully summarizes this conclusion for us when he says: “The Bible is clear, both in the Old and New Testaments, that active homosexual sex as a settled, unrepentant pattern of behavior is indicative of an attitude of rejection of Jesus’ lordship, and leaves people outside his kingdom (see 1 Corinthians 6:9-10), though never outside his reach (v 11).”[5]
But why pick on homosexuality? For this community & those sympathetic to it – placing this topic in the context of a passage such as this one seems to feed the stereotype I’ve said Paul isn’t making. Why pick on homosexuality rather than heterosexual sins?
3) Why pick on homosexuality?
Here’s why Paul zeros in on this sin: Paul wants us to see that truth suppressing worship leads to truth suppressing relationships. Remember verse 18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
We’ve learned in verses 23 and 25 about truth suppressing worship. Worship that exchanges God for the worship of creation. And then verse 26 begins with “for this reason” – referring us back to v. 25 – before explaining how God gave people up to homosexual relationships. The big idea in these verses being that when we worship creation as if it were our Creator – our worship becomes a lie, and when our worship becomes a lie, God gives us up to relationships that are also a lie.[6]
Homosexuality is a powerful and clear example of a relationships that is a lie. It is a lie in that it is not what we were created for. It is a lie that, like idolatry, is an expression of our rejection of God, our Creator. That it is a lie is clear from Scripture, but it is also clear in biology, clear in the bodies God has given us, though broken by the fall but still show for that design – most clearly in the fact that procreation is only possible between a man and a woman.
And it is a lie that has been taken up and run with by our secular society which tells us that our physical bodies contain no truth about who we are, that our gender is something to be discovered by looking within us and not in a mirror or at our chromosomes. This is a horrible lie that is being pushed upon us, and especially on our children and youth.
Know again – that if you are among those who experience gender dysphoria I’m not saying that you are horrible. This is not said to condemn you or to push you away. What you are feeling is a very real consequence of living in a fallen and broken world. To not feel at home in one’s own body is a very difficult and confusing place to be and the last thing I want you to hear is condemnation – you need the church and God’s Word and the Gospel to help you as you walk this road.
And you need to know you are not alone. We all have lies that we’re living into. Anxiety is a lie about God’s ability to care and provide for you. Fear is a lie about God’s ability to protect you. Pride is a lie about who has made us and given us all we have. If you are caught in the lies of transgenderism or homosexuality – rest assured you have plenty company in this very room.
But know also it is a lie to be refuted and rejected, not embraced and accepted – as our world would teach you. It is something that requires us to repent and believe who God made us to be – difficult as that may be. And there are many here who want to walk that road alongside you
But if you are among those who have become sympathetic to the transgender movement, and who uphold its lies, and give approval to and even teach them to others I would remind you of what Jesus says, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” (Mk. 9:42). These words are meant for you – as a warning - repent and turn from this wickedness before it is too late.
In these first three questions we’ve come to the clear conclusion that homosexuality – in all its forms – is a sin. This might cause us to wonder – if homosexuality is so clearly outside the boundaries of God’s purposes for his people, how have we ended up in such different places on this subject?
4) How have we ended up in such different places on this subject?
Here I’m referring to the church and the secular society at large. How have we ended up in such different places? It is not because we as Christians are so inherently different in nature from those around us. It is not because we as Christians are so far beyond such things such as the lusts of the heart or dishonorable passions. No, we know those things well for we too are humans ruined by sin and well acquainted with our sinful flesh. What separates us is not that our natures our different, it is that the one we worship is different.
Embedded in our text is a principle regarding worship, in verse 25, where we see that worship and service go together. You will serve whatever it is you worship. Worship – by nature – is giving your time, energy, money, attention, and affections to the one you worship. Worship – by nature – is serving the one you worship – whether it is God or your bank account or your career or your ego
As Tim Keller explains: “We are ‘tellic’ creatures—purposed people; we have to live for something. There has to be something which captures our imagination and our allegiance, which is the resting place of our deepest hopes and which we look to to calm our deepest fears. Whatever that things is, we worship it, and so we serve it. It becomes our bottom line, the thing we cannot live without, defining and validating everything we do.”[7]
When you worship God you find yourself living for Him and serving his purposes as they are revealed to you in His Word. When you read in His word that homosexuality is a sin – you accept it – and trust that it is so and believe that to go against it would lead to heartache – because the One you worship has said so.
But the secular world around us has exchanged God in order to worship what philosophers call “The Self.” Thus being “true to yourself” has become the rallying cry of the sexual revolution and the greatest sin for the revolutionaries is to deny yourself of who you feel yourself to be.
This could be illustrated in many ways but one is in the use of empathy to bring non-LGBTQ people on board with the LGBTQ agenda. The argument of the sexual revolution says, “Put yourself in my shoes – you want to be loved, you want to experience romance, you want to be able to act on your attractions, you want to be true to yourself – how would you feel if someone told you, you couldn’t be who you wanted to be? And if you have the opportunity to be true to yourself, shouldn’t I have them too?
Each of these is an appeal to the god of our age – the god of “The Self.” What they are saying, in essence, is “You worship the god of yourself, shouldn’t I be able to as well?” And “you would never want someone to keep you from being true to yourself – why would you say things or support legislations that deny me from being true to myself?” And many people have fallen in line with the revolutionaries because of this line of argumentation, because to do otherwise would jeopardize their own ability to be and do whatever it is they want to be or do, to do otherwise would threaten their god of self.
But as Christians, we understand when we follow God, it is not ourselves we serve but Him. In fact, the invitation to Christianity is given to us from Jesus himself not in terms of self-allegiance but in terms of self-denial: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mk. 8:34)
So we understand that the chasm between those of us who hold to a biblical sexual ethic and those who don’t is the product of who it is we worship. When we worship the Self – we will do everything we can to serve the Self – but when we worship God – we will do everything we can to serve Him
Understanding this distinction serves us in many way as we seek to be a light to our neighbors, coworkers, family and friends. First, it names an idol that has great influence in each of our lives. Second, it closes the perceived gap between those in the LGBTQ community and us. We are not as different as we might assume. And Third, it informs how we might approach and engage and speak to those in this community – we need not begin with actions (don’t do this) but with worship (who are you serving and why?)
We’ve covered quite a bit of ground, so our last question is, with all of this in mind, how should we respond to the test posed to us by our society?
5) How should we respond to the test?
How should we answer when asked on a subway: “What does your Bible say about homosexuality?” I can tell you what I said when I was faced with this question 15 years ago. I simply replied – “The Bible says it is a sin.” Then the man who asked me the question frowned and said, “That’s what I thought you’d say” and turned around and walked away.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve replayed that moment in my mind – sometimes with guilt, sometimes with regret – often times considering all the other ways I could have responded and wondering if what I said wrong, right, or incomplete.
Fifteen years later, do you know where I’ve landed? I’ve landed on the conviction that, given the circumstances, what I said was not wrong – it was true and faithful to Scripture. But I’ve also thought of many things I’d have liked to say in addition to it. I’d love to say it is a sin that Christ died to save you from. I’d love to explain it is not a sin that makes someone unsavable. I’d love to say that it is a sin much like many of my own. I’d love to tell him it’s a sin Jesus invites us to repent of and to replace with something much better
While there are many other things to be said, to say that homosexuality is a sin is a good place to start – in fact I think it’s the necessary place to start. When we don’t, we will find ourselves making arguments that lead to wrong conclusions. Now I don’t mean at the beginning of every conversation with someone who identifies on the LGBTQ spectrum, but rather it is a good place to start in our own minds if we’re to speak rightly about these identities and to those who hold to them. So I encourage you today to settle it in your mind that homosexuality is a sin. This is the testimony of Scripture. It is against God’s created plan for humanity. It is part of the dark backdrop of humanity’s helpless condition before God – upon which the jewel of the gospel will shine as we continue to study Romans. And if we’re to communicate that jewel rightly, we must do so on the dark backdrop of sin. If we’re to be clear about what the good news of the gospel is – we must first be clear about the bad that the gospel saves us from.
So we must conclude that homosexuality is a sin – and only then can we speak to the hope and the grace and the goodness of God to save sinners.
Conclusion – The Testimony
This message is so counter cultural – so against the grain of the world we live in - that it may not sound good at all. It may sound painful. It may – despite all the qualifications – still sound unloving. It may feel like it condemns those of us with same sex attractions to a life of forced loneliness. It may feel like a fork in the road, requiring us to choose between our God and our loved ones, or our friends outside the church and our friends inside it. It may feel like faithful adherence to Romans 1 will do more harm than good
For those who feel that way – I want to end today by pointing you to the testimony of David in Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible at 176 verses. It is a love song to God about His Word and at the same time it is an extended prayer, asking God to keep David faithful to God’s commandments.
It begins with this promise:
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
There is blessing to be found in obeying God’s Word. There is blessing to be found in heeding what Romans 1 teaches. But this doesn’t mean it was easy for David to obey everything God commanded. For within this Psalm – we see David’s wrestling to apply this promise:
25 My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word! . . . .
28 My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word! . . .
36 Incline my heart to your testimonies,
and not to selfish gain!
37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
And give me life in your ways.
Even the final verse of the Psalm indicates this struggle:
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
for I do not forget your commandments.
But the overarching testimony of the Psalm is this: God’s ways are best and the truly blessed life is found in obeying him – and being true to His Word – not in being true to ourselves.
My final word to us today is this: Don’t follow your heart, follow God and His Word. When we do, we will find that the texts that test us are the texts that bless us. When we do, we will find that behind every painful “no” in Scripture is a far more glorious “yes” - given to us by a God who loves us even more than we love ourselves and whose plan for us is good – from beginning to end.
Will you trust him? Will you follow His ways? I pray that you will.
_____________
Works Cited
Keller, Timothy. Romans 1-7 For You. The Good Book Company: Kindle ebook, 2014.
Keller, Tim. “The Bible and same sex relationships: A review article,” 2015. https://www.redeemer.com/redeemer-report/article/the_bible_and_same_sex_relationships_a_review_article
Moo, Douglas J. The Epistle to the Romans. William B Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, 1996.
Wright, N. T. The Letter to the Romans. Contained in The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary: Volume X. Abingdon Press: Nashville, 2002.
[1] “Yet it is the backdrop on which the bright jewel of the gospel shines all the brighter.” (Keller, 24)
[2] “. . . subverting our relationship with God has an effect on our relationships with each other, and with the creation. Damaging our vertical relationship damages our horizontal relationships.” (Keller, 32)
[3] Borrowed from Chrysostom’s illustration in Moo, pg. 111.
[4] Found in in Aristophanes’ speech in Plato’s Symposium (Keller, Tim. “The Bible and same sex relationships: A review article,” 2015.)
[5] Keller Romans 1-7 For You, pg. 33.
[6] “Out of the many things Paul could have highlighted in the pagan world, he has chosen same-sex erotic practices, not simply because Jews regarded homosexual practice as a classic example of pagan vice, but more particularly because it corresponds, in his view, to what humans in general have done in swapping God’s truth for a lie. . . his point is that homosexual behavior is a distortion of the creator’s design and that such practices are evidence, not of the intention of any specific individual to indulge in such practice for its own sake, but of the tendency within an entire society for humanness to fracture when gods other than the true one are being worshiped. The point is: Exchange your God for an idol, and you will exchange your genuine humanness for a distorted version, which will do you no good.” (Wright, 433-434)
[7] Keller, Romans 1-7 For You, pg. 27.
NEXT SUNDAY: Romans 1:28–32, Kipp Soncek