1:20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being perceived through the things that are made,
even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.1:21 Because, knowing God, they didn't glorify him as God,
neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning,
and their senseless heart was darkened.1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
1:23 and traded the glory of the incorruptible God
for the likeness of an image of corruptible man,
and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.
1:25 who exchanged the truth of God for a lie,
and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who
is blessed forever. Amen.
1:26 For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions.
For their women changed the natural function into that which is against
nature.
1:27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman,
burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate
with men,
and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.
1:28 Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge,
God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are
not fitting;
1:29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers,
1:30 backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
1:31 without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;1:32 who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.
vs 19-21 People cannot be held responsible for what they don't know, just as Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin" John 9:41 These declare that all do know and therefore are to be held responsible. There is no excuse. True that not all have heard the gospel, but they are aware of the guilt of their sin by their conscience - at least before it becomes corrupted. And people are aware of God's existence. For even atheists are hypocrites when they behave as if they believe God exists. For if a person lives with meaning and purpose in life and acknowledges spiritual virtues of love and justice, while at the same time declaring that man is nothing but chemistry controlled by stochastic processes whose individual destiny is to perish into nothingness, this is inherently a contradiction.
Notice also in verse 20, how can "invisible" things be "clearly seen"? "seen" refers to perception. We perceive that God exists from the things he created, such as ourselves and also nature. For consider the implication of the functional complexity of nature. What if we landed on another planet and found a colony of robots, wouldn't we ask the question as to who made such robots? How much more obvious the question in the case of the creatures on this planet. For how much more functionally complex are they! And consider this also, if we went to another planet and found information coded into a language form written on a rock, wouldn't we infer intelligent life from that? Aren't scientists even now looking out into space for even remote signs of intelligent life through the SETI project? If therefore we infer that the origin of coded information is an intelligent designer, then what can be inferred from the DNA code found in all organisms on this planet? Evidence for the existence of God abundantly surrounds us, but there are those who hold back the truth in unrighteousness.
Our response to such evidence is that we should glorify God as God. Which simply means to acknowledge him as Creator, and thus seek from him our meaning and purpose in life, as any created thing derives from its creator. But people don't do that.
The second wrong that people commit is being unthankful to God. Of course logically if you don't acknowledge the existence of God, you're not going to give him thanks. What is the first sin in rejecting God? Pride - Taking God down from his throne. What is the second sin? Ungratefulness. Even Christians do this. I remember during the Gulf War, George Bush asked for prayers on behalf of the soldiers, but then after the war, thanks was given to the Patriot Missle! How easily we all can forget to be thankful to God.
Unthankfulness to God leads to a corrupt mind (thinking) which leads to a corrupt heart (desires)
vs 22,23 The way this happens is simply that rejecting God creates a vacuum of truth. And so we replace the truth of God with our own lies to fill the vacuum. Conforming our thinking to such lies corrupts our mind. We become irrational, unreasonable, incapable of making proper inferences.
vs 24 Without the guide of standards of truth, the sinful nature conforms people's philosophy to their sinful desires. So that, for example, sexual desires turn into immoral practices which are justified by people's philosophy.
vs 25 Thus truth is replace by a lie and God is replace by idols. It is interesting that man was made to be a servant and manages to put himself in such a role even while seeking freedom and escape from such a role. For those who let their sinful nature get out of control become slaves to it.
vs 26,27 Homosexuality is an effect of this process. Homosexual desires are not what God intended, but are corrupted shameful desires, even though people practice them shamelessly. For they are corrupt and shameful not in the eyes of the homosexual, but in the eyes of God and the godly. It is also apparent from the phrase "God gave them up (over)" vs 24,26,28 that God restrains the sinful nature from getting out of control, but as people follow their sinful desires, he releases this restraint to a greater extent. There's speculation as to what is the "recompense of their error" which they receive in themselves. Sexual diseases is an obvious physical effect, with AIDS being the ultimate example. But also the fact that they are stuck in their homosexuality, incapable of experiencing normal healthy godly relationships with people.
vs 28-32 Do you like to retain God in your knowledge? Do you enjoy thinking about God and trying to understand Him? What information do you fill your mind with? And do you find that after hearing a sermon or reading the Bible, you soon forget what you heard? That you don't retain such knowledge easily? Our sinful nature doesn't want the knowledge of God. Even "religious" people and many "theologians" will avoid indepth Bible study and replace it with man-made dogmatism.
If we do not honor God with our minds, then God will take away our capacity for right thinking (literally a "throw-away mind"). Beware of those Christians who discourage Bible study and meditation on the Word of God. There are those who just emphasize personal experience in the name of the Holy Spirit, and think that Bible study is simply legalism. Such ideas do not honor God. For there are Christians who replace God's truth as declared in the Bible with their own "experience" and "inspiration".
Corrupt thinking leads to corrupt behavior. People know in their conscience if they examine themselves, that they are doing things worthy of death. But that won't stop them. Rather they'll gather around themselve those who do the same and even try and made converts to their cause. This is one of the concerns of homosexuality. Homosexuals are loud. They want others to affirm their behavior. And they want to make converts to their way of thinking, so as to win approval. They can't get it from God, so they seek it from man.
This leads to corruption of the heart in which our desires become corrupt such that we desire things that are shameful from God's point of view.
This also leads to corruption of the conscience in which we no longer even feel guilty for what we should feel guilty for. ("they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.")