Romans 1:27

‘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 Romans 1:28).

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.