War (Part 2): Dishonorable Passions

Photo by Angelo Pantazis on Unsplash

Do you remember the parable of the Prodigal Son? You know, the story Jesus told of a son who demanded his share of the inheritance, left home, and squandered all of it? As I sit here pondering the text of Romans 1:26-32, I am reminded of the fact that just as the father in the parable allowed his son to go away and live his life the way he wanted to, so God allows us to make our own choices about how we live our lives. Even if that means we reject Him, dishonor Him, and utterly ruin our lives.

In the verses leading up to this point, Paul says that humankind rejected the truth of God for a lie – the lie that says that the creature, rather than the Creator, is worthy of worship. Here, Paul explains that in response to this rejection, God allowed them to do what they desired.

“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error” (Romans 1:26-27, ESV).

Many people, especially in recent years, have used the abovementioned verses to shame those who practice homosexuality. Here, my purpose is not to go into a whole argument about that topic. What I will say is that the point Paul is making here is that people, in their rejection of God, have rejected the wholeness that a relationship with God brings and have looked for fulfillment in relationships with other, imperfect, human beings. Instead of worshiping and serving the One who created us, we choose to worship other creatures, seeing them as far more worthy than the One who gave them breath in the first place. This applies to every relationship that we place in place of the one we need to have with God, regardless of whether we seek out heterosexual or homosexual ones. Just as the Prodigal Son sought to find fulfillment in the dishonorable practices of acquiring possessions and pursuing distorted relationships, so we do the same thing.

But, Paul does not stop with acknowledging the fact that we have pursued “dishonorable passions” in the context of relationships. He goes on to point out that we all have been given up to “debased minds,” and it shows in every area of our life.

"And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (Romans 1:28-32, ESV).

Just let those words sink in.

There is not one of us who can honestly say that we have never committed any of these acts. Not one. We all are guilty of deliberately disobeying God’s decrees, and we are all often guilty of giving approval to people who do so.

We are all totally lost in our sin. We all have to admit that we are guilty of violating God’s commands. In the face of God’s holiness, we are all on the same plane – sinners who deserve death.

But, my friends, that is not where the story has to end.

But the question remains: will we love and serve our Creator, or will we continue to pursue our “dishonorable passions,” whatever they might be?

(War: Part 1)
(War: Part 3)

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.