Once again, we see that God is giving man what he wants, allowing man to pursue something other than what God created him for. In these two verses, Paul addresses the relationship between man and woman.
God gave them up to dishonorable passions
Paul makes it clear that what man chose to purse was not honorable to God, dishonorable is also translated vile, both of which relay the idea of something ugly, wrong, and in opposition to God - yet this is clearly what man wanted, what man chose.
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
Paul had to be disgusted as he described just how far man would go in his pursuit of darkness, there is no limit to how evil man can get when God decides remove His restraint. A few key words I would like to pull out of this section:
exchanged/gave up: replacing something with something else, to give up something for something else...in this case taking something natural and replacing it with something unnatural.
natural relations: refers to the physical aspect; growth and production.
I think defining these words is important because we need to know what was designed by God as natural, and what is dishonoring to God about the unnatural. While not all of us have ever, or will ever struggle with the obvious issue of homosexuality, there may be some underlying issues here that are dishonoring to God that we may need to deal with at some point in our life.
So...what was God's design for a relationship? We see this in Gen 1:27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. and also in Gen 5:2: Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. It's very clear from these two verses that God's design was for a relationship to be between a male and female...and this is true of the animal kingdom as well, as we see in Gen 6:19: And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Going even further, we see the purpose of a relationship consisting of a male and a female in Gen 7:3: and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. There should be no question as to how God designed a relationship and what the purpose was for this design.
Since man is created in the image of God, however, there is more to the relationship than simply reproduction. There is the idea of marriage, and it's purpose in God's creation. While there's not enough time to go into great detail on this amazing and very interesting topic, I would like to bring in a few verses from Ephesians (I've added emphasis in an attempt to clarify the main point). I think these verses detail what God honoring marriage is all about:
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
because we are members of his body.
"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Ephesians : 5:22-33
Ephesians : 5:22-33
A Godly marriage is to reflect Christ and the Church, His bride. We need to understand that our marriage - the way we act, the way we respect each other, and the way we love each other - is to be in direct relation to how Christ loves His bride. Anything other than this is to miss the point, and to rob God of the glory that comes from a true Godly marriage. I highly recommend a book by John Piper called "This Momentary Marriage." Piper goes into amazing detail in this book about the purpose of marriage.
In closing, my point here is that there is more to God's design for a relationship, and marriage, than the simple command that it be between a male and a female. All that we do is honor and glorify God, and it is our duty to pray to God daily to reveal to us where in our life, in our relationship, in our marriage, where are we robbing Him of the glory He so deserves.
If we choose not to glorify God in our lives, if we choose to pursue the dishonorable passions brought on by our sinful nature, if we never submit to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Master, and put our faith of salvation wholly and completely in His shed blood, then we will be included with those described in these verses - who will be "receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error" - or as described in Rev 20:15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
I encourage anyone reading this to reach out to God the Father, make sure of your salvation - He has promised us peace and confidence are to be ours. Pray for Him to reveal any areas of your life that may be robbing Him of His deserved glory. If you have not given your life to Christ, reach out to Him, He is faithful to forgive you of any sin, none is so great that it cannot be forgiven by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
God is the only One that can free us from the bondage of our sinful and dishonorable passions!
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