page_title: Homosexuality in the New Testament
section_title: Romans 1:26-27
hierarchical_section_title: Homosexuality in the New Testament / Homosexuality in the Pauline epistles / Romans 1:26-27
context_page_description: In the New Testament, there are at least three passages that refer to homosexual activity: Romans 1:26–27, 1 Corinthians 6:9–10, and 1 Timothy 1:9–10. A fourth passage, Jude 1:7, is often interpreted as referring to homosexuality. Jesus discusses marriage only in a heterosexual context when he cites the Book of Genesis during a discussion of marriage.
  The references to homosexuality itself in the New Testament hinge on the interpretation of three specific Greek words: arsenokoitēs, malakos, and porneia and its cognates. While it is not disputed that the three Greek words apply to sexual relations between men, some liberal contemporary academics interpret the relevant passages as a prohibition against pederasty or prostitution rather than homosexuality per se, while traditional scholars hold the historical position that these passages forbid all same gender sexual acts and relationships.
context_section_description: Epistle to the Romans 1:26–27 (English Majority Text Version, EMTV):
  For this reason [viz. idolatry], God gave them up to passions of dishonor; for even their females exchanged the natural use for that which is contrary to nature, and likewise also the males, having left the natural use of the female, were inflamed by their lust for one another, males with males, committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was fitting for their error.
  The context is Paul's mission to the gentiles, the gospel being "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (1:16), followed by a description of pagan idolatry in verses 1:21–25. The phrase "passions of dishonor" (KJV: "vile affections") translates πάθη ἀτιμίας,
  ἀτιμία atimia meaning "dishonour, ignominy, disgrace".
  In the expressions "natural use" and "contrary to nature", "nature" translates φύσις, i.e. Physis. The term "error" translates πλάνη planē (lit. "straying, wandering").
  The authenticity of the passage is in doubt; scholars and theologians have proposed its being part of a larger non-Pauline interpolation. Furthermore, many contend 1.18-32 represents not Paul's own position but his summary of Hellenistic Jewish legalism. Calvin Porter, for example, concludes that "in 2:1-16, as well as through Romans as a whole, Paul, as part of his Gentile mission, challenges, argues against, and refutes both the content of the discourse [of 1.18-32] and the practice of using such discourses. If that is the case then the ideas in Rom. 1.18-32 are not Paul’s. They are ideas which obstruct Paul’s Gentile mission theology and practice."
caption: Saint Paul writing his Epistles
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