Romans 1:23-28

1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings ¹  or birds or four-footed animals ²  or reptiles.

1:24 Therefore God gave them over ³  in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor ⁴  their bodies among themselves. ⁵  1:25 They ⁶  exchanged the truth of God for a lie ⁷  and worshiped and served the creation ⁸  rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, ⁹  1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women ¹⁰  and were inflamed in their passions ¹¹  for one another. Men ¹²  committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ¹³  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ¹⁴ 

[1:23]  ¹ tn Grk “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God in likeness of an image of corruptible man.” Here there is a wordplay on the Greek terms ἄφθαρτος (afqarto", “immortal, imperishable, incorruptible”) and φθαρτός (fqarto", “mortal, corruptible, subject to decay”).

[1:23]  ² sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 106:19-20.

[1:24]  ³ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 81:12.

[1:24]  ⁴ tn The genitive articular infinitive τοῦ ἀτιμάζεσθαι (tou atimazesqai, “to dishonor”) has been taken as (1) an infinitive of purpose; (2) an infinitive of result; or (3) an epexegetical (i.e., explanatory) infinitive, expanding the previous clause.

[1:24]  ⁵ tn Grk “among them.”

[1:25]  ⁶ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:25]  ⁷ tn Grk “the lie.”

[1:25]  ⁸ tn Or “creature, created things.”

[1:26]  ⁹ tn Grk “for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is contrary to nature.” The term χρῆσις (crhsi") has the force of “sexual relations” here (L&N 23.65).

[1:27]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “likewise so also the males abandoning the natural function of the female.”

[1:27]  ¹¹ tn Grk “burned with intense desire” (L&N 25.16).

[1:27]  ¹² tn Grk “another, men committing…and receiving,” continuing the description of their deeds. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:28]  ¹³ tn Grk “and just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge.”

[1:28]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the things that are improper.”