Romans 1:26-32

1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, ¹  1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women ²  and were inflamed in their passions ³  for one another. Men ⁴  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, ⁵  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ⁶  1:29 They are filled ⁷  with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with ⁸  envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers, ⁹  heartless, ruthless. 1:32 Although they fully know ¹⁰  God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, ¹¹  they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. ¹² 

[1:26]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Grk “likewise so also the males abandoning the natural function of the female.”

[1:27]  ³ tn Grk “burned with intense desire” (L&N 25.16).

[1:27]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Grk “and just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge.”

[1:28]  ⁶ tn Grk “the things that are improper.”

[1:29]  ⁷ tn Grk “being filled” or “having been filled,” referring to those described in v. 28. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:29]  ⁸ tn Grk “malice, full of,” continuing the description. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:31]  ⁹ tn Or “promise-breakers.”

[1:32]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “who, knowing…, not only do them but also approve…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:32]  ¹¹ tn Grk “are worthy of death.”

[1:32]  ¹² sn “Vice lists” like vv. 28-32 can be found elsewhere in the NT in Matt 15:19; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and 1 Pet 4:3. An example from the intertestamental period can be found in Wis 14:25-26.