The Epistle of Paul The Book of Romans series: Learning to be rooted and established in The Cross of Christ
Vile affections
Romans 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
Since the beginning in the garden, God created woman to bear children and to be a helpmate to her husband but because of sin, God gave them over to dishonorable passions, that even the females exchanged their natural use for that which is against nature and what God had intended for women.
God made woman for man not woman for woman but because of sin, and the evil lust of their heart, they changed the order of nature as opposed to that which is monstrous, abnormal, perverse, and against the nature of what God had intended for the woman's body to be used for which was the pleasure of her husband.
In doing so, the women dishonored their bodies doing things that are unseemly and unnatural.
God's Word is plain when He tells us in Leviticus 18:22
"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] abomination."
When God created Eve and took her from the rib of Adam when he was put in a deep sleep, He made her a distinct being very distinguished from Adam.
"Affections" in this verse in the Greek is pathema meaning "an affection, a passion"
"Vile" is ἀτιμία atimía, at-ee-mee'-ah meaning "dishonor, ignominy, meaning public shame or disgrace, comparative indignity, (objectively) disgrace:—dishonour, reproach, shame, vile.
The word "Dishonor" Dizonor dis and honor. Reproach; disgrace; ignominy; shame; whatever constitutes a stain or blemish in the reputation.
1. To disgrace; to bring reproach or shame on; to stain the character of; to lessen reputation. The duelist dishonors himself to maintain his honor.
The impunity of the crimes of great men dishonors the administration of the laws.
2. To treat with indignity.
3. To violate the chastity of; to debauch.
4. To refuse or decline to accept or pay; as, to dishonor a bill of exchange.
Dishonor is the opposite of honor and if we honor someone, we evaluate the worth of a person and treat them with the highest respect, love and consideration.
God made mankind in his own image therefore God's ways are perfect and without flaw but sinful lust in their heart is what will cause a person to bring dishonor to themselves and is shameful to say the least.
Wuest said,
"In that this was what the world wanted they were given over to a condition and not merely to an evil desire"
Paul use the Greek word for female "thelus" as is used in John 4:9.
God never intended for them to change their gender, for a female to act as a man, or perform as a male.
As Paul is explaining here in this verse, the women were changing the design of what God had intended for a female as far as the sexual sense and it is against everything of what the Lord has intended for the nature of the female and what her body was intended to be used for.
In doing so, it become disgraceful and the women dishonors her own body above all, it is sinful.
Genesis 1:27-28, Ephesians 5:12, Jude, John 4:9,
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