Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves,
- KJV Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
- NKJV Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
- NASB Therefore God gave them up to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
- NLT So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Because of their idolatry, God gave them over to the impurity their hearts craved. God's judgment can take the form of handing people over to their own sin.
Overview
This is the first of three solemn statements that 'God gave them up' (vv.24, 26, 28). As a judicial act, God removes restraint and lets sinners follow their corrupt desires to their dishonoring end. This is not God causing sin but giving people over to the consequences of their chosen rebellion, a form of present judgment that displays the seriousness of turning from Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 81:11–12But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.
- Acts 7:42But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
- Matt 15:14Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
- Acts 14:16In past generations, He let all nations go their own way.
- 2 Th 2:10–12and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
- Eph 4:18–19They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.
- Rom 1:26–28For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
- Lev 18:22You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination.
- 1 Cor 6:13“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
- 1 Cor 6:18Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
- 1 Th 4:4each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
- Acts 17:29–30Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.
- Rom 6:12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.
- Hos 4:17–18Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!
- 2 Tim 2:20–22A large house contains not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some indeed are for honorable use, but others are for common use.
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 1:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.