Paul argues that homosexuality is
a consequence of idolatry: because the Gentile world worshiped idols, “God gave
them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their
bodies among themselves” (Rom. 1:24). Since creation itself demonstrates God’s
being, the failure to worship the Creator is not an error born out of human
ignorance, but a deliberate and perverse betrayal of what we ourselves know to
be true (Rom. 1:21-23). The consequence of this betrayal, for Paul, is that the
Gentiles have not only lost sight of who God is but have also forgotten who they
are. As we are made in God’s image, our humanity is compromised and distorted
when we fail to recognize God (cf. Gagnon 2001, 229-303). Although homosexuality
is for Paul the symptom of that deeper disorder, he unequivocally opposes all
same-sex relations—not only male homosexuals (cf. Lev. 18:22; 20:13), but
lesbians too (mentioned only here, Rom. 1:26-27, in Scripture) are condemned. (Steven S. Tuell, God the Creator: Biblical
Images of the Divine [Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in
the Church; Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2026], 150)
