Albert Barnes Commentary Romans 1:26

"For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature:" — Romans 1:26 (ASV)

For this cause. On account of what had just been specified; namely, that they did not glorify Him as God, that they were unthankful, and that they became polytheists and idolaters. In the previous verses, he had stated their speculative belief; he now proceeds to show its practical influences on their conduct.

Vile affections. Disgraceful passions or desires. That is, those which are immediately specified. The great object of the apostle here, it will be remembered, is to show the state of the heathen world and to prove that they needed some other way of justification than the law of nature.

For this purpose, it was necessary for him to detail their sins. The sins which he proceeds to specify are the most indelicate, vile, and degrading which can be charged against humankind. But this is not the fault of the apostle. If they existed, it was necessary for him to charge them against the pagan world.

His argument would not be complete without it. The shame is not in specifying them, but in their existence; not in the apostle, but in those who practiced them and imposed on him the necessity of accusing them of these enormous offenses. It may be further remarked that the mere fact of his charging them with these sins is strong presumptive proof of their being practiced.

If they did not exist, it would be easy for them to deny it and put him to the proof of it. No one would venture charges like these without evidence, and the presumption is that these things were known and practiced without shame. But this is not all. There is still abundant proof on record, in the writings of the heathen themselves, that these crimes were known and extensively practiced.

For even their women, etc. Evidence of the shameful and disgraceful fact here charged against the women is abundant in the Greek and Roman writers. Proof, the details of which it would be improper to specify here, may be found in the lexicons under the words tribas, olisbos, and hetairistria. See also Seneca, Epistles 95; Martial, Epigrams 1.90; Tholuck, "On the State of the Heathen World," in the Biblical Repository, Vol. II; Lucian, Dialogues of the Courtesans V; and Tertullian, De Pallio.