Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. (Romans 1:24)Therefore refers back to the reasons Paul has just set forth in verses 18â23. Although God revealed himself to man (vv. 19â20), man rejected God (v. 21) and then rationalized his rejection (v. 22; cf. v. 18b) and created substitute gods of his own making (v. 23). And because man abandoned God, God abandoned men-He gave them over. It is that divine abandonment and its consequences that Paul develops in verses 24â32, the most sobering and fearful passage in the entire epistle. . . .
