Romans 1 Doesn't Condemn Your Queerness

But It Might Have Words for the Folks Throwing It at You

I always find it a little amusing when someone drops into my comments with a Bible verse.

No context. No nuance.

They usually don’t even type the verse out for me. They just leave it there, like a magic spell they believe will leave them feeling holy, and me feeling shamed into denying the parts of myself I’ve worked so hard to heal.

Or I assume that’s what they think they’re doing.

If you’ve ever come out to someone, or simply introduced the idea that God doesn’t hate queerness or gender nonconformity, I’d be willing to wager large amounts of money on the response you get from a Christian including a reference to Romans 1.

I’m not a professional theologian, but I am a seminary graduate and I pastored for ten years. I’ve spent a lot of time reading, studying, and wrestling texts like this one. If someone uses Romans 1 as a “gotcha,” and you find yourself wondering how to respond, Id like to try to give you a perspective on what this passage is actually saying; not so you can go back at them with more theological ammo, but so you can quiet the voice inside you that says you are anything less than beloved.

Here’s what you need to know about what’s happening in this text.

Paul is describing a society that has turned away from God’s shalom. If you’re not familiar with that word, shalom is a Hebrew idea woven throughout Scripture. It’s best described as an idea that means wholeness, peace, justice. It describes a state where relationship with God, with others, and with creation is healthy and whole.

In Jewish thought, sin wasn’t just “breaking rules.” Sin was anything that led a person or a community away from shalom. When Paul says “God gave them over to their desires,” he’s pulling language straight from the Old Testament prophets. They used that phrase to describe what happens when a community keeps choosing injustice. The heart turns inward. People begin to worship power, exploit the vulnerable, and break relationship with one another.

The “desires” God is giving them over to are not referring to same sex attraction or gender expression. They’re referring to desires and activity that dehumanizes, objectifies, and exploits others.

This becomes clearer when we look at the specific sexual language Paul uses in Romans 1. Much of the sexual behavior he describes would have been familiar to his audience: exploitative, status-driven, and rooted in power imbalances. One common practice was pederasty, a sexual relationship between an adult male and a younger male, often a servant or slave. Robin Scroggs, a respected New Testament scholar, writes:

“The activity condemned by Paul is not homosexual orientation or loving same-sex relationship as we understand them today, but pederasty — sexual relations between adult men and adolescent boys, which in the Greco-Roman world were often coercive and tied to social hierarchy.”
(Robin Scroggs, The New Testament and Homosexuality, p. 127)

This distinction matters. Paul is not addressing loving, mutual queer relationships, because those simply weren’t part of his cultural imagination.

And here’s the absolute irony: if someone uses Romans 1 to shame you, they’re actually missing Paul’s whole point.

Romans 1 isn’t calling out queer folks. It’s calling out systems that use power and religion to dehumanize and exploit others.

Which, if you think about it, is exactly what’s happening when someone uses this text as a weapon against you.