<p>1:28- see on Rom. 1:21.</p><p><i>And even as</i>- the context is the last clause of 1:27, that homosexuality is an appropriate punishment for the sin of homosexual lust. Paul here repeats that point- that God gave them over to that kind of &ldquo;reprobate mind&rdquo;. That God &lsquo;gave them&rsquo; this mindset is laboured three times (1:24,26,28).</p><p><i>They refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not appropriate</i>- The same Greek words only in Rom. 10:2, where Paul says that Israel do not hold or retain the knowledge of God. So here in 1:28 Paul seems to have his mind on Israel again, who didn&rsquo;t any longer retain or hold God in their knowledge, and so their zeal became not according to knowledge (10:2). Of course the Jews would&rsquo;ve insisted that they&nbsp;<i>were</i>&nbsp;mindful of God, they didn&rsquo;t become atheists, far from it. But God wasn&rsquo;t held in their knowledge, He wasn&rsquo;t the defining reality in their thinking.&nbsp;<i>Retain</i>&nbsp;is the Greek word &lsquo;echo&rsquo;- our minds should be an echo of God&rsquo;s.<br />Even in this life, those who will be rejected have &ldquo;a reprobate mind&rdquo; (Rom. 1:28)- they have the mind of the rejected, the unaccepted this is how the Greek word is used in every other occurrence in the NT. The mindset the rejected have in that awful day, is the mindset which they have now. This is how important our thinking is. Our thoughts, the thoughts of yesterday and today and tomorrow, will either accuse or excuse us in the last day, when God shall judge us according to our &ldquo;secrets&rdquo;, our inner thinking (Rom. 2:15,16).</p><p>The context of Rom. 1 is the power of the Gospel. Paul's discussion of homosexuality is part of his demonstration that there is an antithesis to Gospel power; namely, the power of sin. He develops this theme later in chapters 7 and 8, where he shows that the compulsive, ever growing power of sin in the unbeliever or apostate is the antithesis of the power of the Spirit at work in the faithful believer. Chapters 1 and 2 introduce this theme, and Paul is citing homosexuality as an example of the power of sin at work within men, as the antithesis to the power of the Gospel. He makes the same point in 1 Tim. 1:9-11. Paul argues that homosexual desire is God's punishment for men's sinful lusts. The point is being repeated at least three times, such is the emphasis:</p><div align=center><table border=0 cellspacing=10 cellpadding=0 width=80%>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p>            <b>What men did</b></p>            </td>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p><b>What   God did</b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p>Thought   they were wise</p>            </td>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p>Made   them fools</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Became   vain in their imaginations&quot;</p>            </td>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p>Darkened   their foolish heart (1:21)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p>Had   evil &quot;lusts of their own hearts&quot;</p>            </td>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p><i>Through</i>&nbsp;these lusts God gave them   over to dishonouring their bodies between themselves</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p>Changed   God's truth (i.e. His word, Jn. 17:17) into a lie</p>            </td>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p>Gave   them vile affections which resulted in them committing homosexual acts</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p>They   refused to acknowledge the claims of God (Rom. 1:28 AVmg.)</p>            </td>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p>God   gave them a mind &quot;void of judgment&quot; between right and wrong (Rom.   1:28 AVmg.), so that they committed homosexual acts</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p>Homosexually   lusted for each other</p>            </td>            <td width=263 valign=top>            <p>Gave   them an appropriate punishment for their error, i.e. homosexual desire.</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table></div><p>It is clear from all this that God does something to the minds of men who justify homosexual lust; He makes them lust even more, and they therefore commit homosexual acts, and He then makes them want even more of such gratification. This is a classic example of the downward spiral an apostate believer enters; God pushes such people into ever increasing confirmation in their evil way. The fact homosexuals feel convinced they were born like it is an example of God confirming these people in their desires. It must be noted that the text of Rom. 1 is largely concerned with attitudes of mind; people have homosexual lust in their minds, and God confirms this by giving them a homosexual mindset. This shows that it is not enough to simply abstain from homosexual acts; the homosexual mindset is in itself sinful. &quot;The lusts of their own hearts&quot; is paralleled with &quot;to dishonour their own bodies&quot;; &quot;vile affections&quot; with lesbian&nbsp;<i>acts</i>; &quot;a reprobate mind&quot; with&nbsp;<i>doing&nbsp;</i>those things which are abhorrent. For this reason alone it is impossible to accept the reasoning of Rom. 1 and also believe that some people are created by God constitutionally homosexual, with these &quot;vile affections&quot; as part of their natural fabric. It has been pointed out by many commentators that Paul in Rom. 1 is alluding to passages in the Wisdom of Solomon; and those passages are saying that God confirms men in the unrighteous desires they have chosen to follow. God often punishes men by turning them over to their sin completely. For example: &quot;In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts which led them astray to worship irrational animals... thou didst send upon them a multitude of irrational creatures, that they might learn that one is punished by the very things in which he sins... therefore those who lived unrighteously thou didst torment through their own abominations&quot; (Wisdom 11:15,16; 12:23). Rom. 1:29-31 associates homosexuality with a descending spiral of all sorts of other sins: envy, murder, inventors of evil things etc. This confirms that homosexuality is part of a general picture of sinfulness which is in opposition to the system of righteousness developed by the Gospel.</p>