Jon Webb

mrs-annie-odair asked: Like you said, Paul was talking to the Romans. He wasn't instructing anyone other than them on how to live, so why do you think his words were meant to apply to anyone other than the Romans (such as modern-day Christians)?

More specifically, he was talking to Roman Christians. An epistle is a letter, but it is an open letter. It’s a unique form of literature in that it is meant to be spread and duplicated, and it applies to more people that just the initial audience.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:24-25 ESV)

Also, note how this is not a command. It is a statement, an observation, a truth. It is universal. In Leviticus 20:13, God is directly requiring action from a specific group of people. But note how the verse says, “they have done what is detestable.” This is also a statement, not a command. So while the command applies only to those who are being spoken to, the statement is universal: God detests homosexuality.

It’s really not that hard to understand, you just have to put it in context.