25 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 1:25-27, ESV
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Cause and effect is an inevitable reality of our experience of life. We accept it openly in most cases: if I don’t brush my teeth, I will have a painful mouth in need of a dentist’s help; if I faithfully study for a test, it will be easier to answer the questions; if I’m guilty of speeding in my car and get pulled over by authorities, I will deserve a ticket. But for some reason, people, even Christians, have difficulty accepting the cause and effect between man and God. In a strange turn, we want nothing for something.
Is God’s love bigger and more powerful than His wrath? If that were so, He would not be a just judge; He would be corrupt. The only way to know His love is to also know His wrath. There is respect for both.
Paul writes in Ephesians 4:19 about man, saying, “They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” Here is man’s choice. This choice requires a response from God. They gave themselves up to sensuality and impurity; God gave them up to dishonorable passions. (Romans 1:26)
The ungodly and unrighteous man exchanges the glory of God for images of the created (Romans 1:23), and then after God gives them up to dishonorable passions, we see women and men exchanging natural for unnatural.
There is cause and effect. God responds to our actions. As Godet puts it: “He [God] ceased to hold the boat as it was dragged by the current of the river.”
All of this is to say we are hopeless without God. Man (including the first two ever created) will inevitably choose to call the shots and be led to destruction IF IT WEREN’T FOR JESUS. God’s wrath is a part of the gospel. His wrath answers the question of Why the need for Jesus? The more we understand and respect His wrath, the more we can appreciate and be thankful for His love.