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In Roman society, a free man should never be in a submissive role and a woman should never be in a dominant role. The male of the species mounted the female. But In fact, this is what Greeks and Romans observed in nature. be penetrated, and women were taking a dominating role in sex (presumably with men, since the text doesn’t say “with other women” to parallel men having sex “with other men”). By having intercourse with other men some men had to be submissive, i.e. This would have been “contrary to nature” both in the sense of what was culturally acceptable and what was observed in the natural world. Roman culture in particular did not countenance free Roman men taking a submissive role in sex, nor women taking a dominant role. Paul’s term physis (nature) as “custom” (a cultural concept) rather than “nature” as a biological concept because of the way he uses the term in other contexts. Some have seen the possibility of interpreting St. In the Letter to the Romans he castigated men having sex with men as giving up natural sex for unnatural and women having sex in an “unnatural” way. Paul was referring specifically to prostitution, and particularly sacred prostitution in Corinth. Porneia has been translated “fornication” in English versions of the New Testament whereas St. Paul came into the Greco-Roman world thundering against porneia in 1 Corinthians 7 and same-sex activities in Romans 1. Detail from an Attic black-figure cup, ca. So most men in the Greco-Roman world would not fall into the category of “homosexual” as an exclusive same-sex orientation in spite of the amount of same-sex activity that was commonly practiced. The Greco-Roman world knew of men who had a preference for men (or boys), but such men also were usually married with children. The men who had sex with boys or male prostitutes were usually married with children. Many were in the service of temple cults such as the temple of Aphrodite in Corinth. There were male as well as female prostitutes. Prostitution was ubiquitous and was regarded as a safety valve to protect marriage. Roman free men routinely had sex with their slaves, including boys, because sex with free boys was forbidden. In ancient Athens men “mentoring” post-puberty boys was common practice, and is graphically depicted on Grecian vases. There was a lot of same-sex activity in the Greco-Roman world. Very few people were exclusively same-sex or opposite-sex “responsive.” In fact, the modern binary homosexual/heterosexual dualism was proven to be too rigid in Kinsey’s famous study of male sexual practices, considering the number of men who had experienced at least one same-sex encounter. Sexuality was more fluid in Greco-Roman societies than modern psychological categories make it out to be for our society. Paul nor people in his day knew the category of “homosexuality.” That is a term that comes out of late 19th century clinical sexology, just as heterosexuality does. There are assumptions in the question that need to be challenged. “Women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another.” How can Christians tolerate homosexuality if it is contrary to nature, and by implication God’s design and intention? Paul defines homosexuality in Romans 1:26-27 as something unnatural.