Lest somebody think that the above passage from Romans is something that most conservative churches would use to say that homosexuals deserve the scourge of AIDS, let me say that there certainly are a few churches and some religious leaders that will do exactly that. However, most of the conservative churches are more in line with the commentary below:

The sins of the Gentiles set forth.

In the horrid depravity of the heathen, the truth of our Lord's words was shown: to Light was come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil; for he that doeth evil hateth the light. to The truth was not to their taste. And we all know how soon a man will contrive, against the strongest evidence, to reason himself out of the belief of what he dislikes. But a man cannot be brought to greater slavery than to be given up to his own lusts. As

the Gentiles did not like to keep God in their knowledge, they committed crimes wholly against reason and their own welfare. The nature of man, whether pagan or Christian, is still the same; and the charges of the apostle apply more or less to the state and character of men at all times, till they are brought to full submission to the faith of Christ, and renewed by Divine power. There never yet was a man, who had not reason to lament his strong corruptions, and his secret dislike to the will

of God. Therefore this chapter is a call to self-examination, the end of which should be, a deep conviction of sin, and of the necessity of deliverance from a state of condemnation.

Previous commentary:

The sins of the Gentiles set forth.

About this commentary:

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible is available in the Public Domain.