Well, we are back to a text that gave rise to a 14-part series I did some time back on homosexuality. We need today to pause to look at the context for this text: it has to do with those who suppress the truth by injustice, who exchange the invisible God for the gods of idolatry, who are given over to their own sins, and who prefer to exchange the truth of God for a lie (Romans 1:24ff). When this happens, as Tom Wright observes, “the results follow swiftly” (433).
Sexual behavior, for the apostle Paul and in general for Jews of his world, was a place that exhibited one’s commitment to the Torah and to God’s will in general. It was an indicator, a barometer, a sign of one’s covenant fidelity. In other words, a covenant path marker.
I’d prefer not to get into a discussion today about homosexuality — we did that a while back — but whether or not you see this thinking (Eikonic distortion leads to sin) as the thread of Paul’s in this passage.