unnatural acts

The distinction between active and passive sexual roles shaped definitions of natural and unnatural sexual relations in the Roman world. Free, adult male citizens ought never be passive, and women should never be active. Should they transgress these boundaries, society deemed their behavior "contrary to nature" para physin.

When St Paul uses the expression, para physin, he is presenting this Roman concept of sexual pairing as including one active and one passive partner, regardless of gender. Males could be either active or passive (such as when they were boys or slaves). Females were always supposed to be passive. This distinction between active and passive was not biological.

While we define sexual orientation as either homosexual or heterosexual, Roman erotic orientations included whether a person took an active or a passive sexual role, as well as the gender, age, nationality, and the economic, legal (slave or free), and social status of the partner.

Many of the Early Christians to whom St Paul was writing were slaves, and would have been the passive partner to their Roman masters. Society would not have regarded this as "contrary to nature" para physin. St Paul specifically tells Christians who are slaves to submit to their masters, which can only be read endorsing those homosexual acts which Roman society regarded as natural.

The Roman understanding of para physin illuminates St Paul writings on sexuality as we watch him respond to the issues it raises for Christians. If men are now free in Christ is it right for them to passive partner? If male and female are now equal how is sex between them possible?

Much of the modern debate about unnatural acts attempts to redefine the biblical concepts to modern social concerns.

While the expression "para physin" has here been translated as "unnatural" most translators now prefer "unusual" reflecting a context of social norms rather than biological. The expression "para physin" is also used to describe men with long hair and the inclusion of Gentiles in the Christian Community