This is not a particularly fun part of Romans. St. Paul’s argument against any who might think they have standing before the Lord in and of themselves comes as great and overwhelming volleys of the most explosive ordinance. I came across an ambiguity in the text that I was hoping perusers of this blog might comment on, giving me their thoughts. Romans 1:26-27 read as follows in the NA27:
26 Διὰ τοῦτο παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς εἰς πάθη ἀτιμίας, αἵ τε γὰρ θήλειαι αὐτῶν μετήλλαξαν τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν εἰς τὴν παρὰ φύσιν, 27 ὁμοίως τε καὶ οἱ ἄρσενες ἀφέντες τὴν φυσικὴν χρῆσιν τῆς θηλείας ἐξεκαύθησαν ἐν τῇ ὀρέξει αὐτῶν εἰς ἀλλήλους, ἄρσενες ἐν ἄρσεσιν τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην κατεργαζόμενοι καὶ τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν ἣν ἔδει τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀπολαμβάνοντες.
26 For this reason God gave them over to shameful passions. For their females exchange the natural relation for what is beside nature. 27 In the same way also the males gave up natural relations with the female, inflamed in their desire for each other, male with male, committing the shameful deed and receiving the required recompense for their self-delusion.[a]
So my question is mainly about the idea of self-delusion (the way I translated τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς here. What are your thoughts regarding footnote [a] below and whether my translation here is viable or not?
_________
[a] τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς has been taken as follows. τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶνspeaks to a wandering or delusion that is possessed by those committing the lewd acts being addressed. There is ambiguity in the text. If ἐν ἑαυτοῖς is taken as a dative of sphere then it speaks of where the required recompense is received (ESV, NIV, NRSV). If it is taken to modify the nature of the delusion, then we find that they receive the due recompense for the delusion that is in themselves, i.e., self-delusion.
Nielsen Digital
