The false religions that man has devised and to which Paul just referred constitute some of God"s judgment on mankind for turning from Him. False religion is not in any sense good for humankind. It is what man as a whole has chosen, but it is also a judgment from God, and it tends to keep people so distracted that they rarely deal with the true God. [source][source][source]
"God"s wrath mentioned in Romans 1is not an active outpouring of divine displeasure but the removal of restraint that allows sinners to reap the just fruits of their rebellion." [1][source]
It is active in another sense, however. God gave man over ( Romans 1:24; cf. Romans 1:26; Romans 1:28) by turning him over to the punishment his crime earned, as a judge does a prisoner (cf. Hosea 4:17). The third characteristic of man in rebellion against God that Paul identified after ignorance ( Romans 1:21) and idolatry ( Romans 1:23) is impurity ( Romans 1:24). Here Paul evidently had natural forms of moral uncleanness in view, such as adultery and harlotry. He went on in Romans 1:26-27 to describe even worse immorality, namely, unnatural acts such as homosexuality. Natural here means in keeping with how God has designed people, and unnatural refers to behavior that is contrary to how God has made us. [source][source][source]
Mankind exchanged the truth of God ( Romans 1:25; cf. Romans 1:18) for "the lie" (literally). The lie in view is the contention that we should venerate someone or something in place of the true God (cf. Genesis 3:1-5; Matthew 4:3-10). Paul"s concluding doxology underlined this folly. [source][source][source]