Blinded Minds Series

Romans 1:24–32. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (ESV)

Oscar Wilde said “When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers.”. Of course, he was commenting as an unbeliever of Christ on what unbelievers want most, in rebellion against God. Thus far in our study of Romans we have been concentrating on human rebellion against God, and we have seen—indeed, Paul has explicitly told us—that the wrath of God “is being revealed from heaven” against men and women because of this rebellion. Unbelieving humanity has: (1) suppressed the truth about God; (2) refused to glorify, or worship, God as God; and (3) declined to be thankful. As a result, human beings have become “darkened” in their thinking. They have become fools. Nevertheless, up to this point we have not been told specifically of anything that God has actually done to unleash his wrath upon humanity. Now this changes. For the first time in the letter we are told—three times in succession—that God will abandon men and women to perversion. The sentence says, “God gave them over.” It is found in verses 24, 26, and 28. But here is the irony, hence the reference to Oscar Wilde. Rebellious humanity’s punishment is to be abandoned by God. But, of course, this is precisely what rebellious humanity has been fighting for ever since Adam’s first rebellion in the Garden of Eden. People want to get rid of God, to push him out of their life. In contemporary terms the unbeliever is saying, “God, I just want you to leave me alone. Take a seat on that chair over there. Shut up, and let me get on with my life as I want to live it.” And for a time, God does! (Boice, J. M. (1991–). Romans: Justification by Faith (Vol. 1, pp. 177–178). Baker Book House.)

When God abandons people to their own devices, His divine protection is partially withdrawn. When that occurs, people not only become more vulnerable to the destructive deceptions of Satan but also suffer the destruction that their own sin works in and through them. In Judges 10:13, the Lord said to Israel: “You have forsaken Me and served other gods, Therefore I will deliver you no more”. When God’s Spirit came upon Azariah, He told Judah in 2 Chron. 15:2 “The Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you”. Through “Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, God again said to Judah in 2 Chron. 24:20 “Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord and do not prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He has also forsaken you”. God will allow people to experience the consequences of their sin so that they will see their error and look to him for mercy and for a better way (Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 88). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.)

Romans 1:24–32 vividly portrays the consequences of a blinded mind to God and God’s abandonment of the rebellious showing: 1) The Essence (Romans 1:24–25), 2) The Expression (Romans 1:26–27), and 3) The Extent (Romans 1:28–32) of human sinfulness. Each of those progressively more sobering sections is introduced with the declaration “God gave them over.”

A Blinded Mind to God is first:

1) The Essence of Human Sinfulness (Romans 1:24–25)

Romans 1:24–25. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.