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.
Therefore, refers back to the reasons Paul has just set forth in verses 18–23. Although God revealed himself to humanity (vv. 19–20), people rejected God (v. 21) and then rationalized their rejection (v. 22; cf. v. 18b) and created substitute gods of their own making (v. 23). Because people abandoned God, God abandoned them—He gave them up/over. It is that divine abandonment and its consequences that Paul develops in verses 24–32, the most sobering and fearful passage in the entire epistle. Paradidomi (gave …up/over) is an intense verb. In scripture, it is used in a judicial sense of people being committed to prison (Mark 1:14; Acts 8:3) or to judgment (Matt. 5:25; 10:17, 19, 21; 18:34) and of rebellious angels being delivered to pits of darkness (2 Pet. 2:4). God’s giving over rebellious humanity has a dual sense. First, in an indirect sense God gave them up/over simply by withdrawing His restraining and protective hand, allowing the consequences of sin to take their inevitable, destructive course. Sin degrades people, debases the image of God in which people are made, and strips them of dignity, peace of mind, and a clear conscience. Sin destroys personal relationships, marriages, families, cities, and nations. It also destroys churches. Thomas Watson said, “Sin … puts gravel in our bread [and] wormwood in our cup” (Thomas Watson. A Body of Divinity [Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth, 1983 reprint], p. 136).
God often allows people to go deeper and deeper into sin in order to drive them to despair and to show them their need of Him. Often, He punishes people in order to heal and restore (Isa. 19:22). It was because the lusts of their hearts were for impurity that God abandons people to their sin. Human lostness is not determined by the outward circumstances of their lives but by the inner condition of their hearts. A person’s sin begins within themselves. “For out of the heart,” Jesus said, “come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile a person..” (Matt. 15:19–20). Jeremiah had proclaimed the same basic truth: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick” (Jer. 17:9; cf. Prov. 4:23). Used metaphorically in Scripture, “the heart” does not represent the emotions or feelings, as it generally does in modern usage, but rather the whole thinking process, including especially the will and human motivation. In its broadest sense, the heart represents the basic nature of a person, their inner being and character. Paul does not indict all human, including sexual, desire as unclean. Rather it is only when such desire has control of someone, when it becomes the most important aspect of human life, that it is condemned (Dunn, J. D. G. (1988). Romans 1–8 (Vol. 38A, p. 63). Word, Incorporated.)
• In our day, the basic ungodliness of people is nowhere more clearly exposed than in the popular admonition to do one’s own thing. People’s “own thing” is sin, which characterizes the whole natural being. Self-will is the essence of all sin. Although Satan was responsible for their being tempted to sin, it was the voluntary placing of their own wills above God’s that caused Adam and Eve to commit the first sin.
People reject God because their preferences, their lusts, are for their own way rather than God’s. Lusts translates epithumia, which can refer to any desire but was most often used of carnal desire for that which was sinful or forbidden. Speaking about believers as well as unbelievers, James declared that “each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust” (James 1:14). Because even Christians are tempted to desire their own sin above God’s holiness, Paul warned the Thessalonians about falling into the lustful passions that characterized pagan Gentiles (1 Thess. 4:5). He reminded the Ephesians that “we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Eph. 2:3). Right now, God reveals His wrath, not by sending fire from heaven, but by abandoning (the unrepentant) to their lustful ways (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 519). Victor Books.)
The next description of those rejecting God is that of being driven by impurity. Akatharsia (impurity) was a general term for uncleanness and was often used of decaying matter, especially the contents of a grave, which were considered by Jews to be both physically and ceremonially unclean. As a moral term, it usually referred to or was closely associated with sexual immorality. Paul lamented over the Corinthians “who [had] sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they [had] practiced” (2 Cor. 12:21). He used the same three terms to introduce the list of “deeds of the flesh” that are in perpetual conflict with “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:19–23). He exhorted the Ephesians: “Do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints” (Eph. 5:3; cf. 1 Thess. 4:7). The ancients were enmeshed in polytheistic idolatry, and in their devotions to their false gods they practiced all sorts of immorality (Blum, E. A. (2017). Romans. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 1781). Holman Bible Publishers.).
The effect of human rebellious, self-willed impurity is the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. When people seek to glorify their own ways and to satisfy their bodies through shameful indulgence in sexual and other sins, their bodies, along with their souls, are instead dishonoring. When people seek to elevate themselves for their own purposes and by their own standards, they inevitably do the opposite. The way of fallen humanity is always downward, never upward. The more one exalts themselves, the more they decline. The more one magnifies themselves the more they diminish. The more one honors themselves, the more they become dishonoring. A person’s sexual orientation, whether heterosexual or homosexual is not the point at issue. What matters is what a person does with their sexuality! According to the plain teaching of Scripture sexual intercourse was intended for a husband and his wife, for no one else! (Gen. 2:24 cf. Matt. 19:5; Mark 10:7, 8; 1 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 5:31. All else is “contrary to God’s will.” It is in conflict with the Creator’s intention. For all those who claim to be born this way, it is the reason why Jesus commanded that all must be born again (Jn. 3:7) (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (Vols. 12–13, p. 78). Baker Book House.)
Please turn to 1 Corinthians 6
One well-known founder of a contemporary pornographic empire is said to have commented: “Sex is a biological function like eating and drinking. So, let’s forget all the prudery about it and do whatever we feel like doing.” That such thinking is not the modern invention of a sophisticated “world come of age” is clearly seen in the fact that Paul confronted precisely the same thinking in Corinth nearly 2,000 years ago. A common saying in that day was “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food,” and the apostle intimates that it was used even by some Christians to justify sexual immorality, comparing eating to sexual indulgence. Both were claimed to be merely biological functions, which could be used however one might choose. The faulty reasoning and the Godly reply are found in 1 Corinthians 6:
1 Corinthians 6:9–20. 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body. (ESV)
Back in Romans 1:25, those who fail to glorify God in their bodies have exchanged the truth about God for a lie. Having suppressed God’s truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18), rebellious humanity submits itself to untruth, a lie. The basic divine truth that fallen humanity suppresses is that of God’s very existence and therefore His right and demand to be honored and glorified as sovereign Lord (cf. vv. 19–21). Scripture often speaks of God as being the truth, as Jesus declared of Himself (John 14:6). Isaiah described an unbeliever who held an idol in his hand but was too spiritually blind to ask what should have been an obvious question: “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isa. 44:20). Through Jeremiah, the Lord declared to apostate Judah, “You have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood” (Jer. 13:25). To forsake God is to forsake truth and become a slave to falsehood. To reject God, the Father of truth, is to become vulnerable to Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44). Sin makes you stupid. Throughout this passage humanity is represented as active—seeing, thinking, doing. People here are not represented as victimized, as taken captive against thier will, as the dupe of evil influences from outside himself. “Sin comes from the mind, which perverts the judgment. The effect of retribution is to abandon the mind to that depravity” (Henri Maurier, The Other Covenant [New York: Newman Press, 1968], p. 185).
When people turn from God and His truth, Paul goes on to say, they then worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. As the apostle had just pointed out, they found themselves foolishly and wickedly worshiping lifeless images of their own making, “in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures” (v. 23). Thus idolatry, the consequence of the failure to honor God duly, becomes the source of immorality, for it is the “big lie.” What is, is true; what is not, is falsehood (see Jer 10:14; 13:25). It is the denial of the truth that should have been obvious (Fitzmyer, J. A., S. J. (2008). Romans: a new translation with introduction and commentary (Vol. 33, p. 284). Yale University Press.)
Perhaps unable to continue discussing such vile things without “coming up for air,” as it were, Paul inserts a common Jewish doxology about the true God, the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Paul could not resist adding that refreshing thought in the sea of filth he was describing. That word of praise to the Lord served, by utter contrast, to magnify the wickedness of idolatry and all other ungodliness. Paul’s real purpose in writing it was to show that humanity’s (here particularly the Gentile’s) wickedness is so great that only God is able to rescue. Only when people accept the divinely appointed way of salvation, namely, that of embracing God by faith, can they be saved. To God alone be the glory! (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953–2001). Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (Vols. 12–13, p. 82). Baker Book House.)
Illustration: In the summer of 1805, a number of first nation chiefs and warriors met in council at Buffalo Creek, New York, to hear a presentation of the Christian message by a Mr. Cram from the Boston Missionary Society. After the sermon, a response was given by Red Jacket, one of the leading chiefs. Among other things, the chief said: “Brother, you say that there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agree, as you can all read the same Book? Brother, we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while and see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again what you have said” (Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Hopeful as cited in Swindoll, C. R. (2016). The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories (p. 299). Thomas Nelson).
• The most effective means that the Holy Spirit uses to open up the blinded minds of the lost to God, is a life lived by what is proclaimed to be the truth.
A Blinded Mind to God is second:
2) The Expression of Human Sinfulness (Romans 1:26–27)
Romans 1:26–27. 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. (ESV)
For this reason, Paul declares—that is, because of humanity’s rejecting the true God for false gods of their own making, for worshiping the creature rather than the Creator—God gave them up/over to dishonorable/degrading passions. For the second time (like in. v. 24) the apostle mentions God’s abandonment of sinful humanity. Like a judge who hands over a prisoner to the punishment his crime has earned, God hands over the (unrepentant) sinner to the terrible cycle of ever-increasing sin (Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 111). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
God has given up the unrepentant not only to idolatry, but also to dishonorable/degrading passions. Paul now begins to illustrate the dishonorable/degrading passions that rise out of the fallen human heart. In their freedom from God’s truth people will turn to perversion and even inversion of the created order. In the end their humanism results in dehumanization. Perversion is the illicit and twisted expression of that which is God-given and natural. Homosexuality, on the other hand, is inversion, the expression of that which is neither God-given nor natural. When people forsake the Author of nature, they inevitably forsake the order of nature. The outcome of failing to give God his due honor is the dishonoring of oneself: human respect (both self-respect and respect for others) is rooted in the recognition that only God has authority as Creator to order and dispose of that which is created (Dunn, J. D. G. (1988). Romans 1–8 (Vol. 38A, p. 64). Word, Incorporated.).
Some women of ancient times and throughout history have exchanged the natural relations/function for those that are unnatural. In commenting on this verse, theologian Charles Hodge wrote, “Paul first refers to the degradation of females among (unbelievers), because they are always the last to be affected in the decay of morals, and their corruption is therefore proof that all virtue is lost” (Charles Hodge. Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983 reprint], p. 42).
Chresis (relations/function) was commonly used of sexual intercourse, and in this context the term could refer to nothing other than intimate sexual relations. Even most unbelieving societies have recognized the clearly obvious fact that homosexuality is abnormal and unnatural. It is only in humanity where you see a visible movement of it. The folly of homosexuality is proclaimed in its inability to reproduce the human species in keeping with the divine Dominion Mandate to be fruitful and multiply of Gen. 1:28 (Harrison, E. F. (1976). Romans. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians (Vol. 10, p. 25). Zondervan Publishing House.).
Paul says in verse 27 those males, says Paul, gave up/abandoned natural relations/the natural function of the woman and were consumed/burned with passion/desire for one another, men committing shameless/indecent acts with men. There is a burning level of homosexual lust described here. The homosexuals of Sodom were so passionately consumed with their lust that they ignored the fact that they had been made blind and “wearied themselves trying to find the doorway” into Lot’s house in order to pursue their vile passion (Gen. 19:11). Those ancient people were so morally perverse that in Scripture the name Sodom became a byword for immoral godlessness, and sodomy, a term derived from that name, became throughout history a synonym for homosexuality and other forms of sexual deviation. Paul’s indictment seems to include all kinds of homosexual practice, female as well as male, and was not directed against one kind of homosexual practice in distinction from another (Dunn, J. D. G. (1988). Romans 1–8 (Vol. 38A, p. 65). Word, Incorporated.)
Please turn to Galatians 5
But in both testaments God’s Word condemns homosexuality in the strongest of terms. Under the Old Covenant it was punishable by death. As we had seen earlier in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul declares unequivocally that, although homosexuality can be forgiven and cleansed just as any other sin, no unrepentant homosexual will enter heaven, just as will no unrepentant fornicator, idolater, adulterer, effeminate person, thief, covetous person, drunkard, reviler, or swindler. He spells this out in Galatians 5:
Galatians 5:19-21. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (ESV) (cf. 1 Cor. 6:9–11; Eph. 5:3–5; 1 Tim. 1:9–10; Jude 7).
• All people are born in sin, and individuals have varying tendencies and temptations toward certain sins. But no one is born a homosexual, any more than anyone is born a thief or a murderer. A person who becomes a habitual and unrepentant thief, murderer, adulterer, or homosexual does so of their own choice. Any attempt at all to justify homosexuality is both futile and wicked, but to attempt to justify it on biblical grounds, as do many misguided church leaders, is even more futile and vile. To do that is to make God a liar and to love what He hates and justify what He condemns.
God so abhors unrepentant homosexuality that He determined that the disgraceful, shameful acts that women commit with women and men commit with men would result back in Romans 1:27, in their receiving in themselves/their own persons the due penalty of their error. They would be judged by the self-destructiveness of their sin. The appalling physical consequences of homosexuality are visible evidence of God’s righteous condemnation. Unnatural vice brings its own perverted reward. AIDS is frightening evidence of that fatal promise. There is current examination as to the origin of Monkeypox. But ultimately, the due penalty specified here is being handed over to the sin of homosexuality itself (Schreiner, T. R. (1998). Romans (Vol. 6, p. 97). Baker Books.)
Quotation: In dealing with these issues today, there tends to be more heat than light. I believe John Piper has some helpful observations on the social issues surrounding the controversy over homosexuality: marriage, domestic partners, housing, employment, parenting, adoption, education, diversity training, multiculturalism. Each of these issues requires serious reflection. The answers to these are not easy. On these we need to think, study, pray and discuss. But how does a democratic, constitutionally-governed society determine its values, shape its laws around those values, preserve the inalienable rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” while limiting destructive behaviors and protecting minorities from majority hostilities? Once again, these are not easy questions, and they demand our best thinking, not sound bites or shrill slogans. Piper concludes with one guideline and a closing declaration. The guideline is this: normalizing wrong behavior and endorsing wrong behavior and dulling the “reflexive recoil”* from wrong behavior is, in the end, harmful for persons and destructive to society. He cites one example: the normalization and endorsement of homosexual behavior will profoundly weaken the fragile norm of long-term, committed heterosexual marriage and child-rearing which are essential to social survival. God has not called us to win elections, but to win souls and hearts and minds; he has not called us to control (Parliament), but to preach the gospel; he has not called us to be (silent), but to tell the truth. He has not called us to avoid conflict, but to love everyone (1 Thessalonians 3:12). So, we all need to speak the truth in love, entrust your cause to God, and keep the glory of God in the center of your soul, so that all the planets of your passions will be pulled into their proper orbit (Piper, J. (2007). The Other Dark Exchange: Homosexuality, Part 2. Sermons from John Piper (1990–1999). Desiring God).
Finally, a Blinded Mind to God can be seen in:
3) The Extent of Human Sinfulness (Romans 1:28–32)
Romans 1:28–32. 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)
Because fallen humanity did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them up/over in still another way, in this case to a debased/depraved mind. The godless mind is a debased/depraved mind, whose predetermined and inevitable disposition is to do what ought not to be done/those things which are not proper. The basic meaning of adokimos (debased/depraved) is that of not standing the test, and the term was commonly used of metals that were rejected by refiners because of impurities. The impure metals were discarded, and debased/depraved adokimos therefore came to include the ideas of worthlessness and uselessness. In relation to God, the rejecting mind becomes a rejected mind and thereby becomes spiritually debased/depraved, worthless and useless. Of unbelievers, Jeremiah wrote, “They call them rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them” (Jer. 6:30). The mind that finds God worthless becomes worthless itself. It is debauched, deceived, and deserving only of God’s divine wrath. The sinful, debased/depraved mind says to God, recounted in Job 21 “Depart from us! We do not even desire the knowledge of your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we entreat Him?” (Job 21:14–15). Although godless people think they are wise, they are supremely foolish (Rom. 1:22). Regardless of their natural intelligence and their learning in the physical realm, in the things of God they are devoid even of “the beginning of knowledge,” because they lack reverential fear of Him. They are merely “fools [who] despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:7; cf. v. 29). Humans sat in judgment on God to decide whether he fit the qualifications of a God that would be to their liking; they decided he did not meet those qualifications and so dismissed him from their lives. They had the knowledge (they were not ignorant), but they did not want to use it. In our own times we have seen a belittling of God as no more than a pale extension of our wishful thinking, someone made in our image. Yet those most vocal in condemning the authoritative Christian view of God have been busy at work creating people who think of themselves as gods. Paul’s discussion is not out of date. The same rebellion against God is alive in the human heart (Barton, B. B., Veerman, D., & Wilson, N. S. (1992). Romans (p. 36). Tyndale House Publishers.).
Please turn to 2 Corinthians 4
Even God’s chosen people, the Jews, fell into that foolishness when they rejected or neglected the revelation and blessings He had showered on them so uniquely and abundantly. “For My people are foolish, they know Me not,” the Lord declared through Jeremiah; “they are stupid children, and they have no understanding. They are shrewd to do evil, but to do good they do not know” (Jer. 4:22; cf. 9:6). Those who reject the true God are wholly vulnerable as 2 Corinthians 4 explains:
2 Corinthians 4:1-6. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (ESV)
The catalog of sins Paul proceeds to mention beginning in verse 29 is not exhaustive, but it is representative of the virtually endless number of vices with which unredeemed humanity is filled. The first two terms all unrighteousness and evil/wickedness, are comprehensive and general, synonyms that encompass the entire range of the particular sins that follow. Some versions include fornication between those first two terms, but that word is not found in the earliest Greek manuscripts. The idea is certainly not inappropriate to the context, however, because fornication is universally condemned in Scripture and is frequently included by Paul in lists of vices (cf. 1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5:19; Col. 3:5). Fornication is implied in the sin of impurity, which has already been mentioned in verse 24. How much longer will God tolerate it and be patient with us? He has judged great nations in the past who have gone in this direction (McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Romans 1-8) (electronic ed., Vol. 42, p. 42). Thomas Nelson.).
The sins mentioned in the rest of the list are basically self-explanatory: 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. The purpose of this recital, which is the longest of its kind in the NT, is to show the general scope of social evils produced by the “unqualified mind” to which God has handed sinners over. The harm done by people to other people is thus added to idolatry and sexual perversion to complete Paul’s sketch of the world outside Christ (Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 119). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
Finally, in verse 32, reiterating the fact that rebellious, ungodly humanity is without excuse, Paul declares that they know God’s righteous decree/the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things deserve to die/are worthy of death. The apostle has already established that, since the creation of the world, God has made Himself known to every human being (vv. 19–21). People do not recognize God because they do not want to recognize Him, because they willingly “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (v. 18). “This is the judgment,” Jesus said in John 3, “that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:19–20). Whether they recognize it or not, even those who have never been exposed to the revelation of God’s Word are instinctively aware of His existence and of His basic standards of righteousness. “They show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them” (Rom. 2:15). In most societies of the world, even in the most remote, most of the sins Paul lists here are considered wrong, and many are held to be crimes. People inherently know that such things as greed, envy, murder, deceit, arrogance, disobedience, and mercilessness are wrong. For such people, part of the “fun” is going against God’s law, the community’s moral standards, common sense, or their own sense of right and wrong. But deep down inside they know that sin deserves the death penalty (Rom. 6:23) (Barton, B. B., Veerman, D., & Wilson, N. S. (1992). Romans (p. 39). Tyndale House Publishers.).
The absolute pit of wickedness is reached, Paul says, when those who are themselves involved in evils they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. To justify one’s own sin is wicked enough, but to approve and encourage others to sin is immeasurably worse. Even the best of societies have had those within them who were blatantly wicked and perverse. But a society that openly condones and defends such evils as sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, and the rest has reached the deepest level of corruption. Many of the most socially advanced societies of our own day are in that category. Sexually promiscuous celebrities are glamorized and the rights of homosexuals are ardently defended. These acts of sin are in direct contradiction to the revealed will of God. In all of this, it’s perfectly clear that those clamoring for change are not merely seeking acceptance for themselves but are trying to gain advocates for their (sin) (Panning, A. J. (1999). Romans (p. 30). Northwestern Pub. House.).
Until the final judgment breaks forth on the human race, it is still the day of grace in which all who know the Good News and are obeying the voice of Christ in taking it to the lost can be hopeful. Someone once spoke to John Newton, the man who had been a slave trader and a “slave to slaves” earlier in his life, about a person he regarded as a hopeless case. Newton replied, “I have never despaired for any man since God saved me.” We should not despair either. The consequences of sin are dreadful. But they alone, if nothing else, should compel us forward as agents of God’s great grace and reconciliation. (Boice, J. M. (1991–). Romans: Justification by Faith (Vol. 1, p. 184). Baker Book House.)
(Format Note: Outline & some base commentary from MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1991). Romans (Vol. 1, pp. 97–110). Chicago: Moody Press).
