Romans 1:24-32

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

 

Sexual impurity is mentioned here and again in 1:26,27.

In both cases “God gave them over”. 

Why is sexual impurity mentioned twice?

In 1:24 it is in reference to cultic practices in pagan temples that goes along with idol      worship.

In 1:26, 27 it refers to immorality in society and culture in ordinary life.

 

This is an example of false religious beliefs and false religious practices infecting the        lives of the people and destroying their culture.

 

25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

 

2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 this same pattern repeats itself for the final time.  It involves idol             worship, honor of a man above God, a strong delusion, God giving the people over      to their sin and ultimately destruction for the people involved.

 

 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.

 

“Women” is the Greek word “thelus” that means “female”. 

It is not the word “gune” /gun –ay/ which is usually used for “women”.

 

In 1:27 the word for “man” is not “anthropos” or “aner” which refers to a male member             of the human race but is the word “arsen” which refers simply to a male as      distinguished from a female.

 

This is because the only distinction these people make is the sex.

A true man is a man for more than the fact he is male.

A true woman is a woman for more than the fact she is female.

But, these people are only distinguishable from each other because they are physically of            a certain sex.  Otherwise their manhood and womanhood has been destroyed and         they are indistinguishable.

 

Because of their actions in verse 24 and 25 God gave them over again.

 

The first time he gave them over to false religion or false philosophy,

They did not reject the lies of false religion and false philosophy but instead embraced   them. 

Because they embraced the lie God gave them over to the fruit of those false views which          is immorality.

 

The Pattern:

1)Reject the Obvious Truth (1:18-20)

2)Replace the Emptiness (Vacuum) for false philosophies (1:21-23)

3)Engage in worship of idol and advancement of false philosophy (1:24-25)

4)Incorporate the values and practice the morals and ethics of the idols in society.

5)They are left to live with out restrain of the sin nature.

 

Only God’s grace, God’s Spirit and God’s word can save a man’s spirit, soul and body            from the decaying effects of the sin nature.

If man rejects the revelation of God he is doomed to the sin nature.

 

27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

 

“Burned” or “inflamed” is the word for “burned out” which refers to excessive lust and   consumption by it.

“Kaio” means burn, or to light.  Here the word is “exkaio”.  The “ex-“ prefix intensifies the word.

“Indecent” means “want of form, disfigurement, deformed, one’s nakedness, shame.”

“due penalty” means “recompense” or the “reward given”

 

Man is not presented here as a victim.

Man is responsible for his own over throw because he rejected the answer. 

Man rejected the light, no matter how small it was, in the dark cave of sin.

·   Sin comes from the nature of man. 

·   Man’s judgment is perverted.

·   Man then is abandoned to that perverted mind.  (This is the punishment, or retribution

·   The result: man is destroyed by his own actions

 

1:28-32

Describes the total corruption of any human relationship for men who have abandoned   God.

 

28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

 

Romans 1:28  kai  AND      kaqwV ACCORDING AS        ouk  THEY       edokimasan   ton  DID NOT APPROVE         qeon  GOD      ecein  TO HAVE   en  IN THEIR         epignwsei  KNOWLEDGE       paredwken  GAVE UP     autouV    o  THEM         qeoV  GOD        eiV TO AN  adokimon  UNAPPROVING          noun  MIND        poiein   TO DO       ta  THINGS  mh NOT          kaqhkonta  FITTING

 

Notice: Man did not “approve” of God, so God gave them over to a mind that was not “approved.”  (Notice underlined Greek words)

 

“dokimazo” means to approve or to test. 

The human race had put God to the test and did not approve, thus the word “edokimasan” or “adokimzo”.  They disapproved of God.

 

“Not Fitting” was a technical term for the stoics. 

 

This is the third time that “God gave them over.”

1st time he gave them over to the lie and to the practices of idol worship (1:24)

2nd time he gave them over to lusts and immoral acts (1:26)

3rd time he gave them over to a depraved mind. (1:28)

 

1- Reject God

2- Accept lie

3- Given to lie to practice it

4- Given over to lusts

5- Given over to a depraved mind

6- Result is personal, family, social and cultural chaos

 

29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,

 

“Being Filled” is a perfect participle.

The perfect tense means this is a completed action in the past but yet having present       results in the present.

Those who “disapproved” of God and exchanged the truth for a lie in the past are now in           the present completely filled with these 21 sins.

 

30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;

 

31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

 

It is difficult to find structure in this list.

Many words overlap in meaning and many are synonyms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best break down is this:

1)      the list falls into three parts       

a.       “filled with all manner of:

                                                               i.      Unrighteousness

                                                             ii.      Evil

                                                            iii.      Greed

                                                           iv.      Wickedness

b.      full of:

                                                               i.      envy

                                                             ii.      murder

                                                            iii.      strife

                                                           iv.      deceit

                                                             v.      malice

c.       (the rest)

                                                               i.      Gossips

                                                             ii.      Maligners

                                                            iii.      Haters of God

                                                           iv.      Proud

                                                             v.      Arrogant

                                                           vi.      Overbearing

                                                          vii.      Devisers of evil

                                                        viii.      Disobedient to parents

                                                           ix.      Without understanding

                                                             x.      Without faithfulness

                                                           xi.      Without affection

                                                          xii.      Without mercy

2)      A General Sequence

a.       First Four are general nouns

b.      Next five are about envy and the result of envy

c.       The final twelve:

                                                               i.      Two words about slander

                                                             ii.      Four about arrogance

                                                            iii.      Six unrelated

3)      These are basically social evils

4)      They are not sexual sins

5)      They are not sins against God

6)      The point of the list is to show that the result of being given to a depraved mind is the destruction of society by man.  This is damaged mankind destroying other people.

 

32Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

 

“God’s righteous decree” is not linked by Paul to the Law of Moses but again to general            revelation referred to in 1:18