from: Romans 1:22-32
The Scriptures reveal that even the “wisest” people on earth become “fools”--that is, they repress, or push out of sight, the truths they know about God, and they build their lives on a sinful lie. Even though they realize God’s true nature is glorious and incorruptible, they refuse to honor this true God and worship man-made substitutes instead! As we discovered last time, the Lord responded to this sinful exchange by “giving them up to uncleanness.”
When God judges rebellious humanity, He doesn’t just blast them into oblivion… rather, He lets them experience the bitter consequences of their rebellion. When we begin desiring corruptible, created things more than our Creator, these desires--or “lusts”--open us up to deeper and darker sins against each other, against God, and even against nature! God judges us by letting these evil desires run their course without His gracious divine restraint.
For people who love their sin--and that includes all of us--being given up to worse sin may not seem like a punishment...but it is! For a perfectly holy God will one day perfectly judge His creatures for each and every sin they commit. And even the smallest sin is treason of infinite offense against our Maker. Even those who escape misery for their sinful choices in this life, will have to experience endless misery for all their sins in hell, unless they turn to Jesus Christ.
This divine “giving up” is called by theologians: JUDICIAL ABANDONMENT. In a way, giving mankind up to their evil lusts is like releasing them into the slave market of sin. Sin is like an addictive drug--the more you engage in it, the more you come to enjoy it and hunger after it. Eventually it enslaves the sinner so he can’t escape. God knows that unless a sinner comes to know the bitterness of sin’s slavery, he will never be ready to repent and accept God’s grace.
When we taste something that makes us gag or wish to spit it out, we call it “vile.” God’s Old Testament word for that is “abomination.” Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 describe same-sex sexual activity in those terms. Paul uses homosexual acts as the primary example of how perverted worship (exchanging Creator for creature) leads to perverted human relationships (exchanging God-given marriage for same-sex unions). It is “against nature” as well as against God!
Once God has unleashed the lusts of our hearts to lead where they will, we end up planting seeds for more and more deadly harvests. And the calamities, crimes and diseases that spring up are only the just results of what we’ve planted. They are our due, according to Paul. Of course, our consciences will scream at us that we are wrong to do sinful things, but sinners hate the voice of conscience because it reminds us that there is a righteous Judge who is watching.
Even in this country where the sound of the Word of God can be heard almost everywhere, people do all they can to avoid it and chase all thoughts of the true God out of their thinking. Again, God judged us by “giving us over” to “debased minds”--that is, minds full of impure, lustful, hateful thoughts. Please notice that the human mind is never truly empty. And it takes on the character of all the godly or ungodly ideas we dwell upon.
The theological term “Total Depravity” means that every part of the human being, both body and spirit--including mind, heart, will, emotions--is infected by sin. In verse 28 and following, Paul gives a list of examples of sinful actions and attitudes that emerge from the human mind when it is “filled with all unrighteousness.” They are “not fitting,” in the sense that they are far from the image-bearing of our Creator that men and women were intended for originally.
There may be several reasons that Paul begins his list with “sexual immorality.” Perhaps it is because the relationship of MARRIAGE is that which so completely reflects the eternal love of God within the Trinity, as well as His original intention for mankind as the Bride of Christ. Marriage and its delightful sexual bond is a precious, lovely, holy gift of God to His image-bearers. And the way sexual immorality has corrupted this gift is a supreme offense to Him!
The first four synonyms listed for “wicked” are black, dark, evil, & immoral. “Wickedness and covetousness” go hand-in-hand in Paul’s list, implying how darkly immoral it is for us to be dissatisfied with how God has blessed us, rather wanting what someone else has that we don’t. When we covet other people’s things or qualities, we are accusing God of being unfair to us!
“Maliciousness” often follows after covetousness, when we resent one who’s better off and wish him harm. This attitude leads on to worse things such as “envy, murder, strife, deceit, etc.” Nobody enjoys being whispered about behind his back or being the victim of a “backbiter.” But this kind of behavior is hated so much because it is so common to us all!
“Haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things...” might remind us of the early chapters in Genesis that describe the fallen family line of Cain. After God banished Cain and caused him to wander the earth, Cain gave birth to a line of people who became increasingly violent, proud and boastful, even inventing new and creative ways to sin.
Paul ends his list by mentioning negative traits that reflect our inability to get along with others. “Disobedient to parents” can become the basis for all kinds of maladjustment in society. People who lack discernment (common sense), cannot be trusted, avoid loving or forgiving others and are too mean to be merciful, show plainly that God is far from their thinking.
Along with the innate knowledge of God that all humans possess, comes the instinctive awareness that breaking God’s laws invites the sentence of death. Every time we sin, we are defying His right to rule over us and direct our behavior. We are saying “God, you have no right to tell me what to do...I’ll think and speak and live any way I please!”
When we approve of the evil things that other people practice--things worthy of death--we have rejected God’s law and right to rule, and are attempting to set up a system of rules we believe are superior to His! Again, this is part of God’s judgment upon us, because that kind of system will only lead to injustice, tyranny and misery.
God’s laws are given for our good because they reflect His perfect goodness. And that goodness was perfectly expressed by only one man in all of history: our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who paid the price of our disobedience when He was forsaken on the cross.
