A high profile governor who made his mark as an attorney general fighting corruption is linked with a prostitution ring. He disgracefully resigned his office. A U.S. Representative allegedly used his position to influence land swapping deals and is charged with extortion, wire fraud, and money laundering. He demeans the high office to which his constituents entrusted him. A Roman Catholic priest pleaded guilty to mail fraud and money laundering after bilking his own parishioners out of $600,000. He is now their ex-priest! A high profile attorney, representing shareholders against corporate giants, admitted that he had offered kickbacks for 20 years in order to gin up cases against corporations. He amassed $200 million in the process. Now his money will have to wait on him until he is released from prison. Obviously, he has been permanently disbarred.
Just two weeks ago, only a 25 minute drive from here, a man less than three months out of prison after serving 14 years for second-degree murder, viciously killed his brother and five others, including two nephews. In Auburn, an 18-year old freshman coed left her boyfriend’s apartment to return a borrowed book. Somewhere on the way, she was kidnapped and robbed, somehow foiled a rape attempt, and then was shot and left for dead. Shortly after being taken to the hospital she died. Her alleged killer is in custody, admitting to a string of crimes. A day after that horrible death, in Chapel Hill, NC, a popular senior and student body president was robbed and brutally gunned down. The perpetrators, caught on film while trying to access her bank account, have been arrested; one of the murderers was arrested for killing another student in Durham.
How could these men commit such horrible crimes against their fellow man? We’ve asked that question thousands of times with thousands of other crimes against humanity. Some have affected people groups and nations: Saddam Hussein gassing to death thousands of Kurdish civilians; Robert Mugabe brutalizing white and black citizens of Zimbabwe and stealing countless farms; investors bilking millions out of their clients; terrorists killing-du jour of children, shoppers, policemen, students, and business people throughout the Middle East; pornographers polluting every mind they can reach; husbands and wives abandoning their marriage covenant to follow their lusts; gossips tearing down the character of innocent people out of envy and jealousy; the list never ends. How could all of these things happen and a million more every hour?
We can point our fingers at how corrupt people are. We can discuss problems with flawed ideologies, a climate of greed, government run amok, and a culture of corruption. And we may be partially correct in every assessment that we make. But until the finger points back to the mind and heart—even our own minds and hearts—we’ve failed to understand the reason so much sin corrupts our world. And even more staggering, until we admit that each of us is capable of committing any of the sins I’ve just noted, then we do not understand the depravity in our own hearts.
That’s precisely where Paul is taking us in this excursus on humanity. But he has a larger, more important aim: to point us to Christ and His righteousness. The sin in our hearts and all about us gives constant reminder that we need Christ’s righteousness. There’s no hope for eternity or the present without God’s gracious provision through Christ. Do you see that? More importantly, do you rely upon God’s provision of righteousness in Christ? Let’s consider how Paul sets this forth in our text.
We will investigate this text by focusing on the two participants in it, identified as “they” and “God.” We will close by considering the necessary implication.
“I’m okay, you’re okay,” or so, Dr. Thomas Harris told us. Yet that is not the omniscient God’s assessment. Though certainly, men can act civil, perform humanitarian deeds, demonstrate “random acts of kindness,” display heroic virtues toward others, that does not negate the biblical declaration about humanity. Due to the remnants of the image of God in every human, there’s still capability of acting with virtue and kindness. We see it regularly in every strata of humanity. Yet running like a polluted river through every heart is the bent to sin. A nature corrupt with inclinations to unimaginable evil resides in every bosom even though most often restrained by God’s mercy.
That’s hard to admit or to come to grips with. Though we readily see evil in others it is difficult to see it in ourselves. Paul recognizes this and addresses in chapter 2the sinful disposition in even the most religious and self-righteous. Ultimately, though practices of sin vary from person to person and culture to culture, the assessment remains: “There is none righteous, not even one…there is none who does good, there is not even one” (3:10, 12). Yet, how does this flesh out in every heart?
Verse 28 opens by connecting with what the Apostle has already argued. “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over…” That phrase, “they did not see fit,” is somewhat difficult to render in English. The word means to put to the test or to test the value and quality of something or to approve after testing. I think that the NASB does well in its rendering but the word is still more intense. It means that men have taken a good look at God; they’ve considered His revelation in both nature and conscience; they even understood the truth of God, at least as much as possible by natural revelation. But they decided not to approve of God as God. In their judgment, God is not worthy to be worshiped and honored; God is not worthy to be thanked as the gracious provider of every good and perfect gift (1:21). They “suppress[ed] the truth of God in unrighteousness” (1:18). Though the truth is before them at every turn, they hold it down because of the inclination toward sin and rebellion against God. Martin Luther explained it like this: “‘They did not esteem God worthy of their attention,’ that is, they did not esteem God worthy or great enough to know Him but rather accepted something else as greater than God, namely, their own vanity” [Luther’s Works, vol. 25, 13].
How does that transpire in real time? (1) It happens when someone sees God’s revelation in nature or senses it in the conscience or even hears it through some biblical teaching, yet purposefully ignores it. John Calvin rightly stated, “God has sown a seed of religion in all men” [Institutes, I.IV.1]. Such a person is not ignorant of God. Intellectually, he or she can discuss God and even give some valid rationale of God as Creator. But he chooses not to do so. He stuffs such thoughts. They arise in his mind—he stuffs them. He hears some talk of God—he argues against it and tells himself why this cannot be true or why it is unimportant.
(2) It also happens when someone has a particularly strong inclination toward certain sins. It doesn’t matter the nature of the sins, whether material, sexual, attitudinal, or ethical. He’s just determined to do what he wants and he will not have God or the knowledge of God interfering with him. So, he inwardly argues his right to sin, though he likely does not call it a sin. He calls it his right. He’s the captain of his fate so he will not be denied by the knowledge of God. He builds up mental walls that seek to repel any agreement with the revelation of God. He knows it’s there; he still sees it and hears it and senses it; but he so hardens his mind against God and so inclines his desires toward his sin that he refuses “to acknowledge God any longer.”
(3) He will outwardly deny God yet he’s still not bereft of the knowledge of God. He will still “feel an inkling of what [he] desire[s] not to believe” [John Calvin, Institutes, I. III. 2]. Such was the case with the wicked Roman Emperor Gaius Caligula. He denied the existence of God or even the Roman gods. Yet when it thundered, Caligula shuddered with fear, often bolting from his bed to hide under it. Calvin comments, “He shuddered at the God whom he professedly sought to despise” [ibid.]. Still, from time to time fearing God’s wrath, he still jerks his mind away from such knowledge to pursue sin.
Notice verse 32: “and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” Paul begins with an emphatic relative pronoun, “who is such that knowing the right judgment of God,” and continues with yet another emphatic pronoun, “they are of such a character that they, those practicing such things, are worthy of death” [adapted from John Murray, NICNT: Romans, 51]. What Paul aims for is to eliminate any excuses (1:20). Man is not ignorant of God or even the judgment of God. Innately, as well as through the varied laws in society and the gnawing of the conscience, man recognizes that the Creator does not sit idly by while men violate His laws. He may not be able to quote the Ten Commandments, yet upon seeing them, he senses the rightness of them as the revelation of God’s moral demands reflecting His holy character. Of course, that doesn’t mean that he likes them or has any inclination to follow them. He just recognizes their rightness even while loathing and despising them.
God’s “ordinance” refers to the certain judgment upon defying God. It’s an encompassing term that capsules all of God’s commands and the result of those defying and disobeying what God has commanded. Paul explains the specifics of this ordinance: “that those who practice such things are worthy of death.” He takes us back to the list of twenty-one sins that we’ll consider (1:29-31). He’s not exhaustive; instead he attempts to brush the broad picture of human depravity. Those practicing (the present tense shows it as continuing action) “such things are worthy of death”—so that the proper thing on God’s part is to eternally damn those practicing such sins.
Here is the arrogance of the human heart. We innately understand that there is penalty for disobeying God’s commands. It’s written on our hearts with our consciences bearing witness to its veracity. Yet, because the inclination and desire for sin is so strong in the heart, we press forward with damnable actions. We throw aside the warnings in the conscience of impending judgment. So consumed with the present, we think nothing of the eternal death (that’s the implication in “worthy of death”) that awaits the end of our sinful actions. Even though knowing God’s ordinance of death, we “do the same.”
Do you realize how dangerous your own heart really is? Think about it on a smaller scale. How often have we been warned not to take some action and we do it anyway? This is not just for the sin-hardened criminals; the same tendency shows up in a child. So many times we observed it in small children. They are warned not to do something or else they will be punished. But with defiance, they step across the line of transgression. They know that punishment awaits them but they do it anyway. Unfortunately, we sometime laugh at a child’s stubbornness as though it was cute. But it’s the indication of what is in every heart. We know God’s warning of judgment; but that doesn’t curtail our pursuit of sin. Every time we see this in others or in our own hearts, we should be reminded that we desperately need God’s grace!
Our sin is not in a vacuum. We like to spread the misery. We find sick pleasure in others being captured by sin. “And although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” With fiendish delight, we approve again and again those carrying out the same sins that we relish. “To put it bluntly,” wrote John Murray, “we are not only bent on damning ourselves but we congratulate others in the doing of those things that we know have their issue in damnation” [Murray, NICNT: Romans, 53]. The reason for this is that when others do the same sins it takes away our own inhibitions toward sin. It temporarily relieves our minds that “everybody is doing it,” so we conclude, it’s just got to be alright in spite of what God says.
Paul is quite practical at this point. How often have we excused some sin in our lives just because we’ve observed others doing the same? How often have we rationalized and explained our position by pointing to others with the same guilt? ‘Well, everyone’s doing this.’ ‘How can this be so wrong if so many people are doing it?’
The standard by which we are to conduct our lives should never be what others are doing. Rather, the one standard is the revelation of God.
Paul contrasts man’s sinfulness with God’s righteous judgment against sinners. Man did not approve of God as God. Man knew God’s ordinance that lawbreakers are worthy of eternal death yet that did not stymie his pursuit of sin or even his hearty approval of fellow sinners in their sin. So, God acts. The point is that God acts in the present and not just in the future on the Day of Judgment.
The word translated as “depraved” is a play on words from the earlier term translated as “see fit to acknowledge.” While men did not approve of God, God gave men over to their unapproved minds. It literally means “rejected” or “disqualified” or rejected after failing the test. The word was used in reference to testing the genuineness of precious metals or coins. Those found lacking the genuine stuff were adokimos—rejected. Man’s character is tested by facing sin. Sin reveals what is inside the heart. The result is depraved minds. The mind points to the capacity to think and reason morally or could be termed, “the intellectual part of conscience” [Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans, 94]. Apart from the redeeming work of Christ in the gospel, the mind cannot properly reason; it cannot function as God intended it to function. Its corruption paints every scene of life. If you’ve been in the sunlight with sunglasses shading its brilliance, and then you walked inside without removing the sunglasses, everything around you looks dimmed. Everything is shaded by the glasses covering your eyes. Such is the depravity of the mind; it shades everything and affects our perception of everything in life.
But the point Paul makes is even more sobering. “God gave them over to a depraved mind.” Here, the third use of that phrase emphasizes the present action of God in judgment against those that suppress the knowledge of the truth in unrighteousness, those who do not honor God as God or give thanks to Him—summarized as those who “did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer.” He does not look the other way or even postpone judgment. He acts! He gives men over to their depraved minds so that they add more sin to their sin, and consequently, face double effect: (1) the gnawing, haunting, destroying power of sin in the present; and (2) the certainty of eternal judgment in the future. The Lord God restrains His mercy and His common grace that He so freely shows when giving men over to their depravity.
Paul heads his list of sins under the category of doing “those things which are not proper,” that is, actions or attitudes unfitting to the duty that we have toward one another before God. The twenty-one sins Paul lists are not meant to exclude other sins. Nor does the Apostle necessarily put them into neatly organized categories. It seems that these were the common things that Paul observed in the Graeco-Roman world about him as he wrote from Corinth to the Romans. He certainly identified other sins in other epistles (cf. Galatians 5:19-21 where he deals with sexual, spiritual, and social sins). Yet, I think if we could take the daily news outlets and hold the reports up to this list, we would find the regular practice of each sin that Paul lists. Interestingly, since he’s already identified some sexual sins, he leaves those sins out of this list. Doug Moo points out that he sought “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, NICNT: Romans, 119]. Notice something of the snapshot Paul gives of human depravity.
He first lumps all of these sins under the broad category of “being filled with all unrighteousness.” It’s the picture of liquid brimming over the top of the cup. That’s the human heart—ever filled with a variety of sin and in constant need of God’s saving grace (the perfect passive participle shows the settled nature of this unrighteousness). “Unrighteousness” is choosing man’s way over God’s way; it lacks the moral character of God. “Wickedness” is a common word for evil and may refer broadly to anything that that degenerates man from the pristine image of God. “Greed” refers to insatiable desire to have something even if it means hurting others in the process. It’s not limited to money but can refer to any kind of “consuming ambition.” “Evil” is similar to wickedness and in this case refers to what we might call “badness.” These first sins accentuate “the totality of the depravity involved and the intensity with which it ha[s] been cultivated. It is a picture of the utmost degeneracy” [John Murray, 50].
Being “full of envy,” “reminds us that evildoers are not just one happy band of brothers” [Morris, 96]. Envy sets one man against another; not wanting another to succeed if it means the other may not. “Murder” shows the callous and hateful nature of man that can take another’s life—something that we’re all too familiar of in our city. “Strife” points to wrangling or a fighting spirit or an argumentative spirit. “Deceit” is the cunning treachery by which lies take place to gain an advantage over another. “Malice” is a way of slanting situations or comments in order to break down relationships or destroy other’s reputations.
“Gossips” or whisperers refer to the one that will twist the truth or outright ignore it in order to ruin another person or in order to appear self-righteous. “Slanderers” speak evil against others (katalalous literally means, to speak against). “Haters of God” shows the inward disposition of heart; hating God in spite of His mercy and kindness. No wonder he follows with “insolent” and “arrogant.” The first is the root of our English word hubris, which “contains a mixture of cruelty and pride” and even violence toward others [ELKGNT, 318]. The second implies that one shows himself to be above others; he puts himself on a pedestal and expects others to bow before him. “Boastful” follows naturally as one who makes empty boasts in order to gain an advantage on others; it’s the braggart.
“Inventors of evil” refers to the imaginative ways that men pursue evil acts in arrogant defiance of the Creator. This is furthered by those “disobedient to parents,” showing a mind for rebellion rather than submission. Morris writes, “It indicates a readiness to be false to those to whom one owes the most” [98]. The next four sins identified in verse 31 have a sense of assonance in the Greek as each describes a missing characteristic: “Without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.” Morris points out that we might best understand these four adjectives by adding –less as a suffix: senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless [Morris 98-99]. Given over to his sin, man is without understanding of truth, given to covenant breaking, without natural affection—especially that shown among family members, and without pity toward others in need.
Could Paul have gone on? Certainly, he could have; but had no need of doing so. This list captures human depravity in its normal practice. It’s life without Christ at the center; life without eternal purpose; life lived in self-centeredness and defiance of God. It’s a stark reminder of how desperately we need the righteousness of God through Christ.
We can easily become so engrossed with the improper behavior of humanity that we fail to see the aim that Paul has in these verses. He has explained this array of sins in light of the revelation of the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ in the gospel. Against such a backdrop, the gospel makes perfectly good sense. As our sin multiplies, like a destructive disease, it slowly squeezes life out. It diminishes and tarnishes more and more the image of God within. Not only do we have nothing to offer God so that He might accept us but we have nothing substantial to offer others. Because our minds are “depraved,” so also will be our motivations and aims, even with the best of relationships.
Thankfully, Christ in the gospel changes us inwardly. Our unrighteousness is exchanged for His righteousness. Our sin and guilt meets eternal satisfaction at the cross. Sin no longer has dominion over us—Christ does. This affects us in the present so that the attitudes and actions of life find their deepest motivation in honoring Christ. The way we treat relationships and responsibility change with Christ as Lord in our lives. We’re also affected eternally, in that we have a lasting righteousness that gives us acceptance before the eternally righteous God.
Are you relying only upon the righteousness of Christ in the gospel?
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