Romans 1:24-32 - The Effect(s) of Ignorance

 Part II: The Conduct of Humanity

Wherefore…

“Wherefore” is the “effect” of the previous statements. You change the glory of God to a corruptible human being, and the result is shown in the following verse:

Wherefore God gives them over, in the lusts of their hearts, to the uncleanness of dishonoring their bodies among themselves, those who alter the truth of God into the lie, and are venerated, and offer divine service to the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed for the eons! Amen!

Let’s go slow: God gives them over. God decides who gives over to the lusts of their hearts, not Pastor John or Brother Joe. The lust is in their hearts already, but God gives them over to it. This is an important distinction: we all have a prideful lust in our hearts. Remember the term “faith-obedience” from earlier? Obeying the “faith” Paul is going to detail shortly is what keeps that lust at bay. Paul says they bring dishonor to themselves (and, spoiler alert, in Romans 9 Paul says God chooses who His vessels of honor and dishonor will be – as God gives them over to lust, He gives believers over to faith. In one, the lust is rampant, and in the other, of faith and through Christ, is that lust retained.)

Remember that this is the result of worshipping the corrupted image of God (as I find many churches tend to do.) When the unbeliever stands before God and claims that God didn’t give him a fair chance, God need only reply that “His goodness and power existed through testimony in nature.” This will leave the unbeliever defenseless (1:20.) While it may be true that many Christians are not intentionally blaspheming God in this manner, the reality is still the case. If a slave owner walked up to a slave and apologized, saying he never felt the crack of the whip, is he no longer at fault for being a slave owner?

This is not just religious indictment; this is a human indictment. Political slander plays a minor factor in these words as well; in case you haven’t noticed, pride (and manipulation) are heavy in the political community these days. Go look at how many Presidents are self-proclaimed Christian, and then go study the rulebook they provided for the world on their way out. Logic, empiricism and reason are their tools, per the Constitution and Bill of Rights, not the Word of God. The name of God is used, sure, but He is second to their thoughts. Of course, Paul was only referring to the political leaders of his time, such as Alexander the Great or Caesar, who demanded divine honor for their role in the world. Premature exaltation, if you will.

There is a reason Paul leads with this kind of pride, and this is one of those cases where Jesus agrees. Check out Matthew 23:13-15. “Now woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are locking the kingdom of the heavens in front of men. For you are not entering, neither are you letting those entering to enter.” These Pharisees are last on the list to be saved, as they turn God into something He's not (remind you of any religious institutions today?) Spoiler alert: God is the savior of all mankind (1 Tim. 4:10), each at his own time (1 Cor. 15:22-23). But the Pharisees will indeed be last, for they don’t enter the promised kingdom thanks to their blatant disregard for these clear statements in God’s Word.

The reason I mentioned the Pharisees’ punishment is because we must keep it in perspective: it is God who gives them over to the lust in the flesh, not their personal decision. They do not know better. They are the necessary antagonist right now and Christ is the protagonist. These are the defined lines, and whether you would like to see them or not, they are here.

One last aside: I love that he takes a moment to reiterate that God will be glorified for “eons.” An eon, by definition, is a set period of time, from point A to point B. The KJV reads, here, “Who is blessed forever.” The Greek word for “forever” is giapanta (gia = for, panta = ever.) The Greek word for “eon” is aion. The Greek words used here is gia aion, thus the word used here is “for eons.” This is important, and will come into play throughout Paul’s letters and revelations. Do not misapprehend these words! I’ll do a nice discussion of the eons when the time is right, but in the meantime, amen!

Therefore…

“Therefore” is the “result” of the “wherefore.”

Therefore God gives them over to dishonorable passions. For their females, besides, alter the natural use into that which is beside nature. Likewise also the males, besides, leaving the natural use of the female, were inflamed in their craving for one another, males with males effecting indecency, and getting back in themselves the retribution of their deception which must be.

Considering the sensitivity of homoeroticism in today’s world, I won’t dwell on this topic for long, as sexuality is not the primary topic of Romans. But let it be known that Paul’s issue is found in ‘leaving the natural use of the female,’ and ‘males with males effecting indecency.’ These two statements are a part of humanity’s roast. This may be difficult to stomach, considering, again, how prideful many are about their sexual relations, but I continue to cement my view in Scripture. They will receive retribution for their deception. Does this statement mean those that effect this indecency are not saved? May it not be coming to that! Does this statement mean that males with males can only effect indecency? May it not be coming to that! Does this statement somehow mean that all are not reconciled back to God, as 1 Tim. 2:4, Col. 1:20, and 1 Cor. 15:20-22 explain clearly? May it not be coming to that!

Let’s not forget the context; Paul is currently writing a long list of humanity’s imperfections. He’s not saying “those that are gay are barred from Christ.” He’s saying that pride overwhelms the human mind, which inflames their craving for one another. I hate to be that guy, but Catholic preachers are especially guilty of this (and you know exactly what I’m talking about.) It’s a twisted double entendre; craving man while craving the innocence that they lost with adulthood. Being “gay” is, indeed, not something you’re ‘born with’ (sorry, Lady Gaga,) but the effect of ignoring what God manifests to humanity – God gives you over to this desire, causing you to effect more of it. 

On the female side of things, the ‘natural use’ of a female, of course, is to have children. Many call this a condemnation of lesbian sex, and while I can see where they are coming from (especially because we’re discussing sexual sin in these verses,) this verse would say something more along the lines of ‘females with females,’ would it not? Perhaps this isn’t the case, considering ‘penetration’ is the main sin God sees in gay sex. Maybe “natural use of the female” is a lesbian condemnation, as a female would not be with a female. This could be a potential reference to a transvestite? This is indeed a natural alteration of the female, and it runs rampant in society today, but it isn’t mentioned in Scripture as a sexual sin.

There’s one other option; one that is mentioned in Leviticus 20, the chapter that lists all the sexual sins. Leviticus 20 never mentioned females sleeping with each other – but it does mention women sleeping with animals in verse 16, and this is what I, and many others in the Body of Christ, believe Paul is referencing in this passage.

I would like to note that sexual perverseness is not my area of expertise, and I’d like to make it known that, again, the entirety of this passage is designed to show that all of humanity (yes, you and me included, don’t tell me you don’t watch porn) is flawed and can never achieve perfection. This point is proven regardless of whether this passage discusses lesbianism or bestiality.

And according as they do not test God, to have Him in recognition, God gives them over to a disqualified mind, to do that which is not befitting…

More of the “therefore.” God is not recognized as sovereign, so God gives their disqualified minds the ability to do that which does not please the spirit. Keep in mind the definition of disqualified now, as it means “castaway,” “rejected,” “reprobate.” Its Greek elements are “UN-SEEMED.” In this sense, they are unseemly against God, making their mind disqualified.

Note that the mind is not the same thing as the heart. The mind is recognized as the effect, as it’s mentioned second to the darkening of the heart. The mind’s reasoning is second to the internal nature of what’s written on the heart.

…filled with all injustice, wickedness, evil, greed, distended with envy, murder, strife, guile, depravity, whisperers, vilifiers, detesters of God, outragers, proud, ostentatious, inventors of evil things, stubborn to parents, unintelligent, perfidious, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful…

Okay, if you didn’t see anything in there that reminds you of yourself, then you’re what we call “proud” (and if you read each word closely, you’ll find “proud” right there in the middle! Props to you for trying to escape the condemnation, however!)

These terms are describing the lack of recognizing God. Those that fail to recognize Him will, in one way or another, fall into one of the above categories. This goes for the atheists, the religious, and especially the modern-day Pharisees that refuse to recognize the power of God. This leads to unjustified perspectives. It leads to evil. Leads to greed. Leads to envy, murder, so on and so forth. Go ahead! Go reread them. It’s a nice summary of human self-destruction. Even those in the Body would have to concede that these words do apply to them while in the flesh.

One of my favorites, again, is “unintelligent.” You would think, with such advancement in technology today, that God would concede a bit, here? “Well, you guys are a little smarter than I gave you credit for!” But no – it’s unintelligence all around.

If you can recall, Paul began this letter with the statement that he is indebted to the very people he is indicting now. How can this be?

…those who, recognizing the just statute of God, that those committing such things are deserving of death, not only are doing them, but are endorsing, also, those who are committing them.

This is the conclusive statement of the first chapter of this epistle: that those that commit these acts endorse others that do the same thing. Humanity is performing this crazy circus act by convincing themselves of the righteousness of their own self-righteousness! Today, it’s most people’s belief in the Christian god that gives them their relative strength and ideas of self-importance; they find power in numbers and emotional strength in hoisting God on their shoulders, complimenting each other and calling Him their ally and showing off how their lives “were changed after accepting Him (Rom. 16:18.)

Do you hear the hypocrisy in that statement? No? Perhaps we’re still a little too early in the evangel of God, then, or perhaps you didn’t read each and every moment that Paul writes about God’s sovereignty. God is in control of your life from the very start. Before you were even conceived, He was creating far, far beyond our realm of comprehension. He was there when you knew absolutely nothing (Job 38:1-18.) Do you truly believe that He wasn’t telling your story before you were aware of Him? God changes today’s pharisees, alright. He gives their minds over to do that which is not befitting; their minds are labeled “disqualified,” per Romans 1:28. They label God as an angry character, hellbent and proud to eternally torture the vast majority of His Creation, when so far all He’s done is, well, state the obvious: that His indignation will be revealed on those that are rejecting these words, and that you’re not perfect. So long as you’re living of the flesh, you never will be.

I have to quote George Rogers again, who is a genius in the faith God gave him:

“How perilous to follow the lead of men of disqualified mind! The climax and summing up of the wickedness of such minds is seen in verse 32. The darkest count is that these men well know God’s just statute. This is the intuitive and inescapable recognition of right proper to all men. They know that such practices deserve death, a death, of course, that comes as a penalty inflicted after judgment, and, therefore, not the deat that is the common lot of all except those who will survive till the Lord’s advent. Yet by persistence in these practices they invite God’s condemnation. They fear to be solitary in their sins, so they heartily approve these practices in others, perhaps finding satisfaction and a false sense of security in the fact that vices known to be wrong are almost universally practiced.”

This is the disease that plagues mankind – not a confused mishmash of people that don’t know any better, but that prideful ignorance to God’s written word. I’m not speaking of the “words are tough to understand” crowd – that’s why I’m writing these words! I’m speaking of the “okay, now I get it, but, uh, no, I see zero reason to adhere to the Creator of the universe.” And yet, despite all this, I’m still here to patiently admonish and explain, and even more, Paul still continues writing. Again I must ask: why does Paul still call himself a debtor to the masses, knowing these truths of the unbelieving bulk of humanity?

The answer is this: there is a remedy, and there is a solution to the problem, but it is not on man’s terms. Again, we can only find this answer if we explore more of the evangel.