#36. Romans 1:28-31 – The Hebrew Crash Course Concerning Unrighteousness, Part 5

Part II: The Conduct of Humanity

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, 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…

Pe/Stubborn to Parents

The “pe” is the seventeenth Hebrew letter in the alphabet. It can make both the ‘p’ sound and the ‘f’ sound (depends on Israel’s mood at the moment, I guess.) The “pe,” in Paleo-Hebrew, represents a mouth. You can see this in the shape of the letter to the left – we have a backward “c,” very similar to the “kaf,” which represents the mouth, and an upside down “yod” hanging from the top, representing a tongue.

This letter is very special, tying together many of the concepts set up in the first half of the alphabet. This letter, when spelled out in Hebrew, is spelled “pe,” “hey.” This represents a mouth speaking declarations. The “hey” draws the breath (recall its spiritual quality, from “YHWH,”) impacting the heart. This matters greatly, for Sin has corrupted our hearts, first and foremost (Rom. 1:22,) bleeding into the consequences we’ve been discussing throughout the rest of Romans 1.

The spirit, then, rights our false language, drawing upon the breath of something true. It is not the mouthpiece itself that is true, but the heart of the matter which drives the mouthpiece (for it is just a tool, at the end of the day.)

We can also see a hidden letter – a “bet” fills the negative space of the letter itself, which, as you may recall, is the first letter of the Hebrew scriptures. This highlights that the Hebrew Scriptures declare the truth through Christ, the Mouthpiece of God (Col. 1:15.) With this duality, we again see a great complementary nature between the Christ and His body – His declarations during His earthly sojourn shifts our hearts, our minds, and our words into His own (Rom. 8:28-29.)

We may contrast this with Paul’s seventeenth headache: stubborn to parents.

Ugh. This one annoys me (probably because I’m stubborn to parents.) For the longest time, I believed that this phrase meant that God truly thought that our parents were always right. They always knew the answer, and that this meant I had to do everything they say. This verse, from the Baptist church I grew up in, was often paired with Ephesians 6:1 – “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”

Yes, yes, I’m glad I gave you a good laugh at my own expense here, but stay with me, because it’s a real deception, and it’s not just self-inflicted. This ideology is baked into our religious/educational institutions, leading to some of the worst hypocrisies we’ve ever seen – both from the parent and the child. Abusive statements, acts, dismissive tones, uncaring attitudes, and more plague the devolution of a loving family, and I should know, for it happened to me personally.

I knew it wasn’t solely my fault. Yes, I’d said some mean things, but actions from both of my parents (I won’t repeat them, for their sake, and because they’ve changed and grown much in the past 6-7 years,) challenged these verses here in Romans 1 and Ephesians 6. How, I asked myself, can it be wrong to disbelieve someone who is not acting in accord with revealed truth?

It was not until after I myself came into the truth through the Greek language that I was humbled by God (not to say that this is the only way to be humbled by God, but that it was the method He designed for me.) I was shown that these terms we read in English don’t always correlate with their modern-day definition. This was indeed for the term “stubborn.”

Apeithes (Greek for “stubborn”) means “unpersuadable,” not “disbelieving.” It doesn’t imply that parents are always right. It is important that we note that Paul speaks of apeithes in relation to goneis, or “parents,” and not gatekeepers or arbiters. We are speaking of caretakers, people who must be adhered and heard when they are in fact taking care of us, genuinely and lovingly. When this doesn’t happen, then the “parental” attitude is not seen, and thus it becomes apparent that the parent is not being a parent.

This is an important part of the discussion, for people change. People grow. People regress. Our paths to maturity are hardly ever a straight line, and rarely align with each other (more of that “contrast” we’ve been talking about.) A “parent” is human, and humans are flawed. One should not be stubborn to parents (especially one in the Lord, as Ephesians 6:1 clarifies this distinction.) But none are without error (Rom. 3:23.) We should not pretend that we should blindly follow everything an adult who raises us tells us to do, for this is not a loving dynamic.

We should engage a caretaker with respect, that both parties grow. How can we tell the difference between a true parent and an arbiter? Well, this is why knowledge is still important. And, at its core, this is why love is important. Consider the action by its logical effect, and the care which it stems from. If you challenge it, a true parent won’t blindly threaten, but explain their perspective, and consider yours. This goes out to all of the abused children who have had to deal with psychological, social, physical, or emotional abuse at the hands of their “caretakers” – if one is knowingly perpetuating this cycle, then they are not worthy of the “parental” title.

Now, this is not to magically exonerate every child who has ever walked the earth from listening to their parent, or disbelieving everything they say. Children, by nature, need a guide – a role model. The Greek element for the term “parents” is “BECOMErs.” This is to show what one will become under the influence of their parent (and it is why God calls Himself a Father to believers – a divine Role Model.) To remain stubborn to a proper guide is what Paul is speaking of here – a disdain toward a loving guide, as opposed to a manipulative one.

Here, we find the juxtaposition between the two concepts. Just as “pe” ties many concepts together in one letter, so also does “stubborn to parents.” The letter “pe” stresses the purpose of holy declarations, as proof of a clean heart, while “stubbornness toward parents” reflects a refusal to be guided by a loving, truthful authority.

The fact that the “bet” is hidden within the “pe” reveals their intimate connection – so also, under a similar narrative structure, we may connect “stubborn to parents” with “wickedness.” To be “stubborn to parents” could fairly be construed as an aspect of “wickedness,” or a frustrated action resulting from an internal misery.

And, that the “pe” ties back to the declarations made with the “hey,” may be considered in regards to our study in Romans 1, connecting “envy” with “stubbornness.” When discussing “envy,” I highlighted that the Jewish community had given up Jesus out of envy over His righteousness, which they could not replicate. I point to the same passages to highlight the correlating stubbornness which plagued the crowd, chanting for Jesus to be crucified against all reason (Matt. 27:20-26.)

This stubbornness is not found in the new humanity; the new humanity will not be opposed to care, and sanity. The new humanity will be truly other-oriented, including both a desire to give to their brother, and receive from their brother. Men will become persuadable, through the evangel of God, as the heart will have been cleansed.

Tsade/Unintelligent

The eighteenth Hebrew letter is “tsade,” or “tsadi,” making a “ts” sound. This letter, represents a servant, or servitude, carrying a burden. This is evident in the Paleo-Hebrew imagery, where we see a little stick figure lying on his side, in servitude, and it is evident in the calligraphy of the letter itself, which looks much like a man on his knees.

A number have scholars have thus correlated this letter with our righteous standing with God. Sure enough, this letter stands at the beginning of the Hebrew word “just,” tsedeq, and well as the word “righteousness,” tsedakah. Christ’s millennial kingdom, pictured as a righteous kingdom, will contain Zion, the holy city which will “house” God. In Hebrew, this city’s name is tsion, and its Mosaic-law abiding citizens are called tson, or “sheep.” All of these examples highlight “tsade” as a letter employed in scripture to represent a humble servitude, which can only be permanently effected through righteousness.

The most important relation to Christ’s righteous servitude, however, is found in Paul’s letters. If you recall, the letter “kaf” represented our evangel in the narrative of the Hebrew letters. The “tsade” is not representative of the evangel, but the evangel’s impact on us. Yes, here we observe justification’s effect. When you are constituted innocent by God, you are thus considered righteous. Many hate this result, for they don’t like the notion that our perceived “bad” actions serve a necessary purpose in God’s intention. But the point of this constitution is not a “get-out-of-jail-free” card. The goal is to demonstrate the grace of God – to use a flawed creature to display His justness (Rom. 3:26.)

With this, we realize that our constitution is only made possible at the hand of another – in this case, on Christ.

Christ carries us. We are going to see this at the very beginning of the evangel, throughout Rom. 3:21-26, and we saw a strong hint of this in Rom. 1:17 – “out of faith, into faith” highlights that it is Christ’s faith which carries our belief. It is His work which carries our justification. It is His love which carries our affections. Paul later points out that “It is God Who is operating in you to will as well as to work for the sake of His delight” (Phil. 2:13.) He is the One, ultimately, Who leads this walk that we’ve seen in the second half of the Hebrew alphabet. We only learn (“lamed”) because of Christ. We are guided by God’s Word, Christ (“mem.”) He is the One Who gives life (“nun,”) not us. He is the Support, and we are supported (“samekh.”) Our experience is contingent on His (“ayin.”) And our words are brought about by His declarations (“pe.”) Through all of these terms, we are shown, literally, to be slaves, on our knees, effecting His will – which is exactly how Paul began Romans (Rom. 1:1.)

It is only in Christ that makes us able, because He fulfills the righteous requirements of the law, while we do no such thing (shown here by Paul’s argument in Rom. 1-3, and proven by the history of Israel in the Old Testament.) As such, we have the duality of the letter – representing Christ, Who is enslaved to God, and effecting His will. And, representing us, who are helpless against Sin apart from Christ’s accomplishment at Golgotha, becoming submissive to God through our Head.

(Side note: this letter may be the toughest one to talk about without providing even more spoilers for the evangel of God, but rest assured that we will consider each term in Romans 3:21-26 in due time. Again, this series is designed to give this behemoth study a direction and agenda, so please bear with me!)

We may contrast this term with Paul’s eighteenth term, unintelligent. This is the second time we’ve seen this term asuneton. Amazingly, the word only appears five times in the New Testament, and three of those uses are here in Romans (for the interested, the other two occur in Matt. 15:16 and Mark 7:18, and the Greek Old Testament only uses it four times.) It is not typically used to insult others, and it is considered more as a reality check – we aren’t intelligent, in relation to other existing entities. We are one of the smallest bodies in the universe – so insignificantly unaware of too many important factors contributing to our very existence and survival. Our inferences and reasoning need continual reform, and our interim beliefs have caused more damage among us than anything. God is simply speaking factually concerning the effects of the things He’s primarily upset over, being the irreverence and injustice of men (Rom. 1:18.) If the irreverence and injustice were dealt with, then unintelligence would be cut off from the root, and begin to shrivel and wither away.

The contrast is apparent – if you are not enslaved to Christ, then you are enslaved to Sin (there’s no in-between. We’re enslaved either way.) When we observed the “tsade,” we found that it was a chain in a long sequence of events concerning our growth through the evangel, conforming us to the righteous Image of God’s Son (Rom. 8:29-30.) We may consider the anti-type of this process when we consider Paul’s build-up to “unintelligence.” We only detest God (“lamed”) because of Sin. We are guided by outrage (“mem.”) We are proud of our works and prioritize it over His (“nun.”) We boast about these works as if they are the source of our survival, as if they give life (“samekh,”) while simultaneously creating evil things with the experience we are given (“ayin.”) Our words are stubbornness toward the ones closest to us (“pe,”) and all of this can be summarized in our unintelligence. We are insubordinate to righteousness, and this is not simply “wrong,” but unintelligent.

This is conformity to the image of Death – Sin. Instead of righteous servitude, we find unintelligent insubordination.

See, the core of the problem is that we don’t trust God (which is why the evangel itself revolves around faith in Him.) We don’t believe that He has our best interests in mind because of the internal and external pressures we’ve been considering. We project this doubt onto Him to feel better about ourselves. We think that, by accepting what we’re hearing from Him, that we suddenly have some qualifications to measure up to. Such is thankfully not the case (last I checked, I can’t make a star.) What we don’t realize is that refusing His righteousness does not repudiate His righteousness. It does not erase the fact; it only prevents us from appreciating and rejoicing over it. We rely on our reasoning because we don’t want to believe that He is good (this is rooted in tragic emotional interactions with fellow men, who typically aren’t trustworthy.)

This is, literally, unintelligence. We have the cure (Paul’s evangel,) but refuse to apply it because of our own reasonings about the scriptures, about history, about our lives, rooted in our own experiences. We cannot be enslaved to Him and remain unintelligent of Him the whole time. If we take orders from a Master we do not know, then we will constantly question the motive of The Master. When do not receive an immediate answer for The Master’s motive, we revolt, showing that we have not been honestly, willfully subject to Him, but to Sin the entire time.

Qof/Perfidious

The nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is “qof,” and makes a ‘k’ sound. Unlike every other letter, this letter’s meaning varies depending on who you ask nowadays. To show you just how unclear we are as to its meaning, some say that it is represented by a sun on the horizon, while others say it represents time, while still others proclaim that this letter is represented by a monkey.

As such, it’s a much harder letter to identify. I’ve found that the letter’s meaning is best exemplified by extracting the purpose of each proposed image. The idea for the representations we see almost exclusively stem from the fact that this letter is a combination of a “zayin” (the seventh letter,) and a “kaf” (the eleventh letter.) The “zayin,” as you recall, represented a scepter, while a “kaf” represented a covering. To combine the two would represent the rise of a benevolent leader. Of course, this Leader is Christ.

We can further consider the letter’s shape as one of the most unique in the language, for the “qof” is the only Hebrew letter that always extends below the other letters. This extension is only noticeable because the letter’s height remains the same as all the others (except for “lamed,” of course.) In order to reach this height, it must first begin in a lower place. This is true of us, the complement of Christ, beginning in the lowest of places, but being seated in the highest thanks to our Leader (“zayin”.)

However, it must also be noted that we are placed where we are because of Christ, and not our own works (Rom. 1:16-17, Eph. 2:8-9.) Because of this, it is evident that this letter does not pertain to our achievements, to work to that height, but of our ascension to this height, which only occurs through Paul’s evangel, concerning our justification (which was shown with the letter “kaf.”) This sets us apart, or, scripturally, makes us holy.

The term “holy,” as I briefly stated in a previous article, means set apart. In this context, we believers, as the complement of Christ, are set apart to God through Christ. To be “holy” does not require works on our end, but a decision on God’s end (this will be proven in a later article, titled “Holy Sh…”) This ties together all of the different imagery of “qof.” We have a sun on the horizon – or, a “son” on the “rise.” Believers today, being the complement of Christ, are called sons of God (Rom. 8:15-17.) This is the same title of closeness and nearness which Jesus Christ Himself receives. Few can lay claim to the title, which is why it is conveyed so late in the Hebrew alphabet.

We can also see why “qof” would represent time. A journey, by its nature, must take time. Our journey is to be reconciled to God, and take part in Christ’s blessings (as proven from Rom. 5:1-8:30.) By the end of the journey, we are, undeniably, a holy display which God shows off (Rom. 3:26.)

And, finally, we can see why “qof” would represent a monkey. The wild monkey is untamed, untrained, and unintelligent – closely aligning with Sin’s ideals, which are currently rooted in the heart of man. The “qof,” then, may use juxtaposition in the shape of a monkey to contrast Sin’s acts (which we’ve been considering so far through Paul’s letter,) with the effect of Paul’s evangel, which literally sanctifies the believer, abolishing their monkey-esque characteristics.

This revelation of sonship is an unequaled promise that all blessings will come to pass, and that you need not “make yourself” holy – God, Who makes holy (1 Cor. 1:30,) accomplishes His tasks to perfection.

This is contrasted with the nineteenth vice from Paul: perfidious. The term is asuntheton, or “UN-TOGETHER-PLACED” in Greek. This is the only time that we see this term in scripture. It is a failure to fulfill something. It carries a strong element of deceit and a lack of trust. Here, the “monkey” imagery comes full circle, as, on man’s end, monkeys denote buffoonery, or silliness – which is exactly what a lack of trust in a righteous Deity is. In failing in all ways to “make themselves” set apart to God, mankind exposes its own deceitful, untrustworthy, promise-breaking nature. It proves God’s point in Romans 1:32 – that man does not deserve a “holy” title, and this is why it is not self-regulated. God is the One Who bestows this blessing, for if man did, then we would undoubtedly fail to live up to such a title.

(to be concluded)

- GerudoKing