Lessons #49 and 50
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New American Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ HCSB = Holman Christian Standard Bible +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
+ 4. Text is based on 1984 edition of the NIV +
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Punishment of handing over idolaters to all kinds of sinful conducts (Rom 1:28-32)
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. 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, 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. 32 Although 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.
Recall, the message of Romans 1:28-32 that we are considering is God punishes idolaters who although know the consequence of rejecting His righteous requirements reject them anyway, by handing them over to all kinds of sinful conducts. We have been considering the list that gives the results of God having handed idolaters over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts. So far, we have considered the first fourteen things or vices in the list that gives the results of God handing idolaters over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts. So, we proceed to consider the remainder of the list beginning with the fifteenth.
The fifteenth thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is being “boastful” as given in the NIV of Romans 1:30 and boastful. This phrase actually describes a person with a vice of pride instead of the vice itself. For, the word “boastful” is translated from a Greek word (alazōn) that means “braggart,” that is, “a person who has a self-exalting, self-absorbed conceit of their own superiority; especially one that believes that all achievements are of their own doing.” Our word appears only twice in the Greek NT and in its other occurrence, it is used to describe the condition of people that will live in the last days as we read in 2 Timothy 3:2:
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
That aside, in our passage of Romans 1:30, the Greek word describes a person that is a braggart or a boaster. We should, of course, be careful with the word “boastful” or “boast” especially because Apostle Paul quoted from the OT Scripture that presents boasting in a positive manner as we read in 1 Corinthians 1:31:
Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Anyway, boasting can be right or wrong depending on the object or reason for it. Boasting that is wrong is one that is self-centered so that God is left out or robbed of His glory and a human claims credit for what God has done. Apostle Paul mentioned this kind of wrong boasting as that which characterized his opponents who want to boast as to the number of people they get to become circumcised, as we read in Galatians 6:13:
Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh.
As we indicated, when God is left out in any kind of boasting then it is wrong, as conveyed in James 4:16:
As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.
In the context of James, the boasting that is evil is any kind of assertion about the future that is devoid of the recognition that God controls the future as should be indicated by prefacing such assertion by saying “if God wills or permits” or by the thought that a person’s plan is wholly in God’s hand.
The right kind of boasting is one that is centered on God or what He did or does through others or directly. Thus, we have examples of the right kind of boasting in the Scripture. Apostle Paul indicates that his boasting is in what Christ did on the cross hence, his assertion of wanting to boast about the cross of Christ in Galatians 6:14:
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
It is not only the cross of Christ that led the apostle to boast but also the impact of the cross in the spiritual lives of believers. Therefore, the apostle boasted about those who excel in their spiritual life, as he did to Titus regarding the Corinthians, according to 2 Corinthians 7:14:
I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well.
He did the same thing in praising the Corinthians to the Macedonians concerning their generosity, as we read in 2 Corinthians 9:2:
For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.
The apostle also boasted about an aspect of the spiritual life of the Thessalonians, as we read in 2 Thessalonians 1:4:
Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
Anyway, we should be careful about boasting that is self-centered. The apostle was careful of this that when he boasted of the revelations he had received from the Lord, he used the third person in 2 Corinthians 12:5:
I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.
The “man” the apostle meant is himself. It is because he was cautious regarding boasting about self that he used the third person in his boasting of the visions he received from the Lord. A reason we should be careful not to boast about self is so that others do not overrate us, so to say, as the apostle stated in 2 Corinthians 12:6:
Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
Boasting about self or self-achievement is an indicator that one does not understand that there is nothing that the person achieved or attained were it not for the grace of God, as indicated in the penetrating questions of 1 Corinthians 4:7:
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
It is important we be conscious that whatever we have by way of blessing is from God, as the Holy Spirit taught us through Apostle John in John 3:27:
To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.
The word “heaven” here is a reference to God. Consequently, it is important that we constantly remind ourselves that everything we receive is from God. Boasting that is correct should be related to spiritual matters. This is the implication of boasting about knowing God that the Holy Spirit spoke through Prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 9:24:
but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.
The boasting Apostle Paul described in Romans 1:30 is the wrong kind because God is left out or not acknowledged by the idolaters. Anyway, the fifteenth thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is being “boastful” as given in the NIV of Romans 1:30 and boastful.
The sixteenth thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is being contrivers of morally objectionable behaviors as given in the NIV of Romans 1:30 they invent ways of doing evil. The NIV reads as if the Greek used a verb but that is not the case. In fact, the sentence they invent of the NIV is translated from a Greek adjective (epheuretēs) that appears only here in the Greek NT; it refers to “a person who forms strategies or tactics to effect something,” hence means “an inventor, contriver.” Those described are contrivers or inventors of evil. The word “evil” is translated from a Greek word (kakos) that may pertain to being socially or morally reprehensible and so means “bad, evil.” The word may mean “wrong” in the sense of what is contrary to custom or law, as it is used in Romans 14:20:
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.
It is used in the sense of “bad” to describe bad desires in Colossians 3:5:
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
The Greek word may mean “wicked”, as it is used by the Lord Jesus to commend the church in Ephesus as recorded in Revelation 2:2:
I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.
The Greek word may pertain to being harmful or injurious hence means “injurious, dangerous, pernicious.” It is in this sense the word is used to describe God’s judgment in Revelation 16:2:
The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.
The adjective “ugly” is more literally “evil.” Anyway, in our passage of Romans 1:30, the word means “evil” in the sense of morally objectionable behavior. So, those who are described know how to do or come up with things that are morally objectionable and not be bothered by what they do. In any event, the sixteenth thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is being contrivers of morally objectionable behaviors as given in the NIV of Romans 1:30 they invent ways of doing evil.
The seventeenth thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is disobedience of parents as given in the NIV of Romans 1:30 they disobey their parents. Again, there is no verb used; instead, we have a Greek adjective (apeithēs) translated “disobedient” in the NIV in describing the characteristics of people in the last days in the passage we cited previously, that is, 2 Timothy 3:2:
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
In our passage of Romans 1:30, it means “disobedient” so that the sentence in the NIV they disobey their parents is more literally disobedient to parents. Being disobedient characterizes the life of an unbeliever as implied in what Apostle Paul said to Titus concerning his state as well as others prior to salvation as described in Titus 3:3:
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
There can be no doubt that although some believers disobey God’s word, such disobedience is that which characterizes an unbeliever. However, the object of disobedience in our verse is given in the phrase their parents. It is expected that children should be obedient to their parents as that is part of honoring of parents given in the fifth code of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5:16:
“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
Consequently, disobedience to parents is that which is not expected, especially of those in covenant relationship with God. To convey this fact, God instructed the Israelites to stone to death a child that consistently disobeys the parents so that the child is described as rebellious as instructed in Deuteronomy 21:18–21:
18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
Hence, it is not surprising that those in idolatry are described as being disobedient to their parents. Of course, the concept of obedience to parents is one of the moral imperatives that God has placed in humans that every society recognizes it. The Romans even went a step further in demanding death on those who do not obey their parents. Anyway, the seventeenth thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is disobedience of parents as given in the NIV of Romans 1:30 they disobey their parents.
The eighteenth thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is their uncomprehending of things related to God as given in the NIV of Romans 1:31 they are senseless or they have no understanding of the 2011 edition of the NIV. In either case, the translators of the NIV used the verb “are” or “have” that is not in the Greek, since we have a Greek adjective (asynetos) that pertains to a lack of capacity for insight and understanding hence, means “without understanding, senseless, foolish.” The word is used in the sense of “dull” or “unintelligent” in the question of the Lord Jesus to His disciplines who failed to understand that things from outside of a person, such as food, do not render an individual unclean as we read in Mark 7:18:
“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’?
In our passage of Romans 1:31, the word means “uncomprehending,” that is, “lacking the ability to understand the meaning or importance of something.” It is fitting that those in idolatry are described as uncomprehending or without understanding since idolatry is senseless and a demonstration of spiritual unintelligence. Prophet Isaiah aptly described the foolishness or the senselessness of those in idolatry because they are dull or unintelligent to make the connection between the wooden idols they make and the use of the same materials for cooking as described in Isaiah 44:16–19:
16 Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” 17From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me; you are my god.” 18They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. 19 No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
You see, the prophet makes the point that those involved in idolatry lack understanding as it relates to spiritual matters or as it relates to the worship of God. In any event, the eighteenth thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is their uncomprehending of things related to God as given in the NIV of Romans 1:31 they are senseless or they have no understanding of the 2011 edition of the NIV.
The nineteenth thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is that they are those who go back on their promise or commitment as given in the NIV of Romans 1:31 faithless or no fidelity of the 2011 edition of the NIV. This is because the word “faithless” is translated from a Greek adjective (asynthetos) that appears only here in the Greek NT, but the word is used four times in the Septuagint of the book of Jeremiah to translate two related Hebrew words. The word is used to translate a Hebrew adjective that is used in Jeremiah 3:7, 10 to describe Judah but let me read Jeremiah 3:7:
I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.
The word “unfaithful” is translated from a Hebrew adjective (bāḡôḏ) that may mean “faithless” or “treacherous.” These two words are synonymous although the eleventh edition of Merriam-Webster Dictionary distinguished them. It says that “faithless applies to any failure to keep a promise or pledge or any breach of allegiance or loyalty” while “treacherous implies readiness to betray trust or confidence.” Our Greek word is used twice to translate a Hebrew verb used in Jeremiah 3:8,11 to describe Judah but let me read Jeremiah 3:8:
I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.
The word “unfaithful” is translated from a Hebrew verb (bāḡǎḏ) that may mean “to act or deal treacherously, that is, to be faithless to a principle, person or group, often with a result of handing someone into control of another, with justification.” The word may be used for spiritual adultery in the sense of unfaithfulness to God in worship of idols. Here in Jeremiah, it is a participle that is used, hence the translation “unfaithful” of the NIV. The sense conveyed in the two Hebrew words is carried over to the Greek NT word that is our concern. Thus, our Greek word is concerned with going back on one’s word or commitment so that it could be translated “faithless” as in the NIV or “covenant breaking.” So, the word “faithless” should not be understood as one that refuses to believe. The point is that those described in the passage we are considering cannot be trusted to keep their word or commitment. It is for this reason that we state that the nineteenth thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is that they are those who go back on their promise or commitment as given in the NIV of Romans 1:31 faithless or no fidelity of the 2011 edition of the NIV. This description is opposite the true worshipper of God that would not go back on a promise or word as stated, using the word oath, in Psalm 15:4:
who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts,
The twentieth thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is that they are those who have no affection for others as given in the NIV of Romans 1:31 heartless or no love of the 2011 edition of the NIV. The word “heartless” or the expression “no love” is translated from a Greek word (astorgos) that occurs twice in the Greek NT; it refers to a person who lacks good feelings for others or a person without natural affection. Hence, in the other occurrence of the word, it is translated with the meaning “without love” in the NIV in describing people in the last days as we read in 2 Timothy 3:3:
without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
In our passage of Romans 1:31, the word has the meaning of “hardhearted” or “heartless, that is, lacking in affection for others.” A person described with this word lacks basic human affection even as it pertains to family members. In any event, the twentieth thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is that they are those who have no affection for others as given in the NIV of Romans 1:31 heartless or no love of the 2011 edition of the NIV.
The twenty-first thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts that is related to the previous characterization is that they are those who are cruel or unmerciful as given in the NIV of Romans 1:31 ruthless or no mercy of the 2011 edition of the NIV. The word “ruthless” is translated from a Greek word (aneleēmōn) that appears only here in Greek NT. However, it is used in the Septuagint to translate a Hebrew word (ʾǎḵzārî) that means “cruel, merciless, i.e., pertaining to ruthless behavior toward another” as it is used to distinguish a kind person from one that is cruel as stated in Proverbs 11:17:
A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.
Our Greek word is thus used in the sense of “merciless,” that is, “having or showing no mercy.” We indicated that this characterization we are considering is similar to the previous since for a person to show no mercy or be cruel that individual must have no affection or feeling towards another. Anyway, the twenty-first thing Apostle Paul mentioned that characterizes idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts that is related to the previous characterization is that they are those who are cruel or unmerciful as given in the NIV of Romans 1:31 ruthless or no mercy of the 2011 edition of the NIV.
We have considered twenty-one things Apostle Paul said about those God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts. However, to end his discourse on such individuals, the apostle made two assertions about them. A first assertion is that they know the consequence of rejecting God’s righteous requirement. It is this assertion that is given in the first clause of the NIV of Romans 1:32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death. A literal translation reads who, having known fully the just requirements of God, that the (ones) doing such (things) are worthy of death.
Apostle Paul did not leave the readers to wonder about those that he had in mind in the assertion he made in verse 32 as the idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts, he began the verse with a Greek relative pronoun (hostis) that may refer to “any person” in a generalizing sense hence means “whoever.” It may also refer to “undetermined person belonging to a class or having a status” and so means “who, one who.” The word may serve to give a reason for something so it may mean “since, because” as, for example, in Apostle Paul’s instruction to Titus to silence false teachers in Crete because of the spiritual damage they were doing to believers as recorded in Titus 1:11:
They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
The clause because they are ruining whole households is more literally whoever are ruining whole families. In our passage of Romans 1:32, the word is used both to emphasize the recipients of God’s punishment and the related reason their conduct is all the more shocking so that the Greek word may in our verse mean “seeing that they,” or “inasmuch as they” where the pronoun “they” would then refer to the idolaters that are the subject of discourse of the apostle.
The reason for the conduct of the idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts under God’s punishment is shocking, is because of the knowledge they possess. It is this reason that is given in the clause of Romans 1:32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death. The clause Although they know is literally having known fully, since that is how to translate literally the Greek participle involved. The word “although” in the NIV is a way to translate the Greek participle used to convey that a concession is implied. In effect, the sense would be that the apostle admitted something that is true of the idolaters that will make their action to be shocking. Anyway, the Greek participle in view is translated from a Greek word (epiginōskō) that may mean “to have knowledge about something or someone, implying a thoroughness or competence” as the kind of information believers have about the truth as we read in 1 Timothy 4:3:
They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
The word may mean “to understand” as it is used by Apostle Paul to state to the Corinthians that his epistle to them was not subject to double meaning, what he wrote is straightforward and not complicated as we read in 2 Corinthians 1:13:
For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that,
The word may mean “to identify newly acquired information with what had been previously learned or known,” that is, “to recognize” as it is used to describe those who identified the crippled man the Lord healed through Peter as we read in Acts 3:10:
they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
The word may mean “to acknowledge” as it is used to describe the response Apostle Paul expected from some in Corinth that probably claimed to be spiritual elites regarding what he wrote them as we read in 1 Corinthians 14:37:
If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command.
In our passage of Romans 1:32, the Greek word has the sense of “to become thoroughly acquainted with” or “to know well.” As we said, the apostle used a Greek participle, but it is used to describe the idolaters that God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts in such a way that implies a reason for what the apostle asserted they did was shocking since they are those with full knowledge or those who are thoroughly acquainted with something.
The object of the full knowledge of the idolaters in view is God’s righteous requirement as given in the clause of Romans 1:32 God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death. The phrase God’s righteous decree is literally the just requirements of God. This is because the expression “righteous decree” is translated from a Greek word (dikaiōma) that may mean “a regulation relating to just or right action,” and so it is with the meaning “regulation” that the word is used to describe the devotion of the devout husband and wife team, Zechariah and Elizabeth, in Luke 1:6:
Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.
The word may mean “an action that meets expectations as to what is right or just,” hence it means “righteous deed or act” as it is used to provide the reasons nations would worship the Lord in the future as stated in Revelation 15:4:
Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
In our passage of Romans 1:32, the word means “righteous commandment,” that is, “an authoritative rule; especially regarding righteous behavior.” The Greek construction implies that the righteous commandment is from or originates from God.
A question arises as to how we should understand the phrase God’s righteous decree or “righteous commandment of God.” The apostle did not directly state it although some interpret it as defined by the clause that follows. That aside, it is not a reference to God’s laws as revealed in the Scripture since the apostle’s focus is those who are in idolatry because they rejected God’s revelation of Himself in creation. This notwithstanding, the apostle’s use of the singular for the Greek word that we say means “righteous commandment” implies that he meant the totality of God’s commandment that is revealed through creation that would involve avoidance of idolatry and the lifestyle that is associated with that that is contrary to the sinful conducts the apostle listed. In effect, God through creation has revealed His requirement of being the only object of worship and this being the case, He has put in humans, moral standards that reflect to a limited sense His moral character that should be followed as the apostle later described in verses 14 and 15 of the second chapter of this epistle. He has put knowledge of what is right and wrong in people. Such knowledge requires the avoidance of sinful activities the apostle had listed.
Anyway, the apostle not only conveyed that the idolaters through creation know God’s righteous requirement, but he also indicated that they know of the consequence of not obeying God’s righteous requirement as stated in the clause of Romans 1:32 that those who do such things deserve death. The apostle is concerned with habitual practice of sinful conduct because the word “do” is translated from a Greek word (prassō) that may mean “to engage in activity or to behave in a certain way,” hence means “to act, behave,” as the word is used of the activity of those who killed Jesus as in Peter’s explanation of their action as due to ignorance according to Acts 3:17:
“Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.
The word may mean “to do” or “to practice” as it is used to describe the activities of those who were involved in sorcery in Ephesus that had their scrolls burned upon believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as we read in Acts 19:19:
A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
In our passage of Romans 1:32, the word means “to accomplish or to perform,” that is, “to do or carry out an action; often conveying an idea of moral rightness or wrongness in the action.” The Greek used a present tense so that the implication in this particular case is that of forming habit or doing something regularly so that those the apostle describe are characterized by what they do wrong.
The apostle states those who do such things deserve death. The phrase such things refers to the vices the apostle had listed in the context. Thus, the apostle meant that those who form the habit of carrying out the vices he listed are worthy of death. You see, the word “deserve” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (axios) that may mean “worth as much” or “equal in value” as that is the sense our Greek word is used by Apostle Paul to indicate that our present suffering cannot be put on equality with the glory that is to come in Romans 8:18:
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
The word may mean “worthy, deserving” either in a good or bad sense. It is in a good sense of worthy or deserving of wages by a worker that Apostle Paul used it in a quotation from OT Scripture to support that those who labor in the gospel should be supported as stated in 1 Timothy 5:18:
For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”
It is in the negative sense that it is used in our passage of Romans 1:32. The apostle communicates that those who disobey God’s righteous instruction deserve death. Again, the apostle does not elaborate on how the idolaters would know this and what kind of death he meant. Although the apostle did not specify the kind of death he meant, he would probably have meant first and foremost spiritual death in which a person is eternally estranged from God. Later, the apostle referenced this death as the fate of all fallen humanity without faith in Christ as stated in Romans 6:23:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The apostle would also have had in mind physical death since in the law some of the sinful conducts he listed are punishable by death. For example, homosexuality is punishable by death as stated in Leviticus 20:13:
“‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
The Romans and the Greeks also applied death punishment to those who commit murder or in some cases, among the Romans, those who were disobedient to parents. Anyway, the first assertion of the apostle that we have considered is that those God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts know the consequence of rejecting God’s righteous requirement.
The second assertion of the apostle is that those God handed over to despicable or morally reprehensible thoughts is that they not only ignore God’s righteous commandment, but they approve others who do the same. This assertion is given in the last sentence of Romans 1:32 they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. This sentence reinforces the idea that those that the apostle had in mind were in the habit of doing the things that are contrary to God’s requirement as the word “continue” implies and so we are correct to indicate that they have formed the habit of behaving contrary to God’s requirement. By the way, the word “do” in this sentence is translated from a different Greek word (poieō) than used in the previous clause (prassō). Scholars in the past have labored to differentiate the two Greek words but it is difficult to provide a decisive difference between the two in their NT usage. For, in some context, the two Greek words may be translated “do” and in some others each may be translated “practice.” The point is that it is not easy to differentiate the two Greek words.
Be that as it may, the concern of the apostle is that those he had been describing not only practice things that are contrary to God’s word, but they approve of those who do the same as in the sentence of Romans 1:32 but also approve of those who practice them. The word “approve” is translated from a Greek word (syneudokeō) that may mean “to approve” as it is used to narrate the rebuke of the Lord Jesus to the Jews during His earthly ministry that by their actions approve of their fathers’ action as described in Luke 11:48:
So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.
The word may mean “to be willing to do something” as it is used to instruct a believing spouse not to divorce an unbelieving spouse that is willing to remain in the marriage although the other spouse has not become saved as yet as stated in 1 Corinthians 7:12:
To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.
In our passage of Romans 1:32, the word means “to approve together,” that is, “to approve something with another or others.” The Greek used a present tense so that there is implication that those involved have formed the habit of approving things that are wrong as if they are right. We can understand this because they are doing the same things or they are complaisant about sinful conduct. Those who approve sinful conduct are under God’s judgment as implied in the declaration of Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 5:20:
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Those who approve of sinful conduct are themselves guilty of the same conduct although they may not have committed the sin involved. For sure, those who do and encourage others to commit the same sin are under greater judgment than those they encourage. This statement is deduced from the position the Lord Jesus assigned those who do not obey the law and teach others to do the same as we read in Matthew 5:19:
Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
In any event, with what the apostle stated in Romans 1:32, he ends his discourse on the punishment of handing over idolaters to all kinds of sinful conducts. So, let me also end with a reminder of the message we have considered which is God punishes idolaters who although know the consequence of rejecting His righteous requirements reject them anyway, by handing them over to all kinds of sinful conducts.
09/20/24