Given Over By God (Romans 1:24–32)

Asher Chee | 12 September 2020

There are some passages in the Bible which I feel less inclined to teach on because they contain things which are difficult to accept; they do not make us feel good. This is one of those passages. Many preachers have the freedom to choose which Bible passage they want to teach on each week. However, the thing about teaching through the Bible verse by verse is that I do not have that luxury. I am guided by the text, and what the text says, I have to teach; I cannot avoid anything. The result of this is that we get a fuller picture of what the Bible teaches, and not just the things which make us feel good and fit our idea of God.

Previously, in verses 18–23, Paul had been talking about how, even though men knew God, they rejected him and turned to their sins. Our passage today begins with a “therefore”, indicating that in this passage, Paul is going to talk about the consequences of rejecting God and turning to sin: “Therefore,” Paul says, “God gave them over.” Since men wanted their sins instead of God, God gave them over to their sins. Parents sometimes do this to discipline their wilful children, “Go ahead then, do it and see what happens!” When the Israelites in the wilderness complained that they had no meat, God let them have meat—a lot of meat! He said to them, “You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you.” (Numbers 11:19–20 ESV)

Three times in this passage, Paul repeats the phrase “God gave them over”, and each time, he mentions an aspect of sin which God gives people over to when they reject him. Let us take a look at these three aspects in turn.

Impurity

Firstly, God gives them over to impurity. Verse 24 says: “Therefore, God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to the uncleanness of dishonouring their bodies among themselves.” (v. 24)

The phrase “in the desires of their hearts” describes the context of God’s action. God gives them over while their hearts are filled with sinful desires. He gives them over “to uncleanness”, or “impurity”. The result of them being given over to uncleanness is the “dishonouring of their bodies among themselves”. The language here is broad enough to describe sexual immorality in general. In 1 Corinthians 6:18, Paul says that “every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” (ESV) Sexual immortality is special in that unlike other sins, sexual immortality is a sin against one’s own body. That is why Paul refers to sexual immorality here as the “dishonouring of their bodies among themselves”.

At this point, it would be helpful to point out that just because you have committed sexual immorality, it does not mean that God has given you over to the desires of your heart to uncleanness, just as he has done to these people. If you trust in Jesus Christ to save you from your sins, but you are still struggling against your sins, then you are definitely not one of these people whom Paul is describing here. If God has handed you over to your sins, you would not be struggling with your sins right now. Moreover, the description of these people which Paul gives in the next verse does not fit you: “They exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and revered and served the creation rather than him who creates, who is blessed forever, amen!” (v. 25)

We saw the word “exchanged” earlier on in verse 23, where men “exchanged” the worship of God for the worship of created things. The Greek word for “exchange” in verse 23 is allassō. But here in verse 25, the Greek word for “exchange” is metallassō, which is essentially the same word, allassō, but with the meta- prefix, which intensifies its meaning. Men have completely rejected “the truth of God”.

“The truth of God” refers to what is true about God. We saw in the last session that men fully know the truth of God because God has revealed the truth of himself in such a way that they cannot miss it, so much such that they have no excuse (1:18–20). But men did not like the truth about who God is, so what did they do? They exchanged it away “for the lie”. They rejected the truth of God, and in its place, they accepted the lie. Your translations say “a lie”, but the Greek text has a definite article, “the lie”. It refers to the lie that created things are to be worshipped.

In an effort to live consistently with the lie, men “revered and served the creation.” The word “revere” here means to give due respect. Your translations render this word as “worshipped”. In verse 18, we find that men have an “irreverence” toward God; they did not revere God, but here in verse 25, we see that they still revere. Even if we would not revere the true God, we will still revere something else. The Greek word for “serve” here is latreuō, which means to render divine service to a god. So these two terms, “revere” and “serve”, are terms denoting worship to a god.

Men worshipped “the creation rather than him who creates.” Your translations say “Creator”, but the Greek text uses a participle, which emphasizes the identity of God in his act of creating. The word “creation” here refers to created things. God is the one who creates, and quite obviously, he who creates is greater than that which he created. Therefore, by all reasonableness, he who creates should be worshipped rather than that which is created. And yet, by some ridiculous reversal of reasonableness, men chose to worship the created thing rather than the one who created in the first place! That is why, when Paul mentions God as the one who creates, he adds, “who is blessed forever, amen!” The word “blessed” here means “worthy of being blessed”. It highlights the ridiculousness of men’s choice of not blessing God who is worthy of being blessed but instead worshipping the things created by him which are not worthy of being blessed.

Impropriety

So, because people rejected God, God gave them over to impurity. Secondly, God gave them over to improriety. “Impropriety” refers to what is not proper. Verse 26 says: “Because of this, God gave them over to dishonourable passions.”

“Because of this”—because of what? We have just seen in verse 25 that men rejected the truth of God and worshipped created things. “Because of this, God gave them over to dishonourable passions.” These “dishonourable passions” are the passions which are behind the “dishonouring of their bodies among themselves” in verse 24.

Paul goes on to describe what happens when people are given over to dishonourable passions: “For their females exchanged their natural use for that which is contrary to nature.”

“For their females.” Your translations say “women”, but the Greek word here is thēlys, which means “female”. It is a gender term. Paul is emphasizing that this is a gender issue. “Their females” means the females among them. Remember that Paul had been talking about people in general, and now, what he says here pertains specifically to the females among these people.

The Greek word for “use” here is chrēsis, which is used here to mean sexual role. The word “natural” means “being in accordance with the basic order of things in nature.” (BDAG) Notice how this means that there is a basic order of things in nature. God has designed the world and everything in it to function in a certain way, and “natural” means being consistent with the God’s design. So females have a “natural use”, a sexual role which is in accordance with how God designed them.

But when God gives people over to impropriety, “Their females exchanged their natural use for that which is contrary to nature.” Here we see the word “exchanged” again. When people exchange away the Creator, they also exchange away the Creator’s design. These women exchanged away their natural sexual role, and in its place, they take on “that which is contrary to nature”. The Greek word for “that” is actually a definite article, which indicates that Paul meant to refer to the “use” here again. Hence, “Their females exchanged their natural use for a use which is contrary to nature”—a sexual role which is not in accordance with the way God designed them.

Paul continues describing what happens when God gives people over to dishonourable passions: “Likewise also the males, leaving the natural use of the female, burned in the longing of one another.” (v. 27) “Likewise” means “in the same manner”. “Likewise also the males.” Again, your translations say “men”, but the Greek word here is arsēn, which means “male”, emphasizing gender. Previously, Paul had talked about the females among them, and now he turns his attention to the males.

What did the males do? “Leaving the natural use of the female.” Here again, we see the phrase “natural use”. So again, females have a natural God-designed sexual role, but these males abandoned it, and instead, what did they do? They “burned in the longing of one another.” The Greek word for “burn” here means “to be set on fire”, but it is used here to signify the intensity of their longing, their desire, their passion. The ESV renders this dynamically: “and [they] were consumed with passion for one another.”

Paul goes on to describe the unnatural sexual activity which they engage in when they act on their burning passion: “Males in males, accomplishing disgrace.” The word for “disgrace” here is variously rendered in your translations as “shameless acts” (ESV), “shameful acts” (NIV), “indecent acts” (NASB), or “what is shameful” (NKJV). It essentially refers to “behaviour that elicits disgrace.” So, unnatural sexual activity is disgraceful in God’s estimation.

Paul tells us that as they are indulging in this unnatural sexual activity, these people are “receiving back in themselves the repayment which was necessary for their error.” The word “error” means “a going astray,” or “a wandering from the path of truth.” (BDAG) Here, “their error” refers to their rejection of God; their “going astray” from God. The phrase “receiving back in themselves” indicates that their indulgence in unnatural sexual activity is something that is happening to them as a consequence of rejecting God. The word “repayment” means “requital based upon what one deserves.” (BDAG) It indicates that this consequence which they are suffering is rightfully deserved.

Impunity

So as we have seen so far, because people rejected God, God gave them over to impurity and impropriety. Thirdly, God gave them over to impuinity. The word “impunity” means “without punishment”. Of course, these people will not get away without punishment forever, but for now, God gives them over to impunity in the sense that they do not experience the anger of God for their sins.

Paul writes in verse 28: “And just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge, God gave them over to an unapproved mind.” “To have God in knowledge” here means to acknowledge God (ESV, NASB). The Greek text actually has the verb echō, meaning “to have”, and some translations retain it in translation: “retain God in their knowledge” (NKJV), “retain the knowledge of God” (NIV).

Take a look at the word “approve”. Your translations render it variously as “see fit” (ESV, NASB), “think it worthwhile” (NIV), or “like” (KJV, NKJV). The Greek word for “approve” here is dokimazō, which means to approve by testing. Paul says that these people “did not approve to have God in knowledge.” This means that their refusal to acknowledge God was not without thought. Rather, it was calculated; it involved a process of evaluation. They thought about it, and they decided that they did not want to acknowledge God. They evaluated God in their minds, and they judged God unworthy of their acknowledgement.

Since people did not approve to acknowledge God, “God gave them over to an unapproved mind.” Your translations render “unapproved” variously as “debased” (ESV, NKJV) or “depraved” (NIV, NASB). However, this obscures the connection with the previous clause. The Greek word for “unapproved” here is related to the Greek word for “approve” in the previous clause. So, “Just as they did not approve to have God in mind, God gave them over to an unapproved mind.” The expression “just as” indicates that God’s giving them over to an unapproved mind is a proportionate response to their not approving to acknowledge him.

What does it mean to have an “unapproved mind”? The Greek word for “unapproved”, the adjective adokimos, describes something that has failed a quality test. Hence, an “unapproved mind” is a mind which, if one were to evaluate its quality, he would declare it “not approved!” So, an “unapproved mind” signifies a mind of bad quality. The result of being given over to an unapproved mind is “to do the things which are not proper.”

These “things which are not proper” are the sins which Paul goes on to list in verses 29–31: “Having been filled with every unrighteousness, evil, greed, badness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, bad character. Whisperers, slanderous, God-haters, violent, proud, boasters, strategists of bad things, unobedient to parents, unsensible, untrustworthy, unfeeling, unmerciful.” This list contains 21 sins which can be divided into three sets.

The first set is more general in nature. It is introduced with the expression “having been filled”, which indicates that these people have reached this point of being given over by God to an unapproved mind after a process of being “filled” with these sins. Here again we see God giving people over to the very sins which they rejected God for. They were being filled with these sins, and now that they have been filled up with these sins, God gave them over to an unapproved mind, so that they would go on doing these sins. The word “every” or “all” here means “every kind of”. Let us take a look at the sins in this first set:

“Unrighteousness” denotes something that is not morally right. It is a general term for sin. We saw this word before in verse 18, “the anger of God is revealed from heaven against every irreverence and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”
“Evil” is the active, deliberate will to inflict harm on others.
“Greed” is the wrongful desire to have more than one should have.
“Badness”. Some of your translations say “evil”, but the Greek word kakia is the most general Greek word for badness.

The second set lists more specific sins. This set is introduced with the word “full”, which describes these same people as “being thoroughly characterized” by these sins (BDAG). The elements of this second set are as follows:

“Envy” is the desire the possess something which belongs to someone else.
“Murder” is the unlawful killing of another human being. Jesus makes it clear that being angry with someone for no good reason is already murder (Matthew 5:21–22).
“Strife” means “engagement in rivalry.” (BDAG) This can manifest in the tendency to pick fights and start enmity unnecessarily.
“Deceit” means “taking advantage through craft and underhanded methods.” (BDAG) It refers to any deliberate attempt to mislead someone for one’s own advantage.
“Bad character”. The Greek word here is kakoētheia, which is made up of two parts: the adjective kakos, meaning “bad”, and (2) the noun ēthos, meaning “character”. Kakoētheia is “a basic defect in character that leads one to be hurtful to others.” (BDAG)

The third set does not list sins, but instead lists descriptions these people in terms of their doing sins. These people are:

“Whisperers”. The Greek word psithyristēs means “whisperer”, but your translations rightly recognize that it is being used here to mean “gossip” or “rumour-mongerer” because the related Greek word psithyrismos, meaning “whisper”, can be used to mean “gossip”, as in “derogatory information about someone that is offered in a tone of confidentiality.” (BDAG)
“Slanderous” describes people who “[speak] ill of others.” (BDAG)
“God-haters”. The Greek word theostygēs could mean “God-hated” as it does in other Greek literature, but many scholars prefer to take it in the active sense, hence, “God-haters”.
“Violent”. The Greek word hybristēs refers to “a violent, insolent person.” (BDAG) It is related to the verb hybrizō, which means “to treat in an insolent or spiteful manner.” (BDAG) These people are bullies.
“Proud” refers to those who have “a state of undue sense of one’s importance bordering on insolence.” (BDAG s.v. ὑπερηφανία) The same Greek word is used in the New Testament for the proverb, “God opposes the proud” (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5), quoting Proverbs 3:34.
“Boasters”. Boasting is the outward expression of pride.
“Strategists of bad things”. Many translations say “inventors of evil”, but I think that is too soft. The Greek word for “strategist” here refers to “one who forms strategies or tactics to effect something.” (BDAG) A better translation would be something like, “tacticians of evil”. These people are not content with the usual ways of sinning, so they think up new and innovative ways to sin.
“Unobedient to parents”. One of the Ten Commandments is “Honour your father and your mother.” (Exodus 20:12) This includes obedience to one’s parents: “Obey your parents in the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:1) These people defy this commandment of the Lord.
“Unsensible”. We have seen this word before in verse 21: “their unsensible hearts were darkened.” The word “unsensible” itself means without understanding. However, as we have seen, this is not a mental deficiency. Rather, it is a result of the suppression of truth. The more someone suppresses the truth in his mind, the less capable he becomes of understanding the truth. He will become unsensible.
“Untrustworthy”. Many of your translations say “faithless”, which may give the impression that the word means “having no faith” in the sense of being unbelieving, but that is not accurate. Rather, the Greek word asynthetos here refers to those who “renege on their word.” (BDAG) In other words, they do not keep their promises.
“Unfeeling” describes people who are “lacking in good feelings for others, thereby jeopardizing the maintenance of relationships (e.g. political and familial) that are essential to a well-ordered society.” (BDAG)
“Unmerciful” is the opposite of “being concerned about people in their need.” (BDAG s.v. ἐλεήμων)

Paul goes on to describe these people: “They, knowing the righteous standard of God, that those who practice these such things are worthy of death, not only do these things, but also give approval those who practice.” (v. 32)

The Greek word for “know” here means to “know exactly, completely, through and through.” (BDAG) These people fully know “the righteous standard of God”. Paul specifies that this “righteous standard of God” which these people fully know is “that those who practice these such things are worthy of death.” The word “practice” indicates that these people have no intentions of changing their ways. “These such things” refer to the sins listed just before in verses 29–31. “Worthy of death” means that the penalty which these people deserve for practicing these sins is death.

These people fully know that in God’s estimation, those who do these things deserve to die, and yet they “not only do these things, but also give approval to those who practice” these things! They also cheer on others who, like themselves, practice these sinful things! They know that God is righteous, and so they know will one day experience from God the penalty for their sins which they rightly deserve. They fully know this, and it terrifies them, so what do they do? They encourage one another in their sinful lifestyles! Thus, their fully-knowing conscience is silenced, and they feel comfortable with continuing in their sins.

Conclusion

In the previous session, we saw that God has a righteous anger against people due to their irreverence and unrighteousness. In this session, we see that at the present time, God has not yet executed his righteous judgement on people even though they continue rejecting him and turning to their sins. Instead, he gives them over to their sins and lets them continue in them for now. In the next session, we will see that the Day of Judgement is coming when God will righteously judge all men for their sins as they deserve. That is bad news for all those who reject God and continue in their sins.

But the good news is that God is rich in mercy, and no sinner is beyond hope. God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for everyone who trust in him, so that on the Day of Judgement, they will not have to suffer the penalty for their sins even though they rightly deserve it, because Jesus has already suffered it in their place when he died on the cross for them. That is what it means to be saved. If we trust in Jesus Christ, we will be saved from suffering the penalty for our sins which we deserve.