Paul Among The People--Romans 1:28-32
Day 6
The result of what Paul describes in Romans 1:24-27 as serving the creature instead of the Creator (homosexuality) is described in Romans 1:28-32 and shows, at least to me, that the worst possible outcome for a relationship is not heat and anger or reproachfulness and regret, but downright Don’t Give A Damn Anymore apathy.
(Sort of like the Jo Dee Messina song “You can crawl back home, Say you were wrong, Stand out in the yard And cry all night long Go ahead and water the lawn My give a damn's busted.”)
When God shrugs and washes His hands of you…
Romans 1:28-32 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper, 29 people having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful; 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 approve of those who practice them.
The consequences then, of a society of unbelievers that rejects God is a descent into moral depravity.
Instead of striking the morally depraved left and right with lightning bolts or some other inventive way of smiting (a la the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis), God let’s wicked humanity go.
God allows humanity free reign to express their sin unchecked.
Sarah Ruden, in Paul Among The People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time, describes how Paul might have felt about the moral depravity of homosexuality that he witnessed in his lifetime:
“I picture Paul, flushed and sweating in his rage as he writes that everyone is responsible for what pederasty has made of society, especially those who, egging one another on in an insolent, boastful clique, damage others with active sodomy and then blames them. These acts are the very same things, no matter who is doing what to whom.”
If the public library administrator allows a male who dresses and acts like a female to come into the public space of the library to read to children, to glorify the culture of the creature, and not the Creator, then…that person is morally culpable as well.
God gave them up to a depraved mind or as Michael Middendorf describes in The “I” In The Storm, a useless mind:
“Far from agreeing with the Law of God, the unbelieving Gentiles have a “useless mind” which constantly and willingly opposes God, and also gives approval when what they know of God’s will for right and wrong conduct is violated. There is no division between willing good and doing evil.”
Ruden remarks on the “inventors of evil” from verse 29, and what that could mean:
“It did not look as if God had created sodomy, but that humans had. In its Greco-Roman form it was, like the idolatry it is linked with in this passage, essentially a worship of the self and its immediate desires, with all of the stupidity and cruelty that entailed.”
Without God’s moral anchor, we become slaves to our desires.
Destruction inevitably follows.
And then always the rationalization for selfish behavior–so that Drag Queen Story Hour becomes just a healthy expression of LGBTQ+ pride and not the breaking of taboos between connecting young children to sexualized situations.
When I looked around, I didn't see any evidence of Drag Queen Story Hour in nursing homes.
David Anderson of The Bible Says, describes how the progression of wickedness in verses 29 and 30 might happen:
“It is a natural progression. If we have Self as our "base"—if fulfilling our appetites is the chief end we pursue, of course greed would characterize our lives. If greed is now justified in our debased mind, then of course envy would naturally follow. This would naturally lead to cheating, lying, or coercing to achieve our envious desires.
Subsequently, we will surely quarrel with anyone who stands in our way and have malice toward them, resulting in strife. To the extent we are able, we will destroy the person obstructing our desires from being met, which is the root attitude behind murder. Short of physical destruction, we can pursue personal destruction through deceit, malice, and unmerciful antagonism toward others.”
I think our country sits squarely in the middle of verses 29-30, right now, and maybe we always have, I just haven’t noticed or I’ve been a willing participant.
It’s remarkable our country is still standing.
Paul is clear–if we persist in not acknowledging God and His Law, we WILL BE abandoned to ourselves.
We, as we know, profoundly and embarrassingly suck when left to our own devices.
Lord, forgive us for the times we have turned away from You and allowed our hearts and minds to be filled with things that displease You. Forgive us for wherever we fit into Paul’s list in verses 29-30.
Lord, help us to walk in Your ways and to reject the behaviors and attitudes that lead us away from You. Give us the strength to stand firm in our faith, even when the world around us promotes sin and ungodliness.
Amen.