⁵ When the LORD saw that the wickedness of man on the earth was great, and that the whole bent of his thinking was never anything but evil, the LORD regretted that he had ever made man on the earth.

²¹ I will never again curse the soil, though the bent of man’s mind may be evil from his very youth; nor ever again will I ever again destroy all life creature as I have just done.

1:22–23. This exchange of glory is the theft of glory in no uncertain terms, and could not be more “foolish” (v. 21). Humans began ascribing “wordship” to other humans, or to birds and animals and reptiles, when “their foolish hearts were darkened” (v. 21). Literally, they became fools and became idolaters. If “stupid is as stupid does,” then “foolish is as foolish does” as well. Idolatry is a sign of moral and spiritual depravity (the baseline of foolishness), a sign of the rejection of the glory and prominence of God.

For such foolishness the wrath of God is revealed, Paul says. The glory of God is the “heaviest” thing in the universe. To assign, through worship, the glory of the Creator to a part of the creation is to turn moral and spiritual sensitivity upside down. And such upsetting of the spiritual order of things has dreadful repercussions.

C. Results of the Wrath of God (1:24–32)

SUPPORTING IDEA: Because immorality springs from idolatry, a holy God is justified in revealing his wrath against the unholy practices of the human race.

So far, Paul has said that the wrath of God is revealed against humanity in light of the suppression of the truth about God. When people act as if they do not know the truth about God (“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’ ” Pss. 14:1; 53:1), then their hearts become increasingly dark and they move to idolatry. And because idols cannot speak or write, and there is no revelation to govern the people, idolatry always results in immorality (“Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint,” Prov. 29:18). The sin of the human race is getting ever more specific: first, the suppression of truth. Then, the specific sin of idolatry.

Now, Paul will catalog the specific sins that characterize the lives of those who suppress the truth about God and exchange his glory for the glory of a part of the creation. (Note: as you go through this last section, think about Rome and the people Paul was writing to. Also, think of where you live and what you observe about mankind’s descent away from God into sin. See if you think Paul’s assessment of the human tendency to sin is accurate and provides justification for his saying that the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven.)

We said above that the wrath of God that Paul discusses here is not the judgment-type wrath that will come at the end of human history. Rather, there is an ongoing, dual manifestation of his wrath, revealed in their bodies (vv. 24–27) and in their souls, or minds (vv. 28–32). It becomes obvious that what begins as a willful choice in the realm of the spirit (idolatry, vv. 21–23) ultimately manifests itself in body and soul as well.

1:24–27. Some commentators make much of the threefold occurrence of God gave them over (vv. 24, 26, 28) to construct a three-part outline of the remainder of Romans 1. However, this seems forced in light of the clear unity of verses 24–27 and its topic of sexual immorality compared against the catalog of additional sins in verses 28–32. Therefore, rather than listing three distinct ways or reasons by which God gave them over, it is more natural to see the first two occurrences (vv. 24, 26) as being repetitive for emphasis, with the final “giving over” standing by itself as indicative of a different category.

Both in the present verses, and in verses 28–32, it is important to understand what it means that God gave them over. First, note the causality indicated in both verses 24 and 26. Verse 24 begins with Therefore (dio) and verse 26 with Because of this (dia touto). Verse 24 follows Paul’s statement that human beings have exchanged the glory of God for the “glory” of created beings, and verse 26 follows his assertion that the truth of God has been exchanged for a lie.

Rather than fine-tuning the differences between these two exchanges and their resulting, respective retributions, a more general conclusion is acceptable: humankind has, as an act of the will, chosen to replace the glory of God and the truth of God with lies that justify idol worship and unbridled moral license. As a result of these choices, God has given the human race over to the pursuit of a life based on idol worship (whether outright or subtle) and philosophies built on their own moral and speculative preferences.

When God “gives them over,” is it passive or active? That is, does he merely step out of people’s way and allow them to pursue those things which depravity dictates (“He [God] ceased to hold the boat as it was dragged by the current of the river” [Frederick Godet, in loc, cited by Moo, p. 111].), or does he take an active role in moving them deeper into a downward cycle of sin “like a judge who hands over a prisoner to the punishment his crime has earned”? (Moo, p. 111). Certainly, both the human and divine elements are present in Scripture.

In the Old Testament, God handed over Israel’s enemies to her for their intentional destruction (Exod. 23:31; Deut. 7:23–24) and reversed the situation at other times by handing over Israel to her enemies (Lev. 26:25; Josh. 7:7; Judg. 2:14; 6:1, 13). These military examples are particularly instructive since God’s passively stepping out of the way and allowing war to take its inevitable result might or might not have accomplished his will or purpose. In fact, examples exist of the exact opposite of what one might have expected to happen militarily. In these cases, the active “giving over” of God is the only explanation (see, for example, the defeat of 185,000 Assyrians [2 Kgs. 19:35], and the victory of Ai over Israel [Josh. 7:3–5]). The case of Job being given into the hands of Satan is another example of God’s active involvement (though in this case not for purposes of retribution; Job 1:12; 2:6).

Another clear picture arises from Paul’s use of the same word (paradidomi) that he uses in Romans 1. In 1 Corinthians 5:5, Paul decides that a believer in the church at Corinth needs to be delivered over to Satan “so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.” This involved not a passive standing aside by Paul and the leaders of the church (allowing the man to remain a part of the fellowship), but the action of expelling him from the fellowship, delivering him to the realm of the devil. In the closest parallel found to Paul’s words in Romans 1, Ephesians 4:17–19 discusses Gentiles who have arrived at the same depraved state as Paul describes in Romans. But in Ephesians, he says that they “have given themselves over to sensuality” (paradidomi, Eph. 4:19), which certainly involves active, not passive choices on their parts.

It is best to conclude that God takes an active involvement in giving people over to the desires of their hearts. Certainly, they are responsible for their choices, and in some sense, God may be viewed as allowing sin to take its normal course. But in the end, God’s giving those who bear his image over to sin is an active process on his part, whether for reform or for retribution or both. As has been well stated, “the punishment of sin is death.”

And to what did God give them over? To sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. Note that the giving over was in the context of the sinful desires of their hearts. The sin was present in the heart before it was manifested in the body. Paul’s reference in verse 24 is a general statement of sexual immorality that resulted from idolatry, amplified in verse 26. One of the most shocking discoveries of modern archaeology has been the evidence of unbridled immorality associated with pagan worship practices. In any culture, the character of worshipers is a good indicator of the character of the worshiped. When gods are created with connections to sexual activity (such as fertility gods and goddesses), then sexual activity by worshipers is what is deemed necessary to placate the god. In general, Paul says, idolatry will ultimately lead to immorality.

But then Paul moves to the most graphic evidence of the complete inversion of the spiritual and therefore moral compass of the human species. It is not just sexual immorality to which God has given them over; it is sexual inversion and perversion. Homosexuality was rampant in the Roman Empire (fourteen of the first fifteen emperors practiced homosexuality; Hughes, Romans, p. 44), and represented perhaps the greatest offense to Jewish sensibilities. As Jewish and Gentile believers in the church in Rome looked around their society, they would have seen homosexuality practiced and encouraged at every turn.

It seems that Paul has chosen homosexuality as the nadir of sinful expression because of its complete reversal of God’s natural order. Some forms of sexual immorality (perhaps that referred to in v. 24?) at least falls within the natural order of male-female relations. But homosexuality (vv. 26–27) so totally moves out of the realm of what is natural that it indicates a total throwing off of the revealed will and design of God. It is as if those practicing it have said, “There is no order, reason, or logic associated with anything. We are free to experiment and create at will. We have become as gods, creating new orders and practices of our own.”

Homosexuality, while perhaps not the most hurtful of sins (as say, compared to murder), is certainly the ultimate in arrogance and sinful rebellion against the order of God. It is frightful to consider what happened to the Roman Empire after reaching a point of immorality, which championed homosexuality (not tolerated, but championed), and then to look at modern cultures which have devolved to a similar place morally.

Paul’s last words in verse 27—received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion—are the most frightful of all. What is the penalty? Is that penalty delivered culturally as well as individually? How many innocents suffer as a result of the error of others? And yet the penalty for homosexuality is not inevitable. Paul says that practicing homosexuals (along with some others) will not inherit the kingdom of God, but former homosexuals can (1 Cor. 6:9–11). When homosexuals, or any other person, is washed, sanctified, and justified “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (v. 11), then they are freed, at least eternally, from the penalty for their perversion.

1:28–32. Finally, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind. Knowledge is retained in the mind, and sinful humankind has decided it is not worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God. This must refer to thoughts about God, the function of the conscience, the mental evaluations that even a pagan goes through about who and where God is and how one may know him. When people do not pursue these God-given internal and external evidences (see Eccl. 3:11; Acts 17:23–31), they gradually develop minds characterized continually by depravity—as in the days of Noah: “Every inclination of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5). It is characteristic of a depraved mind to reverse the importance of everything, including evil and its origin.

Jesus Christ had this discussion with his disciples after talking to the religious leaders in his day. The Pharisees thought if they kept the exterior of their lives “clean” through the religious ritual that the inner condition of their heart would be hidden. But Jesus said that it was their heart (the inner man) that actually determined what would appear on the outside and that it was impossible to stop it. The heart, he said, is the source of all evil thoughts and actions (Mark 7:20–23).

Paul is saying essentially the same thing here. The inner motivations of humanity are depraved and result in outward behavior. The list of depraved behaviors and practices defies certain categorization as did most “vice lists” common in the moral literature of Paul’s day (see similar lists in the New Testament in Matt. 15:19; 1 Cor. 5:10–11; 6:9–10; 2 Cor. 12:20; Gal. 5:19–21; Eph. 4:31; 5:3–4; Col. 3:5, 8; 1 Tim. 1:9–10; 2 Tim 3:2–4; 1 Pet. 2:1; 4:3). But Moo has found what logical and linguistic handles do exist, translating them as follows:

1.   The first four are general in focus: “filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, greed, wickedness.”

2.  The next five revolve around envy and its consequences: “full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice.”

3.  The last twelve cover slander (two), arrogance (four), and then six related by form more than by content: “gossips, maligners, haters of God, proud, arrogant, overbearing, devisers of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, without faithfulness, without affection, without mercy” (Moo, pp. 118–119).

Paul, writing to those who undoubtedly knew of his past as a persecutor of Christian believers, concludes with what must have been a difficult thing to write (except that Paul never had any difficulty in exulting in the grace of God that saved a sinner like himself). He points out that those who act with depraved indifference are worthy of death—and know they deserve to die (Rom. 6:23). Yet they continue! And not only do they continue in the same acts, but also approve of those who practice them (1:32).

It was Paul, the zealot, who had stood by and watched the stoning of Stephen, the church’s first martyr, in Jerusalem. He did not watch passively, rather he “was there, giving approval to his death” (Acts 8:1), “guarding the clothes of those who were killing him” (Acts 22:20). Granted, Paul’s “approval” was small. He was only one person on that day who approved of the murder of a man. But as a result of his small piece of the puzzle being added to all the other pieces of the puzzle of persecution that day, “a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria” (Acts 8:1). It is possible that giving approval to sin can, in the long run, result in even greater condemnation.

Consider the attitude toward members of the black race in the post-emancipation Southern United States. How many lynch mobs were made up of people who would never have committed the sin of murder themselves individually, but by standing on the edge of the crowd gave tacit approval to what was taking place? By being there, they were helping to foment an environment of intolerance and racism and hatred. Had they been evil enough to commit the murder themselves, that would have been sinful. But to help create an environment where others are emboldened to sin, resulting in the deaths of many more, may even deserve greater condemnation.

One can only cringe at the “wrath of God” that awaits those public officials in government who, by passing legislation which not only does not restrain evil but in fact encourages it, have made it possible for millions to yield to the temptation to sin. It is true that many, weak in conviction, conscience, and caring, will not sin when they think that public sentiment is against them. But remove the restraints of moral imperatives, and sin multiplies. One of the responsibilities of leadership is to encourage righteousness and thereby restrain sin (see Rom. 13:1–7).

Paul concludes this section with a point to which he adds a counterpoint beginning with 2:1. Those who sin and approve others who do are obviously guilty and deserving of the wrath of God. But what about those who do not approve of the sin of others, those who make moral judgments about the sins they see around them? Are they as deserving of the wrath of God? Paul will answer that question next.^[7]

3:3. At one time we were not anything like the person described in verses 1 and 2. Paul made two points in remembering our past: it forms a basis for humility and compassion in the present, and it emphasizes the change that Christ has brought.

In the past, we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived. Paul included himself in this description. Without Christ, all people follow this type of lifestyle and thinking. Like all people everywhere, we belonged to the fallen system and lived according to our fallen nature. Being foolish is obstinacy, a dig-in-your-heels refusal to admit the truth. The fool willfully goes his own, headstrong way. Being disobedient involves choice. It refers to a decision to reject God’s ways. As a person becomes seduced either by twisted Christian doctrines or man-made philosophies, he becomes deceived regarding the truth. This fuels both foolishness and disobedience, resulting in a life marked by sin: enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures.

Paul painted a picture of bondage. Having succumbed to the illusions of this world, unbelievers participate in unrestrained passions and pleasures. This leads to a loss of will. People eventually become prisoner to their urges and cannot break away. These may even be socially acceptable pursuits like materialism, or they may involve the lowest sorts of degradation. Either way, the heart is captivated and cannot free itself.

Our relationships with others proved no better in the past as we lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. It is common practice to destroy others in order to preserve one’s self. Without Christ we cannot understand ourselves, nor can we comprehend our place in the world. In an effort to make sense in a violent, threatening environment, people often protect themselves by striking out at others. Malice seeks to harm others; envy betrays our discontent and restlessness. Our self-protection results in hatred toward others, and they return the favor. It is a vicious cycle from which we need to be freed, but we remain enslaved, unable to cast off the shackles.

2. The work of salvation (3:4–6)

3:4. “At one time” we were enslaved to depravity (v. 3). Then Paul wrote But when and introduced a seismic shift. Something crucial happened through a dramatic, historical event that challenges our imprisonment to sin: the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared. This is the incarnation, the appearance (epiphany) of Christ among men. God’s kindness and love compelled Christ’s appearance at Bethlehem, his exemplary life, and his substitutionary death and resurrection.

3:5–6. Jesus, in these actual events, gained salvation for all people who believe. Rescuing us from the grip of corruption, he saved us.

The work of salvation comes solely from God’s mercy, not because of righteous things we had done. As Isaiah 64:6 states, “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” We can contrive no goodness by which to attain the favor or forgiveness of God. Salvation comes independent of human effort or desire. God initiates, acts, and pursues because of his mercy.

Salvation comes through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. These terms explain, in part, the complex activities which faith in Christ generates. The washing of rebirth refers to the cleansing from sin which results from trust in Jesus Christ. This purification of the sound spirit brings life. No longer living on a purely natural or physical level, believers are transformed from spirit-death to spirit-life. They count themselves “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11). Renewal carries the same idea, that a person has come into a new existence, both in this life and for eternity. The Holy Spirit participates in Salvador, establishing his presence in the soul and enabling each person to act in true righteousness.

God has poured out this Holy Spirit on us generously. God always acts in extravagance, and his gift of the Spirit to those who believe demonstrates his greatest liberality. Not only has he rescued us from the frustrations and enslavements of sin; he has assured a spiritual power and development that would lie beyond us without his personal interaction. The Spirit enables us to follow in the ways of Christ.

3. Salvation’s result (3:7–8)

3:7. Paul told us God’s purpose in providing salvation: so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs. Some people claim that justification means “just as if I’d never sinned.” That may be cute, or clever, but it does not do salvation justice. Actually, “salvation” is a legal term describing a guilty person before the bar who is then pronounced blameless by the judge. This does not mean the individual has been found guiltless. Instead, it means that the person has been released from guilt, his offense paid for. All of this is by God’s grace, apart from human merit.

Christ purchased our soul’s freedom through his death and resurrection. In this way, God pardons those who trust in Jesus, bestowing upon them Christ’s righteousness. Romans 3:22–26 states, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe … God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood … he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

God cannot tolerate or excuse sin, but he can give his own Son as the substitute payment that justice must extract. Personal trust identifies us with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In the same way that we share in his death, we share in his victory over death. He grants us his righteousness through faith.

Having received pardon and been given his righteousness, we share in his glory. We become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Those who rely upon the salvation work of Jesus are adopted by God into his family. He extends to us an inheritance. Each family member receives equally from the goodness of the Father. There is no favoritism with God. The riches of God become our inheritance—eternal life, full righteousness and holiness, uninterrupted fellowship, and unhindered fulfillment of our creative intent “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Rom. 8:17).

The historical appearance, life, death, and resurrection of Christ and the gift of his Holy Spirit are guarantees of our future inheritance. God has acted, and his promises stand.

3:8. All that Paul has written is trustworthy; it is unfailing because was given by God. Salvation, righteousness, faith and hope are indisputable facts of Christian belief. Paul wanted Titus to teach these truths to the Cretan believers.

If we can agree that Paul’s statements are true, we conclude that:

•   Christians are called to a high standard of thinking, attitudes and conduct.

•   Every believer comes with a background of disobedience toward God and with selfish drives which alienate him from God and others.

•   God has provided a way for people to reestablish a pure and honest relationship with him through Jesus Christ.

•   Faith in Christ’s death and resurrection results in God’s pardoning our corrupted lives and spirits.

•   Our future holds a glorious existence with God in eternity.

If we can hold to these conclusions, then we must also reason that the life which Paul commended to Titus is an attainable and worthy pursuit. But Christian growth does not occur automatically: we must be careful to devote [ourselves] to doing what is good.

New life in Christ comes to those who determine to act upon their professions of belief. They do not “give it a shot” now and again; they resolve to obey constantly and continuously.

In Systematic Theology, Louis Berkhof wrote, “Sanctification is that gracious and continuous operation of the Holy Spirit, by which he delivers the justified sinner from the foolishness of sin, renews his whole nature in the image of God, and enables him to perform good works.” God does enable us. But we must partner with his Spirit to produce the goodness he intends, putting faith into practice through the commitment of our wills.

Committing to God’s truth and to righteous behavior through God’s enablement proves excellent and profitable for everyone. Good deeds always bring good results. Paul’s reference to “everyone” probably referred primarily to unbelievers (as “all men” of Titus 3:2). Good actions by Christians spread positive benefits to those outside the faith by drawing them toward the truth of God in Christ. Certainly this is profitable. More people will enter into a trusting relationship with the Lord.^[10]

2:9–10a. Paul here contrasted the belief that the rulers of this world understood wisdom with the reality that they did not understand. To draw out this contrast, he alluded to Isaiah 64:4, and added elements from Isaiah 52:15; 65:17 and Jeremiah 3:16. He pointed out how the prophets occasionally indicated that God’s wise plan remained hidden from all but those who loved him. The ordinary ways of understanding (eye, ear, mind) cannot perceive the mysteries of God. The rulers of the world may be adept at these means of perception, but these senses cannot discern the wisdom of God. God must reveal wisdom in a special way.

To drive home his main point, Paul applied the prophetic word directly to the Corinthians. Although the world cannot perceive the wisdom of God, God has revealed it. It has come in a supernatural way directly from God. Moreover, this word came not to the world but to us, to Paul and other followers of Christ.

Many in Corinth relied on pretentious human reason in their struggles within the church, so Paul reminded them that they did not perceive the gospel of Christ by human ingenuity. It was foolish for the Corinthian believers to turn to human insight when they had discovered the ways of Christ through divine revelation by his Spirit. Paul affirmed as before that the wisdom of God comes through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the church (1:4–5; 2:4).

Supporting Idea: Paul explained how the Holy Spirit imparts true wisdom to the mature. Through this argument, Paul undermined the Corinthians’ claim to spirituality—another source of their wrongful pride and divisions. True spirituality would not have led to their human wisdom. To be truly spiritual, they would have to turn from human wisdom to the pure wisdom of the gospel.

2:10b. Paul began with a bold statement, proclaiming that the Spirit searches not only all things of this world, but also fathoms the deep things of God. Nothing is hidden from the Spirit of God; he shares in the divine attribute of omniscience. Although an infinite number of things about God will always remain hidden from the human mind, even these hidden thoughts of God are evident to the Holy Spirit. For this reason, he is the reliable source of all human insight into the wisdom of God. None of this insight comes from the human wisdom of which the Corinthians boasted and over which they divided, so their divisions and quarrels were unjustified.

2:11. To lend support to his assertion, Paul drew upon an analogy between the human spirit and the Holy Spirit. He began by acknowledging that many things about a person’s thoughts remain hidden to other people. Yet, the person’s own spirit knows these thoughts. No one can get inside the minds of other people as deeply as they can understand themselves.

The comparison with the Holy Spirit is evident. We are not able to peer into the mind of God from the outside by human wisdom. In this sense, no one knows the thoughts of God. At the same time, however, the Spirit of God knows and can reveal the wisdom of God to us. The Corinthians, of course, took credit for their understanding of the gospel and other spiritual things, thinking they had attained them through human wisdom. By correcting this error, Paul removed the basis for the quarrels and divisions that existed among them.

2:12. The importance of Paul’s analogy becomes clear in his affirmation that he and the Corinthian believers had not come to Christ under the influence of the spirit of the world. No mere earthly wisdom brought the Corinthians to the gospel of Christ. The Spirit who is from God did this for them. The Spirit of God comes upon all who believe in Christ (Rom. 8:9) and reveals to them the mind of God.

For what purpose does the Spirit of God come to those who believe? He comes in order that they may understand what God has freely given. Christians cannot understand the wonder of all they have received from God by observing things with their natural eyes. God freely gives the salvation that culminates in their blessings with Christ in the new heavens and new earth. The Holy Spirit enables them to see the wonder of this gift as well as the wisdom that leads to it.^[15]

Perverted passions, hot tempers, and sharp tongues are to be removed as part of the life-transformation process. These things, along with [lying] to each other, are not appropriate behavior for our new life in Christ. The remnants of the former lifestyle are to be discarded since [we] have taken off [our] old self with its practices. What are the old self (literally “old man”) and the new self (literally “the new”)? The “old man” refers to more than an individual condition (“sinful nature”) and also has a corporate aspect. The corporate aspect of “the new” (man) is unmistakably seen in verse 11. What has been put off and what has been put on? Our past associations, the old humanity, has been put off, and we now have a new association, the new community. As members of the new community, we are to conduct ourselves in ways which will enhance harmony in the community. Notice how the sins mentioned in the previous verses disrupt community and damage human relationships.

As individuals, and as believing communities, our objective is to be a part of the transformation process of being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator (Christ). Within the new community, all barriers are abolished. Distinctions which normally divide people, racial (Greek or Jew); religious (circumcised or uncircumcised); cultural (barbarian or Scythian); social (slave or free), no longer have significance. The reason human categories no longer matter is that Christ is all, which means Christ is central and supreme. Our relationship with him is really all that matters. Unity within the community is based on the fact that Christ is in all. He indwells all believers and permeates all our relationships. This does not mean that people cease to be Jew or Greek, slave or free, etc. It does mean that within the new community those distinctions don’t matter. The false teachers at Colosse were fond of dividing people into categories, elite versus ordinary, spiritual versus not so spiritual. The truth is, all believers are equal; all believers are to discard any and all behaviors and attitudes which are inappropriate for our new life. (Anders, Holman New Testament Commentary: vol. 8, Galatians-Colossians 1999, 331)