Rom 1:22-23 | KingComments | STEP | The verses in this section would not impress you with the greatness of man. Attempts are often made to get us to believe that people are basically good morally and everything is getting better. The opposite is true, and God bluntly says so. He honestly describes (maybe this is why it seems stern) how deep mankind has fallen after turning their backs on Him. What God says here was true of both you and me before we accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior. It is a description of the way we lived. God didn’t create mankind in wickedness. Genesis 1 says: “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” ( ). This includes mankind, but when a person abandons his connection with God, he is given over to himself by God. We read this phrase three times in this portion ( ). . When people abandon the glory of the incorruptible God and replace Him with something else that looks like a perishable man or animal, God gives them over to it. He then gives them over to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts. You can see the result of it all around you. People who exchange the truth of God for a lie are given over by God to degrading passions: homosexuality among both women and men. Today this is called an alternative lifestyle that we should accept. Rather, we read here that this is a judgment of God; they receive in themselves what they deserve for their error. If the creature is honored and served above the Creator, then this is the result. God created man to honor and serve Him. God has instilled this within the very nature of mankind. The ability to attain to true humanity only comes when mankind lives for God. If he does, he will experience the greatest of joy and happiness. This was what God desired when He created man. But if man doesn’t act accordingly, God gives him over to a life of abnormal relationships as Paul has described here. We can see this more and more around us, and the unnaturalness of it is openly denied. It is considered wrong to say anything against it, and we are supposed to accept it as normal and even face prosecution for discrimination. This is how the truth of God is being exchanged for a lie within the so-called Christian western countries. . The third time God gives people up to themselves and how this happens is described in this verse. Since they push God out of their thoughts, God gives them over “to a depraved mind” or perverted way of thinking. This is why they begin to act disrespectful. . At this point quite a list is summed up. You may recognize with shame some things you also have done. All you gained was “death” ( ) rather than the satisfaction and pleasure you expected. All these things are present in man’s heart and revealed in his deeds when he lives without considering God. He produces, for himself and others, things that must only be reckoned as dead. There is nothing good toward God in these things. Deep down in their hearts they know what God thinks about these things, but they don’t care. They live their life as they please, and express their agreement with others who live the same way. Now read Romans 1:22-32 again. Reflection: Tell God that He is right in His judgment of mankind.

‏ Romans 1:22-23

Mankind Without God

The verses in this section would not impress you with the greatness of man. Attempts are often made to get us to believe that people are basically good morally and everything is getting better. The opposite is true, and God bluntly says so. He honestly describes (maybe this is why it seems stern) how deep mankind has fallen after turning their backs on Him. What God says here was true of both you and me before we accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior. It is a description of the way we lived.

God didn’t create mankind in wickedness. Genesis 1 says: “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31). This includes mankind, but when a person abandons his connection with God, he is given over to himself by God. We read this phrase three times in this portion (Rom 1:24 ; 26 ; 28).

Rom 1:22-27. When people abandon the glory of the incorruptible God and replace Him with something else that looks like a perishable man or animal, God gives them over to it. He then gives them over to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts. You can see the result of it all around you. People who exchange the truth of God for a lie are given over by God to degrading passions: homosexuality among both women and men. Today this is called an alternative lifestyle that we should accept. Rather, we read here that this is a judgment of God; they receive in themselves what they deserve for their error. If the creature is honored and served above the Creator, then this is the result.

God created man to honor and serve Him. God has instilled this within the very nature of mankind. The ability to attain to true humanity only comes when mankind lives for God. If he does, he will experience the greatest of joy and happiness. This was what God desired when He created man. But if man doesn’t act accordingly, God gives him over to a life of abnormal relationships as Paul has described here. We can see this more and more around us, and the unnaturalness of it is openly denied. It is considered wrong to say anything against it, and we are supposed to accept it as normal and even face prosecution for discrimination. This is how the truth of God is being exchanged for a lie within the so-called Christian western countries.

Rom 1:28. The third time God gives people up to themselves and how this happens is described in this verse. Since they push God out of their thoughts, God gives them over “to a depraved mind” or perverted way of thinking. This is why they begin to act disrespectful.

Rom 1:29-32. At this point quite a list is summed up. You may recognize with shame some things you also have done. All you gained was “death” (Rom 1:32) rather than the satisfaction and pleasure you expected. All these things are present in man’s heart and revealed in his deeds when he lives without considering God. He produces, for himself and others, things that must only be reckoned as dead. There is nothing good toward God in these things. Deep down in their hearts they know what God thinks about these things, but they don’t care. They live their life as they please, and express their agreement with others who live the same way.

Now read Romans 1:22-32 again.

Reflection: Tell God that He is right in His judgment of mankind.