On The Sixth Day #9

Romans 1.28 – 32 Darkened Mind, Darkened Behavior

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. They are filled with every kind of injustice, wickedness, greed and evil [unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice]. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless. Although they fully know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.

• people can no longer use their minds as God intended
  
• and after or with the twisting of our image-bearing creational roles, our evil thinking, our selfish motivations [the unfit mind] and use of freedom have these consequences in actual behavior:
  
  • injustice [unrighteousness]
    
  • wickedness
    
  • greed [ covetousness]
    
  • evil [malice]
    
  • rife with
    
    • envy,
      
    • murder,
      
    • strife,
      
    • deceit,
      
    • hostility.
      
  • gossips,
    
  • slanderers,
    
  • haters of God,
    
  • insolent,
    
  • arrogant,
    
  • boastful,
    
  • contrivers of all sorts of evil,
    
  • disobedient to parents,
    
  • senseless,
    
  • covenant-breakers,
    
  • heartless,
    
  • ruthless.
    
• this list of sins follows a popular Hellenistic literary form called a vice list. While not exhaustive, it reminds readers of various forms that evil might take.
  
• people do not generally sin in innocent ignorance,
  
  • for they know God's decree (at least in an instinctive way)
    
  • they know God has decreed death for such people
    
• they not only do these things, the evil goes further
  
  • when people give approval and
    
  • applaud others for their sin,
    
  • probably because having others join in their sin makes them feel better about the evil course they have chosen
    
  • encouraging others to sin is worse than sinning oneself (Jas 3:1;)
    
  • also see Testament of Asher 6:2: "The two-faced are doubly punished because they both practice evil and approve of others who practice it; they imitate the spirits of error and join in the struggle against mankind".
    

This is a picture of what human life, human society, human organizations look like, how they behave and what they approve when humans insist on doing things "MY WAY" and God says, "Okay, have at it. Do it your way." -- Again "God gave them up ..." v. 28

(Source material from N T Wright, John Wesley, Martin Luther, ESV Study Bible, Orthodox Study Bible, NLT Study Bible, et. al.)