Paul’s first group of people to bring under the weight of willful rebellion is the gentiles. Though much of what Paul says about the gentiles is certainly applicable to all people, Paul reserves his comments to those who are outside of Judaism. In light of the fact that Paul is discussing what is the true nature of fallen mankind, he employs heavily the use of the Greek participle to map out his flow of thought; in fact, the Greek participle is used a total of twelve times from verse eighteen to verse thirty-two as Paul talks about the inherent wickedness of the Gentile world. Starting in verse eighteen, Paul’s first expositional point is that all men in their wicked unrighteousness seek to “suppress” (κατεχόντων) the truth. It is not just that men suppress truth as a natural result of their evil plans; rather, men by their ontological nature are ones who actively work to hide, distort and minimize truth. Truth is intolerable to the lost for it exposes their true nature and motives; the Lord Himself said,
“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
The Lord’s reference to the judgment affirms Paul’s second expositional point in Romans one; that men are rightly judged for their volitional failure to acknowledge God. Paul does this through his use of the participial phrase “have been clearly perceived” (νοούμενα καθορᾶται) in verse twenty. This phrase is actually the combination of the present passive participle (νοούμενα; being given thought) and the present passive indicative καθορᾶται (are seen thoroughly). Both terms are passive indicating that these thoughts are not the conjuring of human beings but the direct revelation of God to mankind; specifically here revelation about His invisible attributes. What this means is that all men stand accountable for their perceptive knowledge of God; that is He has existed “ever since the creation of the world” and “that all things that have been made” (including each individual) were made by God and are His rightful possessions. When men deny this perceptive truth, as Paul speaks to next, their guilt before the Sovereign Creator is undeniable. One point must be highlighted here before moving on; men “perceive.” Paul does not say that men “see” or “know,” but that they have the capacity to recognize things that are not constrained to the material and quantifiable world. Men have been given by God the capacity to reason and understand things beyond the physical senses. This does not mean that God does not work in the physical world for He certainly does. Rather, it means that men’s perception of God is not confined to physicality and empirical method. Mankind is able to discern the presence of God just as they discern the presence of air and when men deny the reality of things that are perceived; specifically God, they stand responsible for their denial. Paul asserts this point as he says, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” The word “knew” (γνόντες) is an aorist active participle of the Greek word γινώσκω; to know something through first-hand experience. Paul’s point is undeniable clear; men know God through their perceptive abilities. Men may not acknowledge God, but they certainly know Him. Paul goes on to say that men do not honor (ἐδόξασαν) God or give thanks (ηὐχαρίστησαν) to God and as a result of have fallen into perceptive darkness; that is, they are spiraling into ever increasing darkness of thought and discernment. As a further consequence, men express this increasing darkness of perception in assuming for themselves the rightful place of God’s sovereignty by “claiming” (φάσκοντες), or verbally announcing publically and unashamedly, their own self professed wisdom. The term “claiming” is the fourth marker in Paul’s exposition and is itself a present active participle indicating that fallen man is by nature boastful and unashamed of stealing from God what is rightfully His. Man supplants God as rightful sovereign in all human affairs and begins to make up for himself what is right and proper. Paul begins to tighten the grip of this divine indictment as he portrays all such human wisdom and action as unrestrained by God though He certainly could act to prevent such rebellion. As a term of conclusion, Paul says, “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,” Many in modern faith life have loudly espoused the free will of men; to which this works gives an affirmative Amen! All men have been given free will to accomplish what they desire because Paul says that God has granted this. The problem with this free will is that it is always used for the sinful self-promotion of the individual. At this point, Paul offers some of the harshest examples of such depravity but it misses the Apostle’s point to automatically assume that sexual immorality is all that is in view here. The actual consequence of so called “free will” is the abandonment of God and the embracing of one’s self as god which is manifest in human cravings of all varieties regardless of cost or consequence. This is simply what Paul is pointing out as the permissive will of a Holy God to grant freedom in what is worshiped and sought after by fallen man. The fatal error however is the denial of the One who is by nature the Creator (κτίσαντα); aorist active participle of κτίζω or literally to produce a habitation out of nothing. The blessedness of God is mandated for His merciful dealings with sinful man. That is, man exists because God has created him literally out of nothing. Man refuses to acknowledge and honor his Creator and instead assumes the Creator’s rightful place of dominion over himself and other men. God has granted to man what man desires and though man stands woefully accountable to God for this insolence, God has yet withheld the destructive judgment that is rightly due all mankind by providing forgiveness and salvation to those whom God chooses to bestow the granting of grace. As the final death knell in his case against rebellious paganity, Paul further describes the depths of carnal wickedness found among those who claim God’s sovereignty for themselves. In verse twenty seven, Paul says, “and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” Here the term “gave” (ἀφέντες) does not describe a casual inclination of indifference but rather a thoughtful and premeditated rejection of the things ordained by God. Paul’s use of the aorist active participle here indicates a volitional hatred of the God ordained structure inherently natural to creation. The wickedness of men is so entrenched that even the aspects of everyday life that are self evident and in no need of contemplation as to their correctness are abandoned (literally “sent off” like refuse) as worthless and constraining. This consuming passion Paul says, drives men to the committing (κατεργαζόμενοι; present middle / passive participle) of indecent and shameful acts as well as the reception (ἀπολαμβάνοντες; present active participle) of what all understand as being a justified recompense of their behavior. The Apostle’s use of participles here would indicate not only the life-style type commitment to such behavior but more specifically the theological reasoning behind the depraved activity of those lost in their natural condition; their committing of shameful acts and the receiving the due penalty are who the lost are by their ontological nature. The fullest expression of the natural, lost condition is highlighted by Paul in the use of the last five participles in verses twenty-eight through thirty-two. Paul says,
“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
What is in play here is that man in his depravity is not inclined to acknowledge God in any fashion. Man has purposed to accomplish his own will in whatever manifestation crosses his darkened, depraved mind. As a result, God affirms His granting of freedom in such actions, even to the destruction of those around the individual, but clearly warns that such activity violates God’s divine commands, epistemological principles and holy nature. Simply put, men in their depravity perpetrate those things that truly “ought” (καθήκοντα; literally what is clearly proper) not be. This is not just a matter of social grace or prudence but rather an expression of those things are fitting for decency as defined by God. Again, as Paul uses the present active participial form of the word, he is indicating that these expressions of the lost are not just habits that would seem to predominate the actions of those in the world but rather the debauchery spoken of here stem from the nature of the lost to do those things which are by all accounts not proper. Paul further explains to magnitude of man’s depravity in verse twenty-nine as he speaks to the “filling” (πεπληρωμένους) in unrighteousness. Here Paul equates the perfect passive participle of the Greek word to make full to a list of twenty traits that define what it means to be unrighteous. Again, these are not just bad habits but rather the very core nature of human depravity that is manifest in various expressions. Paul’s use of the participle at the head of this list carries a transitive quality throughout the entire list so that it may be translated, “They are completely filled with evil. They are completely filled with covetousness;” and so on. Every expression of what it means to be evil is fully manifest in the depraved mind and whatever may not yet be known is made up anew as the lost invent innovative ways to fill up their unrighteousness. Paul concludes this first section dealing with the Gentiles by bringing his last indictment against them in that not only do the lost do these things, they encourage, teach and actively motivate others to follow them in their depravity. In verse thirty-two Paul uses three participles to accomplish this indictment; “know,” (ἐπιγνόντες) and two occurrences of “practice” (πράσσοντες / πράσσουσιν). What Paul says here is even though the lost know that their nature of living in such wickedness ultimately will bring death, they ignore this fact and actively move to bring others into their own condemnation. Perhaps this is the greatest expression of sinful rebellion before God that one would knowingly lead others into error; a behavior that in fact “evangelizes” others toward lostness in sin and depravity. As bad as these indictments may be against the Gentiles, Paul goes on to bring charges against the second group of sinners that in many ways is more insidious than paganality; the religious.
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