Romans 1.28-God Gave the Human Race Over to a Disapproved Intellect for Rejecting Him
Prairie View Christian Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday July 5, 2007
Romans: Romans 1:28-God Gave the Human Race Over to a Disapproved Intellect for Rejecting Him
Lesson # 35
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 1:18.
This evening we will continue with our study of the second major section in the book of Romans, which appears in Romans 1:18-3:20 and deals with the universal need of the righteousness of God.
This passage is divided into three major sections: (1) The unrighteousness of the Gentiles (1:18-32). (2) The unrighteousness of the Jews (2:1-3:8). (3) The universal unrighteousness of men (3:9-20).
We are currently engaged in a study of Romans 1:18-32, which is divided into two sections: (1) The basis for Gentile guilt (1:18-23). (2) The results of Gentile guilt (1:24-32).
We have completed a study of the first section and at the present time, we are studying the second section.
In Romans 1:24, we read where God gave the human race over to immoral degeneracy as a result of rejecting His revelation of Himself in creation.
Then, in Romans 1:25a, we saw that God gave the human race over to immoral degeneracy who were of such evil character that they exchanged the truth of God for the lie.
In Romans 1:25b, Paul writes that the human race was of such evil character that not only did they exchange the truth of God for the lie but they also worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.
Next, in Romans 1:26a, Paul writes that because the human race exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than Him as their Creator, God gave the human race over to disgraceful perversions, which he identifies in Romans 1:26b and 27 as lesbianism and homosexuality.
In Romans 1:26b, Paul explains or identifies that one of the “disgraceful perversions” he mentions in Romans 1:26a is lesbianism.
Last evening we studied Romans 1:27 and read that God not only gave heathen Gentile women over to lesbianism for their rejection of Him but also He gave the men over to homosexuality for the same reason.
This evening we will note Romans 1:28, in which Paul writes that God gave the human race over to a disapproved intellect for rejecting Him.
Romans 1:18-19, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.”
Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”
Romans 1:21, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
Romans 1:22-23, “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”
Romans 1:24, “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.”
Romans 1:25, “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
Romans 1:26-27, “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.”
Romans 1:28, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.”
Corrected translation of Romans 1:28: Furthermore, just as, they never approved of God for the purpose of retaining (Him) in the realm of knowledge, God, as an eternal spiritual truth, gave them over to a disapproved intellect in order to habitually do improper things.”
“Just as” is the comparative conjunction kathos (kaqwv$) (kath-oce), which is used with the indicative mood of the verb dokimazo in order to introduce a comparative clause that indicates a comparison between the human race disapproving of God with that of God giving the human race over to an intellect that was unapproved by Him.
The comparison here is that of the human race rejecting God with God rejecting the human race.
“They did not see fit” means that the human race “never approved of God so as to worship and serve Him after putting Him to the test according to their own specifications.”
Kenneth Wuest makes this excellent comment, he writes, “The human race put God to the test for the purpose of approving Him should He meet the specifications, which it laid down for a God who would be to its liking and finding that He did not meet those specifications, it refused to approve Him as the God to be worshipped or have Him in its knowledge” (Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, volume 1, Romans in the Greek New Testament, page 37; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Grand Rapids, Michigan).
Then in the original Greek text of Romans 1:28, we have the present active infinitive form of the verb echo (e*xw), which means, “to retain someone or something as an object of knowledge.”
The word has as its direct object, the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun theos (qeov$), “God” which refers to the Trinity who are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
The Scriptures teach that God is three co-equal, co-infinite and co-eternal Persons with the same identical invisible essence or attributes: (1) God the Father (1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 1:3) (2) God the Son (John 10:30; 14:9; Col. 2:9) (3) God the Holy Spirit (Isa. 11:2; Ex. 31:3; Isa. 6:8, 9; cf. Acts 28:25-26; Jer. 31:31-34 cf. Heb. 10:15-17).
The noun theos, “God” is accompanied by the preposition en (e)n) and dative feminine singular form of the noun epignosis (e)pivgnwsi$), “acknowledge, recognize the existence.”
The preposition en marks the “sphere” in which the human race never retained God, namely, in the sphere of their knowledge.
The noun epignosis refers to recognizing the existence of God and means, “acknowledge.”
Therefore, the original text says that the human race never retained God in the sphere or area of knowledge or in other words, they never recognized the existence of God.
Romans 1:28, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind.”
“God” refers to the Trinity functioning in their role as the Supreme Court of Heaven since the verb paradidomi, “gave them over” is used in a judicial sense.
“Gave them over” is the 3rd person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb paradidomi (paradivdwmi) (para-did-omee), which is used in a judicial sense and means, “to give into the hands of another, to give over into one’s power or use.”
“Them” is the accusative (direct object) masculine plural form of the personal pronoun autos (au)tov$), which refers to its antecedent in Romans 1:18, namely, the plural form of noun anthropos, “mankind.”
This is the third time we have seen this expression paredoken autous ho theos, “God gave them over” (See Romans 1:24, 26).
In Romans 1:24, Paul writes that God gave the human race over to immoral degeneracy as a result of rejecting His revelation of Himself in creation.
In Romans 1:26, Paul writes that because the human race exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than Him as their Creator, God gave the human race over to disgraceful perversities, which he identifies in Romans 1:26b and 27 as lesbianism and homosexuality.
“Immoral degeneracy” and “disgraceful perversities” were the first two things that God gave the human race over to as a result of rejecting His self-revelation in creation, both of which deal with the human body.
But in Romans 1:28, Paul deals with the human mind in that God gave the human race over to an adokimon noun, “depraved mind.”
“Depraved” is the accusative masculine singular form of the adjective adokimos (a)dovkimo$), which means, “not passing the test, incompetent, unqualified, something that has been proved false, worthless, or useless as a result of testing.”
The word adokimos is a play on the verb dokimazo, which was used of the human race disapproving God after putting Him to the test according to their own specifications or standards.
We will translate adokimos with the English adjective “disapproved” since the word accurately reflects the Greek adjective adokimos.
Since the human race did not approve God to worship Him after putting Him to the test according to their own standards and did not recognize His existence, God gave the human race over to a mind that He did not approve of according to His own perfect standards.
“Mind” is the accusative masculine singular form of the noun nous (nou$) (noose), which refers to the “intellect” of the unregenerate mind.
The “intellect” is the “power or faculty of the mind by which one knows or understands, as distinguished from that by which one feels and that by which one wills; the understanding, the faculty of thinking and acquiring knowledge; the capacity for thinking and acquiring knowledge, especially of a higher order” (Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary).
As a consequence to rejecting His self-revelation in creation, God gave the human race over to an intellect that did not pass the test according to God’s standards, it was an incompetent intellect in relation to the knowledge of God, it was useless after testing according to God’s standards.
Therefore, as a consequence of rejecting His self-revelation in creation, God gave the human race over to a capacity for thinking and acquiring knowledge that was not approved by His standards, thus the human race could not acquire knowledge of a higher order meaning the knowledge of God.
Jeremiah describes the human heart as a result of God giving man over to a disapproved intellect for rejecting God’s self-revelation of Himself in creation.
Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”
The Lord Jesus Christ lists the various sins that originate in the human heart as a result of God giving man over to a disapproved intellect for rejecting God’s revelation of Himself in creation.
Matthew 15:19-20, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”
The nation of Israel was destroyed because of a lack of knowledge of God.
Jeremiah 4:22, “For My people are foolish, they know Me not; They are stupid children and have no understanding. They are shrewd to do evil, but to do good they do not know.”
The Lord rejected Israel because they rejected knowledge of Him.
Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
The Christian is commanded to bring his thoughts into obedience to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5, “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
In 1 Corinthians 2:14-15, Paul describes the unbeliever as psuchikos, “soulish,” and in contrast he describes the believer in fellowship with God as pneumatikos, “spiritual.”
1 Corinthians 2:14, “But a natural (psuchikos, “soulish”) man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
1 Corinthians 2:15, “But he who is spiritual (pneumatikos, “spiritual”) appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.”
1 Corinthians 2:16, “For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.”
Romans 1:28, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.”
The statement “to do those things, which are not proper” refers to various acts of sin that are listed in Romans 1:29-31 and which are considered to be improper in the eyes of the Creator or conformed to the standards established by God at creation.
The English word “improper” refers specifically to what does not conform to the standards of conventional morality and as applied to our context it means that God gave the human race over to a disapproved intellect for the purpose of committing acts of sin, which do not conform to the divine standards.