God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper

by Mike Ratliff

28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. Romans 1:28-32 (LSB) 

For those who are nonplused at the utter foolishness running rampant throughout the visible church what you have to come to understand is that all of it is rooted in one thing, unbelief. Also, all of you reading this who have taken that stand for God’s truth knowing it would be costly and have then experienced oppression resulting in despair as you deal with others who either claim to be Christian, but prove they aren’t by their reprobate lifestyles or they claim to be superior in knowledge about nearly everything and so attack those who profess to be Christian in an attempt to disavow the gospel, the atonement, our desperate need for redemption, and that Jesus Christ came to fulfill that role. As we mature and become more knowledgeable about this warfare our reaction to all changes. Instead of despair or fear our reaction will be pity for those whom our enemy has assigned to attack us and our ministries.  Be encouraged my brethren. Why? The attacks by the enemy are being allowed by our God for our own spiritual growth and for His glory and our enemy would not care anything about us if we were no threat to him. 

However, the superior attitude projected by these people  is offset by an arrogance that is so off the scale that it is laughable to one whose faith is strong. As they attempt to cast doubts on God’s sound doctrine and say stupid things like, “everyone knows that the bible is nothing more than a book of symbolism so you can’t use those exegetical techniques you use to prove anything!” Really? Wow, and why am I to believe this person? It is because he or she says so that’s why. Those who argue like that use many of the same arguments that the liberals use, but claim to not be part of that. In fact, he or she appears to be pagan, but actually, aren’t the liberals moving more and more into that realm of stupidity that is marked by fuzzy logic, disavowing all proof and claiming to know the truth is a mark of arrogance? As I said, dealing with these people is no longer stressful for me at all. Instead, when this happens, it becomes a great source impetus to dig into God’s Word to show the deep ignorance of the reprobate mind in contrast to the grand and deep truths given to us by our loving God.

28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper, Romans 1:28 (LSB) 

28 Καὶ καθὼς οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν τὸν θεὸν ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει, παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν, ποιεῖν τὰ μὴ καθήκοντα, Romans 1:28 (NA28)

The word translated as “unfit” in the LSB rendering of Romans 1:28 is the Greek word ἀδόκιμον. This anarthrous adjective means, “unapproved, unworthy, spurious, or worthless.” In the context of Romans 1:28 it is speaking of those who do not have a sense of pending judgment. They have a reprobate, abominable mind that is abhorred by God and men who do know God’s truth. The word “mind” here is νοῦν. This anarthrous noun is the intellectual faculty of the natural man, applicable to God or Christ (Romans 11:34; 1 Corinthians 2:16), employed in practical judgment, capable of being good or evil, and of being regenerated, the mind, the reason, the reasoning faculty.

What does the grammatical form called anarthrous means? It is a word or group of words which appear without definite article. Anarthrous constructions are most often intended to point out the quality of something. Therefore, when we see this we should dig even deeper for this could be a marker of a definitive point in the God-inspired text to which those who do not have an ἀδόκιμον νοῦν should pay close attention because God is teaching us something vital.

Notice the cause of a person having an ἀδόκιμον νοῦν. Those who have this horrible condition got it because they did not (οὐκ) see fit (ἐδοκίμασαν) to acknowledge (ἔχειν) God (θεὸν). Here is an alternate rendering of this phrase, “And as they tried not to hold God in full knowledge.” The word rendered here as “in full knowledge” and “to acknowledge” in the LSB and “to hold in full knowledge” in the KJV, is ἔχειν, which is a verb in aorist tense, indicative mood, and active voice. This means that the action described here is not continuous nor does it indicate the relative time of the action to the time of speaking or writing. It describes the action of having, holding, holding on, counting, considering, regarding, or wearing. However, remember those being described here, “tried NOT to hold God in full knowledge.” That is their crime. In other words, they are guilty of pushing all true knowledge of God out of their minds which God then allowed that truth to be replaced with something else. God delivered them up (παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς) unto a debased mind (ἀδόκιμον νοῦν). The word παρέδωκεν describes God handing over or giving up or yielding up these people to the very thing they were seeking. He allowed them to no longer consider His truth. Instead, His truth was seen as false and what was really false was seen as true in these people’s minds. This caused them to be seen in God’s eyes as completely worthless. Those who sought full rebellion against God and the incarnation of Christ for their sins, were given over to that rebellion so that what they sought seemed perfectly right to them while the truth of the Gospel is seen as foolishness, et cetera. This is what the reprobate mind is. It does not hold any of God’s truth in it and sees no need to be concerned about the coming judgment.

18 being darkened in their mind, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. Ephesians 4:18 (LSB) 

18 ἐσκοτωμένοι τῇ διανοίᾳ ὄντες, ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς ζωῆς τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τὴν οὖσαν ἐν αὐτοῖς, διὰ τὴν πώρωσιν τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν, Ephesians 4:18 (NA28)

Those with reprobate or debased minds are darkened (ἐσκοτωμένοι) in their understanding (διανοίᾳ). Those who reject the knowledge of God think of themselves as “enlightened” (cf. Hebrews 10:32). Their ignorance here is not due to a lack of general education, some are brilliant in their own way, but such brilliance is all wasted and futile in the end when combined with hardness of heart toward the truth of the gospel in Christ (cf. Matthew 13:14-15; John 12:40; Acts 28:26-27; Romans 11:8). These unbelievers are intellectually unproductive. As far as spiritual and moral issues are concerned, their rational processess are distorted and inadequate, inevitably failing to produce godly understanding or moral living. Their life is empty, vain, and without meaning (cf Romans 1:21-28; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Colossians 2:18). They are also spiritually separated from God, thus ignorant of God’s truth (1 Corinthians 2:14), and their willing spiritual darkness and moral blindness are the results (Romans 1:21-24; 2 Timothy 3:7). They are blind, “hard” like a rock.

Now my brethren, consider what we have just seen in these passages. Those separated from God and His truth are so because of their own rebellion. They attempted to push God and His truth from their minds so He gave them over to their rebellion and they got what they were after which is what God is going to use to condemn them to the Lake of Fire at the Final Judgment. That is, unless He has mercy on them and draws them into the light via the washing of regeneration. However, when God gives people over to this full rebellion it is accompanied by a heart hardening that is purposeful and will keep these people from ever being affected by the preaching of the Gospel. Only God could break through it. If you are like me you have some close to you who fit this description exactly and it is heartbreaking. I pray for them daily that God would break through that hard heart and save them just like He did me back in 1986. Never stop praying for them my brethren because we are running out of time.

Soli Deo Gloria!