Answer
In Romans 1:32, the apostle Paul writes, “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” In this verse God’s righteous decree is knowable, it involves a death sentence, and it is ignored by some.
In Romans 1:18, Paul writes, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” God’s wrath against unrighteousness is perfectly justified because He Himself is the standard of holiness. Those who practice godlessness are “anti-God.” Scripture says that we are all guilty of sin: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
In human law, one legal principle is ignorantia juris non excusat, or “ignorance of the law excuses not.” The idea is that we cannot defend illegal actions by claiming that we did not know they were illegal. In the same way, we are held accountable to God’s righteous decree. We cannot defend sinful actions by claiming that we did not know they were sinful. God has supplied everyone with sufficient knowledge of who He is and what He requires (Romans 1:19–20). For this reason, Paul says, people are “without excuse” (verse 20).
When we fail to honor God as God, our minds and our hearts become darkened (Romans 1:21). Even the most intelligent people are “fools” if they do not honor God and give thanks to Him (verse 22). As Solomon wrote, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7; cf. Proverbs 9:10 and Psalm 111:10). True wisdom, then, is to “serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart” (Deuteronomy 28:47, ESV). Unfortunately, many people devote their lives to things other than God (Romans 1:23).
As a result of mankind’s rejection of the light they have been given, “God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen” (Romans 1:24–25).
The expression God gave them up is repeated three times (Romans 1:24, 26, and 28, ESV). In each instance, Paul articulates God’s reaction to idolatry. First, God hands sinners over to impurity (verse 24). Here, the word impurity means “moral defilement.” The reason that God allows people to defile themselves is that they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator (verse 25). In short, God gives people exactly what they desire.
Second, God hands people over to “dishonorable passions” (Romans 1:26, ESV). Here, the word passion refers to sexual passion, which falls into two categories: honorable and dishonorable. In Matthew 19:6, Jesus points to God’s institution of marriage as the context for honorable sexual relations.
Dishonorable sexual relations, such as homosexuality, exchange “natural relations for those that are contrary to nature” (Romans 1:26, ESV). In 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, Paul warns that people who are characterized by such sins will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Third, God hands people over to “a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:28, ESV). The inevitable consequence is that people “become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy” (verses 29–31). And here is the kicker: even though we know that God’s righteous decree (or moral law) demands that people who practice such things deserve to die, we do them anyway and give approval to others who also do the same (verse 32).
In other words, God has placed an innate knowledge of His righteous decree in the human heart. Everyone has a sense that certain things are wrong and will be judged by God. People know of evil, and they know that evil is offensive to God and deserving of His punishment. Yet they continue to engage in sin as if there were no judgment to come (see Psalm 10:13). Despite God’s righteous decree, they not only commit sin themselves, but they applaud others for doing so.
The description of our sinful condition in Romans 1 is bleak, but we are not without hope: “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NLT). The perfect obedience of Christ met the demands of God’s righteous decree. The just sentence that was passed against us was applied to Christ instead. Because believers are united to Christ by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9), we are safe from the wrath of God and the eternal consequences of sin (1 John 2:1–2).
