“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting” (Romans 1:28).
Having examined the root cause of humanity’s rebellion against its Creator, Paul the Apostle now turns to a consequence of that decision here in Romans 1:28: divine abandonment. This response is perhaps best articulated in the Living Bible paraphrase of this passage: “…God gave them up to doing everything their evil minds could think of” (TLB).
One author makes a pointed observation regarding this verse that we may condense and summarize as follows: “There are many that have God in their knowledge but they do not retain Him there because it thwarts their lusts, they do not like it. There is a difference between the knowledge and acknowledgement of God; the pagans knew God, but would not acknowledge Him.” (1)
This underscores the element of personal responsibility assumed by those who “…did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God” (CSB). Since these individuals did not find value in the knowledge of God they already had, He permitted them to experience the natural consequences that flowed from that decision. Several other commentators offer brief (yet perceptive), insights regarding this passage that are well worth our attention…
“People reject the natural knowledge they have of God. This rejection, however, does not annihilate either the revelation or the knowledge itself. The sin of mankind is in refusing to acknowledge the knowledge they have. They act against the truth that God reveals and they clearly receive. (2)
“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.” (3)
“Truth would enter human hearts from God’s work in nature and from conscience, yet men pull down the blind and close the curtain. It is not that they do not know, but that they refuse to have God in their knowledge. They shun the thought of God, Psa_10:4.” (4)
“…for the third time in almost as many verses, the apostle records that God gave them up (or over) to what they wanted all along. When He did so, the results were disastrous.” (5)
Paul will go on to identify several of the shameful exits along this road away from God over the last few verses of this chapter.
(1) Condensed and adapted from Verses 19–32 – Matthew Henry’s commentary – Bible Gateway. (n.d.). https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Rom.1.19-Rom.1.32
(2) Sproul, R. C. (1997). Grace Unknown: The Heart of Reformed Theology. Baker Publishing Group.
(3) Kenneth S. Wuest, Word Studies in the Greek New Testament (note on Romans 1:28) Copyright © 1942-55 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
(4) Meyer, Frederick Brotherton. “Commentary on Romans 1“. “F. B. Meyer’s ‘Through the Bible’ Commentary“. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/fbm/romans-1.html. 1914.
(5) Edward E. Hindson and Woodrow Michael Kroll, eds., KJV Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1994), 2211.