Transcript Document

Hypocrites and Backsliders-032
Spiritual Death from Romans 1
(The Exegesis, Part 2)
Spiritual Death from Eph 4:17-19
• 17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the
Lord, that you should no longer walk as the
Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 being darkened in their understanding,
alienated from the life of God because of the
ignorance that is in them due to the hardness
of their hearts, 19 because they have become
insensitive and have abandoned themselves
to unrestraint for the greedy practice of every
type of impurity.
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Spiritual Death - Mechanics
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1. Vanity (Futility) of the Mind
2. Understanding (Appraisal Process) Darkened
3. Alienated from the Life from God
4. Ignorance in them
5. Heart Hardened - Stubbornness
6. Past Feeling - Insensitive
7. Gave themselves over
8. Lascivious - Unrestrained
9. Unclean - Impurity
10. Greedy - Insatiable
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The Futility Experience
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Romans 1:16-32
• 19
Because that which is known of God is
manifest among them, for God did manifest it
to them, 20
for the invisible things of Him from
the creation of the world, by the things made
being understood, are plainly seen, both His
eternal power and Godhead - to their being
inexcusable; 21
because, having known God
they did not glorify Him as God, nor gave
thanks, but were made vain in their
reasonings, and their unintelligent heart was
darkened,
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Romans 1:16-32
• 22
professing to be wise, they were made
fools, 23
and changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into the likeness of an
image of corruptible man, and of fowls, and of
quadrupeds, and of reptiles.
• 24
Wherefore also God did give them up, in
the desires of their hearts, to uncleanness, to
dishonour their bodies among themselves;
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Romans 1:16-32
• 25
who did change the truth of God into a falsehood,
and did honour and serve the creature rather than
the Creator, who is blessed to the ages. Amen.
26
Because of this did God give them up to
dishonourable affections, for even their females did
change the natural use into that against nature;
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and in like manner also the males having left the
natural use of the female, did burn in their longing
toward one another; males with males working
shame, and the recompense of their error that was
fit, in themselves receiving.
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Romans 1:16-32
• 28
And, according as they did not approve of
having God in knowledge, God gave them up
to a disapproved mind, to do the things not
seemly; 29
having been filled with all
unrighteousness, whoredom, wickedness,
covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, evil dispositions; whisperers,
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evil-speakers, God-haters, insulting, proud,
boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents,
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Romans 1:16-32
• 31
unintelligent, faithless, without natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful; 32
who the
righteous judgment of God having known -that
those practising such things are worthy of
death - not only do them, but also have
delight with those practising them.
• Young, Robert: Young's Literal Translation.
Oak Harbor : Logos Research Systems, 1997,
S. Ro 1:16
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Romans 1:21-23
• The members of the human race are without
defense for their actions because, knowing God as
Creator they did not glorify Him as God.
• Their experiential knowledge (ginōskō (γινωσκω)) of
God is not here a saving knowledge of Him as the
context indicates, but a knowledge of Him as the
God who has been revealed through the light of
nature as Creator.
• Failure to glorify Him resulted in ungratefulness of
His gifts, food, clothing, shelter, the gift of life itself.
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Romans 1:21-23
• Bengel says, “They did neither; in their
religion, they deposed God from His place as
Creator,—in their lives, they were ungrateful
by the abuse of His gifts.”
• Denney says, “Nature shows us that God is to
be glorified and thanked, i.e., nature reveals
Him to be great and good.”
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Romans 1:21-23
• The next step away from God is found in the words,
“became vain in their imaginations.”
• “Became vain” is mataioō (ματαιοω).
• The noun is mataios (ματαιος), “devoid of force,
truth, success, result.”
• The word “vain” today means “proud.”
• The Greek word did not have any idea like that.
• Mataios (Ματαιος) refers to that which is in vain,
futile, that which is without result or success.
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Romans 1:21-23
• It refers to the unsuccessful attempt to do something
or be something.
• It refers to that which does not measure up to that
which it should be.
• Solomon said, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
• That is, “futility of futilities, all is futile.”
• All that he tried was futile, unsuccessful, in giving
him complete satisfaction.
• Thus, the human race, refusing to glorify God and
be grateful, became futile, unsuccessful in its
reasonings (imaginations).
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Romans 1:21-23
• The word is dialogismos (διαλογισμος), “the
thinking of a man deliberating with himself,
deliberation.”
• As a result, “their foolish heart was darkened.”
• “Foolish” is asunetos (ἀσυνετος),
“unintelligent, without understanding.”
• “Heart,” kardia (καρδια), is the seat of feeling,
intelligence, moral choice.
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Romans 1:21-23
• “Professing” is phaskō (φασκω), “to affirm, allege,
pretend, profess.”
• Vincent says, “The verb is used of unfounded
assertion.”
• “Wise” is sophos (σοφος).
• Aristotle defined the word as speaking of mental
excellence in its highest and fullest sense.
• It speaks of the striving after the best ends as well
as using the best means (Trench).
• The Greeks also used it to describe the man who
was skilled, expert, skilled in letters, cultivated,
learned.
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Romans 1:21-23
• “Became fools” is mōrainō (μωραινω), “to be
foolish, to act foolish” (Thayer). Liddell and
Scott in their classical lexicon define mōrainō
(μωραινω) as follows, “to be silly, foolish,
drivel, play the fool, be stupefied, to become
insipid.” The noun mōros (μωρος) has the
meanings of “dull, sluggish, stupid.” Our word
“moron” comes from mōros (μωρος). This will
give the reader a better understanding of the
Greek word translated “became fools.”
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Romans 1:21-23
• “Changed” is allassō (ἀλλασσω), “to change, to
cause one thing to cease and another to take its
place, to exchange one thing for another.”
• The human race exchanged the glory of God for
idols.
• The latter took the place of the former.
• “Uncorruptible” is aphthartos (ἀφθαρτος), “not liable
to corruption or decay, imperishable,” as compared
to man-made idols which are liable to decay and
corruption.
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Romans 1:21-23
• Man exchanged the glory of the uncorruptible God
for a likeness which consists of an image of
corruptible man.
• “Image” is eikōn (εἰκων), “a derived likeness,” that is,
the images of men and animals the heathen make
are derived from the originals.
• Notice the descending scale of created things, man,
birds, fourfooted beasts, snakes.
• Vincent says, “Deities of human form prevailed in
Greece, those of bestial form in Egypt; and both
methods of worship were practiced in Rome.
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Romans 1:21-23
• Serpent-worship was common in Chaldea,
and also in Egypt.…
• The priests of Isis contrived that the silver
images of serpents kept in her temple should
move their heads to the suppliant.…
• The vestal virgins were entrusted with the
attendance upon a holy serpent, and were
charged with supplying his table with meats
on festival days.”
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Romans 1:21-23
• Translation. Because, knowing God, not as
God did they glorify Him, nor were they
grateful, but they became futile in their
reasonings, and there was darkened their
stupid heart.
• Asserting themselves to be wise, they
became fools, and exchanged the glory of the
uncorruptible God for a likeness of an image
of corruptible man and of birds and of
quadrupeds and of snakes.
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Romans 1:24
• (1:24) “Gave up” is paradidoµmi, “to give into the
hands of another, to give over into one’s power or
use.” Since men chose to give up God and worship
the creature, God could do nothing but give men into
the control of the sinful things they preferred to God.
In other words, God would not violate man’s will and
force him to do something he did not want to do.
When men persisted in following their totally
depraved natures, God allowed them free rein. The
natural result was immorality of the vilest kind.
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Romans 1:24
• Alford, says of God’s act of delivering mankind over
into the control of utter human depravity, “not merely
permissive, but judicial, God delivered them over.
• As sin begets sin, and darkness of mind, deeper
darkness, grace gives place to judgment, and the
divine wrath hardens men, and hurries them on to
more fearful degrees of depravity.”
• God delivered man to uncleanness.
• The word is akatharsia (ἀκαθαρσια), in the moral
sense, “the impurity of lustful, luxurious, profligate
living.”
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Romans 1:24
• “Lusts” is epithumia (ἐπιθυμια), “a passionate
craving, longing, desire,” here a sinful one.
• “Through” is en (ἐν), “in their own hearts.”
• Alford says, “not by or through the lusts; the lusts of
the heart were the field of action, the department of
their being in which this dishonor took place.”
• He defines akatharsia (ἀκαθαρσια), “more than
mere profligacy in the satisfaction of natural lust—
bestiality, impurity in the physical, not only in the
social and religious sense.”
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Romans 1:24
• Translation. On which account God delivered
them over in the passionate cravings of their
hearts to bestial profligacy which had for its
purpose the dishonoring of their bodies
among themselves.
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Romans 1:25
• (1:25) “Change” is metallassō (μεταλλασσω),
“to exchange one thing for another.”
• Instead of the truth of God, humanity
embraced a lie.
• “Creature” is ktisis (κτισις) “the creation,” or
“the created thing.”
• “Worshipped” is sebazomai (σεβαζομαι), “to
honor religiously, to worship.”
• “Served” is latreuō (λατρευω), “to render
religious service or homage.”
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Romans 1:25
• “More” is para (παρα), which means
“alongside, beside.”
• Vincent says, “The preposition indicates
passing by the Creator altogether, not merely
giving preference to the creature: Hence,
'rather than' (Rev.).”
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Romans 1:25
• “Who” is hoitines (οἱτινες), referring back to
those in verse 24 whom God gave up to their
own passionate cravings.
• The word emphasizes character or nature.
• These were of such a nature or character as
to have exchanged God’s truth for a lie.
• That is exactly what would be expected of
persons so constituted.
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Romans 1:25
• “Blessed” is eulogētos (εὐλογητος), made up of legō
(λεγω), “to speak,” and eu (εὐ), “well” or “good,”
thus, “to speak well or good” of a person, to eulogize
him.
• Our word “eulogy” is derived from this Greek word.
• Translation. Who were of such a character that they
exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped
and rendered religious service to the creation rather
than to the Creator who is to be eulogized forever.
Amen.
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Romans 1:26
• (1:26) “Affections” is pathēma (παθημα), “an
affection, a passion.”
• “Vile” is atimia (ἀτιμια), “dishonor, ignominy,
disgrace.”
• The Greek word for “honor,” timē (τιμη), comes from
tiō (τιω), the verbal form, “to estimate, honor.”
• Thus to honor someone is to evaluate the worth of
that person and to treat him with the consideration,
respect, and love due his character and position.
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Romans 1:26
• To dishonor a person is to either put an
incorrect appraisal upon his worth and treat
him accordingly, or, having properly evaluated
his character, to refuse to treat him with the
respect and deference which is his due.
• The passions controlling these of whom Paul
is speaking caused them to put an incorrect
estimate upon the sacredness, dignity, and
purity of the physical body and thus to use it
in a way which dishonored it.
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Romans 1:26
• Vincent’s note is helpful; “As distinguished
from epithumia (ἐπιθυμια) (lusts) in verse 24,
pathē (παθη) (passions), is the narrower and
intense word.
• Epithumia (ʼΕπιθυμια) is the larger word,
including the whole world of active lusts and
desires, while the meaning of pathos (παθος)
is passive, being the diseased condition out of
which the lusts spring.
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Romans 1:26
• Epithumia (ʼΕπιθυμια) are evil longings; pathē
(παθη), ungovernable affections.
• Thus it appears that the divine punishment was the
more severe, in that they were given over to a
condition, and not merely to an evil desire.”
• The word for “women” is not the word used as in
John 4:9, gunē (γυνη), but thēlus (θηλυς), “a
female,” and the word for “men” in 1:27 is not
anthrōpos (ἀνθρωπος), or even anēr (ἀνηρ), a male
member of the human race, but arsen (ἀρσεν), male
as distinguished from a female.
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Romans 1:26
• Vincent says that these terms are used “because
only the distinction of sex is contemplated.”
• “Change” is metallassō (μεταλλασσω), “to exchange
one thing for another.”
• “Use” here is chrēsis (χρησις), used of the sexual
use of a woman.
• “Natural” is phusis (φυσις), “the nature of things, the
force, laws, order of nature, as opposed to that
which is monstrous, abnormal, perverse.”
• “Against nature” is para phusin (παρα φυσιν), “that
which is against nature’s laws.”
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Romans 1:26
• Translation. Because of which God gave them
over to dishonorable passions, for even their
females exchanged their natural use for that
which is against nature.
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Romans 1:27
• (1:27) “Burned” is ekkaiō (ἐκκαιω), “to burn out.”
• Vincent comments. “The terms are terrible in their
intensity.
• Literally, ‘burned out.’
• The preposition indicates the rage of lust.”
• Robertson defines, “to inflame with lust.”
• The word ek (ἐκ) prefixed to the verb, intensifies its
meaning.
• Their lust was satiated.
• It was an all-out endeavor to satisfy their totallydepraved natures.
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Romans 1:27
• “Lust” here is not the usual word used, epithumia
(ἐπιθυμια), “a passionate craving,” but orexis
(ὀρεξις), “eager desire, lust, appetite.”
• “Working” is katergazomai (κατεργαζομαι), “to
perform, accomplish, achieve, to do that from which
something results, to carry to its ultimate
conclusion.”
• “Unseemly” is aschēmosunē (ἀσχημοσυνη), “want of
form, disfigurement, deformed, one’s nakedness,
shame.”
• The word refers here to that which is unseemly in
that it is immodest, shameful.
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Romans 1:27
• “Recompence” is antimisthian (ἀντιμισθιαν) “a
reward given in compensation, requital,
recompense.”
• The word here refers to that natural result of
their sin which pays them back for what they
have done, as a person says who
contemplates doing something wrong, “I
suppose I shall pay for this.”
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Romans 1:27
• “Was meet” is edei (ἐδει), “a necessity in the
nature of the case.”
• The evil consequences were necessary as
ordained by divine law.
• When one violates the laws of nature, one
must pay the price.
• “Error” is planē (πλανη), “a wandering,
roving,” thus, “a deviation.”
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Romans 1:27
• Translation. And likewise also the males,
having put aside the natural use of the
females, burned themselves out in their lustful
appetite toward one another, males with
males carrying to its ultimate conclusion that
which is shameful, receiving in themselves
that retribution which was a necessity in the
nature of the case because of their deviation
from the norm.
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Romans 1:28
• (1:28) “Did like” is dokimazō (δοκιμαζω), “to put to
the test for the purpose of approving, and finding
that the person tested meets the specifications
prescribed, to put one’s approval upon him.”
• 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.
• This is the meaning of the Greek word translated
“like.”
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Romans 1:28
• “Knowledge” is epignōsis (ἐπιγνωσις), “full and
precise knowledge.”
• Robertson says, “They had a dim memory that was
a caricature.”
• “Reprobate mind” is adokimon noun (ἀδοκιμον
νουν).
• The human race put God on trial (dokimazō
(δοκιμαζω)), and because it rejected Him after trial,
God gives it a “trialess” mind, one incapable of
discharging the functions of a mind with respect to
the things of salvation.
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Romans 1:28
• Denney says; “As they did not think it fit, after trial
made to keep God in their knowledge, God gave
them up to a mind which cannot stand trial. The one
thing answers to the other.
• Virtually, they pronounced the true God adokimos
(ἀδοκιμος) (disapproved), and would have none of
Him, and He in turn gave them up to a nous
adokimos (νους ἀδοκιμος) (a disapproved mind), a
mind which is no mind and cannot discharge the
functions of one, a mind in which the divine
distinctions of right and wrong are confused and
lost, so that God’s condemnation cannot but fall on it
at last.
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Romans 1:28
• Nous (Νους) is not only reason, but conscience;
when this is perverted, as in the people of whom
Paul speaks, or in the Canaanites, who did their
abominations unto their gods, the last deep of evil
has been reached.”
• “Convenient” is kathēkō (καθηκω), “it is becoming, it
is fitting.”
• Robertson says, “Like an old abandoned building,
the home of bats and snakes, left ‘to do those things
which are not fitting,’ like the night clubs of modern
cities, the dives and dens of the underworld, without
God and in the darkness of unrestrained animal
impulses."
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Romans 1:28
• Translation. And even as after putting God to
the test for the purpose of approving Him
should He meet the specifications, and finding
that He did not, they disapproved of holding
Him in their full and precise knowledge, God
gave them up to a mind that would not meet
the test for that which a mind was meant, to
practice those things which were not
becoming nor fitting.
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