Why Romans 1:18-32 Isn’t Sequential And Why It Matters

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 1:18

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves…

Romans 1:24

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.  For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise…

Romans 1:26-27a

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.  They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness…

Romans 1:28-29a

The verses above begin each of the 4 paragraphs found in our English Bibles (ESV) in the second half of Romans 1.  For context, Paul has begun his letter to the Roman church by outlining the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ and expressing his gratitude to God for the faith of his brothers and sisters in Rome.  He then shares his eager desire to travel to Rome to preach the gospel to them since it is the power of God for salvation for everyone, both Jew and Greek (1:16-17).  

Paul then launches into the most thorough and universal treatment of human rebellion in our Bibles from 1:18 through 3:20.  His conclusion is that no one is righteous and even the most stringent law-keeping is useless to merit God’s favor.  We all stand condemned under the wrath of a holy and righteous God.  Paul reasons this conclusion by explaining how the heathen, the self-righteous judge, and the Jew all fall short of the glory of God and need God to gift them righteousness.  

In 1:18, Paul first takes aim at the blatantly sinful behavior of the heathen, which runs through the remainder of the chapter, before turning to the self-righteous judge in Ch. 2:1-11 and the Jew in Ch. 2:12-29.  Chapter 3:1-20 forms the conclusion, which lumps all three classifications of people together under the “no one is righteous” banner.  Of course, this gives Paul the horrific and hopeless reality to launch into the unimaginably wonderful gospel in 3:21-26 in which God’s righteousness is revealed apart from the law in the atoning work of Jesus Christ at Calvary, whom God put forward as a propitiation for our sins…in other words, God crucifies Jesus so Jesus would bear His wrath that we might be gifted righteousness in exchange.  

With that groundwork in place, we can now examine Ch. 1:18-32 more carefully.  I recently studied these verses again and found myself adjusting my thinking.  I had always heard and assumed that the three paragraphs with the clause “God gave them up” were sequential in nature.  First, God gives people up to the lusts of their hearts.  Next, God gives them up to unnatural desires.  Finally, God gives them up to a debased mind.  I then logically began looking at the modern world and trying to place where we were in this sequence.  Certainly, the sexual revolution and the homosexual celebration check off the first and second paragraphs.  Have we reached the portion of the cycle of having debased minds?  

But this fails to grasp Paul’s logic.  For starters, I think Paul would have used sequential markers had he meant to speak of a sequence or timeline of sin, but he doesn’t.  There is no hint of “first, second, third,” or “then, next, finally” in these verses.  Instead, we see “therefore” (v. 24), “for this reason” (v. 26), and “and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God” (v.28).  Each of these paragraph beginnings points back to the first paragraph vv. 18-23 in which Paul says that God’s wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Paul is not introducing a sequence.  He is painting a picture of how the unrighteousness of man shows up in reality.  The lusts of their hearts, the unnatural desires, and the debased mind are intertwined, co-existing realities, not a sequential worsening of unrighteousness.  Where there is unrighteousness, Paul says, you will see these ungodly behaviors among the heathen.  Notice that he doesn’t rate one display as worse than another.  He’s not interested in creating some hierarchy of unrighteousness.  He’s interested in showing how unrighteousness is exhibited by sinful humans who suppress what is plain about God in exchange for a lie.  So we shouldn’t use Romans 1:18-32 as a temperature gauge of culture…”how far gone are we?”

If you need further convincing, consider how it could be that unnatural desires could exist and be embraced apart from a debased mind.  In fact, a mind that is being renewed in the truth is a mind that keeps unnatural and lustful desires at bay and puts to death sinful tendencies.  Paul’s whole argument is that people know the truth about God because God has made it plain.  And instead of honoring Him and giving thanks to Him, they suppress truth and embrace a lie because of their unrighteousness.  The battle for truth is not fought in the realm of passions and desires but in one’s mind.  If there is any sequence to be found in Romans 1, it is that a debased mind is a prerequisite for acting upon sinful passions and unnatural desires.  So the final paragraph is not last in a sequential worsening of unrighteousness, but the foundation or bedrock upon which all unrighteousness is built:  the debased mind.  

In other words, Romans 1:18-32 shows us that the unrighteousness of man shows up in how one thinks, what one desires, and how one lives.  Unrighteousness contaminates the whole person: head, heart, hands.  

So why does it matter?  If the above exegesis is correct, is there any usefulness or practical benefit for us?  Much.  I’ll share two.  

1. When we see people committing sins that are particularly repulsive to us, we tend to speak out against their behavior.  Certainly sexual immorality, homosexuality, drunkenness, pro-choice, or whatever sin most disgusts you are behaviors that must be repented of by believing the Gospel.  But if we aim our efforts at another person’s behavior, we aren’t addressing the foundation of their problem.  Their behavior indicates their suppression of the truth and a debased mind.  If the foundation of a skyscraper is unstable, you don’t do maintenance on the roof…you seek to repair the cracks in the foundation!  Neither should we become fixated on “gross” or immoral behavior when seeking to testify to Jesus.  Behavior is a byproduct of a debased mind and sinful heart.  So if we want to be effective in evangelism, we must engage the mind…the false truth claims that enslave people and result in all forms of ungodliness.  And we must remember that until God gives a new heart, we should not be surprised by all sorts of ungodly conduct.  Our fixation on behavior is off-putting and ineffective because the mind is debased and bent on condoning all sorts of immorality.  

2.  We see ourselves in the same boat if not for Christ.  We all were once darkened in our understanding.  We all once had suppressed the truth of God for a lie.  Maybe we engaged in the very sins outlined in Romans 1.  Maybe we were more like the self-righteous judge of chapter 2 who condemned ourselves by practicing the same wrongs we condemned others for doing.  Let Romans 1 level the playing field.  See yourself as justly condemned and bound for wrath apart from Jesus.  Recognize yourself in the text.  And then move toward those who are presently under God’s wrath.  This is the compassionate response of one who recognizes his/her own sinfulness, has fled to Christ for salvation, and fears for those who stand condemned because they have not yet repented and trusted in Christ.  

In summary, Romans 1 humbles us by reminding us of our former condition apart from Christ’s saving grace, and compels us to move toward others to share the good news while warning them of the wrath to come.