Released to Passions
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die – yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.
Romans 1:18-32
Paul begins his letter to the church in Rome with a greeting, a prayer, a statement regarding the power of the gospel, and then, in the fourth paragraph, he dives directly into human wickedness and guilt, and God’s wrath. He explains that through creation, God reveals His divinity and power to all people, and God reveals His wrath against people who know God yet suppress the truth, refuse to honor Him, and refuse to give thanks to Him. They exist separated from God; their minds grow increasingly dark, futile and foolish; and they begin to worship creation in the place of the Creator. In response, God releases them to pursue their passions.
Release is a shocking form of punishment filled with mercy and grace. When considering God’s judgment and punishment, many think of sulfur fire raining from heaven or other causes of instantaneous death. Paul explains God’s release writing, “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen” (Romans 1:24-25). He discusses the judgment three times in rapid succession saying, “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts…. God gave them up to degrading passions…. God gave them up to a debased mind” (vv. 24, 26 & 28).
God gave them up. He released them to their passions. The people Paul describes were so far gone, God decided not to discipline them anymore, not to convict them anymore, not to knock on the hearts. Respecting their will, He stopped pursuing them and let them go.
What does it look like when God releases people to their passions? The passage continues explaining that after their release, people ratchet up their pursuit of personal pleasure without boundary, and beyond merely behaving that way, they “applaud others who practice them” (Romans 1:32). As a result, culture changes and society shifts away from God and away from His truth, and people gradually build themselves up in their own minds, and as they focus on themselves, they see themselves as bigger, more important, and of greater consequence. They begin to replace the truth with their version of what they want the truth to be, and they accept their version as the basis for proper living and rational thought. And as their minds grow darker, they begin to worship creation, including themselves, as god.
This is recycled behavior from the Garden of Eden. The serpent said to Eve, “for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Adam and Eve wanted to be like God, they wanted to make the rules, they wanted to be in control, they wanted sovereignty, and in our fallen state, humans repeat that cycle over and over, generation after generation, developing new ways to worship themselves as god, making up their own rules, following the serpent’s guidance.
Paul provides a theoretical description of what it looks like, but what has that looked like in your experience? The world considers the United States to be a Christian nation. Our name is linked to God through Christ Jesus in the eyes of many, yet we export pornography and violence labeled as entertainment to the world. By some accounts, revenue to the porn industry was over $32 billion in 2019, growing tremendously during 2020. We export video games and movies with shockingly realistic violence desensitizing people to acts of violence and other forms of evil, and through repeated exposure in virtual realms, evil becomes normalized. We export lifestyles promoting worship of self over God, and as people see depictions of our behavior through exported content in contrast to our purported association with God, they question God and His holiness, and His holy name is defamed through our actions. We should be living to glorify God, yet we dishonor and defame Him. We deserve His judgment, and while being released from God is shockingly awful, His passive judgment is an act of mercy because His active judgment would be unbearably severe.
What are we to do? The passage first set forth above is the way Paul chose to begin his presentation of the gospel to the church in Rome, and the remainder of the book sets forth the good news of Christ Jesus. Apart from Christ Jesus, humanity deserves wrath, but through Christ Jesus we are cleansed, forgiven and saved, so what are we to do? After Peter preached his first sermon on that Pentecost following the first Easter, the crowd was convicted by the Holy Spirit and they asked “what should we do?” (Acts 2:37). Peter told them to repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, receive the Holy Spirit, and “save yourself from this corrupt generation” (see Acts 2:38).
As God’s people, we should gather, repent, turn to God, and plead with God that through Christ Jesus and the indwelling Holy Spirit He might transform our hearts fully, and that through His holy transformation we might truly follow His directive to love God and love our neighbors (see Matthew 22:34-40), and truly act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God (see Micah 6:8). We must continuously turn to Him, seek Him, and focus on Him, and we must act as light in the world.
Throughout Scripture, God’s holy word reveals human corruption. God shares a vision with the prophet Joel of the day of the Lord – “a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!” (Joel 2:2). He sees a beautiful land filled with lush produce like the Garden of Eden, and a powerful army invades the land, leading with fire devouring everything in its path. The army overtakes the land, cities and houses, and the earth and heavens quake before the army, and the “sun and the moon are darkened” (Joel 2:10), but above it all they hear God’s voice. God says,
Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” Joel 2:12-17
God’s holy word explains that God releases people to their passions. It is a shockingly awful judgment but far more merciful than other options. I pray God continues to reveal His mercy, not the justice we deserve. I pray that God never stops pursuing us, because He is the source of faith and life and everything. Apart from Him we are nothing.
“Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing.” If we, as God’s people, follow His direction, we might serve as a catalyst transforming the world around us. Jesus says He is the light of the world. He also says you are the light of the world. May you continuously turn to Him, and allow His holy light to shine through you, enlightening the world around you. Amen.