(The follwing was written by Greg Gadow)

So let us put Paul’s speech in context, shall we? I refer you to Romans 1:18-24a (sections in [] are added by me to give clarity)

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them [men who by their wickedness suppress the truth], because God has shown it to them [men who by their wickedness suppress the truth]. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they [men who by their wickedness suppress the truth] are without excuse; for although they [men who by their wickedness suppress the truth] knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they [men who by their wickedness suppress the truth] became futile in their thinking and their [men who by their wickedness suppress the truth] senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them [men who by their wickedness suppress the truth] up….”

Now maybe it is just my public education, but it seems to me that the ‘they’ whom God gave up refers to the undodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. That is the last object given before Paul switches over to the third person plural pronoun, so by the rules of the English language, that *must* be the “them” he is refering to. And lets see… “men who by their wickedness

suppress the truth”, could that also include men who by their wickedness (fear, hatred, jealously and plain maliciousness) suppress the truth about God’s boundless love for His creation?

And how do we know that they are “men who by their wickedness suppress

the truth”? Very simply: They neither honor God as God or give thanks to him, but instead are futile in their thinking, who have senseless, darkened minds. They claim to be wise even though they are fools, and they have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles… or, may I add, flags and “holy” books.

And what else does God do to them? If we read AFTER your favorite quote, we see

“They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them. (Romans 1: 29-32)”

So we can know who are the “men who by their wickedness suppress the truth” (yes,, we are still using THAT “they”) because they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

That’s a later stage of things. The fall of the Gentiles in Romans 1 is a drama in four acts: (1) When they knew God, they glorified him not as God. (2) As a result, their minds were darkened, and they exchanged worship of the Creator for worshipping statues of corruptible things. (3) The punishment for that exchange of worship was another exchange: of natural desires for unnatural lusts. This is spelled out quite specifically by “for this cause” in verse 26. (4) The punishment for the original sin (for which there was less excuse, since it occurred before “their minds were darkened”) comes next and is worse. Verse 28 spells out the distinct charge against them, and the distinct punishment: “Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge” – the sin of vv. 19-21 – “God gave them over to a reprobate mind.” +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ninure Saunders