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; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters,
haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,
disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving,
unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God,
that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only
do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans
01:28-32, NKJV).
The
old American expression, “full of yourself”, is an apt
description of a bad person, someone who is empty of compassion,
mercy, and morality. It is someone who cares nothing for others, and
who looks at everything in the world, including people, as objects to
be used, ignored, or discarded. It is impossible for such a person to
be good, and the amount of people who are this way in a society
proportionately increases as God is shoved further away from
collective thought and consciousness.
To
be full of oneself is to be as the Apostle Paul describes above. Note
the repetition of the concepts filled
with all, and full
of. Each of the words
that follow those thoughts are indictments of the natural
human character; the one that is ours from physical birth.
Left
untouched by God, the infant is destined to be filled to the brim
with the nightmarish qualities Paul lists above, and it is
instructive to take a deeper look at each of these attributes of
moral horror. But as we do, understand this: every individual will
either be filled with God, or filled with themselves. There is no
middle ground.
And
the indicators are whether a life produces the fruit of the Spirit,
...love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control...(Galatians 5:22, 23, NKJV).
or
the unmitigated darkness of a man devoid of God.
What
then does it mean to be filled with all unrighteousness,
sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness?
The
simplest definition of the Greek word translated filled
is, crammed to overflowing, made replete, to level up a hollow. The
idea is that once the filling is complete, there is no room for
anything more, all available space has been occupied.
The
word all
has the same connotation in Greek as English. It means “every and
any”, with nothing left out or missed or overlooked.
In
other words, those who are without God are crammed full with any and
every kind of God's opposite, as if a vacuum exists that must be
replaced with one or the other. It cannot remain empty, and there are
only two sources of filling, God or not-God. That is why we are all
either with Him or against Him. And that which is not-God is, by
definition evil.
Paul
continues with a painstaking list of what is involved when that
filled human hollow is devoid of God, and he starts with all
unrighteousness.
That carries the meaning
of being opposed to God's morally legitimate laws in thought, word
and deed. Whatever God deems righteous, this is its opposite. Instead
of love, this is hate. Instead of truth, this is deceit. Instead of
life this is death. What God commands in terms of not being covetous,
this is full-fledged murderous greed and self-entitlement. The
apostle is saying that those without God leave no unrighteousness
behind, and practice “every and any” kind of moral lawlessness.
Next
is all sexual immorality.
Remember from previous
verses, God, who invented sex, has proscribed the parameters by which
this most important human activity is at its best and most
satisfying. Anything outside the marriage bed of a one-man-one-woman
lifelong relationship is sexual immorality, and unlike other sin, is
something that humans engage in against their own bodies. Those
without God open themselves up to this kind of behavior to their own
harm, and, as the Apostles writes in verse 32, not only do these
things but approve and encourage others to do the same.
Now
the world will attempt to persuade you that such restrictions on sex
are “repressive”, “damaging”, “unnatural”,
“old-fashioned”, and even “idiotic”. Except for “unnatural”
(for because of the Fall our inherent way of life is against God, so
sexual immorality is indeed, “natural”, as is pain, sickness and
dying), in reality, God's laws of sexual morality are not repressive,
but honoring of the God-given bond between husband and wife. It is
sexual immorality that is damaging to all concerned, and
self-destructive behavior of any kind is logically idiotic. God's
restrictions should be seen as protective, not prohibitive, like
guardrails along a highway, preserving that special intimate
relationship reserved only for holy matrimony.
Coming
to all wickedness, we
have vicious depravity
in view. This is evil activity with the primary aim of causing others
to suffer, and to take twisted delight in that suffering. It is
hurting someone or something and experiencing pleasure in seeing them
writhe in pain. And this pain is not just physical, but includes
emotional and spiritual agony, as well. This is the stuff of
nightmares, but is nevertheless all too real in this life.
All
covetousness is the desire to
have that is which is not rightfully ours, and to take it whenever
possible no matter what the cost. This is part of David's many sins
in committing adultery (sexual immorality) with Bathsheba, which
ultimately caused him to murder Uriah, her rightful husband. He
coveted Bathsheba and took her for himself in complete disregard of
the pain and suffering it would cause. He felt entitled to her
because if his position as king, and a necessary component of all
covetousness is that same grandiose sense of entitlement.
Lastly
in view here is all maliciousness.
This is utter badness and
malignity (deadliness)
towards others. It is behavior motivated by sheer hatred, and needs
no prior or outward cause, but is evil that erupts from within the
godless soul. The modern world tries to explain this by postulating
all manner of psychological phenomena to account for it, through
willful ignorance refusing to understand what is its only root cause:
the inherent evil of fallen man without God.
Even
this partial list makes us shudder, and, as your father, my daily
prayer is that God protects you from these rampant evils throughout
all the years of your precious life, but I do not want you to be
ignorant of these things, so that you are never caught unaware.
The
world wants you to believe that God, if He exists, desires to rob you
of joy, but the truth is that His moral laws are provided to ensure
that your joy is full.
Love,
Dad.
