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).
Paul's list of evil in
these verses is prefaced with two characteristic symptoms of sin: the
doing of things which are not fitting, and being filled
with those attributes, attitudes and actions that are diametrically
opposed to the nature of God.
It reminds me of a toilet
incapable of being flushed clean, or the palpable, slimy,
impenetrable, and odious darkness of a backed up sewer.
There is nothing at all
good in his list. No redeeming quality or saving grace, just
overflowing badness that is, at its essence, uniquely and utterly
human. In some respects, I believe even demons are surprised at the
depth and comprehensiveness of mankind's depravity.
And the added horror here
is that those God has given over to this debased state have room in
their beings for nothing else. All light and goodness have been
crowded out by their opposite, so that not even a sliver of anything
else remains.
I mentioned previously
that individuals living this kind of life are on a downward spiral
into Hell, and that only God's grace can save them. But that is true
for all of us, and as I contemplate what the Apostle has written, the
very words he has chosen by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I become
increasingly convinced the people in view here have hardened
themselves beyond redemption. These are those who will not be
saved, who have exercised the human potential for total depravity
to its fullest extent, going well beyond the transient thoughts or
impulses that plague all of us into the horrid realm of unrestrained
evil action.
In my lifetime, there
have been notorious examples of men and women who appear to be in
this category of overflowing evil; unrepentant and remorseless
rapists, torturers, and murderers who revel in their horrible legacy
of doing those things that you in your youthful innocence have
not even considered. But I suspect that there are other, less
publicized villains who have lived, or are living now, according to
that same pattern of reprobate behavior.
These are the living
nightmares of complete godlessness that when their deeds are exposed
cause the rest of us to marvel in incomprehension at the level of
sheer cruelty of which humans are capable.
But there is even a more
dire message in these verses that takes us from contemplating the
inhumanity of others, and pierces deeply into the heart of what we
ourselves are capable of without God. From our finite,
four-dimensional perspective of time and space, this Doctrine of
Total Human Depravity, as it has been called, does not mean that the
unsaved are guilty of doing everything evil that it is possible to
do, but that each of us has within us the potential to fall
that far.
But I strongly suspect
that God has a very different perspective than we do, one described
by Jesus Himself in the Sermon on the Mount. In that He teaches that
to think or feel a thing is equivalent to the doing of it, where the
emotion of unrighteous anger is the same as murder, or merely looking
upon someone with lust is the same as the act of adultery.
This is very bad news
indeed. So bad that to understand it is to come to a complete end of
hope in ourselves, for the longer we live the more we will inevitably
violate God's holy standard of right and wrong, and the more guilty
we will become.
Unless we come to the
Cross and to the Savior who made Himself payment for our depravity,
who took upon Himself our sin-filled nature and cleansed it with His
sacrificial blood.
The Christ-rejecting
world looks upon these truths as primitive superstitions at best, and
toxically shameful and damaging at worst, but that is because they
are looking through debased eyes from within the sewer of
human depravity.
It is only when we come
to Jesus that He lifts the veil from our vision and shows us the true
way of things, and provides for us the only hope available –
Himself.
Love,
Dad.
