Crime and Punishment

Conner kicked off this section with a brief introduction to “the wrath of God”. This morning, we get to see how the wrath or anger of God is executed. Both Conner and Justin helped us see why God’s wrath is poured out – it is because people suppress to truth about God, his creation and his order.

Romans 1:18 CSB
18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,

Paul went on to say that all mankind is without excuse, because creation reveals God.

Romans 1:21 CSB
21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

This is a pivotal point. This shows where the human will enters the picture. They made a choice. We all make choices. Choices about what to wear, what to eat, and what we will worship.

1. All people can know that there is a God through natural revelation.
2. Since all can know, all can acknowledge Him as God, and some will choose not to.
3. But there is one other thing I want us to notice… some also choose not to show gratitude to God.

Instead, they show gratitude and give thanks to other things.

Imagine if I went out a bought a ring and left it in a small box on the counter for Laura and then left. She gets home and sees the box, opens it and see the ring. She puts the ring on and it is a perfect fit. THEN, she looks at the box and says, “Thank you box! You are the best box ever! You always know just what I desire. There is nothing greater than you, box!” You would think she lost her mind, right? Shouldn’t she try to find the person who put the ring there and thank THEM?

Some people refuse to thank God but will rather give credit to something created by man, or just something else. They thank the vessel, or the gift, and not the giver of the gift.

OK, you are in your car and you almost hit a deer. You are telling someone about this and you say, “Thank ____________ I didn’t hit that deer!” When I was a kid I remember hearing that we should not say , “Thank God” because we shouldn’t take the Lords name in vain. So, we would often say, “Thank goodness”. First, that is not what it means to take the Lords name in vain! Second, it is often VERY appropriate to give thanks to God! Third, what does it even mean to thank “goodness”? It is an arbitrary term that replaces God as the one who is in control.

So, those that willingly choose to NOT acknowledge Yahweh as God, and who refuse to acknowledge and thank him for his care and creation, will face the wrath of God.

But I want to also be clear that this is not just about whether they say certain things, this is about how they choose to live. If I do not acknowledge Yahweh as God then I replace Yahweh with another god – humanity, desires, pleasure, sex, my body, others or myself.

Romans 1:25 CSB
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.

When people reject the Creator God, they still worship, they still live for something, but instead of it being the one who made them, it is the things that were made by God or by themselves. Because humanity has replaced God with other gods, his anger is poured out. We enter into a court case now, in these verses. And in verses 23-32 there is a legal battle that takes place where the judge states the crime, and then the punishment.

We enter the courtroom of heaven where God is the Judge. God is the judge, and he has seen that people have acted “un-rightly” and “un-godly”. If he is to be a just and right judge, he must enact a punishment, and that punishment should fit the crime. Justice means a punishment must be served. But a righteous judgement means that the punishment fits the crime. We often refer to this as retribution.

How many of you grew up with the rule, “don’t throw rocks?”. I did. But there was something exhilarating about launching projectiles that I could not resists. So, one time I decided I would certainly NOT throw the rocks that were in our gravel driveway, but instead I would hit them with a tennis racquet. When my mom came out and saw what me and my friend were doing, I got my first real lesson on retribution. We were, of course, found guilty. The punishment -> we had to count all of the rocks that were in the driveway. Very fitting for the crime. Incidentally, I am not sure that friend ever came back to my house to play after that.

It was a just punishment that fit my crime. The death penalty, though I am sure it might have been on the table, would have been a bit extreme for merely hitting rocks with a tennis racquet.

Let’s go back to verse 21 and pick up the legal case. The indictment and the verdict have been clearly stated – as we covered the past few weeks. The judgement and sentencing are now about to be revealed.

Romans 1:21–24 CSB
21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. 24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.

God’s wrath/anger is being poured out on those who do not acknowledge God, do not thank God, do not worship God – but instead their focused their hearts on the creation, rather than the Creator.

That is the indictment and the verdict. The word “therefore” switches the court to the sentencing… “God delivered them over” (or God handed them over, God gave them over depending on your translation)

In the Greek it is a legal term like passing on a sentence or handing someone over to the authorities to serve their sentence. If you can picture a courtroom, the verdict has been announced, and the guilty party is handed over to the authorities to serve their time. Three times in this passage this phrase is used.

Romans 1:24 “Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.”

Romans 1:26 “For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.”

Romans 1:28 “And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right.”

So, what are they handed over to in these three verses in chapter 1?

“God delivered them over to…”

• desires of their hearts
• disgraceful passions
• corrupt minds

Desires of the heart.

Romans 1:24 CSB
24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.

Paul gives this general declaration that God gave them over to what they “desired in their hearts”, which specifically mentions sexual impurity (as defined by God’s standards).

Because they did not make God the center of their lives – honor Him in their hearts – God gave them over to the gods they created so they can pursue the desires of their hearts. Apparently, one of their gods was sex. So God gave a just punishment – you want to do what is in your heart instead of what is in God’s heart – so God said, “I will give you what you want as a punishment”.

Why would this be considered a punishment? To get what I want is a reward, right? Well, not always. Ever hear the phrase, “be careful what you wish for?” That phrase exists because we understand that sometimes what we want and wish for is not all that we think it is.

The desires of the “heart” can deceive us. That is why it bothers me when I hear someone say, “follow your heart”. NO! I know what my heart is capable of and I know what my heart can desire.

Jeremiah 17:9–10 CSB
9 The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it? 10 I, the LORD, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.

Follow God, and HIS heart – not our own heart.

Because they worshipped what was created, God gave them over to their hearts desires.

Paul goes on to get much more specific in the second indictment:

Romans 1:25–27 CSB
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.

Again, there is a legal case: they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped created things… THEREFORE … God gave them over to..

Disgraceful passions.

BECUASE they chose to worship creation and not God and his truth, God said, “You want to live for your sexual desires – I will let you”. The punishment fits the crime.

In this set of verses, we have some of the most contentious verses in our modern, western church culture.

God gave them, as a punishment, not as a concession, over to their passions, which led to disgraceful actions. The word “disgraceful” may also be translated as “dishonorable”.

What are those actions that are dishonorable?

• Women having unnatural relationships with other women
• Men man having unnatural relationships with other men

I love that Justin brought up “natural revelation” and “natural law” last week. Paul says that what we refer to as “homosexual” relationships [men with men, women with women] are NOT natural. They go against natural law and natural revelation. The are “unnatural”.

Homosexual relationships go against the natural order.

Biology and gender are not just human constructs as some propose. They are woven throughout creation in the plant, bird, fish and animal realms.

Homosexual relationships go against the divine order.

God created man and then created women to “complete” him. The two become one when they are united in marriage. God saw that Adam was alone in the garden and said, “It is not good for man to be alone” so he created “woman” to complete him. [see Genesis 2:18-25]

We also see in the creation story the divine order and even the purpose behind it.

Genesis 1:27–28 CSB
27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”

God specifically created biology. Gender is not a “social construct devoid of biology”, and a two-gender understanding of humanity is not a “cisgender, white, heterosexual” interpretation of the scripture as the PCUSA heretically states in their dogma.

God created man and woman in a beautiful way – male and female, to complete and complement one other emotionally, spiritually and physically. Sex is an important part of that. The command was to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” – that command is not possible in a homosexual relationship.

So the relationships that Paul talks about, women with women and men with men, are not natural, and they are not divinely sanctioned. They are part of the punishment that God turned people over to.

Romans 1:26-27 [on screen only – highlight unnatural and shameful]

While some may accuse me of creating a “shame-filled, humiliating, manipulative” culture, God’s Word says that these unnatural actions are what is shameful. Teaching about them is not shameful. Wanting people to know the truth about God’s creation and to honor God with their lives and their bodies is not shameful.

We must be honest with God’s Word and with others – sexual immorality, including homosexuality, is a sin in God’s eyes. It is in opposition to God’s natural and divine order and it is something God does not condone.

While we as Christians cannot condone these lifestyles… it is also not our business to condemn those who live that way apart from God. Our calling is to speak the truth in love.

That means we first of all are not afraid to speak that which is true – both from natural truth and divine truth. And second of all it means that we speak it not in a self-righteous way, but in a loving way.

I am convinced that God’s design for sexuality and relationships is far superior to any human distortion of the same. There is a beauty and poetry to the way man and woman are created. Read the Song of Solomon. Wow!

I want all people to understand and experience the truth about relationships, gender, the beauty of God’s design – but it will not happen if they are never told the truth. It will not happen if they choose to worship their own way their own bodies, and their own passions instead of surrendering to God and living according to his ways.

Let’s move on to the third indictment:

Romans 1:28–31 CSB
28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right. 29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.

Because they refuse to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to…

Corrupt minds.

This section is loaded! We will not get into all of them in detail, because I do not think that was Paul’s intent. But there are three groups of words that Paul uses to describe the results of this punishment.

In the CSB, each one starts with, “They are”:

List 1 – relationship towards God

Romans 1:29 “They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness…

In the Greek, which this is written, these first 4 word, “unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness” all end in “ia”. So there is a rhythm and rhyme to them.

Romans 1:29 “They are filled with all unrighteousness (ἀδικία), evil (πλεονεξία), greed (κακία), and wickedness (πονηρία).

An example in English, “They were rude and crude, full of attitudes and platitudes.”

Paul wanted this list to be memorable when people hear this letter being read to them. All four words define their relationships with God and possibly with others:

• not in right standing with God
• acting evil in God’s eyes
• being greedy towards God (not even giving him thanks)
• acting maliciously towards God

Your list may have words in a different order, or different words. They are all closely related and pass along the idea of doing “what is wicked in the eyes of God”.

Then Paul gives us another list:

List 2 – Relationship towards others.

Romans 1:29 “They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice…”

This is a list specifically directed towards others.

• They want what other have
• They take what others have – even if it is their life blood
• They fight with others
• They deceive others
• They harbor hatred towards others

And then the third grouping in this list:

List 3 – How they live this out “they do what is not right” (a partial list)

Romans 1:29–31 “….They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.”

These are all part of a corrupt mind because they are willful decisions that are made to elevate ourselves above God and above others. Even worse, they are decisions to try to benefit ourselves at the expense of others and in opposition to God (note: God-haters).

Paul even goes beyond the idea that these are mere thoughts, for some they are plans – mankind “invents way to do evil”.

I must admit, as a kid I did not like the “disobedient to parents” part of this set of verses. Seems out of place right next to inventors or evil, right?! But it shows that the corrupt mind looks for ways to rebel against God’s divine order.

So, God’s sentence was to give them what they desired. They wanted to be right in their own minds, they wanted to define good, evil, morality, relationships, all of society their own way, apart from and in opposition to God -> so God gave them what they wanted. God’s punishment fit the crime, and his sentence is just.

Romans 1:32 “Although they know God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.”

The end of this comes to a sad conclusion – that even though people know God is just in punishing mankind, and in the sentence, he handed down, they still rebelled and even applauded others that rebel against Got.

We have seen a lot of this in our recent news media, haven’t we?

Paul wanted to be clear -> Those that practice these things are already sentenced. The punishment is death. That is for all mankind! While we might want to single out the first group in this list as those deserving of punishment, I am confident that there is no adult in this room that can say they have never been disobedient to their parents. That is the case Paul is making, and will continue to make:

Romans 3:23 CSB
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

God is just and punishes sin by giving us what we think we desire or need – the things we put in God’s place.

The consummation of sin is death, which is what God said in the garden in Genesis, and what Paul declares a little later in this letter:

Romans 6:23 CSB
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And that brings me back to the beginning of our time in this passage. BECUASE mankind has rebelled against God, not making him the boss of their lives and not even acknowledging the things God has done for them, God:

• delivered them over in the desires of their hearts
• delivered them over to disgraceful passions
• delivered them over to a corrupt mind

But this is not the ONLY place Paul uses the term “delivered them over” in Romans! He will use it three more times, and the next time we find it we read ->

Romans 4:25 CSB
25 [Jesus] was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Not only did God deliver humans over for their punishment, but he also delivered Jesus over for punishment on our behalf so that our sentence could be expunged.

God put our sentence on his Son so that we could be forgiven and accepted and so that we could live “righteously” – following his commands and honoring Him as God.

The sacrifice of Jesus undoes the punishment by regenerating our heart, passions and thinking. It allows us to live out the greatest commandment:

Matthew 22:36–37 CSB
36 “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

Which then changes the way we live towards others, which fulfills the second greatest commandment:

Matthew 22:39 “39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

… which comes by the renewing of our heart and our minds. That is where Paul will pick up in chapter 12.

When someone asks you, “If God exists, why is there so much evil in the world” – we can answer with, “We got what we asked for”. It is not God’s permissiveness, nor that he is sadistic, that evil exists. Evil exists because God has given out a punishment that fits the crime – if mankind rejects God, they will get to live out what it means to be apart from and opposed to God because he handed us over to that.

The punishment truly fits the crime.

But thanks be to God that we do not need to stay in that place. Because of his love for us, and in spite of our rebellion, he sent Jesus to be handed over to our sentence -> to take on our punishment.

All those who choose to repent -> to turn FROM being their own god and defining truth on their own terms TO acknowledging Yahweh as their God and following his truth -> THEY will be saved by Jesus taking the punishment for them, in their place.