Romans 1:32
32 Who [hostis] knowing [epiginosko] the judgment [dikaioma] of
God [theos], that [hoti] they which commit [prasso]
such things [toioutos] are [eisi] worthy [axios] of death [thanatos], not [ou] only [monon] do [poieo] the same [autos], but [alla] [kai] have pleasure [suneudokeo]
in them that do [prasso] them. KJV-Interlinear
32 Though
they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to
die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. ESV
Who, ‘hostis,’ referring to all people, who are
knowingly committing sins, knowingly ignoring Gods mandates, knowingly
disregarding Gods mandates, knowingly rejecting the truths of life that are portrayed
as so obvious that they are considered to be natural or basic to human common
sense, and common knowledge.
Knowing, ‘epiginosko,’ means to know fully, or
instinctively, or knowing inceptively, which simply means that they have known
from the very beginning of their transgression.
People do not engage in sinful activity and then suddenly discover that
what they are doing is wrong.
Surprise.
They knew it from the beginning, before, during and
after and continue to know that their activity or thoughts or whatever it is,
was and is wrong.
There are no excuses.
So, whether you are telling little white lies,
engaging in alternative patterns of life, have your nose drifting higher than
others, ignoring Gods mandates, or tossing bombs into public places, you know,
that what you are doing is wrong. And
all of the arguments and justifications and excuses are just an additional part,
the pretend part, of that transgression.
The judgment of God, ‘dikaioma,’ refers not to the actions
of punishment, but refers to the opinion and viewpoint of God.
The world is full of opposites like right and
wrong, up and down, good and evil and so forth.
No one can live in this world and not know the depravity of poverty, the
opulence of wealth, the courtesy and manners and decency as opposed to
disrespect and bias and prejudice and so forth.
The world is saturated with evil, but it is also
saturated with truth, which offsets and counters evil.
And not only does everyone know these things, they
likewise know the penalties of sins and rejection of truth. That penalty is
death, but not a physical death, but a death which is a separation from truth. And when you separate from truth then you separate
yourself from God.
The worst separation from God comes to the
unbelievers and the Lake of Fire.
However, even believers can and do reject truth,
and their penalty is loss of reward, as well as loss of Gods grace to some
extent in this life. Life can be harsh
and cruel and when you have no one in your corner, or rather I should say, when
you drive truth out of your corner, then it is just that much harder.
And it is not the matter of saying, you poor thing,
it is a matter of, they knew what they were doing, wanted what they were doing
and therefore, get and deserve the repercussions of what they have done and are
doing.]
There are no innocents in life, no excuses in
life. People do what they do because
they want to do them, decide to do them, and then do them. And, they go in with the full knowledge of
all that is involved.
