Friday, September 19, 2014

Romans 1:32

Copyright Ó 2014 J. Neely
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.