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Romans 1:29-31 NASB

NT

Romans 1:29-31

nasb

29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are a gossips, 30 slanderers, 1 a haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, b disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, a unloving, unmerciful;

Block Diagram

Romans 1:28-32

mine

1:18-32

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God

Cf

any longer,

God gave them over

to a depraved mind,

Ac/Res

to do those things

Ac/Res

which are not proper,

Id/Exp

a) being filled with all

a) unrighteousness,

Id/Exp

b) wickedness,

c) greed,

d) evil;

b) full of

a) envy,

Id/Exp

b) murder,

c) strife,

d) deceit,

e) malice;

[S]

Gn/Sp

c) they are

a) gossips,

Id/Exp

b) slanderers,

c) haters of God,

d) insolent,

e) arrogant,

f) boastful,

g) inventors of evil,

h) disobedient to parents,

i) without understanding,

j) untrustworthy,

k) unloving,

l) unmerciful;

and although they know the ordinance of God,

Csv

that those ... are worthy of death,

Gn/Sp

who practice such things

Gn/Sp

a) they not only do the same,

[P]

Id/Exp

hearty

Ac/Man

b) but also give ... approval to those

who practice them.

Gn/Sp

phrasing

notes

Notes

Why does Paul list disobedience to parents - something that we in our time would consider something small and insignificant? Often we would see a child being disobedient or disrespectful to his parents, and his parents would just laugh it off as silliness. When God finished the first of the ten commandments which relate to Himself - how He is to be worshiped and obeyed - he starts of the next portion of the ten commandments - how we are to relate to one another - with this commandment: "Honor your father and your mother." It is the first human-to-human commandment given by God to us, and He doesn't stop there, He goes on to give a promise with the commandment - "that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you" (Exo 20:12). Paul emphasizes this point in Ephesians 6:1-3 - "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment WITH A PROMISE)". Authority, order and hierarchy is important to God. Even among the Godhead there is order, authority, and submission, as we see with Jesus' words - "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (John 6:38), and "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work" (John 4:34). We see this subjection to authority commanded by God in how we obey government: - "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s" (Mark 12:17). - "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves" (Romans 13:1-2). Why is authority, and submission to it, so important to God? Firstly, as Paul makes clear in Romans 13 - whatever authority is over you has been instituted and placed there by God personally. But also, I think it may be the same principle at work here as in 1 John 4:20 - "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen." How can we submit to the authority of God - whom we cannot see - if we cannot even submit to the authority of those we can see? If a child cannot obey and respect his parents, who's authority God has placed over that child, how will he ever obey and respect a God whom he cannot see visibly or touch tangibly? If he does not fear his earthly parents, how will he ever fear God? We are commanded, as parents, to bring our children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4). This is not an option. If our children sin, they should have a healthy fear of their parents as they should fear the Lord. We are the ambassadors of God in the eyes of our children. If they don't fear us, they won't fear Him. Proverbs 22:6 teaches us an important principle - "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it." This does two things - it commands (no option given) us to train our children. Secondly, it shows us that we are always training our children - we are either training them to fear and obey a holy and righteous God, or we are training them up to disrespect and deny that same God, before whom they will stand in judgment one day. But, one way or the other, we are always training them in something. May it not be to become a Romans 1:29-31 hater of God.