Summary
Romans 1:29-31 contains quite a list of things that we ought to avoid—things that characterize those who “do not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God” (Romans 1:28). Because appearances can be deceiving in this world, we ought not blindly trust people and institutions that others hold up as “good”—even if seemingly everyone else agrees—but instead compare them against these standards here, to see for ourselves whether or not they truly are. Because all too often, evil masquerades as good, and many people are deceived completely by the lies. Let us not be among them!
Content
What is not proper in God’s eyes?
Being filled with every kind of:
- wickedness
- evil
- greed
- depravity
Being full of:
- envy
- murder
- strife
- deceit
- malice
Being:
- a gossip
- a slanderer
- a God-hater
- insolent
- arrogant
- boastful
- an inventor of ways of doing evil
- disobedient to parents
Lacking:
- understanding
- fidelity
- love
- mercy
That’s quite the list, is it not? This is not the only place in the New Testament where we have a list of characteristics and behaviors we are told to avoid (e.g., you might also have a look at 1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
Of course, this list is not meant to be completely comprehensive, and not all of the things in this list will always manifest all at the same time. The point is that these are the sorts of things that characterize those who “do not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God” (Romans 1:28).
I should also note that appearances can be deceiving. Evil masquerades as good, all while putting the truth to death. In our modern day, for example, certain social justice causes claim the moral high ground in their PR campaigning, yet are very much characterized by a lack of “understanding, fidelity, love, and mercy” (Romans 1:31). Unidirectional tolerance (along the lines of “rules for thee but not for me”), demagoguery and purposefully inflammatory rhetoric to stir up hatred and divisions, grandstanding and preening and misrepresentation in front of the media to distort the facts and pervert justice… are these the actions of truth and godliness?
So, the point of bringing this up is that before making up our minds about something (anything), we need to be careful to screen it against this list to see “if the shoe fits”. Sadly, it does a lot more of the time than one might wish—even for people and institutions that the rest of the world holds up as “good”. But we are not to use the world’s standards when we evaluate things, but God’s, and that makes all the difference.
All of this is important for ensuring that we accurately discern the nature of things so that we don’t support that which we ought not, and thereby attach the name of Christ to ungodliness. For we are at all times ambassadors of the Kingdom of God.