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Romans 1:18,21
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; …

Job 21:14,15
Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways…

Proverbs 1:7,22,29
The fear of the LORDis the beginning of knowledge:but fools despise wisdom and instruction…

retain.

Jeremiah 6:30
Reprobate silver shallmen call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.

2 Corinthians 13:5-7
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? …

2 Timothy 3:8
Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

not convenient.

Ephesians 5:4
Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

Philemon 1:8
Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,

He gave them up to a depraved mind
The concept of God "giving them up" is a judicial act, where God allows individuals to follow their sinful desires as a form of judgment. This is a recurring theme inRomans 1, where God gives people over to various sins as a consequence of their rejection of Him (Romans 1:24, 26). The "depraved mind" refers to a corrupted way of thinking, unable to discern right from wrong. This echoes the Old Testament, where similar language is used to describe the consequences of persistent sin (e.g.,Psalm 81:12). Theologically, it underscores the seriousness of turning away from God and the resulting moral decay.

to do what ought not to be done
This phrase describes the actions that result from a depraved mind. The "ought not to be done" implies a violation of God's moral order, which is evident in the natural law written on human hearts (Romans 2:14-15). The actions that follow are detailed in the subsequent verses (Romans 1:29-31), which list various sins that characterize a life apart from God. This reflects the biblical principle that thoughts lead to actions, as seen in Jesus' teachings on the heart's role in sin (Matthew 15:19). The phrase serves as a warning of the destructive path of sin and the need for repentance and transformation through Christ.

Paul is adding weight to an argument already in motion. He has just shown that people traded the glory of God for idols (Romans 1:23-27). “Furthermore” signals a deepening judgment—God’s response escalates because human rebellion keeps escalating. The same pattern appears inJudges 2:11-15: as Israel slides deeper into idolatry, the Lord “hands them over.”

• The choice is deliberate. They “did not see fit”—they evaluated God and decided He wasn’t worth retaining.

•Proverbs 1:29-31 describes this willful neglect: “Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD… they shall eat the fruit of their own way.”

•Hosea 4:6 echoes the consequence of rejecting knowledge: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you.”

• InJohn 3:19 people “loved darkness rather than light,” confirming that ignorance of God is not passive but chosen.

God’s judgment is to let them have what they insisted on—a mind twisted away from truth.

•Psalm 81:12 illustrates the principle: “So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.”

•Ephesians 4:17-19 explains the futility that results: “They are darkened in their understanding… because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.”

•2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 shows God sending “a powerful delusion” so that those who refuse truth will embrace lies. The surrender of restraint is itself a divine act of justice.

Once the mind is corrupted, conduct follows.

• Verses 29-31 list the visible outworking: “all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, malice…”.

•Galatians 5:19-21 contains a similar catalog, underscoring that such deeds flow from the flesh, not the Spirit.

•Isaiah 5:20 warns of the moral inversion that occurs: calling evil good and good evil. A depraved mind normalizes what God forbids.

Romans 1:28 portrays a sobering cycle: people reject the knowledge of God; in righteous response, God withdraws restraining grace; their thinking becomes warped; warped thinking produces warped living. Far from being passive, this “giving up” is an active judgment that mirrors the choices people have made. Yet the passage also clarifies why the gospel is so urgent (Romans 1:16-17): only the revealed righteousness of God in Christ can interrupt the downward spiral, renew the mind (Romans 12:2), and restore people to lives that “ought” to be lived.

Did not like.--There is a play upon words here with "reprobate" in the clause following which cannot be retained in English. "As they reprobated the knowledge of God, so He gave them up to a reprobate mind." As they would have nothing to do with Him, so He would have nothing to do with them. "Reprobate" means, properly, tried and found wanting, and therefore cast away as worthless.

To retain God in their knowledge.--The word for knowledge here means "exact," "advanced," "thorough knowledge." They refused to hold the true idea of God so as to grow and increase in the knowledge of it.

Those things which are not convenient.--That which is unbecoming, disgraceful.

Fornication.--This word is wanting in the best MSS. and should be omitted, as also the word "implacable" inRomans 1:31.

Wickedness, . . . maliciousness.--These two words appear to be related together, so that the latter expresses rather the vicious disposition--vicious in the special sense, the disposition to do hurt to others--the former rather the active exercise of it. Similar catalogues of sins are given in other of St. Paul's Epistles, as, for example, 2 Cor. 12:30;Galatians 5:19et seq.;Ephesians 5:3-4;1Timothy 1:9-10;2Timothy 3:2et seq. . . .

(1) "to prove" (as in assaying metals), and, generally, "to discern," or "judge;"

(2) "to approve," after supposed proving. Jowett, in his commentary on this Epistle, endeavours to retain in English the correspondence betweenἐδοκιμασαν andἀδόκιμον by translating, "As they did notdiscern to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to anundiscerning mind," thus taking the verb in sense (1), and the adjective in the same sense actively. But it is at least doubtful whetherἀδόκιμος can be taken in an active sense, which is not its classical one. In the New Testament it occurs1 Corinthians 9:27;2 Corinthians 13:5, 6;2 Timothy 3:8;Titus 1:16;Hebrews 6:8. In the first of the above passages the word obviously means "rejected" (in the Authorized Versiona castaway), with reference to the comparison of a competitor in athletic contests being proved unworthy of the prize - a sense cognate to the common one of the same adjective as applied to spurious metals, rejected or worthless after being tested. In2 Corinthians 13:5, 6, either sense seems admissible -ἑαυτοὺς δοκιμάζετε...εἰ μήτι ἀδόκιμοί ἐστε. But not so inHebrews 6:8, where the word is applied to barren land. The passages from 2 Timothy and Titus may in themselves admit the sense ofundiscerning, but the passive one is more probable in view of the common usage of the word. On the other hand, ch. 12:2 may be adduced in favour of the active sense; for there the consequence of the renewal of the mind in Christians is said to be that they mayprove, ordiscern (εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν ὑμᾶς), what is Gods will; and hence it may seem probable that the want of suchdiscernment is denoted here. The same passage also favours the verbδοκιμάζειν being taken here in sense (1) given above, and Jowett's rendering of the whole passage. It is, after all, uncertain; nor does it follow that the Greekparonomasia can be reproduced in English.

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