Romans 1:24 “If Only...”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁴Therfore, God gave them up in the desires of their hearts into uncleanness of the dishonoring of their bodies among them.

I’m still stewing over my questions from my last post, but this verse I believe teaches us a lot about the Lord Himself. The verse is in the middle of this larger passage about God’s wrath being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. It’s about the wrath of God. It’s about judgment. The very subjects conjure up images of an angry God furiously throwing lightning bolts at pathetic fleeing sinners.

But is that what this verse teaches? Yes, there is such a thing as the wrath of God. He does judge sin. He is a God greatly to be feared. But stop again and look closely at what this verse teaches. Notice it says “God gave them up…” What does that mean but that He was previously holding them back? Like a loving parent He was holding them back. He wouldn’t let them plunge ahead and get hurt. I’ll never forget taking our quite young children to see Niagara Falls. It was a wonderful trip and the Falls are a sight to behold…but to even be near them is terrifying. And then to have small children that could run off at any second and be sucked over those terrible Falls struck terror in this father’s heart. Their mother and I held their hands tightly.

And so with our Heavenly Father. Even with people who are ignoring Him and unthankful for His blessings, He is holding them back – holding them back from plunging to their own self-destruction. But again, like a loving parent, sometimes that obstinate child has to simply be allowed to plunge ahead. Perhaps his obstinance does stir the anger of his parent’s heart, but still, it is in love the parent finally decides this is the only way he’ll ever learn.

Listen to God’s heart in Psalm 81:11-16:

But My people would not listen to Me;
    Israel would not submit to Me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
    to follow their own devices.

If my people would only listen to Me,
…how quickly I would subdue their enemies
    and turn my hand against their foes!
…you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
    with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

Do you see the same thing happening here? The Lord is “giving them up,” but even as He does, He’s lamenting their stubbornness. He’s saying His heart longs instead to bless them and do them good.

Where is the “angry God furiously throwing lightning bolts at pathetic fleeing sinners?” Do you see to think that is to totally misunderstand the Lord? Even when human beings push Him to the point where He must judge, His heart never stops loving them.

I even see love in the judgment itself. What does He give them up to? He gives them up “to the desires of their hearts.” As I said in my last post, the word “desires” means only that. It can be good or bad. In this case, it is clearly bad, so we translate it “lusts” or “evil desires” – but it is their desires. It is what they want. It is what they have chosen. Up to this point, the Lord has been very mercifully restraining them. He has been very kindly preventing them from pursuing their desires – like us holding tightly our children’s hands lest they get too close to Niagara’s raging torrent.

But therein is great love. From the beginning, God gave each of us the freedom to choose for ourselves the path we would follow. I have said before I consider that to be the supreme dignity of a human being – the freedom to make personal and moral choices. Butler said, “…the Lord compels no one to virtue.” He did not make us robots or senseless animals. Knowing our “wanters” are broken, He kindly restrains us from much that we might choose that would harm us, however, there is a point when He grants to a person the dignity of following the path they have chosen – even if it leads straight into hell.

In this case, where does it lead? In this verse, it leads into sexual immorality. When we cast off moral restraint and “go for it," we very evil human beings think we have found freedom. We thought as young people we were discovering freedom when we could follow our lusts right into a bed. As I bemoaned in my last post, I’m not so sure I’ve entirely purged such thoughts from my heart of hearts. We think it a freedom, but what does the Lord call it? He calls it, “uncleanness of the dishonoring of their bodies among them.”

He calls it “uncleanness.” It is dirty and filthy in His eyes. He calls it “dishonoring of their bodies.” The word “dishonoring” could be translated “degrading.” Somehow, outside of its proper place – married love – sex becomes in God’s eyes a horrible, ugly business that somehow degrades the bodies we live in. We should insert here the clear assertion that inside marriage, sex is a beautiful thing in the eyes of the Lord. We see it expounded in the Song of Solomon and in verses like Proverbs 5:15-19: “Drink water from your own cistern…May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer – may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love.” That last phrase says literally something like, “…may you ever be intoxicated by her lovings.” Inside marriage sex is a beautiful thing.

But outside of marriage, it is actually a form of self-destruction. We can see it become degrading in the sexually transmitted diseases. While some can be treated, there are still those which cannot.

The Lord knows all of this and kindly restrains us from plunging into such willful self-destruction. But what we see here in Romans 1:24 is that there is a point when He will finally withdraw that restraint and let us “follow our hearts” and literally follow them into hell.

Can anyone else see how far this is from the “angry God furiously throwing lightning bolts at pathetic fleeing sinners?” Oh, yes, He is angry. Yes, He is judging sin. But He is doing it all as a loving Father, finally giving us the freedom to choose for ourselves the death and destruction we deserve.

As He said of Israel, “If only…”

If only you and I would draw near to Him, not pull away. If only we’d embrace Him and trust Him and long to live close to His heart, He would feed us “honey from the rock.” He would bless us and our children for a thousand generations.

May we each see that the choice is ours…and choose wisely.