Romans 1:24–32 (KJV)
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Summarized Philosophical View
Sin is not merely moral failure—it is the disintegration of reason itself. When humanity “changes the truth of God into a lie,” it not only rebels against divine law but also against the rational order of creation. Romans 1 shows that the rejection of God inevitably leads to the collapse of moral and intellectual coherence: irrational passions, disordered loves, and moral inversion become the hallmarks of a fallen mind.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” — Proverbs 9:10 (KJV)
Apologetic Devotional
Paul’s solemn phrase—“God gave them up”—marks one of the most terrifying realities in Scripture. When men persist in worshiping creation rather than the Creator, God withdraws His restraining grace, allowing sin to consume its captives. What follows is not freedom, but slavery to irrational desire. The intellect darkened by unbelief begins to call evil good and good evil—a moral insanity rooted in spiritual rebellion.
J. P. Moreland and William Lane Craig diagnose this as the “noetic effects of sin,” writing, “Moral failure corrupts not only the will but also the intellect; the mind darkened by sin no longer sees clearly what is good.”. Once truth is replaced by preference, reason collapses into self-justification. This is why the moral revolution of our age—whether in sexuality, identity, or ethics—parades itself as progress while dismantling the very rational order that sustains civilization.
Norman Geisler puts it bluntly: “When people deny the Creator, they do not eliminate worship—they redirect it toward created things, including their own desires.”. This is Paul’s logic: the idolatry of the mind produces the immorality of the body. Sin begins as false philosophy and ends as moral chaos. A culture that refuses to retain God in its knowledge is “given over to a reprobate mind.”
Alister McGrath observes, “The Christian vision of salvation is not merely about forgiveness but about the restoration of reason, imagination, and morality to their proper harmony in God.”. Redemption, then, is the reversal of this collapse—faith restores both the mind and the moral order by reuniting truth and goodness in Christ. Christianity is not anti-intellectual; it is the renewal of intellect under grace.
C. S. Lewis saw this pattern prophetically: “When all that says ‘it is good’ has been debunked, what says ‘I want’ remains.”. The moral relativist dethrones objective truth, only to enthrone appetite. What began as “liberation” becomes bondage to lust, pride, and violence. The so-called enlightened mind becomes enslaved to its own passions—proof that moral autonomy destroys freedom itself.
Michael Wilkins comments that this “giving over” represents divine judgment in the present: “God allows sinners to experience the natural consequence of rejecting Him—the unraveling of moral reason.”. This, Paul says, is already the wrath of God revealed from heaven: not thunderbolts, but the slow corrosion of conscience. When a society celebrates what God condemns, it is not progressing—it is perishing.
Yet even here, grace shines. The same God who “gave them up” also gave His Son. Christ enters the wreckage of human reason and reorders it around truth. The cross is the restoration of meaning, the reconciliation of love and law, grace and justice. Through faith, the darkened mind is renewed, and the disordered heart is healed.
Thus, believers must proclaim that sin is not liberation but lunacy; repentance is not repression but restoration. Only when we return to God as the source of truth and goodness can reason itself be saved from ruin.
Supporting Scriptures:
Proverbs 9:10 | Ephesians 4:17–19 | Titus 1:15–16 | John 3:19–21
Reflection & Response
- In what ways does our culture “call evil good and good evil,” and how can believers respond with both truth and grace?
- How does my own moral reasoning change when I let desire, rather than God’s Word, define what is good?
Sources
- Moreland & Craig, p. 413: “Moral failure corrupts not only the will but also the intellect; the mind darkened by sin no longer sees clearly what is good.”
- Geisler, p. 517: “When people deny the Creator, they do not eliminate worship—they redirect it toward created things, including their own desires.”
- McGrath, p. 134: “The Christian vision of salvation is not merely about forgiveness but about the restoration of reason, imagination, and morality to their proper harmony in God.”
- Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book III, ch. 3: “When all that says ‘it is good’ has been debunked, what says ‘I want’ remains.”
- Wilkins, p. 136: “God allows sinners to experience the natural consequence of rejecting Him—the unraveling of moral reason.”