A Romans 1 World Pt. 12 Sins of a Reprobate Mind

More sins of reprobate minds

Romans 1:29-31  Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30) Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31) Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 

We will continue working our way through the long list of behaviors that characterize those who have reprobate minds. Each characteristic Paul describes is that of a person "filled with all unrighteousness" because they rebelled against God and He gave them up to a reprobate mind.

Covetousness. The word "covetousness" refers to a person who is greedy, driven by avarice to gain more wealth, possessions, power and control. Coveting is a sin of wanting something that belongs to someone else. 

Thus, we see that this unrighteous impulse is behind crimes like embezzlement, theft, larceny, identity theft and cyber crimes. The FBI lists larceny, theft and burglaries as the most common crimes. Motor vehicle theft is a separate category of crime. Each of these crimes are classified as "Property Crimes" and from this text we see such crimes stem from coveting the property of another person. 

Mark 7:20-23  And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21) For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22)  Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23) All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. 

Jesus Christ addressed the issues of a human heart from the perspective of Jeremiah who wrote that our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Our Lord expounded on this topic by listing thirteen specific sins that originate in our heart. A covetous attitude is on this list. 

Coveting is craving that which does not belong to you!

Exodus 20:17  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. (See also Deuteronomy 5:21)

The holy law of God tells us what the sin of covetousness is like. It is wanting, lusting after, having an illicit craving to obtain anything that belongs to your neighbor. This includes his property, his wife, his servants and his livestock. Thus the sin of covetousness in one respect, can lead to property crimes because you want something that your neighbor has that you do not have.

Coveting is being greedy with self consumption.

Luke 12:13-20  And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. 14) And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? 15) And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 16) And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17)  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18) And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19) And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20) But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21) So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.  

In this text from Luke's gospel, Jesus focused upon the other prominent aspect of the sin of covetousness: being greedy and filled with avarice. The Lord told His disciples that this life should not be measured by the amount of wealth and material things that we accumulate. 

Jesus taught this truth by using a parable to get His point across. A certain rich man owned lands that produced an exceptionally large harvest of fruits. His storage facilities were completely  filled up so that he had nowhere to store this harvest. His greed led him to build more barns so that he would have enough harvest stored to meet his needs for a long period of time. 

{As a side note, there is nothing wrong with working hard and gaining wealth from your efforts. However, God expects us to use our assets for His glory.} 

In this case, the rich man should have been helping to feed the poor of the land and God would have blessed him for doing so. Instead, his greed led him to focus on self consumption and amassing more riches. 

The point of this parable from Jesus is that God told the rich man that he was going to die that very night. Thus, he would not receive any of the benefits he imagined from his greed. Jesus shows us that greedy ambition and self consumption is wrong because our focus should be upon the kingdom of God and how we might serve Him. 

Maliciousness. The word "maliciousness" means having ill will toward another person with the intent to injure them somehow. It means having enmity toward another person without any provocation or reason for doing so. It refers to a wicked attitude that is not afraid to break the law in order to commit a criminal act.

Maliciousness is hating someone for no reason.

Psalm 35:7  For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. 

Psalm 109:2-3  For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. 3) They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause. 

First, King David said his enemies dug a pit for him to fall into for no reason. Second, his enemies lied and spoke hatefully against the king without a cause. 

Psalm 119:78  Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.

Psalm 119:161  Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.

The author of Psalm 119 tells us that his enemies were treacherous and traitorous in their dealings with him, again for no valid reason. Some people in power even persecuted the Psalmist without a cause but he remained anchored to God's truth and the Lord sustained him. 

Proverbs 3:30  Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.

King Solomon tells us that we should never strive with another person without a cause. Why get into a fight with our neighbor if he has done nothing wrong? 

Matthew 5:22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke about His kingdom and said something that directly reflects upon the word "maliciousness." Anyone who is angry with his brother (a neighbor, relative, friend) without a cause is in danger of judgment. 

Full of envy. Envy means what it normally does. Jealousy over someone else. People are jealous over other people's looks, clothing, cars, education, homes, vocation, friends, and so on. It has a clear connection to the sin of being covetous. 

Thoughts to Ponder...

We learned that being greedy or filled with avarice is not good. Having more wealth, property or things just for the sake of having them is not why God left the believers here on earth. We are to live within our means and consider that everything we have whether a little or a lot, belongs to God. Thus, we should seek to use our time, talents and assets for His glory. 

We also learned what the word "maliciousness" means and it is clear that there are many people with malicious attitudes around us today. We must be anchored to the Word of God like the Psalmist was, and leave the judgment of the haters to God.

Going through the Romans 1 culture is not a "feel good" series of lessons. It focuses on what has or is going wrong in America and other places. Yet, God wants us to know these things so that we live in dependence upon Him. Our challenge is that the culture says we should be self sufficient, accumulating all that we need to live and survive. 

There are many life lessons the Spirit of God can show us in this study and I pray that He does. May our response to the Word of God be humble submission and a determination to obey.

Bob