HE GAVE THEM OVER

There is a very interesting term in Romans 1 where Paul, an apostle, explains the results of how God allows people to reject the truth and pursue the way of the godless. It appears to happen in sequence as one “suppresses the truth in unrighteousness” (verse 18). It is “evident that everyone can know about God” (verse 19) but they become “futile in their speculations and their foolish hearts were darkened” (verse 21) and climaxes when “professing to be wise, they become fools” (verse 22).

This progresses to “God gave them over” to the evil and degrading passions of exchanging “the truth of God for a lie” (verse 25) and “God gave them over” for exchanging natural functions for un-natural (verse 26) to “God gave them over to a depraved mind” to do those things which are not proper (verse 28).

This is not something new. The Psalmist mentions the same issue in Psalm 81:11-13:
“But my people did not listen to my voice,
And Israel did not obey me.
“So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart,
To walk in their own devices.
“Oh that my people would listen to me,
That Israel would walk in my ways!”

Nothing can be greater or more disastrous than the Lord giving over of a person to him or her self. The text does not say, ‘He gave up on them’ but ‘he gave them up.’ This is simply a way for the Lord to ask: ‘So how is that working out for you?’

“Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.” Jesus