Romans 1:31 - Printer Friendly

ESV: foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

NIV: they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.

NASB: without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful;

CSB: senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.

NLT: They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.

KJV: Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

NKJV: undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;

Paul's long "vice list" concludes with this verse. He has compiled examples of the sins indulged in by those who reject God with their minds and then with their words and actions. Contained within some of the sins on this list are the naturally painful consequences that come with a life spent apart from and in rebellion against God (Romans 1:29–31). These are the end result of ignoring God's obvious presence in creation (Romans 1:18–20), and testing our minds to reject the truth (Romans 1:21–24).

Paul wraps up the list with four items that begin with the letter "a" in the Greek, bringing his point home with a flourish of alliteration. In Greek, the letter a is a negation, much like the English prefix "non-" or the suffix "-less." Paul describes the human soul that rejects God as asynetous, asynthetous, astorgus, anel󠄓eēmonas. One could paraphrase this as "senseless, faithless, loveless, merciless."

First, persons who reject God become debased in their minds (Romans 1:28) and so live in foolishness or without understanding. They have no hope of coming to the right conclusions about life because they have rejected God as the source of life and the giver of wisdom.

Second, we godless humans are faithless. The Greek word asyunthetous refers to someone who will not abide by a treaty, who won't keep his or her word: literally, a "covenant–breaker."

Third, mankind devoid of God's presence is heartless or without affection. We lose the ability to love each other even at the most basic level when we refuse to acknowledge or love God.

Finally, we are ruthless or without mercy. Without God's example to follow, we become unmoved by the suffering of others, even those to whom we ourselves are bringing pain.

Romans 1:18–32 describes why God rightfully condemns humanity and some of what He has done about it. Humanity's fall is pictured as a downward progression. It starts with rejecting God as creator, refusing to see what can be known about Him by what He has made. We also reject that He is our provider and stop giving Him thanks. We worship His creation instead of Him. Finally, God acts by giving us over to the unchecked expression of our corrupt sexual desires and all other kinds of sin. In part, He expresses His wrath by giving us what we want and condemning us to suffer the painful consequences.

Romans 1 introduces Paul and his purpose in writing this letter to the Christians in Rome. As servant and apostle of Jesus, Paul's mission in life is to preach the gospel of Jesus to all people groups, both Jews and Gentiles. He hopes to do so in Rome soon. Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. It is God's power for the salvation of all people by faith in Christ. We need to be saved because God is angry with us. Because of our sin, humanity has rejected Him as creator and provider. We worship created things, instead. In response, God has given us over to indulge in all kinds of sinful practices that lead to misery now and His angry judgment later.

Romans 1 begins with Paul's introduction of himself and his mission to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. After telling the Christians in Rome that he is eager to come see them and preach the gospel there, Paul declares that the gospel is God's power to save everyone who believes in Jesus. We need to be saved, because our sin has earned God's wrath. As a whole, humanity has rejected God as creator and provider. We worship creation instead of Him. In response, He has given us over to the full indulgence of our sinful desires. We are guilty and deserve His judgment.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.