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.
Romans chapter 1 is part of Paul's argument that all of humanity — not just those who've never heard of God — stands in need of the grace he's about to describe in the rest of the letter. Paul has been tracing a moral and spiritual downward spiral: people who know something of God but push that knowledge away, and the unraveling that follows. This final verse in the chapter lands with particular weight. The 'death' Paul refers to is spiritual separation from God, not necessarily immediate physical death. The chilling observation isn't simply that people do wrong things — it's that they begin to celebrate, encourage, and applaud others who do them too. When wrongdoing becomes something we publicly cheer for in others, something deeper has shifted.
God, this verse makes me uncomfortable, which probably means it's doing its job. Give me the honesty to examine not just what I do, but what I applaud. Guard my conscience from the slow drift of calling wrong things right. And keep me from judging others — I'm standing in need of grace too. Amen.
There's a specific moment in every moral drift where you stop just doing something and start rooting for it. You find yourself defending in others what you once quietly knew was wrong. You laugh at the jokes, share the content, signal your approval. Paul identifies this as a distinct and serious step — not just individual failure, but when wrong becomes a team sport, when doing harm gets an audience and the audience cheers. That observation is uncomfortably accurate about corners of every era, including ours. But before this verse becomes a weapon you aim at 'those people,' remember that Paul's whole argument is building toward a mirror he holds up in chapter 2: 'You who pass judgment on someone else...you are condemning yourself.' This is not a comfortable vantage point from which to watch others fail. It's an invitation to honest self-examination. Where in your own life do you applaud — in others or in yourself — what you quietly know isn't right? The discomfort of that question is exactly where Paul wants you to sit.
Paul distinguishes between doing wrong things and *approving* of others who do them. Why do you think communal approval — cheering it on together — is treated here as a particularly serious escalation of wrongdoing?
Can you think of a time when you gradually shifted from privately disapproving of something to publicly going along with it or defending it? What drove that shift in you?
Paul uses this passage to describe humanity broadly, but in the very next chapter he turns the mirror directly on his religious readers. How do you hold the truth of what he describes here without using it as reason to look down on others?
How does the community you're embedded in — your friend group, your family, your online spaces — quietly shape what you come to approve or disapprove of over time, often without you realizing it's happening?
Is there something you've been applauding — in media, in humor, in conversations — that you suspect you shouldn't be? What would quietly stepping back from that actually require of you?
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalms 14:1
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1 Corinthians 13:6
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
James 4:17
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
Romans 2:1
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Romans 2:5
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Genesis 2:17
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Romans 1:21
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Romans 1:18
Although they know God's righteous decree and His judgment, that those who do such things deserve death, yet they not only do them, but they even [enthusiastically] approve and tolerate others who practice them.
AMP
Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
ESV
and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
NASB
Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
NIV
who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
NKJV
They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
NLT
And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!
MSG