Romans 1: Only Christ Can Help Us

Introduction

"Only Christ can help us." That is the title Peter Masters gives to this message, preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London from the end of the first chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans. The starting text is Romans 1:28: "Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting."

According to the preacher, the passage contains one of the saddest lists of evils in the whole New Testament. People like to be optimistic about humanity, but the Bible teaches that it is a lost race, full of corruption.

Peter Masters asks the question himself: "How can we be lifted up by this? How can we be encouraged by this?" His answer: there is immense encouragement and deep gratitude to be drawn from this list, provided you read it in three ways.

Outline of the Message

1. A Corrupt Race That Only Christ Can Rescue

There is a capacity to do good, to perform good deeds and show good attitudes. But when you step back, they are swamped by evil. Every life is full of corruption, and even the good is tainted.
The preacher's picture: an apple that is rotten in places, right through. Some good parts remain, but the black is everywhere. You throw it away, because you cannot separate what is good from the rest. "That is the human race according to Scripture."
Only God, and in particular God's eternal Son, has provided salvation for the members of a fallen humanity.

2. What Can Be Known About God, and the Deliberate Refusal

"That which is known of God is revealed in them" (verse 19), in two ways. First through creation: our existence, the complexity of our bodies, our awareness of being alive, our emotions, the immensity and beauty of the universe, despite the fall and God's judgment.
Then within us: conscience and an instinctive knowledge of God. Paul says so in Romans 2:14-15: Gentiles who do not have the law of Moses show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, and their conscience bears witness.
Verse 21: although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks. "It is not an accident." Humanity does not forget God through distraction: it is a deliberate act, which comes through more strongly in Greek than in English.
They became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless hearts were darkened. The preacher says the evolutionist atheist cannot tell you why you are here, what the purpose of it all is, or where you are going.
Verse 25: they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped the creature. In his view, evolutionism is a close neighbor of pantheism: "a blind pantheism," an "accidental" one, in which the world takes the place of God.

3. "God Gave Them Up"

Verse 24: God gave them up to what they wanted, to the impurity they sought in the lusts of their hearts.
In verse 28, the King James Version gently says "they did not like." The Greek word is far stronger: they did not want God, and they rejected him deliberately. "There is almost violence in that word."
The "reprobate mind" is a worthless mind, a mind without God. That is what they had, and God gave them up to it.
The Greek rendered "things which are not fitting" could be translated as things out of bounds, unthinkable. One modern translation puts it well: things that should never be done. The preacher includes the unnatural practices described in verses 26 and 27.
Then comes the list. Peter Masters counts 23 items in the King James Version. Several modern translations keep only 21: they treat "unrighteousness" as a general term and leave out fornication, which is absent from one family of manuscripts. He finds this omission hard to believe, since Paul has just given three verses to sexual sins.

4. The Sins We Aim At and Plan

A first group describes sins we aim at, think about, and prepare. Fornication covers all sexual impurity, in thought, word, and deed. "Everyone in this congregation is touched at some time by a guilty sexual desire, in thought, word, or deed." If it were the only sin in the world, we would already need the shed blood of Christ.
Wickedness: evil things aimed at and premeditated.
Covetousness continues in the mind: "I want more. I must have this. I must have that." Paul says that the commandment "You shall not covet" convicted him of sin. What he coveted was neither a glorious house nor the palace of a high religious official, but a position, power, status: to be noticed, to be the great intellectual, the one who had wiped out the Christians.
The preacher asks you the question: what do you covet? Things, flattery, celebrity, praise? Sometimes it comes down to greed for food.
Maliciousness: deliberately inflicting wounds.

5. The Sins That Flow From Pride

Envy is great displeasure at seeing others have what you want: "I should have had that promotion." It is an ugly thing, and it flows from pride.
Murder is the head of a family of sins. You kill by taking away life, but also happiness or freedom. Kidnapping is murder. Young people can destroy the happiness and peace of their elderly parents by eating them up with worry.
Strife is not healthy debate that seeks the truth. It is the person who contradicts everyone, almost for the pleasure of it, because they are so sure they are right.
Deceit begins with a dishonest exaggeration, a dishonest excuse, and then you become an incurable liar: "The lies come out all by themselves." Malignity is a grudge: paying back evil, giving the cold shoulder to the one who hurt you.
Whisperers and backbiters: one lies about someone behind their back, the other slanders them publicly to destroy their reputation. The only motive is to hurt. "Are there gossips among us?"
Haters of God: the militant atheist, but also, to some extent, every unconverted person. Proud, boasters, inventors of evil things: these think themselves so wise that they found their own religion or their own school of thought.
Disobedient to parents: parents do not have absolute authority over adult children, but they must be listened to. This applies to every form of authority: elders, leaders, the aged, rulers. The preacher sees in today's contempt for leaders, in the press and on the internet, a form of pride that could end up ruining democracy.
Verse 31: without loyalty, people keep neither their agreements nor their promises. Without natural affection, they show only a surface affection with hatred underneath. Implacable, unmerciful: no pity, no kindness, no forgiveness. "What a sad list."

6. First Reading: All of This Was Laid on Christ

To buy the forgiveness of all who trust in him, Christ was covered, in a way we cannot understand, with the guilt of all this.
At Calvary, the witnesses saw the blood running from his hands, his feet, and his brow where the thorns had been pressed in, the suffering under the heat, three visible hours and then three hours of darkness. They did not see the invisible agony: our sin laid on his pure and holy soul.
Sexual impurity, he felt it, "like a filthy, stinking garment soaking through to his soul." Then the punishment fell, so that my guilt and the guilt of millions of other believers would be consumed.
Wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, deceit, every slander, every calumny, pride, boasting: all of it was laid on him. You can run through the list and say to yourself: "I put that on my Savior. And that too."
This is the price of salvation and the measure of Christ's love for his people: how far he went for us.

7. Second and Third Readings: Conversion and the Opposite Virtues

"When I was converted, how many things were done at that moment!" It was not the whole work, but a large part of it. The grip of impurity on the mind was broken. The old nature is still there, but when it attacks, you can pray, put it to death, and turn your mind to better things.
The believer can no longer plan wickedness in cold blood. If he slips into it, it is a terrible thing, but conversion has broken that. The lust for glory and attention has lost its hold: you can live sensibly and set modest goals.
The envy that used to burn no longer rules: you can rejoice at a friend's promotion and thank God. And if it still burns, you hate it and can pray to drive it away. "What a difference conversion makes!"
Third reading: for what remains, you can make progress. Think of the opposite virtue for each sin and pray for it. Against fornication, purity: respecting the opposite sex, loving your husband or wife, redirecting your thoughts. Against wickedness: planning a good deed each day, noticing someone who needs help.
Against covetousness, moderation. Against envy, thinking well of others. Against murder, helping, providing, supporting. Against deceit, truth. "23 opposites to meditate on. A few each day would not be too much. Then start again."
The list is dark, but it does not have to be depressing: it shows our need of Christ, it shows that he alone can obtain our forgiveness, it shows the scale of our conversion, and it helps our sanctification.

Key Takeaways

Rejecting God is not forgetfulness but a deliberate refusal, even though creation and conscience bear witness to him.
The list in Romans 1 describes the heart of all humanity, including our own: only Christ can help us.
Every sin on the list was laid on Christ at Calvary. That is the measure of his love.
Conversion has broken sin's dominion: the believer can pray, put sin to death, and turn away.
Every sin has an opposite virtue that you can ask God to grow in you.

Personal Application

As you reread Romans 1:29-31, which sins do you recognize as having been, or still being, yours?
What do you covet most: things, flattery, recognition, a position?
Can you run through the list saying, "I put that on my Savior," and thank him for every item?
In what area has conversion already broken a hold in your life, and where do you need to pray to put to death what keeps resurfacing?
Which opposite virtue will you ask God for this week: purity, kindness, moderation, truth?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

How can a list of sins encourage a Christian?

Peter Masters offers three readings of Romans 1:29-31. Every sin on the list was laid on Christ on the cross. Conversion has broken the dominion of those sins. And every sin has an opposite virtue that you can ask God to grow in you.

What does "God gave them up" mean in Romans 1?

For Peter Masters, the rejection of God is deliberate: people did not want God. God then gave them up to what they desired, to a worthless mind, to do things that should never be done.

Why does Peter Masters broaden the meaning of murder?

He points out that murder is the head of a family of sins. You kill by taking away life, but also by taking away someone's happiness or freedom. Young people can thus destroy the peace of their elderly parents by eating them up with worry.