“Moral Insanity”

Paul here makes one final point about the downward journey of those who reject the knowledge of God and are therefore abandoned by Him. They descend through unbridled lust and unnatural passions to a cesspool of vice and corruption. Finally, however, they come to the point of what Dr. James M. Boice describes as “moral insanity.”

Why “insanity”? Hear what Paul is saying in this verse. He already has told us that human beings are manifestly aware of the existence and power of God from nature. This awareness ought to drive them to seek out God so as to worship and give thanks to Him. Instead, however, they try to suppress their awareness of God, pretending that He does not exist. Now Paul tells us that people do something very similar in regard to their sin. They know, he says, “the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death.” In other words, it is inescapably clear to every human being that certain things are right and wrong. How so? Creation proves that there is a God. Being God, He is perfect in every way, and therefore unable to tolerate unrighteousness. Being God, He also is omnipotent, and therefore perfectly just in imposing His standards of character upon His creatures. He has done just that by giving His law, but Paul is saying that even those men who never have seen or heard of the law of God still have a rudimentary sense of what God demands. Likewise, they know that God will bring punishment on those who defy Him—specifically, death. God has made this penalty explicit, saying, “ ‘The soul who sins shall die’ ” (Ezek. 18:4b). So human beings have an innate knowledge that sin is sin. They know it is against God’s wishes and that He will impose a death sentence on those who commit it.

But here is the insanity: Knowing these things, sinful people go right ahead and sin. They prefer to have what they think will be pleasure now than risk what they think will be misery if they submit to God. And not only do they themselves engage in sinful behavior, they applaud those who do the same evils. Perhaps they believe that others’ sins will justify their own. Perhaps they think that more rebellion will somehow injure God. Perhaps they simply wish to drag others down with them. In any case, such behavior clearly indicates a complete absence of reason. They are, indeed, morally insane.