Romans 1:25Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Even if the Gentiles insulted Him, He was not insulted. His glory was not diminished, but He always remains blessed. If even a philosophical man can often feel no insult at all, how much more God, the immortal and unchangeable Being, the glory that does not pass away and cannot be moved.

For men also become like God in this respect when they feel no harm from those who wish to injure them, when they are not offended by insults inflicted on them, do not feel blows when they are struck, and do not feel mockery when others laugh at them.

“But is this possible?” someone asks. It is possible, and very possible, whenever you do not grieve over what has happened. “And how is it possible,” they ask, “not to grieve?” I ask instead: how is it possible to grieve?

Tell me, if your own child insulted you, would you count this insult as a real insult? Would you grieve? No. And if you were offended, would you not then be ridiculous?

Let us treat our neighbor in the same way, and then we shall suffer nothing unpleasant. Those who insult another are less rational than children. Let us not demand that we be free from insult. When insulted, let us bear the insult magnanimously, for in this consists true honor.

Why is this so? Because in this you are master, while in the other matter someone else is. Have you ever seen adamant strike back when it is struck? You will answer, “Such is its nature.” But by your good will it is possible for you to become what it is by nature.

What then? Do you not know that the youths were not burned in the furnace, and Daniel suffered no harm in the pit? This can also happen now.

Lions surround us too: anger and lust, with dangerous teeth, tearing apart everyone exposed to their attack. Be like Daniel, and do not allow these passions to sink their teeth into your soul.

“But,” you say, “grace helped Daniel in everything.” True, but it helped because his own will preceded it. Thus, if we too wish to become like him, grace is ready even now to help.

However hungry the beasts are, they will not touch your side. If they were ashamed then when they saw the body of a servant, will they not be tamed now when they see the members of Christ, which we believers are?

If they are not tamed, it is certainly the fault of those thrown in. Indeed, many provide these lions with abundant food by keeping prostitutes, breaking marriages, and avenging themselves on enemies. Therefore they are torn apart before they reach the bottom of the pit.

This did not happen to Daniel, and it will not happen to us if we wish. Something greater than what happened before with Daniel will occur. Then the lions did no harm. But for us, if we are watchful, those who insult us will even bring benefit.

Thus Paul became renowned through those who insulted and plotted against him. Job became renowned through many diseases and wounds. Jeremiah through the muddy pit, Noah through the flood, Abel through the plot against him, Moses through the bloodthirsty Jews, and Elisha likewise.

Each of those great men received shining crowns not for a tranquil and luxurious life, but for sorrows and temptations. For this reason Christ, knowing this way of glorification, said to the disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33).

“What then?” they ask. “Have not many also fallen beneath the weight of evils?” They fell, but not because of the nature of temptations. They fell because of their own negligence.

May He who makes “with the temptation also the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor 10:13), Himself help us all and stretch forth His hand. Then, gloriously crowned, we may attain the eternal crowns, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ.

With Him, to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, honor, and dominion, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

This is what it means to be handed over to uncleannesses, shameful passions, and a perverse mind. It is not because God wills this, after permitting men to choose an impious life. For if God willed this, He would not rejoice over those who repent and turn from evil to virtue. Without repentance, He always remains in joy over the good. It is not as though at one time He rejoices in good and at another in evil.

Therefore there is no truth here; truth abides in God. The same blessing is given to the Son of God: "And from them is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen" (Rom 9:5). This is said of Christ, because the same thing is said of the Son as of the Father.

That is, to his stumbling, he may deceptively love only what is said in Scripture in its literal sense instead of the Word. Then the Word Himself may withdraw from the mind that holds the garments and thinks it holds the bodiless Word Himself. This resembles that Egyptian woman who held not Joseph, but his garment (Gen 39:12). It also resembles those ancient people who, captivated by visible beauty alone, in ignorance "served the creature rather than the Creator" (Rom 1:25). When the mind rejects the many opinions lying upon it concerning the words of truth, then the clear word of truth appears to it. It gives the pledges of true knowledge and removes the opinions previously accepted by it, like scales from the powers of sight (Acts 9:18), as with the divine and great Apostle Paul. For opinions attached only to the sayings of Scripture, and passionate contemplations in the sense of visible things, are truly scales. They lie upon the soul's power of vision and prevent the passage to the pure word of truth.

John Chrysostom says: "The devil strove by every means to bring men down to the likeness of reptiles. He subjected to the most senseless creatures those whom God wished to raise above the heavens." Indeed, without the participation of this worker wise in evil, the origin of idolatry cannot be explained. Because of their sinfulness, men lost sound notions of God, but the duty to honor Him remained in human consciousness. And so this duty was directed toward creatures and idols, which men, after becoming coarse, accepted as gods. Now people have gone further, saying that there is no God. The Gentiles had the truth but held it wrongly. Now they reject this truth entirely. Therefore contemporary false teachers are more without excuse before God than those who said to a stone, "You are my god." They also are given over to corruption more than the Gentiles. The ancient wise man already said: "The fool said in his heart, There is no God" (Ps 13:1). Only one who has renounced the use of reason, or is deprived of it, can affirm this mad thought. Likewise, only those who became foolish could honor various insignificant creatures instead of the incorruptible, invisible, and eternally existing One. But all this does not diminish God. He always remains most glorified, while the impious perish in their reasonings and dishonor themselves. Yet as ancient impious men found both punishment and correction in their very error, so undoubtedly contemporary false teachers are given over to error only for a time.

Blessed Theophylact writes: “Why were they given over to uncleanness? Because they offended God. Whoever does not wish to know God is immediately corrupted also in morals, as David says: ‘The fool said, There is no God,’ and then, ‘They are corrupt and abominable in their deeds’ (cf. Ps 13:1). They changed what truly belonged to God and applied it to false gods.”

“They exchanged the truth of God for a lie.” That is, they replaced the truth about God, that He is Spirit, eternally living, invisible, and incorruptible, with a lie. They began to think that a handmade idol, or some other creature, is God. See Oecumenius.

Or these words may be rendered thus: they replaced the true God with false ones. Thus Blessed Theodoret says: “By the truth of God the Apostle means the name ‘God,’ and by the lie he means the handmade idol. They ought to have worshiped the true God, but they rendered divine honor to creation.”

Or he said this because “God is truly God, while the idols they worshiped were falsely named gods” (Severian in Oecumenius).

“And they honored and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Here is what the exchange of the truth of God for a lie consisted in, or, as said above, the holding of truth in unrighteousness. Instead of the Creator, who clearly bore witness to Himself, they honored and served the creature.

“Honored” is set in place of “gave honor.” “Served” is in place of “rendered service by deeds,” for λατρεία signifies honor shown in action (Blessed Theophylact).

Their impiety was not only external, but also internal. Instead of placing hope in God, they placed hope in the creature. Instead of receiving the fear of God, they received fear toward it. The creature became like the real God.

“Rather than the Creator” means not only instead of the Creator, but also more than the Creator. It is as though he were saying that before, when they followed the truth, they did not serve the Creator, the true God, as they now serve the creature.

By this comparison the Apostle strengthens the rebuke. “Notice how he expressed his thought. He did not simply say, ‘They served the creature,’ but added, ‘rather than the Creator,’ so as to increase the guilt of the Gentiles as much as possible, and by this addition deprive them of every excuse” (Saint Chrysostom).

“Who is blessed forever. Amen.” The Apostle could not refrain from adding doxology to God at the remembrance of Him. This is a sign of the fear of God always present in the soul, and of heartfelt reverence before Him.

Or he did this so that his spirit, as though defiled by the remembrance of pagan impiety, might again be cleansed and sanctified by glorifying the true God. So in ordinary life people hurry to air a room with fresh air when a stench somehow enters it.

This thought may also be present here: they acted so impiously, but God nevertheless remains blessed forever.

Saint Chrysostom says: “But this did not harm the glory of God, Paul says, because God is blessed forever. By this the Apostle gives us to understand that God was not avenging Himself on the Gentiles when He abandoned them, since He Himself suffered no loss. If the Gentiles insulted Him, His glory was not diminished. On the contrary, He always remains blessed.”

This can be recalled also in our own time to the impious: God always remains God, blessed forever, whatever lies you weave concerning Him. All the harm falls upon you yourselves.

Whoever strikes his forehead against a rock to shatter it does not harm the rock, but breaks his own head. So also the impious, in their reasonings against God, do not diminish God’s glory, but destroy themselves.