Romans 1:29Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They know the righteous judgment of God, that those who do such things are worthy of death." Do you see how the apostle unites evil disposition, pride, and the other hidden sins into one whole with murder, covetousness, and all similar manifest sins? The Lord Himself says: "What is exalted among men is an abomination before God" (Lk 16:15). And again: "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Lk 14:11). And Wisdom says: "Everyone proud in heart is unclean before God" (Prov 16:5). Many similar sayings, exposing the passions hidden in the soul, may be found in the other Holy Scriptures. See Ex 4:21 and Eccl 1:13.

"Full of envy." This is a tormenting passion. It cannot bear the success of one's neighbor. From it murder was begotten and deceit conceived. For Cain, wounded by envy and using deception as his aid, led his brother into the field and dared to commit murder. The Apostle calls evil-disposed those who turn their thoughts to malice and arrange harm for their neighbor.

So a commander leaves soldiers who do not obey his orders but have yielded victory over themselves by their own will, depriving them of his wisdom. Since they themselves filled themselves with every vice, God justly gave them over to abandonment. He did not force them into a debased mind, but permitted them to surrender to it.

But human minds are changeable and fallible. Therefore a succession of errors and an abyss of vices arose. In these, men first of all found their punishment for error. First God gave men over to lusts, then to passions of dishonor, and finally to a debased mind, to do what is improper. In the human mind, as the highest power, are rooted the senses of the Godhead and of His righteousness. In other words, the fear of God and conscience are rooted there. But when the thought of God leaves the mind, fear before Him is lost, and conscience is weakened. As a result, sensuality raises its voice. Then every kind of moral deformity begins, which the Apostle describes as he depicts the life and manner of conduct of the Romans.

He calls them filled, and indeed with every unrighteousness. First he used the general name of vice. Then he enumerates its kinds, and concerning those subject to them he also speaks with intensification, calling them filled." That is, let us add from Blessed Theophylact. "having reached the extreme degree of every vice." Yet the second sense may also be tolerated, because the general thought has already been expressed in the words: He gave them over to do what is improper. Fornication. Earlier he exposed unnatural fleshly sins. Here he exposes natural ones under the name fornication, πορνεία, "meaning cohabitation without marriage" (Blessed Theodoret), or also the violation of marital relations. Wickedness, πονηρία, is malicious craftiness, stealthily undermining the neighbor's welfare and peace; see Gennadius in Oecumenius. "This is treachery against one's neighbor" (Blessed Theophylact). "A beastly disposition" (Blessed Theodoret). Covetousness, πλεονεξία, is the passion to have more and more. From it comes the multiplying of possessions without regard for means, through deception in dealings and trade, through unjust interest, and through theft. "This is the desire for possessions" (Blessed Theophylact). It is "a disease of the soul caused by an excessive craving for more and more" (Gennadius in Oecumenius). It is "the desire for more and the seizure of what does not belong to one" (Blessed Theodoret). Malice, κακία, is "the inclination of the soul toward what is worse and a thought directed toward harm to the neighbor" (Blessed Theodoret). Through it, people find "pleasure in embittering the neighbor by something" (Gennadius in Oecumenius), by word, look, or deed, great or small. Or this denotes remembrance of wrongs; see Blessed Theophylact. It also denotes vengeance, which sits and thinks how to repay evil for evil. Filled with envy. By repeating "filled," the Apostle either means to remind us that all this was in them without measure, or to make us consider the preceding and following vices. We are to seek some thread of their sequence and mutual relation. Or he simply gives some breathing space in the enumeration. Envy, φθόνος, torments the heart over the neighbor's prosperity and successes; see Gennadius. "This is a painful passion. It cannot bear the neighbor's success" (Blessed Theodoret). Murder, φόνος, is extreme hostility, unable to tolerate that the unloved person should live. It is satisfied only when it succeeds in wiping him from the face of the earth. Robbers and plunderers kill for gain. Murder there is not the aim but the means. They do not commit it when they can do without it. But hatred, envy, and jealousy directly desire and seek blood, and only by blood are they satisfied. Thus Abel was killed through envy. The murder among David's sons happened through jealousy; see Gennadius, Blessed Theodoret, Theophylact, and Saint Chrysostom. Rivalry, ἔρις, is "a competition worthy of condemnation" (Gennadius). It strains with all its strength, not to become as one ought to be inwardly and outwardly, but only not to fall behind others. It cannot allow anyone to stand ahead of itself. Of course, it does not have true worth, good, and benefit in view. It has only display, appearance, and reputation, which often satisfy and quiet it. Yet in itself it exhausts, as envy does. Envy dries up the heart, while rivalry wearies and exhausts the active powers. Both are torment for a man. Deceit, δόλος, is flattery and deception, flattering words intended to make a fool of the neighbor and dispose him so that he harms himself. This is the counterpart of wickedness, πονηρία. Pendant is French, pendant: an object paired with another. The one directs a man by word into a pit. The other silently entangles him in nets by hidden action. It is the offspring of malice, κακία, but it can also proceed from envy. Blessed Theodoret writes: "By envy murder was born and deceit was conceived. For Cain, wounded by envy and using deceit, δόλος, as an accomplice, led his brother into the field and dared to murder him." Evil disposition, κακοήθεια. Perhaps this is irascibility and spitefulness, from which come constant outbursts of anger, abuse, and quarrels. One cannot accommodate such a person. Everything displeases him, and everything causes resentment. Or evil disposition means "hidden malice" (Blessed Theophylact). Or "the Apostle calls evil-disposed those who turn their thoughts toward malicious craftiness and contrive harm for the neighbor" (Blessed Theodoret).