Romans 1:29-31 : Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful. The sins which Paul here enumerates are sins which people commit against one another. Paul had already showed how they had dishonored and rejected God and had abused and dishonored their own bodies, and now he proceeds to list the sins they commit against one another. It makes a dark picture, but history tells us that the heathen nations were guilty of everything Paul charges against them. They were "filled with all unrighteousness." It is not that they sometimes did unrighteous things, but they were full of all unrighteous deeds. "Unrighteousness" does not here include all sinful deeds, for it is mentioned as one kind of a long list of sins. It here means injustice. The Greek conveys that idea. Injustice is unfair and dishonest dealings and grows out of a lack of regard for others. An unjust man cheats and defrauds and has no interest in the welfare of the man with whom he deals. Paul does not mean that injustice is found only among the heathen nations; but thee nations, having denied God and adopted idol worship, had nothing to hold them in the paths of just dealing. Where God and his word are revered, men are not full of injustice. To the Hebrews God said "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have" (Leviticus 19:35-36). But Christianity teaches a higher code than justice. Instead of giving a just measure, we are taught to give a measure shaken down, heaped up, and running over. We are taught to be generous, forbearing, and merciful. The genuine Chris-tian deals justly, with generosity added. It is a shame that some professed Christians are really idolators in that they worship gain, and are therefore, as tricky as any other heathen. Wickedness, maliciousness, malignity--these words all occur in verse 29. Disregarding for the present the words that come between them, I have put them to-gether in this paragraph, because they are kindred in meaning. In fact, the Greek words from which these are translated sometimes have practically the same meaning. It is evident that they do not mean the same thing here. If they had everywhere meant the same thing, Paul would have used but one of them in the same verse. The Greek words in order of occurrence in this verse are poneria, kakia, and kakoetheia. Of the first two words Thayer says: "Kakis denotes rather the vicious disposition, poneria the active exercise of the same." In his "Synonyms of the New Testament," Section 11, Trench says: "We shall not err in saying kakia is more the evil habit of mind, poneria the out-cropping of the same." Poneria, translated "wicked-ness" in the American Standard Version, refers to the wickedness of the deeds; it is malice of the heart, ill will, out of a desire to injure, carried in action. It is the of kakia, ill will, a desire to injure. The other word (kakoetheia, translated malignity) Jeremy Taylor calls "a baseness of nature by which we take things by the wrong handle, and expound things always in the worst sense." Trench says of this word: "The position which it occupies in St. Paul's list of sins entirely justifies us in regarding it as the peculiar form of evil which manifests itself in the malignant interpretation of the actions of others, an attributing of them all to the worst motive." Here, then, is a group of words describing some very pernicious sins, so common among the heathen nations as to enable Paul to say these nations were full of them. A man might in a passion injure his fellow man, but that is quite different from practicing injurious things because of a deep-seated desire to injure someone. When a person reaches that stage of depravity of mind, there is little, if any, good in him. Such a person can see no good in another. No matter what another does, such a person feels sure he had an evil motive in doing it. He could hardly think otherwise, for he knows of no motives except those that are evil. His own character is his standard of judgment. It is a pity that such sins are found even in this country. It could not be truthfully said that this country is full of such sins, but they are too common. If a man is really a Christian, if he loves his neighbor as himself, he will not want to do anything to injure his neighbor. A Christian does not want to hurt; he wants to help. Covetousness is avarice, a greedy desire for possessions. The heathen nations were full of a desire to get the things of others. If the laws of the land or a de-sire to appear decent did not restrain the covetous man, he would take what belonged to another any way he could get it. Paul tells us that covetousness is idolatry. This is one form of idolatry that is practiced even in this country. A man who wants property more than he wants to serve God makes property his god. He might as well worship an idol of gold on his mantel as a sack of gold in his bank. Envy is defined as "chagrin or discontent at an-other's excellence or good fortune; malicious grudg-ing." It is certainly a perverted nature that is full of such feelings. While it could not be said that the peo-ple of this land are full of envy, it certainly is true that there is too much envy even in this land. Perhaps few people are entirely free of it. "A tranquil heart is the life of the flesh; but envy is the rottenness of the bones" (Proverbs 14:30). Envy crucified the Son of God. Pilate protested the crucifixion of the Son of God, "for he perceived that for envy the chief priests had delivered him up" (Mark 15:10). Envy corrodes and corrupts the character, and sometimes leads to murder. It may not be an accident that Paul places murder immediately after envy. Murder is included in the list of sins laid to the charge of the nations that had turned away from God to follow their own wisdom. Having denied God and plunged into a sinful course of life, they had come to have little regard for human life. The word Paul used was not confined to the taking of human life with pre-meditated malice by a person of sound mind. It would include any killing that grew out of disregard for hu-man life. "It is scarcely necessary to show that this was common among the Gentiles. It has prevailed in all communities, but particularly prevalent in Rome. it is necessary only to refer the reader to the common events in the Roman history of assassinations, deaths by poison, and the destruction of slaves. But in a special manner the charge was properly alleged against them, on account of the inhuman contests of the gladiators in the amphitheaters. These were com-mon at Rome, and constituted a favorite amusement of the people. Originally, captives, slaves, and criminals were trained for combat; but it afterwards be-came common for even Roman citizens to engage in these bloody combats, and Nero at one show exhibited no less than four hundred senators and six hundred knights as gladiators." (Barnes). But what concerns us most is the increase of murders in this country; and it is practically useless to bewail the murderous habits of our countrymen so long as the causes that produce murders are ignored and even taught. As it now is, criminals go unpunished; our children are taught that human beings are a sort of high grade animals with no souls, and God's word is ignored and even jeered at by some of our educators. Justice has been mocked and is now only a name, man has been de-graded to the status of an improved ape, and God has been dethroned and laughed out of his own world. It is foolish to expect anything but an increase of murders so long as these conditions prevail. Three things will decrease murders:--namely, (1) quick and sure punishment of the killer, (2) impress upon the growing generation higher regard for human life, and (3) teach them a deeper reverence of God and his word by im-pressing upon them that God is the rightful ruler and that we must give account to him. And it would do a lot of good for people to be reminded that a lot of foolish speculation does not abolish hell. The pure and unadulterated gospel is the remedy for this sin, as well as for the others Paul mentions. For "strife" the King James Version has "debate." But the word "debate" does not now mean a personal wrangle, quarrel, or fight, as it did three hundred years ago, and as did the word Paul used. A debate now is a discussion to elicit or to propagate truth. It was not so three hundred years ago. The word Paul used meant a quarrel, a wrangle, or fight. No one should try to make it appear that Paul taught that a discussion is wrong. The Greek word, here translated deceit, is defined by Liddell and Scott as, "strictly a bait, for fish hence, any snare, cunning contrivance for deceiving or catch-ing; in general, any trick or crafty attempt; and so in the abstract, wile, craft, cunning, treachery." Hence deceit is an attempt to get the advantage of another without letting him know your intentions; it is to profit at his expense by keeping him in the dark. The man who does such things is without principle. It is a pity that even in this country there are men who will deceive others for advantage. Selfishness and a disregard for the rights of others are at the bottom of deceit. A deceitful person is altogether unreliable. Whisperers are cowardly sneaks who have not the courage to come out in the open and say damaging things about others, but secretly peddle their slanderous statements and insinuations against the object or objects of their campaign of spite. They usually add "Be sure not to use my name in connection with the matter, for I do not want to get mixed up in the mess." Such characters have been aptly termed "snakes in the grass." They would destroy a good name, and then gloat over what they had been able to accomplish. Only the Lord can properly award such characters. Backbiters, slanderers, defamers, who delight in destroying the good name of others. Such characters are not particular as to the truth of what they tell. Whisperers and backbiters are of the same breed, excepting that the backbiters are more open and bold. Neither of them has the courage to face the accused with their slanders. Neither is worthy of a place among decent people. It is a pity that the slimy trails of both are found in this good land of ours. Haters of God--I have here adopted the marginal reading as the one more in harmony with the con-text; for Paul is here listing the sins of the nations, and puts this down as one of the sins. It would seem that a person had reached the depth of depravity when he becomes a God hater. But the man that continues to defy God and his laws will eventually become a hater of God. Insolent is defined by Webster as, "haughty and contemptuous or brutal in behavior or language; over-bearing; grossly disrespectful." In its milder mani-festations, insolence is uppishness. The insolent per-son has a feeling of superiority over others; at least, he assumes to be superior. The feeling makes one brutal or insulting to others. He is bolder than the backbiter he likes to crush and humiliate one who is present, and delights to have others witness his tri-umph. There is but a shade of difference between "haughty" and "insolent." Webster's first definition: "Dis-dainfully or contemptuously proud; arrogant; supercilious." Such a person is proud of himself; he likes to strut and swagger. He is embodied egotism. If such a person could ever realize that every time he is trying to show off he is acting a fool, it would help his manners. He needs the sobering influence of the gospel. Boastful-- An empty pretender: he boasts of things he does not possess or of things he has never done. He wants people to think of him as rich and a great doer of things. He likes to talk about himself; he is a little man swelled up. Such fellows are shoddy goods marked up. When a man boasts, he is generally lack-ing in the things of which he boasts. Inventor of Evil things--People who indulge in worldly and sinful pursuits are constantly seeking new thrills. Old forms of pleasure and sin grow stale, and new forms of indulgence are constantly being sought out. There are now more ways to sin than ever before in the world's history, and the end is not yet. Disobedient to parents--Not many things break down the morals of a country more quickly and cause more lawlessness than disrespect for parents. If children disrespect parental authority, they will disrespect all authority. If they have no regard for their parents, they are not likely to have regard for anything. But when such conditions prevail, parents are not blameless. Obedience and respect are matters that have to be learned. "Though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered." Parents that do not try to train their children in right principles and good habits care very little for them. But it is hard for you to train up your children as they should be trained when everybody else lets theirs run loose and do as they please. However, nothing but a decay of morals can be expected where children are not taught obedience and respect to parents. Children who properly love and esteem their parents will care for them when they become too old or too helpless to care for themselves. Without understanding--It is no crime for a mental-ly defective person to be unable to understand. These people had a mind, but they had not filled it with truth and right principles. They did not have an under-standing of the real philosophy of correct living. So many people are without understanding because they will not understand. They have closed their eyes and stopped their ears to keep from learning the right. They prefer darkness. There is such a thing as willful ignorance. God has never withheld light from any one who wanted the light. A covenant breaker is one who will not stand to his agreements, whether these agreements be written or oral. Sometimes you hear some one say of another, "His word is as good as his bond." It is a fine thing for a man to have that sort of reputation, but it is a bad state of affairs when that can be mentioned as a point of distinction. Keeping one's word should be so common among men that it would not be a point of distinction for any man. A man who will not keep his word, whether written or oral, is a sorry specimen of humanity. Without natural affection--These nations were with-out the affections that should exist on account of the ties of nature; there was no proper affection between parents and children. Paul's charge against them is abundantly proved by the heathen writers of those days. Unmerciful--They were harsh and unfeeling. There can be no mercy when the heart has no sympathy, for mercy is sympathy in action; it is the tender and kind feeling bearing the fruit of helpfulness. The wicked may become so hard of heart as to be devoid of mercy. And even the Christian needs to watch himself. A person who has high ideals and a high sense of honor may become rather harsh toward those who make no spe-cial effort to do right. "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Let us watch ourselves; mercy is a grace worth cultivating. "For judgment is without mercy to him that bath showed no mercy." "With what judgment' ye judge, ye shall be judged."