Romans 1:28 : And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a repro-bate mind, to do those things which are not befitting. Again Paul states the reason for their corruption. For the word refused the marginal reading has "Greek, did not approve." "They tested or proved God and decided not to keep him" (R. St. John Parry). The God of heaven was not the God they wanted, and they rejected him from their system of knowledge, or philosophy. The rationalists of today occupy the same grounds. God is entirely ruled out. Because the nations then ruled God out of their affairs, "God gave them up unto a reprobate mind." "A reprobate mind" is a mind that did not stand the test, and hence was rejected. They rejected God, and God in turn rejected them. They had so degenerated in their thinking that God could no longer tolerate them. Paul had shown that when they so dishonored God they began to worship idols, they also began to dis-honor their own bodies. In verses 29-31 he speaks mostly of the crimes that men commit toward one an-other. If a man does not regard God nor the honor of his own body, it is not likely that he will have much regard for his fellow man. Such people are ready for any sin that their passions or their self-interests dictate. NOTE:--What Paul says about the sins of these idolatrous nations throws light on a question that occasionally comes up--that is, whether or not a person that is not in covenant relations with the Lord is held accountable for his deeds. That question was first brought to my attention when a good brother said concerning some non-Christian young people, "It does not make any difference what they do, for the Lord does not take any notice of them, anyway. Not being in covenant relations with the Lord, they are not under any law of God: they therefore violate no law of God, no matter what they do." I could not believe that doc-trine then, and I believe it less now. If that doctrine is true, an alien sinner is not a sinner at all! He could not be, if God holds nothing against him; and if the doctrine be true, there is no such thing as baptism for the remission of sins. But the language of Paul shows the doctrine to be false. Certainly these heathen nations were not in covenant relations with God yet they were great sinners. Notice the long list of sins they were continuously indulging in. The whole plan of salvation is based on the fact that men are sinners and need to be saved. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. God now commands all men everywhere to repent. If the nations had not been sinners, they would not have needed the gospel. To prove the universal need of the gospel, Paul starts in to prove that all men are sinners.