Romans Chapter 1 (part 12)

If this is your first time receiving Covered in His Dust, welcome.

I’d love to hear where you’re reading from. Just reply and let me know.

Before diving into my notes, I encourage you to read Chapter 1 first.

I include all the Scripture below, but there’s something about sitting with the whole chapter first — giving yourself room to be curious.

What catches you off guard?
What doesn't make sense?
Where is that?
Who's that?
Why?

Those questions will make the notes hit deeper.

"When disciples followed a rabbi, they followed him closely so they would never be out of his sight, never be someplace where they couldn’t hear him speak. They followed him so closely that his sandals often kicked up dust."

May you be covered in His dust.

Peace to you, brothers and sisters,

We're still in Romans 1.

I know.
We've been here for weeks.

But there's a reason for that.

Some passages you can move through quickly. Get the main idea. Nod your head. Keep going.

This chapter isn't one of them.

Romans 1 doesn't let you off easy. It sits on your chest until you're willing to look at what Paul's actually saying.

Verses 29–32 bring us to the end of the chapter. But Paul doesn't wrap it up neatly. He leaves us in the mess.

And if you're uncomfortable right now, that's the point.

Up to now, Paul's been tracing a pattern.

A heart that stops wanting God.
A mind that learns to justify what the heart wants.
And eventually, a life that starts to fracture under the weight of its own desires.

What we do doesn't start with behavior.
It starts with what we desire.

And what we want quietly reveals who we're willing to live without.

Here's what makes this section so heavy.

Judgment doesn't come the way we expect. Paul isn't describing God striking people down with lightning. He's describing something worse.

God stepping back.

God letting people have what they keep choosing.

That's not mercy.
That's judgment.

Because Paul isn't just talking about them out there. He's asking us to notice where this same exchange might be happening in us.

We need to sit with this.

Because grace only feels as deep as the truth we're willing to face.

Ready?
Let’s go.

They Did Not Like to Retain God

Verse 28 starts with a choice.

"They did not like to retain God in their knowledge."

They knew about God.
Creation made that unavoidable.
But knowing about Him and wanting Him are two different things.

Paul's saying they pushed God out. They knew He was there. They just didn't want Him there.

And here's what happens when you do that.

"God gave them over to a debased mind."

We've seen this phrase before in this chapter.

Verse 24: God gave them up to uncleanness.
Verse 26: God gave them up to vile passions.
Verse 28: God gave them over to a debased mind.

Three times Paul says it. Each time it gets darker.

A debased mind means a mind that no longer functions the way it was designed to. It can't think straight. It can't see clearly. It calls evil good and good evil.

This isn't God randomly punishing people.
This is God letting people have what they keep choosing.

You want Me out? Fine. I'll step back.
And when I do, everything starts to unravel.

The List

And then Paul gives us this list.
Twenty-three different sins, one right after another.

Don't skim it. Read each one slowly. Let them pile up on your chest until you feel it.

Unrighteousness. Not living right before God.
Sexual immorality. Sex outside God's design.
Wickedness. Active evil. Doing harm on purpose.
Covetousness. Always wanting more. Never satisfied.
Maliciousness. Intentional cruelty.

Full of envy. Resenting what others have and wanting it for yourself.
Murder. Taking life.
Strife. Constant conflict.
Deceit. Lying. Manipulation.
Evil-mindedness. A heart bent toward darkness.

Whisperers. Gossip. Tearing people down in secret.
Backbiters. Tearing people down openly.
Haters of God. Not just ignoring Him. Hating Him.
Violent. Physically destructive.
Proud. Thinking you're above everyone else.

Boasters. Making sure everyone knows it.
Inventors of evil things. Creative in rebellion.
Disobedient to parents. Rejecting authority at home.
Undiscerning. Can't tell right from wrong anymore.
Untrustworthy. Breaking promises.

Unloving. Cold. Indifferent.
Unforgiving. Holding grudges.
Unmerciful. Refusing compassion.

Paul's not just listing sins.
He's showing us what happens when God is pushed out.

This is what humanity looks like without God holding it together.

Life doesn't get better.
It fractures.

Layer by layer.

Why These Sins?

Paul picked every single one.

This isn't just a random catalog of bad behavior. Paul's showing us what happens when God is pushed out. And it follows a pattern.

It starts internal.

Unrighteousness. Wickedness. Covetousness. Maliciousness. Envy.

These are heart conditions. Things happening inside before they ever show up outside.

Then it goes external.

Murder. Strife. Violence. Deceit.

What's in the heart eventually comes out. The desires turn into actions. The thoughts become words. The anger becomes violence.

And it destroys relationships.

Whisperers. Backbiters. Untrustworthy. Unloving. Unforgiving. Unmerciful.

First your relationship with God fractures.
Then your relationship with others.
Then even your relationship with your own family.

Notice where the list ends.

Undiscerning. Untrustworthy. Unloving. Unforgiving. Unmerciful.

These are the most basic human capacities.

The ability to think clearly.
To keep your word.
To feel affection.
To let go of grudges.
To show compassion.

When God is removed, even these break down.

Paul's not just listing sins.

This is what humanity looks like without God holding it together.

Life doesn't get better.
It fractures.

Layer by layer.

They Know.

Now here's the part that makes this so heavy.

Verse 32.

"Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death..."

They know.

Paul's not talking about ignorance. He's talking about defiance.

They know God exists. Creation won't let them forget it.
They know He has standards. Conscience keeps whispering.
They know where this road leads. Life keeps proving it.

And still, they choose it.

"...not only do the same..."

It's one thing to sin and feel the weight of it.
To hate what you're doing.
To confess and turn back.

Paul's not talking about that.

He's talking about people who settle into it. Who normalize it. Who build a life around it.

"...but also approve of those who practice them."

This is where it gets darker.

They don't just do it.
They approve of others who do it.

Sin wants company.
It wants validation.
It wants a crowd so the conscience can quiet down.

When you approve of sin in others, you're not just participating in rebellion. You're recruiting for it.

You're saying, "This is fine. This is normal. This is good."

And that's how cultures collapse.

Not because people don't know better.
But because they do, and they choose it anyway.

If you're sitting here feeling the weight of your own sin, that's not a bad sign.

That's a good sign.

The world defends its sin.
The believer confesses theirs.

The world calls sin freedom.
The believer calls it slavery.

The world approves and celebrates.
The believer mourns and repents.

If you're grieving over your sin, if you're asking "What does this mean for me?", if you hate what you keep doing—

That's not hardness.
That's the Spirit at work.

Hardness doesn't ask questions.
Hardness doesn't grieve.
Hardness approves.

If God were done with you, you wouldn't care.

Why Romans 1 Ends Here

Paul doesn't give us relief. Yet.

He's not trying to comfort us. He's trying to tell the truth.

Romans 1 ends in darkness on purpose.

So that when grace finally breaks in, we know exactly what it's rescuing us from.

Everyone knows enough to be guilty.
No one knows enough to save themselves.

That's why the gospel matters.
That's why it must be preached.
That's why grace isn't optional.

It's the only thing that reaches us where knowledge stops.

What's Next

If you've been nodding along this whole time, thinking "Yes, Paul, preach it. Tell them how lost they are," I have bad news.

Romans 2 is coming for you.

Next week, Paul stops pointing at the world.
He turns around.
And looks straight at us.

The ones who see the problem.
The ones who agree with everything Paul's said so far.
The ones who think we're safe because we know better.

You're not standing outside this.
You're standing right in the middle of it.

Romans 2 is going to hurt.

I love you,

George
Uncovering Scripture

P.S. Last year I wrote Uncovering Scripture: The Gospel of Luke—24 chapters walking through Luke, slowly. Readers tell me it's helped them fall in love with the Bible again. Grab it here.

George Sisneros is a full-time missionary in Guatemala and the founder of Ordinary Missionaries and the El Rosario Christian Academy for Boys.

He’s been married to his wife, Vonda, for 27 years. He’s a father to nine children, five adopted.

In 2024, George and his wife expanded to Cuba, joining forces with nine pastors committed to transforming lives through the gospel.

You can get George’s newest digital book, Uncovering Scripture: The Gospel of Luke HERE.