Romans 1:26-32
New International Version
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Wednesday - May 5
Luther: “The third level is blindness… A person becomes necessarily blind in his whole heart and in all his thoughts, because he has turned completely away from God. Since he is then lodged in darkness, what else can he do except the things for which an erring man or fool strives? For a blind man errs very easily, yes, he errs all the time.” (Paul and Luther’s are being universal. Paul’s examples range from sexual immorality to envy, gossip and even disobedience of parents. That covers almost ALL people! Luther similarly says that a person is “necessarily” blind when they turn away from God. In other words, any person who turns away from faith in God is automatically living in darkness and will live immorally).
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