And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
(Romans 1:28) KJV
The “reprobate mind” of Romans 1:28 is a consequence of rejecting the relationship between cause and effect. It manifests as a refusal to acknowledge the relationship between behavior and consequences.
Recently we asked the question, If God is love why would he send people to hell? We received a response from a Christian brother which caused us to roll our eyes even though, technically, it isn’t wrong.
Their ancestors, Adam & Eve, condemned them with the curse Gen. 3 and Jesus references that earlier condemnation in John 3:17-19.
– Unsatisfactory Answer
This is the standard answer, but it’s an effect not a cause. It’s an example of having cause and effect in the wrong relationship. The universe was created in a fallen state, that’s why there was a tree of knowledge of good and evil. Good and evil existed before Adam and Eve. The fall of mankind wasn’t when they created good and evil, it’s when they realized that there was such things as good and evil.
Itโs also a very unsatisfactory answer when youโre trying to make the case to progressive liberals, or secular humanists, that God is loving, merciful and kind but hell is expanding. It still makes it look like hell is the punishment for failing to obey a mean and hateful God.
The relationship between cause and effect is the essence of logic. If > then > therefore, demonstrate the progression of cause and effect. It’s one of the meanings of the Greek word logos – speaking to a conclusion, reasoning expressed by words.
Logos: ฮฯฮณฮฟฯ – a Word
- lรณgos from /lรฉgล, “speaking to a conclusion“
- a word, being the expression of a thought; a saying. /lรณgos (“word”) is preeminently used of Christ (Jn 1:1), expressing the thoughts of the Father through the Spirit.
- sharing a message (discourse, “communication-speech”).
- a broad term meaning “reasoning expressed by words“
- properly, a collecting, collection and that, as well of those things which are put together in thought, as of those which, having been thought i. e. gathered together in the mind, are expressed in words. Accordingly, a twofold use of the term is to be distinguished: one which relates to speaking, and one which relates to thinking.
- reason, the mental faculty of thinking, meditating, reasoning, calculating, etc.:
- of the divine mind, pervading and noting all things by its proper force, Hebrews 4:12.
The failure, or inability, to acknowledge the correct relationship between cause and effect is a symptom, and probably the cause, of a reprobate mind.
Salvation
- Call upon the name of Jesus Christ,
- believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
- confess your sin.
