Those who are without understanding have not submitted
themselves to God’s word as the Holy Spirit gives those who do understand.
Jeremiah defined those without understanding.
Jeremiah 5:20 ¶ Declare
this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without
understanding; which have eyes, and see not;
which have ears, and hear not: 22 Fear
ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have
placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot
pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not
prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? 23 But this people hath a revolting and a
rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. 24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now
fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain,
both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the
appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 ¶ Your iniquities have turned away these
things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. 26 For among my people are found wicked men:
they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. 27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their
houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. 28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they
overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the
fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29 Shall I not visit for these things?
saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed
in the land; 31 The prophets prophesy
falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have
it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
Covenantbreakers, mentioned as such only here,
cannot be trusted to keep an agreement, a contract, or a truce. They are
faithless persons. The trucebreakers of 2Timothy 3:3 who cannot be
trusted to keep an agreement either and the implacable coming up who
cannot be enticed to enter into any agreement or compromise are similar.
Those without natural affection, as Strong notes, are
unsociable, unloving, and inhuman. They have no regard for the members of their
own family, as they should, as typically is expected of a parent or child. They
are cold to those natural affections. I think of the countless women who use
abortion as birth control, so much so that at present more Black babies in New
York City are aborted than are allowed to be born.
The implacable mind or spirit is unwilling and, as a
result, incapable of mercy or justice by God’s standard or of having peace with
God. He cannot be persuaded into a covenant with God. His case seems hopeless.
The unmerciful seems easy to understand. Jesus had noted
one of the characteristics of those who would see and inherit the Kingdom of
Heaven and God.
Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the
merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
And James made the following very clear, that mercy is superior to
judgment;
James 2:13 For he shall
have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth
against judgment.
Mercy is first defined in Genesis 19 in regard to sparing a
person’s life.
Genesis 19:19 Behold now,
thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy,
which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the
mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
The unmerciful will show no mercy although God is
willing to grant him or her unlimited mercy. And although it is in God’s nature
to be merciful and His mercy is long-lasting as per dozens of verses in the
Psalms, the people whose lives are characterized by these character flaws
listed here in Romans, chapter one, merit death. You see, they not only do
these things but have pleasure in others who do them as well.
Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them
that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for
darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
There is no shame in their hearts or conscience holding them back
and they are at one with others as wicked as themselves. Next, Paul turns this
condemnation of mankind around on the reader himself.
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