GOD’S POETIC JUSTICE

ROMANS 1:24–27

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another

(Romans 1:24).

This verse makes a strange statement, but if we note the pattern of God’s judgment in sacred Scripture, we see that a form of poetic justice tends to emerge in God’s punitive measures. By poetic justice I mean that God’s punishment is perfectly matched to the sin. In other words, there is a kind of identity between the particular type of sin and the particular type of punishment. Let me explain.

Dishonoring God

The sin referred to in this verse is the sin of dishonoring God. The resulting punishment is that men are given over to their own evil desires. It isn’t as if God visits evil upon them out of nowhere; instead He gives them over to their own lusts and to their desires and inclinations to dishonor Him. In effect God says, “All right, you refuse to honor Me; you don’t want to honor Me; then you don’t have to honor Me. I’ll let you do what you want to do. And I’ll let your evil desires run their course.” So God allows their evil to go unchecked to its natural outcome.

Dishonored men

And the effect is dreadful. Men who are given over by God to their sinful nature will find that their bodies are dishonored and degraded among themselves. In our age there is a crisis of human dignity, a crisis of honoring one another. But when the honor of God is ignored, it is virtually inevitable that mankind will slide headlong into degradation and dishonor.

When God’s honor is exalted and His majesty worshiped, then human dignity is elevated. Conversely, wherever the dignity of God is attacked, sooner or later the dignity of man suffers. Since man is created in the image of God there is a very real sense in which, as God goes, so goes man. If we corrupt and denigrate the Living God who is our Creator, then the image of Himself which He has made suffers accordingly.

CORAM DEO

As you look at 20th-century society you will certainly be able to list many areas in which human beings are degraded and dishonored. Think about the changes that are needed, and then in light of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19–20) ask God what part you can have in restoring those men and women to God.

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