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The mind and alienation.
Rom. 1: 18-32 speaks of the setting aside of the Gentiles consequent upon their
idolatrous abandonment of the truth which had been made known to them. Three times
in this momentous passage do we read that these Gentiles were "given up" by God
(Rom. 1: 24, 26 28). In verse 28, by a play upon the sound of the words used (figure of
speech called paranomasia), the judicial nature of this "giving up" is made prominent.
Conybeare expresses the figure by translating the verse thus:--
"As they thought fit to cast out the acknowledgment of God, God gave them over to a
cast out mind."
Alford renders the passage:--
"Because they reprobated the knowledge of God, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind."
The resulting state of morals, given in the verses that follow, is terrible to the last
degree. It is summed up in Eph. 4: 19 by the words, "All uncleanness with greediness".
Such was the condition of the Gentile world; such the outcome of a mind alienated from
God and His truth.
In our appreciation of the vital distinction that exists between law and grace, we are
apt to slur the equally decided difference that there is between the light of the law of God
given to Israel and the darkness of reprobation that settled down upon the Gentiles.
While the law could give neither life nor righteousness, we do read:--
"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul . . . . . The commandment of the
Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes" (Psa. 19: 7, 8).
If we keep this fact before us we shall be able to understand the setting of the next
reference to the nous:--
"I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind . . . . . so then
with the mind I myself serve the law of God" (Rom. 7: 23-25).
This illumination of the law, however, only intensified the bondage of sin and death,
for while to will was present, to perform was impossible. So far as justification is
concerned, the enlightened Jew stood upon the same platform as the darkened Gentile,
but so far as the doctrine of the mind is concerned we perceive that it can be influenced
by outside factors, even though the bondage of sin and death may remain. Passing to
Col. 2: 18 we learn that there is a `fleshly' mind which "puffs up" and leads away from
Christ. The three passages that remain speak of:--
"Men, whose mind is corrupted and destitute of the truth" (I Tim. 6: 5).
"Men who resist the truth, being corrupt in mind and reprobate (cf. Rom. 1: 28) as
concerning the faith" (II Tim. 3: 8).