<p>1:32&nbsp;<i>Who, knowing the ordinance of God</i>- the relevance of this verse is to those who know God&rsquo;s judgments, those who are responsible to Him. Those described in Rom. 1:32 know the judgment of God; they know it will come. But they have a mind &ldquo;void of an awareness of judgment&rdquo; (Rom. 1:28 AVmg.). We can know, know it all. But live with a mind and heart void of it. Tit. 1:16 AVmg. uses the same word to describe those who &ldquo;profess that they know God&rdquo; but are &ldquo;void of judgment&rdquo;. We can know Him, but have no real personal sense of judgment to come. These are sobering thoughts.</p><p><i>That they that practice</i>- Gk. keep on practicing, in an ongoing way.</p><p><i>Such things a</i><i>re worthy of death</i>- Some of the &ldquo;things&rdquo; listed in the preceding verses might appear to some to be minor sins. But they are &ldquo;worthy of death&rdquo; if we live in them. We need to think through that list in 1:29-31. Disobedience to parents, lacking &ldquo;natural affection&rdquo;, not being faithful to a covenant, implacable, not showing mercy- any one of those &ldquo;things&rdquo; if lived in as a way of life is &ldquo;worthy of death&rdquo;. Refusing to fellowship one&rsquo;s brethren, refusing to forgive, ignoring elderly parents... is &ldquo;worthy of death&rdquo;.&nbsp;</p><p><i>Not only do the same, but also give approval to them that practise them</i><i>- &ldquo;</i>Give approval to&rdquo; is Gk. &lsquo;to assent to&rsquo;, &lsquo;to feel gratified with&rsquo;. We can so easily &lsquo;feel gratified with&rsquo; those who commit those sins through vicariously participating in them through watching and reading of them, and psychologically feeling gratified by the sin. Paul seems to be speaking here directly to the online entertainment generation... Paul may have written this with his memory upon how when Stephen had been stoned, he had stood there looking on and &ldquo;consenting&rdquo; with the murder, stone by stone- without throwing a single stone himself (s.w. twice, Acts 8:1; 22:20).&nbsp;</p><p>Paul warned the Romans that those who &ldquo;have pleasure&rdquo; in (Gk. &lsquo;to feel gratified with&rsquo;) sinful people will be punished just as much as those who commit the sins (Rom. 1:32). But he uses the very word used for his own &lsquo;consenting&rsquo; unto the death of Stephen; standing there in consent, although not throwing a stone (Acts 8:1; 22:20). He realized that only by grace had that major sin of his been forgiven; and in that spirit of humility and self-perception of himself, as a serious sinner saved by grace alone, did he appeal to his brethren to consider their ways. &nbsp;&lsquo;Feeling gratified with&rsquo; such sins as are in this list is what the entertainment industry is so full of. We can&rsquo;t watch, read and listen to this kind of thing by choice without in some sense being vicariously involved in it- and this seems to be exactly what Paul has in mind when he warns that those who feel gratified in those sins shall share in their judgment. This is a sober warning, relevant, powerful and cutting to our generation far more than any other. For given the internet and media, we can so easily feel gratified in others&rsquo; sins.&nbsp;</p><p>Paul reels off an awful list of sins in Romans 1, and builds up to a crescendo at the end of the passage. We're left waiting, with dropped jaws, for him to come out with some yet more awful sin. And Paul fulfils that expectation by listing the sin of having pleasure in those who commit sin (Rom. 1:32). Immediately we who are not grossly perverted and immoral are shaken from our seats. For in our generation like no other, one can secretly view sin, in movies, novels and on the internet, and vicariously get involved with it whilst not 'doing it' with our own bodies. This sin really is serious. It tops and caps and concludes the list of awful sins. And yet the whole section goes on to talk about the danger of condemning others for such sins (2:1). It could be that Paul is suggesting that by condemning others, eagerly exploring their sins in order to pass condemnation upon them, we are thereby gratifying ourselves through vicarious involvement in those very sins. In this case, the psychology presented would&rsquo;ve been 2000 years ahead of its time.<br />Those described in Rom. 1:32 know the judgment of God; they know it will come. But they have a mind &ldquo;void of an awareness of judgment&rdquo; (Rom. 1:28 AVmg.). We can know, know it all. But live with a mind and heart void of it. Tit. 1:16 AVmg. uses the same word to describe those who &ldquo;profess that they know God&rdquo; but are &ldquo;void of judgment&rdquo;. We can know Him, but have no real personal sense of judgment to come. These are sobering thoughts.</p>