God gave them over: the present form of the wrath (Romans 1:24–28)

Says Three times Paul writes παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεός, "God gave them over" (note.language.Rom.1.24.paredoken; lex.G3860): - 1:24, "in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another" (BSB); - 1:26, "to dishonorable passions" (εἰς πάθη ἀτιμίας); - 1:28, "to a depraved mind" (εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν).

Each time the verdict answers an exchange or refusal: "exchanged" (ἤλλαξαν, 1:23), "exchanged" (μετήλλαξαν, 1:25), "did not see fit" (οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν, 1:28).

Implies The handing over is God's own judicial act, not mere permission. It is the present form of the wrath "being revealed" (1:18). God hands people over to what they have chosen, so the punishment fits the sin. The desires are "of their hearts" (1:24), and God does not create the sin he gives them over to. The Old Testament speaks the same way: "So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices" (Ps 81:12, BSB; LXX 80:13, ἐξαπέστειλα; vmap.Ps.81.12.LXX-Swete.lxx-swete). Compare also Acts 7:42 ("God turned away from them and gave them over," BSB). The Westminster Confession cites Rom 1:24, 26, 28 for God giving sinners "over to their own lusts," while he remains neither "the author or approver of sin" (WCF 5.4, 5.6). Implies The same verb describes the Father's giving up of the Son "for us all" (8:32) and Christ "delivered over to death for our trespasses" (4:25, BSB). The letter later answers the handing over of 1:24–28 with the handing over of the Son.

Says In 1:24 the outcome is "the dishonoring of their bodies" ἐν αὐτοῖς ("among themselves"). The Byzantine ἐν ἑαυτοῖς makes the reflexive sense explicit (var.Rom.1.24.en-autois). Whether Paul wrote Διό or Διὸ καί ("therefore also") barely affects the sense, and the team's confidence is medium (var.Rom.1.24.dio-kai).

Says In 1:28 there is a wordplay: "since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind" (BSB). "Did not see fit" is οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν, and "depraved" is ἀδόκιμον (note.language.Rom.1.28.adokimon; lex.G1381; lex.G96). Implies Because they judged God not worth acknowledging, God gave them over to a mind that fails every test and can no longer judge rightly. The mind "renewed" in 12:2, able "to test and approve" (εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν) God's will, is the reversal of this. The result is "to do what ought not to be done" (τὰ μὴ καθήκοντα, a moralists' term for what is unfitting), which the vice list goes on to fill out.