Romans 1:28

Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Paul to the Roman church, mid-argument that all Gentiles stand under sin (Rom 1:18–32), building toward the universal need for grace.

The words — ἐδοκίμασαν (edokimasan), "they did see fit" or "they approved," marks the rejection as a deliberate judgment rather than passive ignorance. ἔχειν (echein), "to have," is the literal verb behind the BSB's "acknowledge"—God is not merely unknown but actively set aside from the mind.

The thread — The same mechanism appears in 2 Thessalonians 2:10, where refusal of the truth results in God giving over to delusion, and in Romans 1:21, where knowing God without glorifying Him leads to futile thinking. Titus 1:16 compresses the pattern: professing knowledge while denying it by works.

Why it lands — The verse presents a sequence, not a mystery: a willful judgment against God produces a mind that can no longer judge rightly, and the reader is asked to recognize which side of that line they are on.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

Cross-references

2 Thessalonians 2:10 and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.
Jeremiah 9:6 You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.
Romans 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.
Romans 8:7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
2 Timothy 3:8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth. They are depraved in mind and disqualified from the faith.
Proverbs 5:12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
Job 21:14 Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
Jeremiah 4:22 “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”