Romans 1:31

Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
understanding	ἀσυνέτους, asunetous	G801	unintelligent · adjective — accusative plural masculine
covenantbreakers	ἀσυνθέτους, asunthetous	G802	properly · adjective — accusative plural masculine
affection	ἀστόργους astorgous	G794	hard-hearted towards kindred · adjective — accusative plural masculine
implacable	ἀσπόνδους, aspondous	G786	literally · adjective — accusative plural masculine
unmerciful	ἀνελεήμονας, aneleēmonas	G415	merciless · adjective — accusative plural masculine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 18:2 A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.
2 Timothy 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Romans 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
Isaiah 33:8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.
Jeremiah 4:22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but…
Matthew 15:16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
2 Kings 18:14-37 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me wi…
Isaiah 27:11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Romans 1:19–end

In this last part of the chapter the apostle applies what he had said particularly to the Gentile world, in which we may observe, I. The means and helps they had to come to the knowledge of God. Though they had not such a knowledge of his law as Jacob and Israel had (Psa 147:20), yet among them he left not himself without witness (Act 14:17): For that which may be known, etc., Rom 1:19, Rom 1:20. Observe, 1. What discoveries they had: That which may be known of God is manifest, en autois - among them; that is, there were some even among them that had the knowledge of God, were convinced of the existence of one supreme Numen. The philosophy of Pythagoras, Plato, and the Stoics, discovered a g…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 1:30

haters of God--The word usually signifies "God-hated," which some here prefer, in the sense of "abhorred of the Lord"; expressing the detestableness of their character in His sight (compare Pro 22:14; Psa 73:20). But the active sense of the word, adopted in our version and by the majority of expositors, though rarer, agrees perhaps better with the context.

Adam Clarke on Romans 1:31

Without understanding - Ασυνετους, from α, negative, and συνετος, knowing; persons incapable of comprehending what was spoken; destitute of capacity for spiritual things. Covenant-breakers - Ασυνθετους, from α, negative, and συντιθημυι, to make an agreement; persons who could be bound by no oath, because, properly speaking, they had no God to witness or avenge their misconduct. As every covenant, or agreement, is made as in the presence of God, so he that opposes the being and doctrine of God is incapable of being bound by any covenant; he can give no pledge for his conduct. Without natural affection - Αστοργους; without that attachment which nature teaches the young of all animals to have t…

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John Gill on Romans 1:31

Without understanding,.... Of God, of his nature and worship, of things divine and even moral, being given up to a reprobate mind: covenant breakers; had no regard to private or public contracts: without natural affection; to their parents, children, relations and friends: implacable; when once offended there was no reconciling of them: unmerciful; had no pity and compassion to persons in distress.

The Church Fathers

They were foolish and faithless and had no feelings either for God or for men. That is why they were heartless and ruthless. For someone who is cruel to his own family will be that much more cruel to others!
— Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

Paul mentions all these sins, set out one by one, with respect to those who have been abandoned by God because they have abandoned him. Let us therefore take care, lest we also be abandoned for embracing one of these evils.
— Pelagius, PELAGIUS'S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

"Without natural affection, implacable." For this Christ Himself also pronounces to be the cause of wickedness, saying, "When iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." (Matt. xxiv. 12). This too St. Paul here says, calling them "covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful," and showing that they were traitors even to the gift of nature. For we have a sort of family feeling even by nature towards one another, which even beasts have got towards each other. "For every beast," it says, "loveth his like, and every man his neighbor." (Ecclus. xiii. 15.) But these became more ferocious even than they. The disorder then which resulted to the world by evil doctrines, he proves to us by these witnesses, and clearly shows that the malady in either case came of the negligence of them that were disordered. He shows besides, what he did in the case of the doctrines, that they were here also deprived of all excuse...
— John Chrysostom, Homily on Romans 5

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Fall of man — An expression probably borrowed from the Apocryphal Book of Wisdom, to express the fact of the revolt of our first parents from God, and the consequent sin and misery in which they and all their…
Affections · Of the wicked, are unnatural and perverted — Of the wicked, are unnatural and perverted
Affections, The · Of the wicked, are unnatural and perverted — Of the wicked, are unnatural and perverted
Character Of The Wicked · Unmerciful — Unmerciful
Covenants · Violated by the wicked — Violated by the wicked
Crime · PARTIAL LISTS OF — PARTIAL LISTS OF
Fall Of Man, The · Man in consequence of: Without understanding — Man in consequence of: Without understanding
Gentiles · UNCLASSIFIED SCIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCIPTURES RELATING TO
Heathen, The · Described as: Cruel — Described as: Cruel
Idolatry · Led to abominable sins — Led to abominable sins
Malice · 8:44;18:22,23; — 8:44;18:22,23;
Rome · Abominations in — Abominations in

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Romans 1:31

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Romans 1:19–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 1:30

Adam Clarke on Romans 1:31

John Gill on Romans 1:31

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Romans 1:31

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Romans 1:19–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 1:30

Adam Clarke on Romans 1:31

John Gill on Romans 1:31

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Romans 1:24–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Romans 1:29-31