What Does Romans 1:28 Mean in the King James?
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;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same Greek word-family describes rejecting God as unfit for one’s knowing and being handed over to an unapproved mind.
THE MEANING
When God is pushed out of what counts as knowledge, the verse says discernment itself becomes unapproved, unable to pass its test. God gives people over to that mind, and they do what it calls fitting.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that you can exclude God from your knowing and keep your discernment unchanged.
THE ROOT
ἀδόκιμον
adokimon
GROWS FROM
δοκιμ-
dokim-
To test or examine, and approve if sound.
The verse pairs “did not like” (ἐδοκίμασαν, edokimasan: they did not approve) with “reprobate” (ἀδόκιμον, adokimon: unapproved). The shared root makes the consequence echo the refusal: the mind that excludes God is itself described as failing approval.
ALSO GROWS
dokimazō: Test, examine, or approve.
δοκιμάζω
This is the verb-family behind “did not like”: the refusal is framed as not approving God’s place in their knowing.
dokimos: Tested and approved; genuine.
δόκιμος
Its contrast with adokimos sharpens the verse’s picture of a mind that does not pass the test.
παρέδωκεν
paredōken
GROWS FROM
παραδίδωμι
paradidōmi
To hand over, deliver, or entrust.
“gave them over” in this verse is paredōken. The wording presents God’s judgment as a handover: people are given over to a mind and its actions. The verse keeps the force of that act; it does not describe the mind’s condition as mere confusion.
ALSO GROWS
paradidōmi: Hand over, deliver, or entrust.
παραδίδωμι
This is the verb behind “gave them over,” naming the judgment as a transfer into the condition described.
paradosis: A handing down; tradition.
παράδοσις
The related word preserves the image of something handed from one place or state to another.
ἐπιγνώσει
epignōsei
GROWS FROM
γινώσκω
ginōskō
Know or perceive; knowing by encounter, not bare information.
The word translated “knowledge” is ἐπίγνωσις (epignōsis), recognition or knowing. Its ginosko-family brings the phrase close to lived recognition: God is not retained within what is known.
ALSO GROWS
ginōskō: Know or perceive through encounter.
γινώσκω
This is the underlying knowing in epignōsis, giving “knowledge” a relational and perceptive depth.
epiginōskō: Recognize or come to know.
ἐπιγινώσκω
This related verb echoes the recognition implied by retaining God in one’s knowing.
THE PATTERN
When people refuse God’s voice or truth, judgment can take the form of being handed over to the desire or delusion they embrace.
But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:THE THREAD
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:“Gave them up” here translates the same Greek verb, παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), as “gave them over” in 1:28. In 1:24 the handover reaches their actions; in 1:28 it reaches the mind that judges what is fitting.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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