Romans 1:29

Vv. 29 a. “ Being filled with every kind of unrighteousness, perverseness, maliciousness, covetousness. ”

In the following enumeration we need not seek a rigorously systematic order. Paul evidently lets his pen run on as if he thought that, of all the bad terms which should present themselves, none would be out of place or exaggerated. But in this apparent disorder one can detect a certain grouping, a connection through the association of ideas.

The first group which we have detached in our translation embraces four terms; according to the T. R., five. But the word πορνεία, uncleanness, should evidently be rejected; for it is wanting in many Mjj.; it is displaced in some others; finally, the subject has been exhausted in what precedes.

The phrase: “all sort of unrighteousness,” embraces collectively the whole following enumeration: πονηρία, perverseness, denotes the bad instinct of the heart; κακία, maliciousness, the deliberate wickedness which takes pleasure in doing harm; πλεονεξία, covetousness (the desire of having more πλέον ἔχειν), the passion for money, which does not scruple to lay hold of the possessions of its neighbor to augment its own. The participle πεπληρωμένους, filled, at the head of this first group, is in apposition to the understood subject of ποιεῖν.

The four terms of this first group thus refer to injustices committed against the well-being and property of our neighbor.

Vv. 29 b. “ Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, bitterness. ”

These five terms form again a natural group, which embraces all the injustices whereby the person of our neighbor is injured. The adjective μεστούς, full of (properly, stuffed), on which this group depends, indicates a change of idea from the preceding. As an adjective, it denotes solely the present attribute, while the preceding participle implied the process of growth which had led to the state described. The similarity of sound in the two Greek words: φθόνου, envy, and φόνου, murder, has led to their being often combined also in the classics; besides, envy leads to murder, as is shown by the example of Cain. If envy does not go the length of making away with him whose advantages give us umbrage, it seeks at least to trouble him with deception in the enjoyment of his wealth; this is expressed by ἔρις, strife, quarrelling; finally, in this course one seeks to injure his neighbor by deceiving him (δόλος, deceit), or to render his life miserable by bitterness of temper (κακοήθεια).