19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Verse 19 concludes the stark depravity of non-Christians that began with verse 18.
who,
The Greek for “who” indicates character; that is, “who are of such a character that they.” Non-Christians can arrive at a place where their character is seriously damaged.
being past feeling [calloused],
The result of hardening of the soul is that these people have reached a point of being “past feeling.” This may indicate loss of hope. These people became so calloused towards God that they could not respond to Him.
The Greek word here is not found elsewhere in the New Testament. This word indicates that non-Christians were in a state of defiance toward God (perfect tense). They lost their ability to respond to God. Because of their loss of discernment, they could not sort out what God would have for them.
have given themselves over [hand over]
Because the Gentiles entered into a state of defiance toward God, they threw themselves into a lifestyle of sin in an unabated way. The word “give over” means to hand over. They abandoned themselves to lewdness and did it of their own accord.
In the first chapter of Romans, God handed society over three times to their devolution (Ro 1:24, 26, 28). He let them ride out the consequences of their negative volition.
PRINCIPLE:
When people abandon God, sensuality overrides every other regard.
APPLICATION:
When non-Christians constantly go negative toward God, they bring a calloused condition upon themselves and abandon themselves to that which is antagonistic to God. No amount of sensuality will ever satisfy them, for they will always want more.
Continual overruling of the standards of conscience will eventually sear personal standards. This is the stage where non-Christians become depraved in mind and give themselves over to a point where they do not care about what society thinks about their character. Neither do they take into consideration what God thinks about them. This is a debased mind (Ro 1:28), a mind that does not care about anything or anyone. They care only about themselves and their pleasure.
