Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans John Calvin
Commentary on Romans saying, that they chose not, (non probasse - approved not,) it is the same as though he had said, that they pursued not after the knowledge of God with the attention they ought to have done, but, on the contrary, turned away their thoughts resignedly from God. He then intimates, that they, making a depraved choice, preferred their own vanities to the true God; and thus the error, by which they were deceived, was voluntary.
To do those things which were not meet As he had hitherto referred only to one instance of abomination, which prevailed indeed among many, but was not common to all, he begins here to enumerate vices from which none could be found free: for though every vice, as it has been said, did not appear in each individual, yet all were guilty of some vices, so that every one might separately be accused of manifest depravity. As he calls them in the first instance not meet, understand him as saying, that they were inconsistent with every decision of reason, and alien to the duties of men: for he mentions it as an evidence of a perverted mind, that men addicted themselves, without any reflection, to those vices, which common sense ought to have led them to renounce.
But it is labor in vain so to connect these vices, as to make them dependent one on another, since this was not Paul's design; but he set them down as they occurred to his mind. What each of them signifies, we shall very briefly explain.
29. Understand by unrighteousness, the violation of justice among men, by not rendering to each his due. I have rendered {πονηρίαν}, according to the opinion of Ammonium, wickedness; for he teaches us that {πονηρον}, the wicked, is {δραστίκον} {κακου}, the doer of evil. The word (nequitia) then means practiced wickedness, or licentiousness in doing mischief: but maliciousness (malitia) is that depravity and obliquity of mind which leads us to do harm to our neighbour. 54 For the word {πορνείαν}, which Paul uses, I have put lust, (libidinem.) I do not, however, object, if one prefers to render it fornication; but he means the inward passion as well as the outward act. 55
The words avarice, envy, and murder, have nothing doubtful in their meaning. Under the word strife, (contentione,) 56 he includes quarrels, fightings, and seditions. We have rendered {κακοηθείαν}, perversity, (perversitatem;) 57 which is a notorious and uncommon wickedness; that is, when a man, covered over, as it were, with hardness, has become hardened in a corrupt course of life by custom and evil habit.
30. The word {θεοστυγεῖς}, means, no doubt, haters of God; for there have in contempt, i.e., to contemn or despise. — Ed.
54The two words are {πονηρία} and {κακία} Doddridge renders them "mischief and malignity." Pareus says that {κακία} is vice, opposed to {τη} {αρετη} — virtue. — Ed.
55"{Πορνεία} has an extended sense, comprehending all illicit intercourse, whether fornication, adultery, incest, or any other venus illicita." —Stuart
56Improperly rendered "debate" in our version — {ἔριδος}, "strife", by Macknight, and "contention," by Doddridge. — Ed.
57In our versions "malignity;" by Macknight, "bad disposition;" and by Doddridge, "inveteracy of evil habits." Schleusner thinks that it means here "malevolence." — Ed.