Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more.
Parallel translations
- WEB who having become callous gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
- KJV Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
- NKJV who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
- NASB and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
- NLT They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hardened consciences lead to unrestrained indulgence in impurity. When people silence conscience, sin grows greedy and unchecked.
Overview
Paul completes his description of pagan life: callousness toward God produces moral abandonment, giving oneself over to lust and every uncleanness 'with greediness.' The progression shows sin's downward pull when conscience is suppressed. This dark backdrop sets up the bright contrast of the new self created in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Rom 1:24–26Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.
- Col 3:5Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
- 1 Tim 4:2influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.
- Jude 1:11Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.
- 2 Pet 2:12–14These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed.
- 1 Pet 4:3For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.
- Rev 18:3All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.”
- 2 Pet 2:22Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”
- Isa 56:11Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:
- Eph 4:17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
- Job 15:16how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?
- Rev 17:1–6Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
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Christ at the center
Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.
How Ephesians 4:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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