Romans 1:29
in Romans 1They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
KJV
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
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This verse in Romans 1
Commentary
12 notes on this verseNotice how he intensifies the speech; he calls them filled, and moreover with "all" unrighteousness, that is, having reached the utmost degree of every vice. Then he enumerates the kinds of vice as well. By the name "fornication" he denotes every kind of impurity in …
This site's exposition
He gave them up to a depraved mind
on Romans 1:28-29
The third handing over closes the sequence. They did not approve of keeping God in view, so God gave them up to a mind He does not approve. The Greek plays on one word, dokimazo and adokimos.
This site's exposition
filled with every kind of wickedness
Chrysostom finds every word intensive: filled, every kind, full. Ambrosiaster sees wickedness set at the head of the list, with greed and malice flowing from it. Clarke reports that some of the best manuscripts omit fornication here, as the Berean text does.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
A commentator
Origen of AlexandriaCOMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS · Written before 253.
proposed
"Therefore God handed them over to passions of dishonor. For even their women exchanged the natural use for that use which is outside nature. And in like manner the males also, having abandoned the natural use of the woman, were inflamed in their desire for one another, males working shamefulness with males, and receiving in themselves the wage which was due for their error. And as they did not approve of holding God in their knowledge, God handed them over to a reprobate mind, so that they do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, wickedness, avarice; full of envy, murders, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, detractors, hateful to God, insolent, proud, puffed up, inventors of evils, disobedient to parents, senseless, disorderly; without natural affection, without covenant, without mercy. And these, though they had come to know the justice of God, did not understand that those who do such things are worthy of death; and not only those who do them, but also those who consent to those who do them. Therefore you are inexcusable, O every man who judges; for in that wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you do the same things which you judge." This is the third time that we find set down by the Apostle: "God handed them over." And for the first handing-over he gave the causes, namely, "Because, when they had known God, they did not glorify him as God, nor give thanks; but they became empty in their thoughts, and their senseless heart was darkened. […]
See how everything here is intensitive. For he says, "being filled," and "with all," and having named maliciousness in general, he also further pursues the particulars, and these too in excess, saying, "Full of envy, murder," for the latter of these comes from the former, as was shown in Abel's case and Joseph's...
Paul put wickedness at the head of the list, because he thought that evil and covetousness depended on it. He then added malice, from which flows envy, murder, strife and deceit. After this he put malignity, which generates gossip and slander.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then when he says being filled, he enumerates these unbecoming actions. First, he describes their general state, saying being filled with all iniquity, because, as it is said: all sin is wickedness (1 John 3:4). For just as every virtue, inasmuch as it carries out …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Filled with all injustice - This stands in the first place; unmercifulness, in the last. Fornication - Includes here every species of uncleanness. Maliciousness - The Greek word properly implies a temper which delights in hurting another, even without any advantage to itself.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Being filled with all unrighteousness,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Being filled - That is, the things which he specifies were common or abounded among them. This is a strong phrase, denoting that these things were so often practiced as that it might be said they were full of them. We have a phrase like this still, when we say of one that he is full of mischief, etc. Unrighteousness - ἀδικία adikia. This is a word denoting injustice, or iniquity in general. The particular specifications of the iniquity follow. Fornication - This was a common and almost universal sin among the ancients, as it is among the moderns.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
gave them over--or "up" (see on Ro 1:24). to do those things which are not convenient--in the old sense of that word, that is, "not becoming," "indecorous," "shameful."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Being filled with all unrighteousness - αδικια, every vice contrary to justice and righteousness. Fornication - Πορνειᾳ, all commerce between the sexes out of the bounds of lawful marriage. Some of the best MSS. omit this reading; and others have ακαθαρσιᾳ, uncleanness. Wickedness - Πονηριᾳ, malignity, that which is oppressive to its possessor and to its object; from πονος, labor, toil, etc. Covetousness - Πλεονεξιᾳ, from πλειον, more, and ἑξω, I will have; the intense love or lust of gain; the determination to be rich; the principle of a dissatisfied and discontented soul. Maliciousness - Κακιᾳ, malice, ill-will; what is radically and essentially vicious. Full of envy - Φθονου, from φθινω, to wither, decay, consume, pine away, etc.; “pain felt and malignity conceived at the sight of excellence or happiness in another.” A fine personification of this vice is found in Ovid Metam. lib. ii. ver. 768-781, which I shall here insert, with Mr. Addison’s elegant and nervous translation. - Videt intus edentem Vipereas carnes, vitiorum alimenta suorum Invidiam: visaque oculos avertit. […]
The words behind it
13 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| πεπληρωμένους | pepleromenous | filled with | G4137 → | 86 times |
| πάσῃ | pase | all | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| ἀδικίᾳ | adikia | unrighteousness | G93 → | 25 times |
| πονηρίᾳ, | poneria | wickedness, | G4189 → | |
| πλεονεξίᾳ, | pleonexia | covetousness, | G4124 → | |
| κακίᾳ, | kakia | malice, | G2549 → | |
| μεστοὺς | mestous | full | G3324 → | |
| φθόνου, | phthonou | of envy, | G5355 → | |
| φόνου, | phonou | murder, | G5408 → | |
| ἔριδος, | eridos | strife, | G2054 → | |
| δόλου, | dolou | deceit, | G1388 → | |
| κακοηθείας, | kakoetheias | maliciousness, | G2550 → | |
| ψιθυριστάς, | psithuristas | gossips | G5588 → |
πεπληρωμένουςfilled with
pepleromenousG4137 →86 times
πάσῃall
paseG3956 →1235 times
ἀδικίᾳunrighteousness
adikiaG93 →25 times
πονηρίᾳ,wickedness,
poneriaG4189 →
πλεονεξίᾳ,covetousness,
pleonexiaG4124 →
κακίᾳ,malice,
kakiaG2549 →
μεστοὺςfull
mestousG3324 →
φθόνου,of envy,
phthonouG5355 →
φόνου,murder,
phonouG5408 →
ἔριδος,strife,
eridosG2054 →
δόλου,deceit,
dolouG1388 →
κακοηθείας,maliciousness,
kakoetheiasG2550 →
ψιθυριστάς,gossips
psithuristasG5588 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 3:10As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.
it leads to
- Psalms 53:1–3
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their ways are vile. There is no one who does good.
- Psalms 14:1–3
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good.
- Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
- 1 John 1:8–10
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
- Job 15:14
What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
- Psalms 53:1–3
Through
Proverbs 26:20Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a conflict ceases.
it leads to
- Proverbs 16:28
A perverse man spreads dissension, and a gossip divides close friends.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 22:10
Drive out the mocker, and conflict will depart; even quarreling and insults will cease.
- James 3:6
The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on…
- Proverbs 16:28
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Romans
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Epistle to the Romans; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Romans 5; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Romans and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans.