A reprobate mind is the mind God gives a person over to after they refuse to retain God in their knowledge.
Romans 1:28 shows that when people did not want to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Les Feldick teaches that this is a judicial act, not an accident. It is also a downward move: God gave them up to uncleanness and then to a reprobate mind that does things which are not fitting.
Romans 1:28 — This is the verse where the Bible explicitly speaks of God giving people over to a reprobate mind.
Romans 1 describes a downward sequence. People changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into images like corruptible man, birds, four-footed beasts, and creeping things (Romans 1:23). Then God acted: “God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves” (Romans 1:24). The sequence reaches its final stage in Romans 1:28: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.” The Bible therefore presents the reprobate mind as God’s direct response to mankind’s refusal to keep God in their thoughts and knowledge.
Les emphasizes that God’s giving people over is an act — a judicial act. He says that when mankind turned from the one true God to idols, God gave them up, and He did not give them up to something higher but to something lower (Clip 0). Les points out that this downward track began at the Tower of Babel when idolatry and image worship appeared, and it has gone downhill ever since (Clip 0). In Romans 1:28, when people did not want to retain God in their knowledge, God again moved judicially and gave them over to a reprobate mind (Clip 1). The result, Les teaches, is that God removes all restraints — the person has no inhibition, does not care what people think, and does not care what God thinks (Clip 1).
Romans 1:28 gives the direct cause: “they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.” Les adds that something takes God’s place — secular humanism, atheism, or something else — and they hold the truth underfoot. When that happens, God moves judicially and gives the person over to a reprobate mind.
Les teaches that when God gave them up, He gave them up to something lower, not higher. Romans 1:24 shows God giving them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts. Then, in Romans 1:28, He gives them over to a reprobate mind. So the track moves downward from idolatry to uncleanness to a reprobate mind that does what is not fitting.
When teaching Romans 8, Les tells his audience to go back to Romans 1. He teaches that the carnal mind — the old Adamic nature — is not subject to the law of God and is enmity against God. The unsaved person’s mind is rebellious, and God does not expect an unbeliever to keep His law because the old Adamic nature is at war with God. This is the same mind that Romans 1 describes as no longer retaining God in its knowledge.
God Gave Them Up to Something Lower
Les teaches that God’s giving men up is an act, and that He gave them up to something lower, not higher — first to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts.
A Judicial Act and Removed Restraints
Les teaches that when people did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God moved judicially and gave them over to a reprobate mind. The result is that God removes all restraints and the person no longer cares what people or God think.
The Wages of Sin vs. the Gift of God — Romans 6:23 Explained
Now this shocks people when I point this out, and this certainly is not giving the unbelieving world more free reign than they already have. It's just saying what the Word of God says. Romans chapter 8, and let's see, I want to come down to verse 7. Romans chapter 8, verse 7. Because the carnal mind—now the word carnal, as Paul uses it, can be used in two ways. He'll speak of a carnal Christian.
The Adamic Mind Not Subject to God’s Law
Les teaches that the unsaved person’s mind is not subject to the law of God, and God does not expect an unbeliever to keep His law because his nature is the opposite.
Carnally Minded Is Death
Les teaches that to be carnally minded outside of Christ is spiritual death, while to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
The Carnal Mind Is Enmity Against God
Les teaches that the carnal mind is enmity against God because that mind is rebellious and will not admit sin or spiritual need.
Old Adamic Nature Is a Rebel
Les teaches that people may say they love God and are not His enemies, but the old Adamic nature is still a natural-born rebel, making them enemies of God.
The Wages of Sin vs. the Gift of God — Romans 6:23 Explained
And so always remember that as Paul writes, he keeps this uppermost in his mind, that these new converts now did not have an easy role living in the midst of their idolatrous friends and relatives. All right, back to Romans chapter 6, verse 20 again. So when you were, past tense, the servants or the employees or under the domination of old Adam, then you were free from righteousness.
Romans 1:23: And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
This verse marks the beginning of the downward track that leads to God giving people over.
Romans 1:24: Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
This is the first stage of God’s judicial giving over before the reprobate mind appears.
Romans 1:28: And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
This is the key verse that defines the reprobate mind as God’s response to their refusal to retain Him.
Romans 8:7: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Les connects the Romans 1 teaching on the mind to this description of the carnal mind as God’s enemy.
It means God removed restraints as a judicial act. When people did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind so that they do things that are not fitting. Les says the person no longer cares what people or God thinks.
Yes, according to the sequence in Romans 1. People changed the glory of God into images and worshipped created things. Then God gave them up to uncleanness, and finally gave them over to a reprobate mind because they did not want to retain God in their knowledge.
Watch the Teaching: What the Bible Says About Sodom, Lot, and Judgment (Romans 1)