The Unthinkable
The apostle Paul used a rare and chilling word when he described the moral collapse of a society.
Astorgos - “without natural affection.” In Greek thought, storgē was the quiet, instinctive love that binds family together: the tenderness of a mother for her child, the protective loyalty of a father, the steady affection between kin. It was considered the most basic form of human love, the one that should not need to be taught because God wove it into creation itself. To be astorgos was to be stripped of that instinct, hollowed out of the very affection that makes a family human.
This word is used only twice in scripture and that is by Paul in Romans 1:31 and 2 Timothy 3:3, and both times it appears in lists describing a society under judgment.
Pay close attention to what Paul is saying as this word is used in these two scriptures (I will list the scriptures surrounding for context):
“And even as they did not think fit to have God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do the things not right, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; being full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, evil habits, becoming whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, proud, braggarts, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, perfidious, without natural affection (astorgos), unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous order of God, that those practicing such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but have pleasure in those practicing them.” Romans 1:28-32 (MKJV)
And in Timothy he states:
“Know this also, that in the last days grievous times will be at hand. For men will be self-lovers, money-lovers, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection (astorgos), unyielding, false accusers, without self-control, savage, despisers of good, traitors, reckless, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power of it; even turn away from these.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (MKJV)
In Romans, it marks the final stage of a downward spiral where people have rejected God and, in turn, lose even the natural bonds that hold households together. In 2 Timothy, it appears in the portrait of the “last days,” when people will be brutal, treacherous, and cold toward those who should have been their closest loves, their heart-throbs.
Ancient writers understood this collapse. Greek authors like Aeschines and Plutarch used astorgos to describe people capable of cruelty toward their own blood. Roman moralists lamented that family affection was dying, marriages were disposable, fathers abandoned children, and unwanted infants were exposed to die. Seneca wrote matter‑of‑factly about drowning weak babies. The ancient world was familiar with the horror of parents who no longer felt the instinct to protect their own children.
Paul saw this and named it.
And now, in our own generation, the same fracture has returned, only magnified.
We live in a time when mothers drown or strangle their children, fathers are killing their children and wives, and children are murdering parents or grandparents. These are not isolated tragedies; they are symptoms of a deeper spiritual disorder. They reveal a society where the God‑given instinct of storgē has been severed. The womb‑love is gone. Basic family “love and care” is gone. The affection that should not need to be taught has withered.
The Hebrew Scriptures speak of this instinct love and care through words like rachamim, compassion rooted in the womb, and chesed, faithful love. Their opposites are cruelty, betrayal, and the abandonment of kin. When Paul uses astorgos, he is translating this Hebrew moral world into Greek terms. He is saying that the most basic human bond has died, and when that bond dies, violence rises.
I have sympathy for the mentally ill. However, mental instability for whatever reason, even if it is magnified by drug use (from legally prescribed or illegally obtained), does not give a person the right to commit crimes and receive no punishment. A person should always be held accountable for their actions.
Honor killings, which are found in some religions, are also inexcusable. Lives are valuable to God and no one has the right to murder. “Thou shalt not murder”.
This collapse shows itself not only in acts of brutality but also in cultural shifts that seem gentler on the surface. A growing number of young couples choose not to bear children, not because they cannot, but because they do not want the responsibility or sacrifice of raising offspring. Instead, they pour affection into “fur babies”- pets treated as children, heirs, and legacy.
Pets can be blessings, but they are not fruit.
They do not carry the image of God. They do not continue a lineage. They do not require the lifelong self‑giving love that children demand. When a society elevates animals to the place of children while simultaneously devaluing actual children, it reveals a distortion of storgē. The instinctive love for offspring is being redirected toward something easier, safer, less demanding.
This shift is a predictable outcome of a culture that has redefined freedom as the absence of obligation. When people choose the latter over the former, it signals a deeper spiritual reorientation - a turning inward, away from the God‑given calling to nurture life.
Paul’s world faced its own version of this crisis. Ours faces it with new expressions: abortion framed as empowerment, mental illness (temporary insanity) as an excuse to commit crimes and not receive punishment, euthanasia framed as compassion, childlessness framed as liberation. The ancient word fits because the ancient sin remains.
The thread tying all of this together is the erosion of natural affection, the God‑given instinct to re-produce and to protect, nurture, and cherish one’s own flesh and blood. When that instinct dies, families collapse. When womb‑love is replaced with self‑love, violence rises. When loyalty is replaced with convenience, society fractures.
Paul’s warning was not only for Rome. It was for any generation that forgets that the love binding parent to child, child to parent, and kin to kin is sacred. It is a love that should not need to be taught. When it dies, the last days are not merely near, they are visible in the headlines.
Leisa
REFERENCES:
Aeschines. Against Timarchus. In Aeschines: Speeches, translated by Charles Darwin Adams. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1919.
Barclay, William. The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958. (Historical notes on Roman family decline and social cruelty.)
Blue Letter Bible. “G794 – ἄστοργος (astorgos).” Lexicon entry with etymology, NT usage, and classical references. Accessed 2026.
BiblePortal. “Unloving (794) – astorgos.” Commentary including historical notes on Roman infant exposure and Seneca’s writings. Accessed 2026.
Ministry Voice. “Exploring the Meaning of Astorgos.” Article summarizing lexical meaning, NT context, and moral implications. Accessed 2026.
Plutarch. Moralia. Translated by Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927. (Discussions of family affection and social decline.)
Seneca. De Ira (On Anger). Translated by John W. Basore. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1928. (Comments on disposing of infants and Roman moral decay.)
Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Entry G794, “ἄστοργος.” Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1890.
Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Entry “ἄστοργος.” New York: American Book Company, 1889.
Theocritus. Idylls. Translated by J. M. Edmonds. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1912. (Classical usage of storgē and its negations.)
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