Castlebar Christian Fellowship

Cathal Duffy

Reading: Romans 1:18-32

God's Wrath Against Mankind
18 (For) The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator- who is for ever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
29 They 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,
30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practise them.
Introduction:
This section of Romans, on first reading looks bleak and hopeless but I think it's important to remember that it's not a counsel of despair. It's important that you have a thorough diagnosis before you can have an effective remedy. Paul is giving us this description of mankind's 'spiritual pathology' because he wants to show us not only the effectiveness of the gospel (good news) but also its total necessity. Before we ever get this description of mankind's sickness we get the prescription of the gospel as the power of God for salvation. The path to wholeness is proclaimed before the disease is described in detail. However before people can accept the good news of how to get right with God they need to realise the bad news that they are not right with God


Paul has just announced the main theme of his letter to the Romans. It's the good news and in it is revealed the righteousness of God. The gospel (good news) has the power to save and transform everybody who believes it. The meaning of the introduced theme in vv16-17 is only opened up for us from chapter 3:21
We're told that from 1:18 to 3:20 the theme of the apostle Paul is "the universality of sin and condemnation." (John Murray)
This is not a digression but it's vitally important if we are to appreciate the meaning of the gospel. We're told the gospel is for the Jew and for the Gentile (v16). In today's reading we're made aware of the sins of the gentile world. Then in chapter two we're informed of the sins of the Jews, by chapter three we realise amongst other things,
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:23.
As somebody put it, "We sin because we're sinners. We are not sinners because we sin!" In today's reading the canvas that Paul paints shows us the more garish colours of sin and sinners. However we need to remind ourselves that Paul is not saying that everybody in every time and place engages in all of these sins. They are however "found in every human community" and "all men and women have the same nature from which these actual transgressions proceed. All are guilty of some of these sins and some are guilty of all." (Stuart Olyott)

Eugene Peterson reminds us, "The word sinner is a theological designation. It is essential to insist on this. It is not a moralistic judgment. It is not a word that places humans somewhere along a continuum ranging from angel to ape, assessing them as relatively 'good' or 'bad'.
It designates humans in relation to God and sees them separated from God. Sinner means something is awry between humans and God. In that state people may be wicked, unhappy, anxious, and poor. Or, they may be virtuous, happy, and affluent. Those items are not part of the judgement. The theological fact is that humans are not close to God and are not serving God.
To see a person as sinner, then, is not to see him or her as hypocritical, disgusting, or evil. Most sinners are very nice people. To call a man a sinner is not a blast at his manners or his morals. It is a theological belief that the thing that matters most to him is forgiveness and grace." (Eugene Peterson "The Contemplative Pastor")

This passage not only affirms mankind's sinfulness but it also declares the wrath of God.

V18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

What is the wrath of God? In human terms we know of human wrath or anger, and it's usually not a pleasant sight to behold. As James reminds us in his letter man's (wrath) anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires .
We need to be aware when thinking of God's wrath that it's something totally different from our limited human emotions. Obviously the word is meant to help us understand by relating to something we already know, but we need to be careful that we don't have a warped perspective on God's wrath by understanding it from our experience of human wrath and anger.

"Wrath is the holy revulsion of God's being against that which is the contradiction of his holiness." (v18) (John Murray)
God's wrath is revealed in some of the recorded spectacular past events of the Old Testament and its also foretold as a future event described as "the day of wrath" Romans 2:5. However in this verse we are told that God's wrath is being revealed in the here and now of the every day lives of ordinary people at local and international levels. If you're looking for something obviously dramatic or cataclysmic you've missed the point.

In trying to avoid the human connotations of wrath or pagan ideas of vengeful deities, we need to be careful that we don't attribute to God some sort of mechanical, dispassionate reaction towards our sins as if it was simply some sort of relentless law of cause and effect built into the universe.
God is a personal God. His love and grace are personal and so is his wrath and judgment.

Before we're told how this wrath is being presently revealed, we're told why it is being revealed. (VV18-23)

We are told in v18 that people deliberately try to suppress the truth.
Mans problems are relational. His primary relationship with God is broken and he has become ungodly. He in turn is out of sync with himself and his fellow human beings, and is wicked in his dealings with them.
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
They "hold back or hinder the truth" but they are not totally successful, however.
V19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
V20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Not only does man have an innate sense of truth within him, which he seeks to suppress. But he also has an innate sense of God from all he perceives in the creation around him. He looks at the world V20 (kosmos) the universe. The 'structured, ordered, reality' and he sees the invisible qualities of God.
We're told that a closer approach to the original would be rendered, "his [God's] unseeable qualities…are clearly seen." (An oxymoron)
Paul tells us mankind, in his observations of the world around him, sees God's, eternal power and divine nature.

eternal power When you look at the world around you, you realise it must have taken great power to put it there in the first place and great power to sustain it.

and divine nature The things which God has made declare His Godhood. ("The sum of all God's glorious attributes.") But obviously we don't see all of His attributes revealed in the creation. However there is enough data out there to tell us that there is a creator God and that he is powerful and that we are responsible to him.

being understood from what has been made I find it interesting that the word here for 'made' in the Greek text is poie?ma (poy'-ay-mah) a product, that is, fabric (literally or figuratively): - thing that is made, workmanship.
From which we also derive the English word. 'Poem'.
The creation is God's poetry.
(I thought about this for a while and my reasoning led me thus. In poetry letters have to be arranged into words and words into verses and various sorts of literary devices have to be organised and put into place before you have what you call a poem. And of course an alternative of this is that it all happened because one day a very small black full stop decided to blow up. That explosion in turn formed individual things called letters that spontaneously arranged themselves into things called words that in turn arranged themselves into lines of poetry.)
V20 'so that men are without excuse.' It is peoples own fault if they claim not to see the reality of God in the creation around them.
V21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
Man in effect walked out on God. He refused to act on the knowledge of God that he had and not only that he V23 exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
(Just as an aside these verses give us the biblical understanding of the origins of belief in many gods. In contradiction to a popular view that in the beginning man believed in a multitude of gods (polytheism) and then man progressively refined this into belief in one God (monotheism.) The bible presents a view in total contrast to this. It pictures man as originally having knowledge of the one true God and departing from that into idolatry.)


These few verses give us some of the reason why the wrath of God is being revealed. But the next question is how is this wrath revealed? We are told that wrath is not just some future event but that it is presently and in an ongoing manner being revealed in the world around us. How is that so?
Look at the repeated pattern given to us in these verses.

V23 they "exchanged the glory of the immortal God"

V24 "Therefore God gave them over"

V25 "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie"

V26 "Because of this, God gave them over."

V26 & 27 "their women exchanged natural relations….in the same way the men."

V28. "he (God) gave them over"

Suffering, futility, frustration and death follow sin. There is a law of cause and effect constantly at work. As somebody put it, "Break the laws of agriculture - the harvest fails. Break the laws of architecture - your building collapses. Break the laws of health - your body suffers."(Barclay)

However this wrath of that is being now revealed in our present day world is not just some abstract law of cause and effect. We're told three times, 'God gave them over'. He is personally involved in the process.

V24 Therefore God gave them over "The verb gave them over shows that God is active and not passive in the process."
The present ongoing, outworking of God's wrath is seen in the consequences of the choices people make. This terrible downward cycle is their self inflicted punishment. People are punished by their sins and not just for them. (Wisdom 11:16. "One is punished by the very things by which one sins.")

I think its also important to emphasise at this point that even in the midst of this wrath God is calling people to come out of their madness and return to sanity., (Look at for instance, Romans 11:32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. Also Romans 2:4) As somebody put it.

"He shuts people up to the consequences of their sin so that they will see their error and look to him for mercy and for a better way." (Leon Morris)

V24 It has been observed that, "In the catalogue of vices which Paul here begins he is following a fairly common custom among the moralists of the time." ( Morris). The vices first listed are more of a sensual nature and then the list takes on a more general tone of vices of an anti-social nature.

In verses 26 & 27 we see references to homosexual acts when people "exchange natural relations for unnatural ones." There have been attempts to reinterpret theses statements to mean something totally different, and to in fact accommodate homosexual practices, but these reinterpretations do not fit at all with the historical understanding of that time. One commentator reminds us that "The historian Josephus (c37-100 AD), for example, writes that 'the law [of Moses] knows no sexual connection but the natural intercourse with a wife'.

'Nature' in this passage refers not to individual human nature or orientation but to the world as God has made it. Engaging in homosexual activity is to violate his created intention in making human beings male and female." (Douglas J. Moo.)

V26 William Hendriksen points out that, "A person's sexual orientation, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is not the point at issue. What matters is what a person does with his (or her) sexuality." He goes on to remind us that, "According to the plain teaching of Scripture sexual intercourse was intended for a husband and his wife, for no one else!"

The biblical standards regarding sexual behaviour seem totally alien to the permissive attitudes of today's society and it seems like the Christian is called to go completely against the grain when he seeks to follow the standards of God's word. (As a result of a misunderstanding of the bible's teaching and also some negative attitudes from Christians, the Christian understanding has often been caricatured as anti-sex!) Nevertheless I think its important to remind ourselves that first century attitudes to sexuality in the Roman and Greek culture were just as permissive as today's society if not more so. Paul was in fact writing this letter from Corinth, a city infamous for its promiscuity.
I feel it's also important to say regarding those who struggle with homosexual or any sexual temptations. Being a Christian we know does not exempt us from any temptation. The bible, as far as I can see, doesn't discuss issues regarding sexual orientation. It does refer to sexual practices that are out of bounds including adultery, fornication and homosexual acts. It also tells us that to lust in our hearts is akin to sexual sin. We need to be on our guard that we don't mess up God's plan that was designed for our wellbeing and peace.
If we have failed there is a place of healing, forgiveness and restoration, if we return to God and ask for his help. Paul reminded the Corinthians that that was the former lifestyle of some in their church but their lives had been radically changed. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NLT)
Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people-none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.


Remember this is not God giving up on people no matter how rebellious they are. This is God giving them over to the results of their rebellion with the purpose that they would be awoken from their folly and call on him for his salvation.
It's important to understand these verses in the light of the rest of the bible's teaching. (Think of the themes of God's mercy, patience and purpose in allowing difficulties into our lives.) Remember Lamentations 3:31-33. For men are not cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.
Sometimes if people are not drawn by the sunshine of his mercy, we'll be driven by the winds of his severe mercy.
This is a sad picture of people outside of Christ.
God still desire all people to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. (Isaiah 19:22 he will strike them and heal them)
However if somebody continues to resist God's dealings in his life he will ultimately be lost forever. C.S. Lewis reminds us and I quote,
"The demand that God should forgive such a [sinful] man while he remains what he is, is based on a confusion between condoning and forgiving. To condone an evil is simply to ignore it, to treat it as if it were good. But forgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it is to be complete: and a man who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness.
In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell, is itself a question: 'What are you asking God to do?' To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help?
But he has done so, on Calvary.
To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what he does." -Unquote.

Paul does not simply single out sexual sins as the worse. He lists others that might be thought not as bad by some along with more obvious major sins.
V29 They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful;


V32. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practise them.
Although man has an innate knowledge of the truth of God and he sees God in the creation, we're also told that he knows right from wrong even though he doesn't have a bible. (Man has a conscience and Paul tells us more about that next chapter.)

Conclusion:

In conclusion,

When people reject God's way he lets them have their own way. People in pursuit of their own ways bring suffering upon themselves. This is part of the outworking of God's wrath in society but you could also say that it's a token of God's mercy.
Sometimes it becomes the wake-up call to individuals when they see how far they've fallen and they turn back to God for his mercy and receive forgiveness and salvation. Others however become more and more hardened in their rebellion against God and as we're reminded in Proverbs 29:1 He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

Before I close I want to remind you of Paul's words immediately before today's reading, Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes-the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life."


And some other verses further on in Romans 5:8-9.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!
God has made a way of salvation for everyone of us. He's name is Jesus. What have you done about God's gift to you?
Pray.


Notes:

Could their be a similar pattern in the lay out of these verses in chapters one to three in Romans as the pattern evidenced in Amos chapters one and two? Their could have been a certain pleasure given to the Jews as the Prophet (Apostle) seemed to harangue the surrounding nations, enforcing the Jewish self-complacency, before the big shock of being personally charged with their own crimes by the Prophet (Apostle).



'Revealed' vv16-17 apokalupto?
ap-ok-al-oop'-to
From G575 and G2572; to take off the cover, that is, disclose: - reveal
"The verb 'reveal', which has a dynamic sense (come into being, manifest.)" (D. Moo)
'is (now)being revealed' (Weymouth & TTNT)


Psalm 103:8. The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love. (God does not 'fly of the handle'.)
Ezekiel 18:23, 32. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

James 1:19-20 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.





nihilism
1 the rejection of all religious and moral principles.
2 an extreme form of scepticism characterized by the assertion that nothing really exists.
nihilist n.
nihilistic // adj.
[Latin nihil 'nothing']

V23 Psalm106:20, Jeremiah 2:11.

Wrath of God: On one occasion God described himself as being like 'dry rot' (Hosea) at work amongst his people.