Romans: The Gospel Unites/ Romans 1:18-32

Good Morning, we are going to be finishing up chapter 1 of Romans . Again, like I’ve mentioned before, we are going to be revisiting Romans in a couple of months, where we will pick back up and start in on chapter. 2. Next week though we are going to be starting a new series on the book of Isaiah. We will talk more about that next week. For today though, we will finish up Paul’s introduction to his letter to the Romans. If you have already read these passages, then you know what we will be talking about. If you haven’t then this video will give you some insight into what Paul is about to say to us…although the video does not intend to do that.

PLAY VIDEO. PRAY

Week 1: vs. 1-7; last week we did 8-17, this week we will examine the remainder of the chapter, which is verses 18-32. Since this is a longer section, instead of going verse by verse, we will go (what is called) thought by though. In other words, we will group the passages together into full thoughts, instead of verse by verse. You will understand as I get into it.

I. The gospel as the revelation of God’s righteousness (1:1–17)

A. Greeting: The gospel concerning God’s Son (1:1–7)

B. Thanksgiving: Prayer for an apostolic visit (1:8–15)

C. Theme: The gospel of God’s righteousness (1:16–17)

II. God’s righteousness in his wrath against sinners (1:18-32)

A. The unrighteousness of gentiles (1:18–32)

1. Their rejection of God (1:18–23)

2. The consequences of their rejection (1:24–32)

As a reminder, last week we ended with Paul declaring that he is not ashamed of the gospel and that ended by reminding us that the righteous shall live by faith.

Romans 1:18–23 (CSB)

For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

Quite the tone change we see from Paul in this section…it will continue in our next section as well. In the first 17 verses, Paul is greeting the Romans, giving thanks to God for the good reports that Paul hears about them…declaring that he is not ashamed of Christ, and that the righteous shall live by faith. While it may certainly be a shift in tone, in fact, Paul is still talking about the same topic, however, instead of the righteous living by faith, he now describes the exact opposite of the righteous living by faith…so, even though it may not seem like it, Paul is still talking about the same idea, but begins to expound on it. It is also important to note that unlike some of his other letters, where he confronts the people in the church, Paul is not accusing the Roman church, as a whole of the types of sin and unrighteousness he is describing. How do we know that? Because just a few verses earlier Paul was bragging about how he had heard great things about them.

As I said before, we will be looking at these a little differently this week, instead only going verse by verse, it will be thought by thought. But, we will begin with

Romans 1:18–20 (CSB)

For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

If you remember,Paul declares (in Romans 1:17) that the righteousness of God is revealed by the Gospel of Christ (we talked about that last week). One verse later he begins talking about the exact opposite of the righteousness of Christ....that would be the unrighteousness of man. Of course, we know that all unrighteousness and sin is an affront to our Heavenly Father, but here, Paul is talking about a specific type…He says “people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” If Paul were alive today, perhaps he would say “People, who by their unrighteousness, give fake news.”

What does Paul mean by “people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth?”

Paul actually goes on to explain exactly what he means: because people will take the things of God and attribute them to man. In other words, our Heavenly Father is the very essence of truth…all truth and goodness has its foundation in our Lord. When we take an aspect of that truth and claim that it came from man, we are hiding or suppressing God’s truth. I can think of no better example than evolution.

In the book of Genesis, chapters 1 and 2 we can find the account of God creating the world, the animals, and mankind. God created these things and called them good and very good. Paul says in verse 20 that creation itself testifies or lets us know that (at the bare minimum) that God exists…that there is something greater than us. Not only that, but God designed the world to operate with a standard of rules, like the laws of physics. Creation itself shows the power of God and despite the sinful nature of man, because the evidence is so apparent, for the majority of human history, most individuals believed that the universe and humanity were created by God.

Then, in 1848, Charles Darwin published An Origin of Species. Along comes the idea of natural selection and evolution. The truth is though, according to the Harvard Museum of Natural History, at least 70 individuals had written about similar concepts, from as early as 1748. Now, all of a sudden…although slow at first, Darwin’s ideas caught on in mainly academic circles. Once that happens, it’s only a matter of time that it catches on in society. Then, in 1931 came the second major step toward pushing God completely out of the picture... a paper by Georges Lemaitre, a Belgian cosmologist and Catholic priest proposed the Big Bang Theory, which states that the expansion of the observable universe began with the explosion of a single particle at a definite point in time. Both of these ideas were once considered radical and were not taken seriously at all. Nowadays, these theories are believed wholeheartedly by over 90% of academia and science.

Of course, Paul was not referring to evolution or the Big Bang in this passage, but I believe it is a perfect example of what he is conveying.

Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.”

This is exactly what Paul is saying in verse 20... because creation itself declares the Glory of God, humanity is without excuse. At its core, the issue Paul is talking about is good ol fashioned idolatry…which we will discuss in a bit.

The truth is, one of the best arguments for God is the human conscience. There is actually a line of study called Disability theology that studies how people with sever mental/emotional handicaps relate to God.

As a very young girl, Helen Keller was stricken by a disease that left her blind, deaf and mute. A lady named Anne Sullivan worked tirelessly and selflessly to help Helen learn to communicate. Eventually, Helen learned to communicate through touch, and she even learned to talk! When Anne Sullivan tried to tell Helen Keller about God, the girl’s response was that she already knew about Him—she just didn’t know His name.) How do you explain that, other than the fact that each of us have this inborn knowledge of something greater than ourselves.

Last thing of note, I want to draw your attention back to the very beginning of verse 18..Paul says that “God’s Wrath is revealed from Heaven. Paul is using some pretty strong language here in describing man’s sinful state. There is actually an entire theology behind the wrath of God. Often times when we hear about the wrath of God in both, the O.T. and the New Testament, it is referring to the future. For example,

Romans 2:5 “Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.”

Revelation 16:1 “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.””

Revelation 19:15 “A sharp sword came from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will also trample the winepress of the wrath of God, the Almighty.”

Luke 3:7 “He then said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”

I could keep going, but I think that is enough. Paul actually rarely used the term himself. All of that said, here in Romans 1, Paul is not referring to the “Day of wrath.” Instead, he is referring to that part of God that is incapable of being in the presence of sin and unrighteousness…as a result, anyone who is not covered with Christ’s righteousness is unable to commune with God.

Let’s keep moving, and look at verses 21-23.

Romans 1:21–23 “For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.”

Paul continues to talk about those who have suppressed the truth. It’s important to keep in mind here that Paul is talking about Gentiles. He will address Jewish people in just a bit. God made himself known through His creation. It is all around us…we can not miss it. In fact, the more we learn about the universe and the human body, the more it should become apparent that everything around us is not an accident. Pardon the school analogy, but it is like humanity ended up failing answering wrong on an exam that had only 1 true or false answer, and the test was open book. The question is: God should receive the glory and honor for the world and everything that inhabits it…true or false. We answered false. You see, instead of giving God the glory and showing gratitude, we became obsessed with self…that we have all of the answers to all of our problems, meaning, we no longer need to rely on God for answers and wisdom. For example, God gives certain people the ability to do wonderful things through science and technology…we end up worshiping science and technology in and of themselves…we worship the creation instead of the creator.

Worthless thinking

Dull and Dark hearts

Fools instead of wise.

Worshiped the creation instead of the creator.

A couple of more quick things about this section. It is widely believed that Paul was writing to the Romans while visiting the church in Corinth. One of the problems in Corinth was wide-spread idolatry…people worshiping the Greek Gods. The Roman Empire, in general was a hotbed of Idolatry…or, people who were exchanging the glory of God for images. In fact, Paul addresses the problem with idolatry in Corinth in 1 Cor. chapter 10. Paul has a long speech about Idolatry, then in verse 14 says:

1 Corinthians 10:14 “So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.”

Paul was also confronted with this issue while in the town of Athens:

Acts 17:16 “While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed when he saw that the city was full of idols.”

Last thing in this section before we move on. Paul says that mankind refuses to acknowledge God, which brings about the wrath of God. I guess, at least for me, that begs the question of why…Not why does God reveal his wrath, we already talked about that…but why does mankind not want to acknowledge God. Of course, at its most basic level, it’s because we are born of a sinful nature…but beyond that…there is something that prevents pretty much all of science and academia from recognising God. So, why does humanity (in general) not want to acknowledge God? This is the kind of stuff I sit around thinking about way too often…but I think we have our answers in what Paul is saying....even if between the lines.

The reason that mankind does not want to give any glory to God for the wonderful creation He has made, is because, a created being is accountable to its creator. On the other hand, beings who simply exist and have no creator, is only subject to themselves. We suppress the truth of God because we value self reliance over accountability. Again, this is Idolatry, raising our self above God.

Let’s quickly move on to the last few passages of Romans 1. We are going to break them up into 2 sections: vs. 24-27 & 28-32

Romans 1:24–27 “Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen. For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.”

I’ve spoken about this before, but whenever we see the word “therefore,” this is an indicator that the author is saying…for the reasons I just mentioned, this is going to happen. For example, the basketball player was injured, therefore, he can not play the game. Starting in verse 24 and going all of the way to the end of the chapter, Paul is describing the consequences of worshiping the creation, instead of the creator. In other words, Paul is describing what happens when people practice unrepentant idolatry, over a long period of time.

What we discover in verse 24 to 32 is that idolatry leads to a whole plethora (a whole bunch) of different types of sin. In verses 24-27, Paul is focusing specifically on sexual sin. Paul was not the first to discover that idolatry leads to sexual sin. King Solomon is the perfect example of a man who practiced and indulged idolatry on a large scale and over a long period of time…he also had serious issues with sexual sin. Most of us are familiar with the Psalmist, who said:

Psalm 14:1 “The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.” They are corrupt; they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good.”

Paul said that God “delivered them over” 2 times in verses 24-27 and 1 more time, which we will read in just a bit. Paul says that God gave them over to

Sexual impurity:

Disgraceful Passions:

Paul then explains what these mean. We are all pretty familiar with these types of sin. Of course, Paul is talking about any type of sexual lust or sexual encounter outside of the God ordained marriage between 1 man and 1 woman. Of course, Paul is referencing homosexual behavior and sex…whether that be a man or a woman. Paul refers to this type of sexuality as “disgraceful passion.” I want to quickly address 2 phrases that are often misunderstood or no understood at all. He says:

So that their bodies were degraded among themselves

The appropriate penalty of error.

We do not typically use this type of language, so it can be somewhat confusing. I mean, we get the overall meaning of what Paul is saying, but these phrases are a bit opaque.

So that their bodies were degraded among themselves

God’s Word: For this reason God allowed their lusts to control them. As a result, they dishonor their bodies by sexual perversion with each other.

The reason that some of the more literal translations use odd wording is because Paul uses a phrase, in the Greek, that we do not use in English. It is used to describe heterosexual perversion, specifically.

2. The appropriate penalty of error

God’s Word: Likewise, their men have given up natural sexual relations with women and burn with lust for each other. Men commit indecent acts with men, so they experience among themselves the punishment they deserve for their perversion.

Similar to the previous example, Paul uses some odd wording, as the original idea doesn’t translate well. The idea is that those who engage in homosexual behavior will experience both natural consequences and spiritual consequences. I’ll talk more about this in my conclusion. For now, let’s finish up by looking at the last few passages of chapter. 1.

Romans 1:28–32 “And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right. They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. Although they know God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.”

Paul now turns his attention, instead of focusing only on sexual consequences of idolatry, he begins to talk about the mental and emotional and relational consequences of idolatry. In verse 28 he repeats what he said back in verse 21

Romans 1:21 “For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.” Paul lists a number of sins here:

Corrupt mind; Unrighteousness; Evil; Greed; Wickedness; Envy; Murder; Quarrels; Deceit; Malice; Gossip; Slander; God-Hater; Arrogant; Proud; Boastful, Inventing Evil; Disobedient to Parents; Senseless; Untrustworthy; Unloving; Unmerciful.

Is that enough? I think that covers just about everything under the sun. Now we can understand why Paul declares in verse 18, that God’s Wrath is poured out upon those who suppress the truth and glory of God....as such things lead to all manner of sin. Obviously, I could point out 100 other passages that deal with each of these different types of sin. Scripture is clear that such things are the antithesis or the exact opposite of what God desires for us.

Paul finishes up by saying that everyone who practices these types of sin in an unrepentant manner will be subject to what Jesus refers to as the “wages of sin,” which is eternal separation from our Lord. Paul also says that those who encourage such things....even if they are not doing it themselves will suffer the same “wages of sin.” The only things I would say about is is that these days, how can we be guilty of such encouragement? I don’t think any of us are going out and advocating for any of the things that Paul lists....but, we will sit at home and watch a TV show or movie that has most, if not all of these things. I will be the first one to raise my hand and plead guilty to this. It’s just something to think about as we go throughout our day.

OK, so that is the end of Romans chapter 1. Paul begins the chapter by greeting the Romans, giving thanks for the Romans…saying in verse 17 that the Righteous will live by Faith. Then, starting in verse 18 and continuing until verse 32, Paul talks about why God’s is righteous in His wrath, against the Gentile people. Paul says that God’s wrath is poured out on the gentiles because they have suppressed God’s truth by denying that He exists and is the One who created the world. Paul speaks out against 2 types of belief systems that run counter to God and His word

1. Atheism: denying that God exists and puts man at the center

2. Polytheism: worshiping many gods that represent different aspects of creation, like the sun, rivers, ocean, stars, etc.

Paul links the sin of Idolatry with both sexual sin and a corrupt or depraved mind. According to Paul Idolatry is simply failing to recognise or give our worship to the Lord. Anything that we place above God is idolatry…and long-term, unrepentant idolatry leads to terrible things.

In Mark 7, Jesus was speaking with the Pharisees. Jesus starts talking about things that are clean on the outside, but dirty on the inside.

Mark 7:21–23 “For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a person.””

Many of the things Jesus mentions here in Mark we find in Romans 1. Perhaps we have never associated sexual immorality or greed or selfishness with idolatry, but just about every sin has its roots in idolatry. When we sin, we are failing to recognise the accountability we have to God, we are putting our own desires or fear or wants above the Lord.

I mentioned this before, but Paul is not accusing the Gentiles in the Roman church of these things. Rather, Paul is simply teaching the Romans why no one is exempt from God’s wrath and Judgment. Also, Paul is not talking about 1 particular individual here…rather, he is talking about the human condition in general.

Galatians 4:8–9 “But in the past, since you didn’t know God, you were enslaved to things that by nature are not gods. But now, since you know God, or rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elements? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?”

To conclude today, I want to talk a little philosophy and theology. The verses that we have covered today have been the subject of many books and sermons. When these passages are being taught, the emphasis is normally on the sins that Paul lists or the fact that Paul says God handed them over. There are a few things we must consider when talking about Romans 1: 24-32. First, whenever we read Paul, or anyone in scripture, we must bear in mind all of their work, not simply a few passages. People do this quite a bit, especially with the book of Romans. In what is refereed to as “Pauline theology,” when Paul talks about God, he is also talking about Christ. Many people will read Romans 1 and come to the conclusion that Paul is only talking about God the Father…the problem with this is that Paul never makes that distinction in any of His letters.This is something that we must wrestle with and know what we believe, in regard to what Paul is teaching here. Nowhere in any of Paul’s letters does he talk about the more generic “believing in God,” he is always referring to the united Godhead, 3 in one. This is especially the case in this section, as Paul is addressing the Gentiles, who did not make a distinction between God the Father and Jesus, like the Jews did.

Why do I bring all of that up? Because, just beneath the surface of what Paul is writing are some very significant theological ideas. If we look at what Paul is saying here, he says that creation itself bears witness to God and that what God created He can be understood through what He has made.

Romans 1:20 “For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.”

Of course, Paul is referring to nature and the vast universe, but what was God’s most prized creation? Of course, it is humanity. You and I are God’s most prized creation. People fall into two camps at this point…those who believe that humanity no longer bear God’s image or is prized by God and that we are corrupt beyond saving verse those who claim that despite our fallen nature, humanity still bears the image of God and has the innate capacity to perform individual acts of good. I’m going to tell you what I believe and why I believe it, but it is up to you to work these things out with the Lord in your own life.

I refereed to this earlier, but sometimes we will come across an inspiring story in the news or book. Someone acts with integrity and selflessly…that is what I mean by good…not that the person is a “good person,” because there is a difference. You must ask yourself, where do all good things come from?

Acts 14:14–17 “The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting, “People! Why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own way, although he did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.””

Here, in Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas healed a man. As a result, the people in the area began calling Paul and Barnabas gods…the people had never seen anything like that, so they immediately associated this miracle with something they could relate to. This grieved Paul and Barnabas a great deal. This is exactly what Paul is addressing in Romans 1…People exchanging things of God for things of man. Anyway, Paul begins to address the people and says something similar to what we see in Romans 1. That, even in the O.T., God’s own creation is a witness that He exists…but notice what Paul says…that part of that witness is that God filled your hearts with joy. Just like in Romans, Paul is speaking with Gentile unbelievers. What Paul is saying is that everyone has that little bit of something inside of them that bears the image of God. Now, of course, Paul is saying in Romans 1, that the people exchanged that for a lie…but you can’t exchange something you do not have.

So, back to the question…remember, I asked…where do all good things come from? If people, who are not believers in Christ can do unselfish acts of altruism (selflessly helping others), that do not, in any way, benefit them…things that we would consider good, then how are they able to do those things? There are only 2 options…God is the only source of truth and good comes from him…unless one wants to argue that humans can conjure up good on their own. Meanwhile, satan is the father of lies and deceit.

I say all of that to encourage you in how you deal with others. We can read passages like the one we read today and it can bring about 2 types of emotion:

Self-righteousness:

Thank God I’m not like that, we look down in derision at those we think fit what Paul is saying…of course, we are ignoring the fact that pride and arrogance is in the same list and has the same consequences as murder and homosexuality. But, we read it and are like the Pharisee who thanked God he was not like the Tax Collector besides him.

2. Evangelistic hopelessness

When we read what Paul lays out, it can seem like…what’s the use…and I’ll be honest with you…there are certain denominations that do not advocate for missions, and they use Romans 1 (in part) as a reason why. They mistakenly believe that Paul is claiming that everyone is beyond redemption. The problem with this is that Paul himself, prior to this section, said that he can’t wait to come to Rome to help spread the gospel.

3. Self condemnation

We read Paul’s words and perhaps we see a bit of ourselves in these lists of sins. Here is what you must keep in mind. The people that Paul is talking about exchanged what God offers, in order to live for themselves…if you are a child of the King, you have exchanged your own righteousness and that little bit of “good” that we talked about earlier and you exchanged that for the righteousness of Christ. Now, it is no longer you, but Christ in you, which is the hope of glory.

All three of these are not born of the spirit and must be given to the Lord. If you’ve found yourslef in any of these mindsets…we must lay them at the feet of Christ.

Let’s Pray!