The Righteousness of God

Lesson 8 - Romans 1

Saturday, February 23, 2019

9:36 PM

The Righteousness of God (17)- Revealed From faith to faith One interesting thing Paul introduces this though of The Righteousness of God but then he leaves it until

Romans 3:21 (KJV)

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

The Anger of God (18) God's Wrath - Divine Displeasure with Sin Revealed from heaven - According to Paul - Against two things Ungodliness - without God - Unrighteousness of men - as disregard for human rights injustice, unrighteousness, violation of justice (RO 1.18); Who suppress the truth - You cannot suppress the truth unless you have access to the truth. Paul makes it clear there is definite access to the truth in the following verses. Why Is God Angry: 19-20

Paul’s aim is to show that the whole of humanity is morally bankrupt, unable to claim a favourable verdict at the judgment bar of God, desperately in need of his mercy and pardon.

F. F. Bruce. TNTC Romans (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries) (Kindle Locations 1111-1112). Inter-Varsity Press. Kindle Edition.

What can be known of God is manifest in them God's Natural Revelation As distinguished from His Special Revelation The Revealed Attributes of God -

certain invisible attributes of God have been clearly perceived since the world began- NAC

The Eternal Power of God (1:19-20a)The Godhood of God (1:20b)

All People are accountable to the God for sin (1:18-32)Their Rejection - (1:21-23) The Exchange - Change - to give in exchange - a transaction. Jesus said, Mark 8:36-37 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?Paul points out three of these "Exchanges"23: Exchanged the glory of God for images

Yet although fallen man is not naturally godly, he is very much naturally religious. According to the 1986 World Almanac, approximately 2.6 billion people in the world have an identifiable religious affiliation of some sort. Many more are said to have some form of unidentified religion.

Hindus have some 330 million gods, which amounts to about eight gods per family. They also revere cows and countless other animals that they consider to be sacred. A two-inch-long discolored tooth, claimed to have belonged to Buddha and to have been retrieved from his funeral pyre in 543 b.c., is venerated by millions of Buddhists. The tooth is set in a golden lotus blossom surrounded with rubies and enshrined in the Temple of the Tooth in Sri Lanka.

The beliefs and practices of ritualistic Christianity differ little from such pagan superstitions.

Many humanistic sociologists, philosophers, and theologians maintain that religion is a mark of man's upward climb from primitive chaos and ignorance, ascending through animism to polydemonism to polytheism and finally to monotheism. But the clear testimony of Scripture is that human religion of every sort, whether simple or highly sophisticated, is a downward movement away from God, away from truth, and away from righteousness. Contrary to much thinking, men's religions do not reflect their highest endeavors but their lowest depravity. The natural trend of religion throughout history has not been upward but downward. It has, in fact, descended from monotheism.

That truth is attested even by secular history. Herodotus, the famous Greek historian of the fifth century b.c., said that the earliest Persians had no pagan temples or idols (The Histories, 1:31). The first-century Roman scholar Varro reported that the Romans had no animal or human images of a god for 170 years after the founding of Rome (Augustine, The City of God, 4:31). Lucian, a second-century a.d. Greek writer, made similar statements concerning early Greece and Egypt (The Syrian Goddess, 34). The fourth-century Christian historian Eusebius declared that "the oldest peoples had no idols."

Even many ancient unbelievers recognized the absurdity of worshiping something fashioned by man's own hands. Horace, the Roman poet of the first century b.c., satirized the practice when he wrote, "I was a fig tree's trunk, a useless log. The workman wavered, 'Shall I make a stool or a god?' He chose to make a god, and thus a god I am."

John MacArthur, MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Romans 1-8, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1991), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 89-90.

Every exchange is followed up with a "God gave them over" Look at verse 24 - Thy exchanged the glory of God so God gave them overGave them over to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts. Exchanged the truth of God for a lie verse 25Were given over to vile affections or shameful lustExchanged the natural relationship for unnatural onesThis is becoming seen in our society - Matt Philbin at MRC.org says that "research shows the power of popular media that such, a few years ago Gallup did a poll there 20% if Americans Believed that 25% if the population is gay. Actually only 3.8% of adult population identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender It is due to the overrepresentation of homosexuality on TV shows. Almost every TV show has to have a gay character, most movies feature a gay character. It is an attempt to normalize this lifestyle. Now there is a huge debate now if the Bible condemns or condones homosexual behavior - this ought to be a simple argument by reading this - but I know it is so much harder than this.I read of one person who said - Jesus never mentions homosexuality at all - and they are right - but he also never said I couldn't break into my neighbor's house either. Given over a reprobate mind 28We are then given a long list of vice and sin 29-32

Somewhat of a controvisial subject - perhaps there are questions, comments, discussion???