Romans 1:18-32 - All the world - by Ken Clezy
Romans 1:18-32
From here to the end of ch 2 Paul says all the world is sinful. In ch 2 he refers principally to Jews, and these verses in ch 1 seem to refer largely to Gentiles, if only because he was unlikely to accuse Jews of unbelief.
V18: The NIV disregards the Greek word gar (meaning For) when it shouldn’t, because just as the Gospel has been revealed now, so has God’s wrath. We like to talk about God’s love, but not his wrath, but sin makes God angry. Sometimes our parents were angry with us for good reason; if we admit that God’s standards are higher, it shouldn’t be difficult to understand God’s anger at some things our parents may have chosen to overlook, or didn’t know about.
Godlessness and wickedness are the terrible twins; for as long as Godlessness is vaunted wickedness will be flaunted, as we see around us very day.
Vv 19-20: What may be known about God . . . The reference is to Ps 19:1 (The heavens declare the glory of God. . . ) Anyone who supposes that evolution means we no longer need God should read John Lennox; surely, people are without excuse.
V21: Most of our contemporaries no longer believe in God. They have moved on. Next time you hear someone say, ‘Thank God,’ ask them what they mean. You may open a productive conversation.
V22-23: Atheists have deformed minds, as in Paul’s day. They won’t have the idols Paul mentions, but they have idols all the same. In our society the big three are sex, money and power. The greatest use of the Internet is said to be for pornography, and we know that nowadays many varieties of sexual immorality are widely accepted as normal behaviour.
In vv 24, 26 and 28 Paul says 3 times that because of their sins God gives them over, twice to female and male homosexuality, and the third time to a depraved mind. Objection: surely God doesn’t punish little children so severely for childish sins? Answer: when he gave the Ten Commandments to Moses he warned Israel that he would visit the sins of the parents on the children, down to the third and fourth generation. There is nothing in scripture to suggest that this warning has been withdrawn, or is restricted to Israel, or to non-Christians.
V 25 could refer to many things, but Paul was writing from Corinth, a city notorious for its temple prostitutes, and where other men’s wives were off limits but otherwise anything went, so I think worshiping and serving created things refers to sexual immorality. In many societies the shame (until recently) of illegitimacy made extramarital pregnancy a constant risk until oral contraceptives were introduced in the 60s, so bed hopping is probably commoner now than ever before.
Many other sins are commoner too. Domestic abuse, by a drunken partner more often than by a husband, is escalating. And until now, whoever heard of banker’s dishonesty, literally on an industrial scale? Such things as stolen cars DUI through red lights, killing people and failing to stop, are much commoner than a few years ago.
When I was a young doctor assaults on ER staff were unheard of. I saw an armed guard in an ER for the first time in New York in about 1968 and cringed; now they are commonplace everywhere. Why all this increasing sin? Because so many parents no longer teach their children about their own standards of right and wrong, which are far below God’s standards anyway.
V 28-30: The list of sins that follow are obvious enough, but perhaps gossip is worth a comment. Christians can easily fall for this, I guess because it makes us feel better than whomever we are talking about. This adds pride to gossip, sin to sin.
V 31: Senseless = lacking understanding; faithless ?= untrustworthy (surely if he meant lack of faith in God he would have put it first); heartless = lack of family feeling; ruthless = merciless.
V 32 Unbelievers would deny that they know this, and perhaps that they applaud such people, but oftentimes silence can be taken as approval. The difference between approval and applause can be tiny. The bottom line is that failure to believe in God’s existence is the basic sin from which all others flow.