Romans 1:18-25
Romans 1:18-25
God's Furious Punishment
#romans
#WrathofGod
#sin
Published April 8th, 2021
Main point summary
Discourse
Comparison
Look-up
Notes
notes
Main point summary
Even though people know who God is, they ignore and deny him, choosing to worship idols instead; therefore, God furiously punishes them by abandoning them to their destructive desires .
Discourse
NT
Romans 1:18-25
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For k the wrath of God l is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men ,
God has made it known throughout history that he is furious at the hatred toward both himself and others that people spew out at every moment of every day
who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
as they strangle the truth of who God is—they do their best to ignore it and deny it—by means of their sinful actions.
For what can be m known about God is plain to them,
The reason why God is furious is because people do this even though God's character shines in plain sight
because God has shown it to them.
because he has set it out in front of them in an impossible-to-miss way—like a bright, flashing neon sign at midnight.
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, n have been clearly perceived... in the things that have been made.
I say it is impossible to miss because from Day One of creation God made the deepest truths about his person visible, even though they are invisible, in the world we live in,
... ever since the creation of the world...
So they are without excuse .
which leaves every person without a good reason for their sin.
For although they knew God,
Let me explain further: this is true because even though all people know God, as I said,
they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him,
they refuse to glorify him as God or thank him for the blessings he pours out on them, as he deserves,
but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened .
but rather live and think in a spiritually senseless way that accomplishes nothing good for their benefit.
p Claiming to be wise,
Although they brag, "We are brilliant and full of wisdom,"
they became fools,
they are insane and full of ridiculous ideas,
and q exchanged the glory of r the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
rejecting the glory of the God who lives forever—and why? So they can bow down in worship before likenesses of people whose life is a breath instead, or likenesses of mere birds, animals, or things that crawl on the ground.
Therefore s God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity , to t the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
For that reason God abandoned them to chase after the filthy desires that erupted out of their hearts, so that they even degraded their own and others' bodies;
because they exchanged the truth about God for u a lie
after all , as we saw, they had rejected the truth about God that he showed them in favor of lies about God,
and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, v who is blessed forever! Amen.
worshipping and serving created things instead of the eternally glorious Creator! Amen.
discourse
Comparison
Romans 1:18-25
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For k the wrath of God l is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,
But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
For what can be m known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.
They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them .
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, n have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, 1 in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
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 people are without excuse.
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 ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they o became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
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.
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.
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.
p Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
Claiming to be wise, they became fools
Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.
and q exchanged the glory of r the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God , they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore s God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to t the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.
So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies .
because they exchanged the truth about God for u a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, v who is blessed forever! Amen.
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
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.
They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
Look-up
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan r with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for s those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore t God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe u what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned v who did not believe the truth but w had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
3 And even d if our gospel is veiled, e it is veiled to f those who are perishing. 4 In their case g the god of this world d has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing h the light of i the gospel of the glory of Christ, j who is the image of God. 5 For what k we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with l ourselves as your servants 1 for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, m “Let light shine out of darkness,” n has shone in our hearts to give o the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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Notes
Commands There are no explicit commands here, but it is clear that we ought not to "suppress the truth" (18b), refuse to honor or give thanks to God (21b), or exchange God's glory for idols (23). Rather, we ought to: 1) believe in and love the truth (see 2 Thess 2:9-12), 2) honor and thank God for who he is and what he has done, and 3) worship the "immortal Creator" (23, 25b). The final command that should burn in our hearts from this passage is to preach the gospel, because people are not glorifying God (21a-c) and so are under God's wrath. Our love for God, and thus for other people, should lead us to share the gospel. Means 1) This isn't present in this passage, but we need special revelation from God in the person of his Son and in his Word, if we are to believe in him and love him (see 2 Cor 4:3-6). Motivations 1) Avoiding God's wrath 2) and 3) Avoiding degrading sins Anchors 2) Because of who he is and what he has done 3) Because he is immortal, and our lives are short; because he is the Creator, and we are mere creatures.
Comments
Disclaimer: The opinions and conclusions expressed on this page are those of the author and may or may not accord with the positions of Biblearc or Bethlehem College & Seminary.