Rom_1_18-32_Part

Romans 1:18-32 - Part 3

Knowing God

As we saw in vv. 18-23 we all (all humanity) know God and that He is there. Further, we know that we were created to honor/glorify Him and to be grateful to God for who He is and what He has made. But because we want to be God ourselves by making our own gods to worship and bow down to (idolatry) Paul says that we constantly suppress God's clear revelation of Himself throughout the world in our own unrighteousness. As Jeremiah warned Israel, we have exchanged the true source of living water to hew out for ourselves the broken cisterns of life that can hold no water (Jer. 2:13). Paul says in v. 23 that we exchanged the glory of God for an image -- we have given up the reality for the shadow of God.

Because of this rebellion before our Maker, Paul says three times that God responds to that rebellion by handing us over to the desires and passions of our hearts. This is God's judgment upon us. He gives us what we want most -- the shadow of true God, the broken cisterns whch can hold no water. We all desire to be happy, well-adjusted, at peace, joyful, etc. But when we seek to fulfill those longings in our hearts with the mere images of God in this creation, whether it is another human or some material object, God's judgment upon us is to simply hand us over to those passions and desires until we move further and further from God until we no longer acknowledge God in any way in our day-to-day lives.

If we were created to have our being in God then there can be no greater judgment that we could experience than for God Himself to give us something else, anything else, in the place of Himself. As a fish was created to live in water, we were created to live in and for God. But you take the fish out of water and it will die. You remove us from the presence of God by giving us something else to satisfy us and we too will soon die.

We see this pattern of God removing us from His presence by giving us what we truly desire in 3 different scenarios in our passage this morning:

1. In vv. 21-23, Paul says that because we exchanged the glory of God for the mere image in this world that in v. 24 God hands us over to impurity or uncleanness.

2. In v. 25, Paul says that because we exchanged the truth of God's knowledge of Himself for a lie and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, that in vv. 26-27 that God gave us over to all sorts of degrading passions.

3. Finally, in v. 28 Paul says that because we did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer that God gave us over to a depraved mind, which results in all kinds of sins listed in vv. 29-32.

Paul's language of God "handing someone over" comes from the Old Testament where in judgment God would hand either Israel or another nation over to their enemies to be punished or destroyed (Ex. 23:31; Deut. 7:23; Lev. 26:25; Josh. 7:7). It is used in the New Testament of Judas who handed Jesus over to the Jewish authorities to be crucified (Matt. 26:15; John 19:11).

In these verses, Paul speaks of God handing all of us who have committed idolatry over to all sorts of uncleanness, which Paul describes as the passions or lusts of our hearts in v. 24, "degrading passions" in v. 26, and a depraved mind to do things which are improper in v. 28. Because we have exchanged the true substance of life for a mere image or shadow, God hands us over to all sorts of impurity so that we end up dishonoring God in every area of our lives, or what we often call "total depravity." Here we see how it is in the fertile soil of our idolatry (our worshipping the creature rather than the Creator) that all of our sin flourishes.

And God's judgment in handing us over is not simply His passively withdrawing His common grace, but God is actively handing us over to our desires. God does not simply take His hand off the edge of the boat and let it go. He gives it power and steers it in its way. God is providentially in control at every point. It is this pouring out of God's wrath upon us that leads us further and further away from the true source of life until, as we have said, in the final judgment when God gives us all exactly what we want most in life: an eternity without God.

Again, Paul says that God "hands us over" in v. 26 because in v. 25 we have exchanged the truth of God for a lie. The "truth of God" is all that God has revealed of Himself throughout creation -- in everything He has made. What is the "lie"? It is what Paul has been saying about our idolatry in that we have worshipped and served the creature -- the things of this world -- rather than the Creator Himself. Note how Paul says that the reverse happens when God's Spirit regenerates the hearts of the elect so that they might believe:

For they themselves report . . . how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God (1 Thess. 1:9).

This has always been an issue of the heart. Where does our heart lie? Are we satisfying the longings of our hearts in God alone so that we seek to glorify and enjoy Him forever, or do we satisfy those longings in some aspect of this creation and satisfy our hearts with the mere shadow of God. You see at the end of v. 25 how Paul clearly chooses the former by declaring that he solely worships and serves the true and living God "who is blessed forever. Amen."

It is in this soil of idolatry that all sin is birthed and grows. Sin is born where and when we want to be God, especially as we try to make our own gods out of the things of this world. In v. 26 Paul says that it is because of this rebellion that God hands us over to all sorts of "degrading passions." Here Paul uses a specific word that has a sexual nuance to it because of the particular sin that he is going to mention next: homosexuality (vv. 26b-27). Women committing sexual acts with women and men committing sexual acts with men.

Here Paul gives us just one example of how we have worshipped the creature rather than the Creator by choosing to replace the natural use with the unnatural use of sexual practice. This is the essence of the sin of homosexuality. It looks at what is natural -- the way things are by reason of their intrinsic state or birth -- the way God intended man and woman to function sexually, and because the homosexual, like all of us, wants to be God and be in control of what pleases him or her, he decides for himself what is natural and what is unnatural.

Notice that Paul says that homosexuality is rebellion against God's laws in nature or what we often call "natural law," which means that this law equally applies to everyone and therefore that everyone knows that homosexuality is wrong. It is because we want to be God that some choose to engage in homosexual behavior, displaying yet another departure from the true knowledge and worship of God.

Even as some choose to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, exchanging the truth of God for a lie, in their sexuality, just as equally repulsive to God is how we often manifest our hatred for God by sins against humanity. When we attack or do not show mercy, like the good Samaritan, to another human being we are essentially attacking or showing no mercy to the one who is created in God's image. Again, we see how each of the following sins of inhumanity are rooted in the same sin of idolatry (v. 28).

In vv. 29-32, Paul begins a long list of these "things that are not proper," what is sometimes called a "vice list" (cf. Matt. 15:19; Gal. 5:19-21; Col. 3:5, 8; 1 Tim. 1:9-10; 2 Tim. 3:2-4; 1 Pet. 2:1; 4:3). Our depraved minds, which have turned against God, are able to produce all sorts of social sins of inhumanity to our fellow man. Why is that? Because we have turned against God and we hate everything that reminds us of Him. Because our fellow man is created in God's image we have all sorts of ways of attacking that image trying to again suppress the knowledge of God.

Here Paul gives us the longest list of vice sins in the NT (21):

1. unrighteousness -- Paul has already mentioned this in v. 18 describing how we are essentially not like God, we are un-righteous. Here Paul speaks very generally to cover every way that we violate God's holy standard of righteousness revealed throughout all creation.

2 -3. wickedness and evil -- everything we do that is morally very bad, without good

4. greed -- extremely covetous, strongly desiring of possessions -- opp. of contentment

5. full of envy -- resenting what someone else has and not wanting them to have it but wanting to have it for myself; envy often leads to other forms of evil, like murder.

6. murder -- premeditated evil, malice in taking another's life -- we can see how each of these are different forms of murder which is ultimately an attempt to destroy God by seeking to destroy the image of God in man

7. strife -- bitter conflict, fights

8. deceit -- to be false; to fail to fulfill your promises; to act as true when know to be false

9. malice -- a desire to see someone suffer

10. gossips -- revealing personal facts about someone; "whispering;" spreading confidential rumors of others

11. slanderers -- to make false statements or misrepresent someone in order to defame or damage their reputation.

**12. haters of God -- to feel strong enmity against God -- the root of bitterness, murder (all of these sins).

13. insolent or overbearing -- overly proud to the point of looking down/despising others

14. arrogant -- to exaggerate one's own self worth

15. boastful -- to speak with excessive pride

16. inventors/devisors of evil -- if these others weren't bad enough, some even have to event new evil to do.

17. disobedient to parents -- this word has the idea of rebellion and hatred, even arrogance, of parents involved

18. without understanding -- because of their rejection of God they can no longer comprehend God's will; they are like the fool of Proverbs who ignores wisdom and pursues activities harmful both to themselves and to others

19. untrustworthy -- without faithfulness -- one who refuses to abides by covenants or promises

*20. unloving -- does not show love and affection to others

*21. unmerciful -- not having compassion or forbearance with others

V. 32 -- Once again Paul says that all mankind, every person, knows the will or ordinance of God. Every man and woman knows what God requires of us. It is written on our very hearts -- it is our conscience that God gives to each one of us. We know right from wrong from the day that we are born.

The problem isn't with the knowledge of God or what God has revealed of Himself within creation, within our hearts. The problem is with our "willful rebellion" against God. As we will see in chap. 2, even Israel who had the special revelation of God through the law of Moses chose to rebel against God. We all know the truth, but we choose to suppress it in our unrighteousness because we want to be God more than anything else in life.

Every man and woman knows when they are doing wrong. Nobody needs to tell them this. And further, Paul says that they even know that one day they must answer to God -- "such things are worthy of death." It's just that we don't care! Here death refers to God's punishment or judgment of sin that was promised to Adam and Eve in the Garden (cf. Gen. 2-3).

Every time we sin and live contrary to God's will we all know what we are doing and that it is wrong and that we deserve to be punished for it.

We rebel against God because want to control our pleasure. We want what pleases us when we want it. We don't want to wait upon God and receive good gifts from His hand when He wants to give them to us. We are all Adam and Eve in the Garden who lusted after knowledge and took and ate.

To wait upon God takes faith, which only God can give and He gives that faith to those whom He chooses. In all of this, none of it takes God by surprised as if He were out of control about our destiny or our actions. He is in control of everything for as Paul says, "in Him we live and move and exist" (Acts 17:28).

Now in the final clause here Paul makes a further distinction. There are certainly those who commit sin and disobey God under the strong influence of temptation but who truly struggle with their demons. While they are fully and equally accountable to God there are others Paul mentions here that not only passionately commit the sin but encourage others to be involved in those sins. It's one thing to commit a sin behind closed doors with pulled shades, living in shame. It's another to fling open the doors, march out into the streets, and parade about your defiance and rebellion to a holy God.

John Murray says,

We are not only bent on damning ourselves, but we congratulate others in doing of those things that we now have their issue in damnation (Murray, I:53).

As Christians we are often quick to point out how others -- those sinners out there -- do not measure up to God's standard of holiness. We pick a certain sin, usually those particular sins that we don't personally struggle over, and we look down upon those who commit those sins. We act as if we are perched upon a high and mighty throne and we despise those who do not honor God.

But Paul would have none of that! We are all equally in the same boat together. That is why Paul ends this whole section in chap. 3 saying:

“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE” . . . Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; 20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:10-12, 19-20, 23).

It's interesting that in a passage unfolding the wrath of God that Paul would list one of the particular sins in v. 31 as being "unloving and unmerciful." When we don't show mercy to others, especially those who are under the control of all sorts of deep sin, we are just as offensive to God as every sin in this list. Paul is reminding us all who is the true judge and it is not us. God alone is righteous and has the authority to judge sinners.

We are called, with Paul, to proclaim the gospel of forgiveness who will turn in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. We are to be people of compassion and mercy and love. Why? How can we show love and mercy to all those evil sinners out there?

Because we have discovered the great evil in this world and it is in our heart. We can show kindness and compassion because we are all in the same boat together. Though we do not approve the sin, we can sympathize with the sinner. We are all sinners and equally we all deserve God's judgment.

It's truly unfortunate that the world often knows more about what and who we are against than they know the One for whom we stand and serve!

Remember that you are in this passage this morning. Look at the cross of Jesus Christ and you can have compassion for the sinner. See what God thinks of your sin and what He has done to deliver you from His wrath. This is what Paul meant when he presses the Corinthians:

The love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf . . . 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:14-15, 18-21).

Amen! -SDG-