To understand the need for and the impact of the gospel, Paul had first to explain the condition of the human heart.
Why is God angry with people?
Paul launched into a comprehensive explanation of the root cause of the sin in his world…and ours…because people are still the same today.
First, the basic problem in the human heart is not just that people don’t know God. Why? They love their sin. They don’t WANT to know God. God is their enemy. They hate Him and do every possible thing to deny, defy and rebel against Him.
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 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.”
Romans 1:18-20 NIV
Denying that God exists is first, inexcusable because God’s presence is everywhere in creation and, second, has a downward trajectory that starts with, rather than ends with wickedness. People suppress the truth…they push it down, move it out the way, get rid of it, by their sin.
“In the Bible, “suppress” generally means to actively hold down, stifle, or restrain something. It is most prominently used in the context of humanity willfully ignoring the reality of God…” ( Source: Google AI)
Human rebellion begins with denial. Even if they deny that there is a God or that they are accountable to Him, they still need something bigger than themselves to lean on. So, people must substitute the real God with gods of their own making.
“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.”
Romans 1:21 NIV
If one denies that God exists, or that He is real, anything goes. One can invent one’s own god…and one can make him be or do anything in one’s imagination…but the outcome is horrible. Darkness! Futility!
What is darkness?
”In the Bible, darkness generally symbolizes the absence of God’s presence. It primarily represents sin, ignorance, spiritual blindness, and divine judgment.“ (Source: Google AI)
Futility…the outcome of darkness…
“In the Bible, futility describes the emptiness, purposelessness, and frustration of human endeavors apart from God. It refers to the fleeting, transient nature of worldly pursuits—like chasing the wind—and highlights that life’s true meaning can only be found in a relationship with the Creator.”
(Source: Google AI)
Darkness and futility exactly describes the condition of Paul’s world and ours but…the downward spiral gets worse…
“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”
Romans 1:22-23 NIV
Out of their wickedness, people have made a conscious and deliberate exchange…the true God for gods made like creatures…the worst of humans or animals…the result of their futile thinking and perverse “wisdom”.
Look around you at the way people are living out this pattern. The mess people’s lives are in…the consequences of their behaviour…makes no sense unless it starts with the notion that they can do as they like and get away with it.
Not with God! Consequences are inevitable and follow what people do.
Paul reaches a startling conclusion… the outcome of bad choices and the behaviour is not just a consequence…it’s God’s judgment…and He judges in an unexpected way.
“…Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”
Romans 1:25-27 NIV
Perverse sexual behaviour and everything connected with it is not “sexual orientation” or the result of a rogue gene over which no one has control. Homosexuality is not a feeling or an urge. It’s a consequence! It’s God’s judgment on people who refuse to acknowledge God and deliberately submit themselves to substitutes and…
…Gods’s judgment is perfectly just. He gives them what they want! This is scary because they have no idea where their choices will take them. They do not understand that their persistence and justification for turning God’s righteous way upside down will lead to a “perverse” mind.
“In the Bible, “perverse” means to deliberately turn away from God’s moral standards to do what is wrong. Rather than just making a mistake, it describes a willful, stubborn attitude of twisting what is good into evil.” (Source: Google AI)
The Greek word, ”adokimos”, has the meaning of unapproved…that is “unacceptable”, translated “reprobate”, “depraved”, or “perverted”. The idea is that what was good is regarded as evil and what is evil has become acceptable as good.
Wicked behaviour had deliberately pushed God and His instructions to do what is right down and out of the way. People did such bad things that they could no longer think what was right and good…and God confirmed their choices by giving them what they wanted.
Paul’s description of his world mirrors our world perfectly. Reading what Paul has to say is like reading today’s newspaper or listening to today’s news.
“They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.”
Romans 1:29-31 NIV
Paul’s caps his description of society with his diagnosis…
“Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
Romans 1:32 NIV
That’s who they are, and that’s what they have become…and that’s what they deserve.
To be continued