June 14
Bible Reading: Romans 1
Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”
Romans 1:32, “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
If you want to understand what’s at the heart of the radically crazy changes taking place in our society don’t turn to the news, read Romans 1:18-32. I’ve long imagined what it might be like to instantly transport a person from the days of my childhood to today. Supposing that person to be a godly man or woman, what would they think of that which has transpired in America? I can still remember some of what things were like back then. As a child I watched television, four channels on a black and white television. I remember liking “Leave It to Beaver,” “Mr. Ed,” and “Gilligan’s Island.” Harmless (albeit silly) shows when compared to what is now available. I grew up in the small town of Hillsboro, Oregon. There was little crime. No one locked their houses or cars. In those days we walked, as children, to and from school—and we were safe. I wasn’t a Christian at the time, but I remember that on Sunday all businesses, except the movie theater, were closed, as Sundays were set aside for church going. And, I remember, sitting in a school classroom—we were taught to show respect; we daily recited the pledge of allegiance, and the principal of the school had a paddle in his office he wasn’t afraid to use. No one would have imagined, in those days, some of the things that have since come to pass. No one would have believed there would be such a thing as a school shooting. No one would have imagined the relentless attacks assailed against the institutions of marriage and family. Or that 60 million unborn babies would be aborted. They would not have conceived of the division and strife that now exists in our country. Or the corruption that is so prevalent. Or the legalization of drugs. Or the crime problem. Or the homelessness in so many of our cities. I was born in Portland, Oregon, and visited it many times. It was a safe and beautiful place to visit. Not anymore. A lot has changed in the past half century!
A host of opinions are offered as to the cause of the problems that beset us. And many look to political or other humanistic solutions. Perhaps more than any other, this passage clearly explains what is at the heart of our troubles. The problem is man’s sinful rebellion against God, and God’s wrath then revealed against man in God turning man over to his sins! Do you wonder how and why people can do some of the baffling things we are witnessing these days? Romans 1:18-32 explains the matter.
It is as Frank Thielman has commented: “The form in which God’s wrath is being revealed against this ongoing rebellion, moreover, is itself just, since it is commensurate with the crime. Just as it was irrational not to conclude from the creation that a powerful, eternal God was its maker and instead to claim in effect that creatures made themselves, so God’s punishment of this rebellion affected the ability of human beings to think clearly about God, his creatures, and how they should relate to one another.”
R. Kent Hughes further explains: “Our text also tells us something of the ‘how’ of God’s wrath: ‘God gave them up … to impurity.’ This terrifying phrase (‘God gave them up’) is repeated three times before chapter one closes. God avenges himself by allowing the ever-deepening decline of evil men and women. That is what we see today all around us—men and women have slipped to such depths that it would disgrace animals to have such conduct among them. God’s wrath is all around us, and it seems that more wrath (God’s giving people up to sin) is falling daily.”
Verses 26-32 graphicly describe the consequence of God giving man over—an awful list of ugly and malignant vices that beset sinful man (2 Timothy 3:1-5). The presence of such things is nothing new. They can be traced back—through man’s sin-plagued existence—all the way back to the fall of man. No one is exempt from the sin-maladies herein described (Romans 5:12, 3:23). A couple things stand out in the list but note this especially—at the bottom of the downward spiral is the dreadful condition in which men not only do things they know to be wrong, but “also give approval to those who practice them” (Romans 1:32). At the bottom of the abyss lies an existence in which man’s moral compass is so hopelessly reversed such that he utterly loses his bearing—good is deemed evil, and evil is deemed good (Isaiah 5:20).
That’s a lot of bad news, and if that were the conclusion of the matter, it would make for the ultimate of horror stories. But there is good news to be found in this chapter. The bad news is that we are all sinners deserving of death (Romans 3:23, 6:23). The good news is that there is a “powerful to save message” bound up in Jesus and His death and resurrection (Romans 1:16). The bad news is sin. The good news is that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). It is God’s all-powerful solution, and the only sure remedy, to cure that which ails us.
Joe Rigney, a fellow of theology at New Saint Andrews College, has imagined what a reversal of Romans 1:26-32 would entail in the lives of those gospel transformed by the grace of God. Praise God that He is well able to make such a change in any of us:
“And since they see fit to acknowledge God, God reorients their renewed minds to do what ought to be done. They are filled with all manner of righteousness, goodness, contentment, benevolence. They are full of gratitude for other people’s gifts, brotherly love, peace, truth-telling, magnanimity. They are edifiers, encouragers, lovers of God, courteous, meek, humble, inventors of good, obedient to parents, wise, steadfast, compassionate, merciful. Because they know God’s decree that those who practice such things will receive eternal life, they not only do them but give hearty approval to those who practice them.”
Joe Rigney
You either value God’s light or you ignore it and become your own blind guide foolishly trying to navigate life apart from your Creator’s benevolent wisdom and care. The gospel alone has the power to set any of us on a right and hopeful course.
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured—
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.
LookingtoJesus 