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Studies in Romans
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Summary of Contents
OPENING REMARKS: 1:1-17
BAD NEWS : Universality of sin and its condemnation 1:18 - 3:20
GOOD NEWS : A gospel that changes our relationship to God 3:21- 5:21
HOW TO GROW AS A CHRISTIAN : 6:1- 8-39
Sanctification 6:1-23
The Place of the Law 7:1-25
Life in the Spirit 8:1-39
A SHORT DETOUR : Questions concerning Israel 9:1-11:36
HOW A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO LIVE : 12:1-15:13
In our various relationships 12:1-13:14
Dealing with the ‘weak’ and the ‘strong’ 14:1-15:13
PAUL’S GENTILE MINISTRY, POLICY AND PLANS : 15:14-33
GREETINGS AND CLOSING DOXOLOGY : 16:1-27
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Studies in Romans
Universality of Sin and its
Condemnation
Chap.1:18 - 3:20
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Why Bad News needs to come first.
1. To alert us to danger.
Paul knows the good news of the gospel will lose its force and seem
less attractive, less necessary, less compelling, unless it is set
against the background of man’s desperate plight.
And so he begins in v18, "The wrath of God has been
revealed against all the godlessness and wickedness
of men who suppress the truth by
their wickedness".
In the courtroom scene to follow
mankind is placed in the dock
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Why Bad News needs to come first.
2. To enhance the glory of the gospel.
Unless we see the horror and reality and consequence of that
wickedness, we will never marvel at the glory of the gospel.
As a diamond sparkles most brightly against the backdrop of black
velvet, so the gospel shines most brightly
against the background of
the dark plight of man.
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Why Bad News needs to come first.
3. To paint man into a corner with no escape.
Paul’s aim is to show that the case against man is watertight
From 1.18 -3.20 Paul acts as a skilful prosecuting
advocate building a case against the most irreligious to
the most religious of men.
Paul will establish, beyond all doubt, that all men are
by nature children of wrath, and that without
Exception they fall short of God's standards and
stand under his condemnation at the bar of
God's justice.
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Studies in Romans
Bad News for the Gentiles
Chap.1v18-32
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
1. God’s wrath revealed
God’s wrath is different from Human wrath. In the N.T. two words
are translated as wrath.
First, ‘thumos’, meaning, 'to rush along
fiercely', or ‘to breathe violently’
[cf. Lk 4:28].
Secondly, ‘orge’, ‘to grow ripe for
something’, denoting something that
has been building up for a long period of time.
This second word is typically used by biblical
writers.
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
1. God’s wrath revealed
The word ‘orge’, describes God’s wrath as a strong and settled
opposition to all that is evil. It arises out of God's very nature.
God's wrath is not arbitrary but an unyielding resistance to sin. It is,
"his righteousness reacting against unrighteousnes”[ Jim Packer]. Like
two trains on a collision course. Another writer defines God’s wrath as
“the expression of God's holy, loving, displeasure with sin.”
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
1. God’s wrath revealed
Wrath is thought to contradict the love of God. But the opposite is
the case. It complements and fills out our understanding of his love.
Lloyd Jones writes, "It is only as you have some conception of the
depth of His wrath that you will understand the
depth of His love".
Paul will later show that at the heart of the
gospel lies this great fact: God’s wrath has
been redirected. Jesus absorbed and
exhausted the wrath of God which should
have been directed towards us.
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
2. Knowledge of God has been suppressed
In [Psalm 19:1] we read, ‘the heavens declare God's handiwork’.
This revelation is limited to God's eternal power and deity yet it is
sufficient to persuade man to seek after God. Secondly, God has
provided us with a revelation of himself in our conscience an
awareness of right and wrong - a conviction that sin deserves to be
judged by God, the moral governor of the universe, who is just.
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
2. Knowledge of God has been suppressed
Paul describes those, 'who by their wickedness suppress the truth'.
The word ‘suppress’ here means to ‘hold down’, to prevent
something from behaving as it ought. If you hold a piece of wood
under the water long enough, it loses its buoyancy. It becomes
waterlogged. It does not behave, as it ought. Men do that with their
knowledge of God.
Therefore, God's wrath is revealed, not because they
have carelessly overlooked the truth, but
because they have deliberately and wickedly
suppressed their knowledge of God.
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
3. God rejected on moral rather than intellectual grounds
“God’s wrath revealed against…… ungodliness” i.e. a rejection of
God‘s right to rule. Man is intent from keeping God from
reigning as monarch on the throne in his heart.
Clearly man’s rejection of God flows from a moral
and not an intellectual source. And this rejection of
God is followed by a declension in morality.
There can be no morality without godliness.
Thus the result of man’s rejection of God is stated
as ‘wickedness’. These verses have been described as
'Paul's psychology of atheism'.
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
3. God rejected on moral rather than intellectual grounds
The truth about God is not welcomed because God’s holiness
exposes man’s sinfulness. And so man suppresses any evidence that
would encourage him to gain a true knowledge of God.
When individuals or society close their eyes to God’s
revelation there follows an inevitable declension in
morality. For years people have argued that morality
is something that can be taught and produced apart
from a knowledge of God. But the contention of the
gospel is that right behaviour flows from a right
relationship with God. You simply can't have one
without the other.
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
The consequences of suppressing our knowledge of God
1. Futile thinking: v21 'men's thinking became futile’.
Instead of accepting the revelation that God gave, man substituted
his own ideas, thoughts, and reasoning.
Think of the way in which modern man boasts about his mind.
'Religion', he says, 'is primitive but I am now an enlightened man’.
Indeed, he thinks that the hallmark of learning and evidence of
being a C21st man is to be able to say,
“I don't believe in God. I'm the product
of an accident - a big bang”.
Paul describes this thinking as futile.
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
The consequences of suppressing our knowledge of God
2. A Darkened heart
A second consequence of suppression is that man’s foolish heart was
‘darkened’ v21. In the Bible the ‘heart’ is used to describe the centre
of one’s personality. Well, says Paul, as a result
of his foolish speculation, man has become
destitute of spiritual understanding. He is
naturally incapable of any insight into divine
truth. He has lost his spiritual senses. His
heart has become darkened. Cf. Eph. 4:17-19
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
The consequences of suppressing our knowledge of God
3. Man produces substitute gods
Suppression results in the religious dimension of man’s life
becoming debased cf. v23. Although man rejects God
Who reveals himself in creation, conscience and
scripture, nevertheless he still has a need for God or
Something like him. Being unwilling to know the true
God, and being unwilling to do without him, man
Invents substitute gods to take his place. These gods
can take the form of the gods of the Greek and Roman
world, the bestial images of paganism, or those of
C20th scientific materialism.
Presentation 03
Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
The consequences of suppressing our knowledge of God
3. Man produces substitute gods
This process of rejection follows three stages known to
contemporary psychologists as ‘trauma, repression and substitution’.
Confrontation with the true and living God
shocks and injures man. It is traumatic.
Consequently he represses what he knows to
be true.
'There is no trauma if the eyes are forever
closed so that no light penetrates. But the
eyes close in reaction to the shock of the light after the pain has been experienced.’
Presentation 03
Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
The consequences of suppressing our knowledge of God
3. Man produces substitute gods
Now the knowledge of God, though it is repressed, is not destroyed.
It remains intact though deeply buried in the subconscious. The lack
is therefore felt and substitution of 'that which is not God for the
true God’ follows. Man has substituted the truth of God with a lie.
When man substitutes the true God with an idol,
ancient or modern, it proves to be a lie, for in
the imagination of the worshipper it
promises much but provides little.
Cf. Is. 44:17 ff.
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
The consequences of suppressing our knowledge of God
4. An Impure lifestyle.
a. impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies”. v24
b. dishonourable passions” v26
c. a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done”. v28
d. Wholehearted approval to the sins of others”. v32
Three times we read that because of their rebellion
‘God gave them up'. Paul does not say that God
merely removed his hand allowing them to drift away.
God’s restraint on their sinful lifestyle like the lead on a
vicious dog is removed as is the positive wooing
of the Holy Spirit.
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
The consequences of suppressing our knowledge of God
4. An Impure lifestyle…
In each case God gave them up ‘to’ something. First of all in v24 'to
impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies'. He is swept along by
the self-destructive nature of his own sinful desire.
Secondly, in v26 God gives man up 'to dishonourable
passions'. An allusion, not to immorality in general,
but to wilful deviant sexual behaviour. The results of
which are described in v27, as 'receiving in their own
person...’ A reference not just to a guilt-ridden
conscience but to associated factors such as
sleeplessness, emotional stress and depression.
Presentation 03
Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
The consequences of suppressing our knowledge of God
4. An Impure lifestyle…
Man's suppression of his knowledge of God also impacts on his
personality and behaviour, cf. v28 'since they did not think it
worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a
depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done’.
The Greek word that speaks of man not ‘retaining’ his
knowledge of God carries the force of disapproval.
It is a word that is used for testing the worth of metals.
Paul is saying, ‘man examines God and then
throws him away like some useless
lump of alloy’.
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Sin and its Condemnation 1.18 -3.20
Bad News for the Gentiles. Chap. 1 v18-32
The consequences of suppressing our knowledge of God
4. An Impure lifestyle…
We read in v28 of God giving such people up 'to a base mind and
improper conduct’. Sin and thoughts of sin increasingly
captivate the mind. Such a mind will display a
mental dullness. First in the spiritual and moral
realms but eventually the whole fabric of a man’s
thinking is affected. A depraved mind will go on to
produce depraved actions. It becomes
‘filled /controlled’ with every
kind of wickedness.
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