Romans 1:18 Commentary and Bible Study

If we were to lose sight of the context, we might think that this is a most depressing passage. It is one of Paul's great sin lists, and it is harrowing to read through the list. But we mustn't lose sight of the context. ‘I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. ¹⁵ So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. ¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth’ (Romans 1:14-16). He has set the context; he is ready to come to Rome. He was to come as a prisoner under armed guard – he didn't know that at this time – and the sin list is given in this context, not to depress, but to assert the power of the gospel in whatever circumstances it is preached. The apostle Paul sees the wrath of God which is coming upon the unsaved. He must preach. If God will so use his words, he must deliver people from the wrath which is to come. ‘The wrath’ means the settled indignation of God. Wrath does not mean is a squall or burst of anger. It means the permanent, abiding, irreducible, fury and anger of God against human sin. It is so foul, it is so offensive to him. The wrath of God, that will never die, is revealed. And it comes from heaven, and it comes upon all ungodliness, and all unrighteousness of men.‘The wrath of God is revealed from heaven.’ I understand that Christ is revealed from heaven – it doesn't actually say so here, but it does often in the New Testament and in the prophecies – but what is this about the wrath of God? God’s wrath was revealed from heaven, of course, in olden times when God gave the Ten Commandments, and they were written by his finger in slabs of stone. From heaven came the standards by which God would judge us. It was announced in the Garden of Eden that disobedience to God would lead to death and to punishment. It was particularly illustrated in the universal Flood. Then again, with the Tower of Babel, there was the wrath of God, and very clearly in the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. Repeatedly through the Scripture, the wrath of God is referred to in the Book of Psalms, as well as in the prophets. So wrath has been taught and unfolded – God’s implacable anger against sin, against unrighteousness. But the wrath of God is revealed from heaven in another way. When Christ came to suffer and died on Calvary, what you see on Calvary is something so awful: that the Son of God should suffer the experience of being separated from the Father. Of course, God the Father and God the Son are one, and there is a sense in which they cannot be separated. But in the experience of Christ, he must suffer the sense of total separation from the Father, the awful abyss that will be our darkness and separation if we come under the judgment of God. He must suffer the agonies in his body as he is nailed through his hands and his feet, but above all the torment in his soul which defies all human words to describe. The eternal punishment due to millions and millions of people who would trust in him, was concentrated on Christ, and he suffered all the wrath of God on our behalf. Because he was God as well as man, he could survive it. That is how the wrath of God has been revealed from heaven. Just as Christ's righteousness is revealed from heaven, so is the judgment of God when it fell upon Christ, revealed from heaven. ‘Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.’ Always respect the text. Don't too lightly assume that the inspired writers use two or three words where one will do. Don't lightly assume they repeat themselves. Ungodliness and unrighteousness are two entirely different things. The first, ‘ungodliness’, translates a Greek term which means a lack of reverence to God, a lack of reverent worship. Your heart does not stand in awe at the mention of God and the consideration of Almighty God. You do not acknowledge him and respond to him. He is nothing to you. You go as far as being an atheist and pretend to yourself and all around you that he doesn't exist. It's a very special term in the Greek. ‘Ungodliness’ is irreverence to God, lack of recognition of Almighty God. It's an enormous offense. It's the insult of unbelief to the one who made you, the one to whom you rightly belong. ‘Unrighteousness’ on the other hand is wilful disobedience to God's laws. So there are two things here: the rejection of him, part one; the rejection of his laws and standards and requirements, part two. They are the two great heads of evil.Then comes the phrase, ‘who holds the truth in unrighteousness’, and there it would be easier to translate it as all the moderns do, ‘who hold down [suppress] the truth in unrighteousness.’ The translation is right, but ‘hold’ is used as in captivity, as in a restraint. The original Greek word has energy in it. It isn't just a statement: they hold down the truth; it is full of action. They vigorously, energetically, and strenuously hold down the truth. That is society. You think that society doesn't care about God. Society just disdains God; it ignores him and isn't interested. No, says the apostle. Take another look, and you will find that all the main influences in society are actually intelligently working to suppress the truth. That is why there is so much said against God, so many attacks upon his word, so many attempts to make it look mythological and ridiculous and contradictory. They all fail, they are all foolish, but it's going on constantly. There is a strenuous attempt by human society to suppress the concept of God and creation and accountability to him and his revelation, which tells us about himself. How much Paul says in so few words!