Romans 1:18-32

Paul has already established that faith in the gospel (life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for sin) brings righteousness from God because the sinner is declared righteous not by his works, but on the basis of Jesus’ work on the sinner’s behalf (1:16-17). In other words, when Jesus died on the cross, He took our sins upon Himself in exchange for His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). After revealing this truth, Paul wanted his readers to fully understand why they needed the righteousness of Jesus Christ, so he begins a detailed description of sin and its affects on the human race.

First of all, Paul exposes the fact that God’s response to sin was “wrath…from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…” (1:18). In the beginning, God made it very clear to Adam and Eve that their disobedience would bring punishment by death (Genesis 2:15-17), but they thought life would be better by making their own choices (Genesis 3:1-7). Choosing to live independent of God always brings His judgment because no “crime” can go without punishment. Instead of obeying the truth, the offspring of Adam and Eve (human race) has continued embracing sinful lifestyles and practices which are contrary to God’s law. It is not as if God has not hidden Himself or the truth, but rather He has made the truth knowable through human reason (1:19) and the magnificence of His creation (1:20). No person can boldly declare that they did not understand what God expected because He has supernaturally placed within man the knowledge of His existence and moral law.

What is Paul trying to communicate to the Romans? Man’s sinfulness is without excuse and is a direct result of ignoring the truth (1:18, 20). Paul describes it this way, “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (1:21). Man thinks he knows best, but his rejection of God and worship of other things, in reality, proves his foolishness (1:22-25). Worshipping things other than God brings His abandonment and man allows himself to become more evil as each day passes. Rejecting God leads men to commit sins such as homosexuality (1:26-27) and pursuing worthless things (1:28), but Paul also provides a comprehensive list of sins which characterize those who reject God: “unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness [greed], maliciousness [enjoying the suffering of others]; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness…whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful…” (1:29-31). Those who practice these things are deserving of death (1:32).

The opening words of Paul are bleak as he describes the true nature of man’s heart. Left to our own devices, man will become involved in a downward spiral away from God and sink deeper into a lifestyle of sin. Instead of seeing this picture that Paul has painted as someone else, see it as yourself. This is the potential picture of any man or woman who chooses to live life on their own without God.

Dear God, today may we see the true nature of our heart and turn to You in repentance.