Romans 1:18-25

Paul has just told us that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, and that in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. The righteous will live by faith. That is the good news. But the good news only makes sense against the dark backdrop of what we actually are without it.

So Paul turns immediately to the other side of the same revelation:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”

The God who reveals His righteousness in the gospel also reveals His wrath against the sin that makes the gospel necessary. This is not a different God contrary to the opinion of some. Neither is it a New Testament softening of an Old Testament hardness. The God who saves is the God who judges. Do not be content to believe the lie that the God of the Old Testament is somehow different from the God of the New Testament. God never changes (Mal 3:6, Heb 13:8, Jas 1:17, Ps 102:27, Nm 23:19, Is 40:8). To soft-pedal the wrath of God is to empty the cross of its meaning.

Notice where this wrath is aimed: against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth. The problem is not ignorance. It is suppression. The truth is not missing. It is being held down.

Paul explains how:

“Because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

Creation itself is a continuous testimony. The heavens declare the glory of God (Ps 19:1). The earth is full of His handiwork. Every sunrise, every heartbeat, every ordered process in the natural world bears witness to the eternal power and divine nature of the One who made it. No one stands outside this revelation. No one can claim they were never told. The knowledge is present. The excuse is gone. Yet men do not respond with worship. They respond with suppression.

“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

Here is the root. They knew God, yet they refused to honor Him as God. They refused to give thanks. Ingratitude is not a small sin. It is the soil in which every other rebellion grows. When the heart will not thank the Giver, it will invent lesser gods it can control. Speculation replaces revelation. The mind that will not bow becomes futile; the heart that will not worship grows dark. And that darkness is called wisdom.

The exchange is total. The glory of the incorruptible God is traded for images of corruptible creatures. Man prefers a god he can shape, carry, and manage. He would rather worship what he has made than the One who made him. This is not progress. It is the ancient folly dressed in new clothes. Therefore God gave them over.

“Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Three times in this chapter Paul will say “God gave them over.” This is just the first. Divine judgment is not only future. It is already at work when God removes His restraining hand and lets people have the very thing they demand. They wanted the creature instead of the Creator, He gave them over to that choice. The impurity that follows is not merely personal failure, it is judicial. Bodies are dishonored because the heart first dishonored God.

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie. Not a mistake. A lie. And then they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. Notice the order again. Worship first, service follows. Whatever a man truly worships will eventually command his life.

The Creator is blessed forever. Amen. Paul cannot even write the words without breaking into doxology. The truth remains true even when men suppress it. God remains worthy even when men refuse to honor Him. His glory is not diminished by our refusal to acknowledge it.

This passage presses hard questions on us:

– Do we still think the fundamental problem is lack of information? Or do we see that the problem is a heart that will not bow?

– Are we still tempted to measure wisdom by the sophistication of our speculations rather than by the humility of our worship?

– Have we, in subtler ways, exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for images of our own making: comfort, control, reputation, success, even religious activity that keeps the true God at a safe distance?

– Do we give thanks? Or has ingratitude quietly settled into the fabric of our days?

The gospel does not ignore this dark diagnosis. It meets it. This chapter that has revealed the wrath of God also has revealed the righteousness of God provided in Christ. Though God gives men over in judgment, He did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all. The cross is where the wrath due to suppressors of the truth was poured out on the One who never suppressed it.

We do not escape this indictment by trying harder. We escape it only by being claimed by the Son who honored the Father perfectly, who gave thanks in all things, and who bore the judgment we deserved.

The question is not whether the truth has been revealed. It has. The question is whether we will continue to suppress it, or whether we will finally honor Him as God and give thanks.