against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth

God s Righteous Wrath (1.18-23) WestminsterReformedChurch.org Pastor Ostella December 18, 2016 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 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 (Rom 1.18-32) Introduction We have now completed our look at Paul s introduction to the book of Romans (1.1-17). At this point, the shift to the body of the book seems abrupt. He has just discussed the power of the gospel that he is earnestly committed to preach at Rome (v. 17). Then he says in v. 18, for the wrath of God is revealed Broadly, the first major section of Romans (1.18-3.20) covers the need that people have for the gospel. That seems to make sense because throughout this first section Paul documents human sinfulness and God s wrath that is stirred up because of it. Sinners need the gospel for salvation from the punishment of their sins that merit God s wrath. However, it still may seem strange to hear Paul tell the Romans that He longs to preach the good news to them because God s wrath is presently revealed. Is that good news? God s wrath is not in itself good news. But it is good news to learn that God s wrath is righteous. That is the dominant thought to the end of this chapter, but today our text is 1.18-23 in two main points: the reality of righteous wrath and the cause of righteous wrath (next year in January, its manifestation). I. The reality of God s righteous wrath Paul is direct in identifying this sobering reality. He affirms the fact in no uncertain terms. The reality is established by the connection between the introduction to the book and the first section, and in the linkage between 1.17 and 18. It sounds a little peculiar to say that the righteousness associated with the power of the gospel is revealed by God s wrath. But that is the reality that the connective (for, because) and the parallels of the text in the following places indicate: In [the powerful saving gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed (1.17) For the wrath of God is revealed (1.18) On the day of wrath God s righteous judgment will be revealed (2.5) Recall that something being revealed is not mental information per se; it is historical manifestation. For example, in Romans 16.25-26, the revelation of Christ was hidden in the OT but now is manifested by Christ s coming in the flesh. The information was there but not the historical reality as yet. Thus, the point Paul makes is that the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel is manifested, realized, fulfilled in the revelation of God s wrath, in its manifestation,

!2 realization, and fulfillment. God s righteousness is revealed because (for, v. 18) the wrath of God is revealed. Simply put: God s righteousness is displayed in the manifestation of His wrath. Now we need to consider the meaning of this connection. A. First, it means that God s righteous character is on display in His wrath. It should be obvious that the manifestation of wrath here is not covenant faithfulness (as in 16-17). Nor is this wrathful manifestation the gift of righteousness imputed to believers. Instead, righteous retribution manifests God s attribute of moral uprightness. We have confirmation of this line of thought in the mention of heaven: His wrath is revealed from heaven (1.18); that is, from God in heaven; virtually from His throne, from the holy of holies in heaven s governance of the affairs of earth. In God s wrath, His holiness is manifested; His wrath is righteous (holy) retribution. B. Second, it means that wrath is driven by holiness This is truly a fearful thought. Wrath refers to the disapproval and displeasure of God actively, passionately, resolutely, and powerfully engaged in the destruction of that which contradicts His majesty, righteousness, and holiness. His wrath is like that of a man who is consumed in his angry passions, venting his disgust and displeasure, but of course, with all the unworthy elements of human wrath removed. Therefore, God boils in wrath like a boiling water pot; He burns in the heat of anger like a raging brush fire. God s burning anger has been emphasized repeatedly in the OT, as we have seen, for example, in the fall of Jerusalem recorded in Lamentations: How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! 2 She weeps bitterly in the night 3 Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress (Lam 1.1-3). In all these things, the city was consumed by God s burning wrath: (2.2-4): the Lord has broken brought down cut down in fierce anger he has withdrawn he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob...He bent his bow like an enemy...he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes. Therefore the one in lament says (2.11-12): My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. Make no mistake about it. God is a God of wrath. There is no soft soaping this truth. He is not a God of wrath in the OT and a God of love in the NT. The same God of love is also a God of wrath in all of Scripture. Here in Romans, Paul makes it unquestionably clear that the Lord God of the NT is personally and deeply stirred up to active burning opposition to that which is contrary to His holy nature. It is truly a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God, and pointedly, our God is a consuming fire (Heb 10.30-31; 12.29). C. Third, it means that the Messiah is baptizing with the Spirit and fire Paul gives us more of what he means by the connection of righteousness and wrath in 2.5 when he points us to the final day of wrath yet to come: On the day of wrath God s righteous judgment will be revealed. This helps us to understand that wrath in 1.18 is righteous wrath in parallel with righteous judgment. Therefore, the wrath of God being revealed from heaven is the beginning of the final judgment associated with the coming of the Messiah who, as John proclaimed, will baptize with the Spirit and with fire: I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mat 3.11). John spoke of Christ s coming in prophetic perspective in which the blessing of Pentecost and the Day of Judgment were viewed as one event. But in gospel mercy, this event involves a delay of eternal wrath until the harvest at the end of the world. So, we like to say, the nations presently have the gospel instead of eternal judgment. But what Paul shows us is that the wrath to come, the wrath of the Day of the Lord, is now present at the same time that the gospel goes to the nations with efficacious saving power. His righteous wrath is revealed despite the delay of the final judgment. This text is elaborating on the gospel as fulfillment of the OT from 1.2.

!3 What then is the meaning of God s righteous wrath? In summary, it refers to the attribute of God that comes to expression as burning anger in fulfillment of the work of Jesus Messiah. In both the old covenant and the new, the God of love and mercy is also a God of wrath who is angry with the wicked every day. That is the reality of righteous wrath. II. The cause of God s righteous wrath Two causes are listed that stir up His anger: people in the fall suppress the truth they know and they live contrary to the truth they know. A. On one hand, His righteous wrath is manifest because people suppress the truth they know. We read that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (1.18). Fallen people are characterized by godless thoughts and wicked actions with a striking depth that involves truth suppression. That is the hardheartedness that characterizes fallen man. He is in the wrong before God, he knows it, and he works from his unrighteousness to deny the things of God. This is confirmed and explained in 19-20: For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Regarding these verses, let s consider how they know God, what they know, and the result of what they do with it. 1. How they know God They know God with certainty because their knowledge is from God. They suppress what they in fact know. It is plain and clear to them because God has shown it to them (19b). Furthermore, it is plain to them in the things created. The creation is an indirect word from God that clearly reveals God in such a way that His testimony to Himself is clearly perceived (v. 20). He gives it and they get it. From the very beginning of the world in the things God created what can be known of God is both objectively clear and subjectively perceived. There is more in this than offer, invitation, or availability, as if to say, it is out there for you and you can come to know it; you can know God; knowledge of Him is objectively available. Not so. What God tells us through Paul is that people in the fall (the ungodly and unrighteous since the beginning to the present; all in Adam since the fall) know God; they know Him through His works in the created order of things because He has made Himself plain to them. 2. What they know about God What they know is God s invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature: For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made (1.20). This means that from the world, created by God and sustained by Him, all human beings know that He is eternal, that He transcends time. As He is not bound by time, nor is His power limited in any way by the duration of existing things (bound as they are with a beginning and an end). Moreover, the display of invisible attributes and divine nature through the things that are seen refers to the glory of God, a summary of all His perfections. Through the created order people do not have an exhaustive grasp of God, but they do have a true knowledge about Him, namely, that He is eternally perfect in all His attributes; that He is the all glorious God upon whom humans utterly depend for everything. Notably, the text is not saying that we look at the creation like a huge premise from which to infer the conclusion of His eternal nature. Logically, we can go no further from the creation than to a power greater than the world; we cannot infer to a power infinitely greater. So, how do all reasoning people know the eternal glory of God in all His perfections through the things that are visible? It is because God has shown it to them (v. 19). 3. The result of what they do with what they know

!4 The conclusion from the fact that they know these truths about God but suppress them in unrighteousness is that they are without excuse (20b). In turn, God s judgment is righteous and this is why His righteous wrath comes to manifestation in human history in various ways in the present and on the last day. Thus, God s wrath is manifest because the unrighteous suppress the truth that they know about Him. B. On the other hand, God s righteous wrath is manifest because the ungodly live contrary to what they know, 21-23. Here Paul says, For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Knowing God (although they knew God) they miss the mark of righteousness by failing to honor Him for who He is as God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. They miss the mark by failing to be thankful and to voice their thankfulness, and they miss the mark by failing to worship Him alone and properly. Being creatures of God, it is the obligation of human beings to honor Him. Being utterly dependent on Him at every moment for life, it is the obligation of all people to honor Him with thanksgiving by blessing His name and acknowledging His glory. But they sin against what they know; they sin against the God they know. Therefore, their very knowledge is affected. Their thinking has become useless in knowing God; their hearts are dark with misunderstanding. Verse 22 indicates that fallen people become fools by professing (claiming) to be wise. As Jesus said, If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Mat 6.23). In the pretense and profession of wisdom, they conduct themselves foolishly, and as Paul goes on to say, their folly shows up in their worship of idols. The dynamic of this descent from knowledge to idolatry is the suppression of the truth that they know (v. 18). So, they seek to exchange their knowledge of the glory of God and their obligation to honor, thank, and worship Him for foolish understanding and dishonoring conduct toward God directly and religiously. Regarding idolatry, Scripture records the fact that this is not just a practice among men since the fall, but it is something Israel was guilty of repeatedly during her history that brought on God s angry punishment in both exiles. We also learn from Scripture that idolatry is both literal and figurative, as Paul states: covetousness is idolatry (Col 3.5). The wise are pretending because they suppress the truth they know and they do this in forms of worship that arise from the darkness and fog of this suppression. The substitutions and exchanges they make may be uncultured and literal or sophisticated and figurative. Either way they are without excuse and God is righteous in the manifestation of His wrath against them. Application Here, at 1.23, Paul is not finished with his treatment of the righteousness of God that is revealed in His wrath. He has affirmed the reality of righteous wrath and its cause. Next time we will consider how Paul develops the manifestation of God s righteous wrath (1.24-32). For now, we should make some applications by brainstorming on the sobering reality of wrath and the sobering condition of human beings in the fall, subject to God s righteous retribution. 1. First, on man s condition in the fall The fact that Paul speaks about the unrighteous who have known the truth of God since the creation of the world indicates that in view are all the fallen in Adam. This gives us some background information regarding sinful people before the flood who did evil only and continually (Gen 6.5). It also gives background regarding Israelites who repeatedly committed acts of idolatry, even in the name of Yahweh and against His direct commands. They can raise a golden calf to worship Yahweh by directly suppressing the truth of the Lord they know. Man s condition in the fall is such that he does two specific things from the platform of ungodliness: he suppresses the truth that he knows and he lives in contradiction to the truth that he knows. This

!5 is the sobering truth about all men, and about all of us in our natural state as members of the human race. Appearances may confuse. People are evidently not as bad as they could be. In many outward ways, non-christians may outshine Christians. But the word of God is the light for our pathway. The context for our understanding of unbelievers is the unquestionable righteousness of God. We know they sin willfully against what they know. They have no excuse; no legitimate complaint can be raised when they experience the wrath of God. This information is given to us as the new covenant people of God. So, we may well ask, in light of Romans 1, how do we deal with the ungodly and unrighteous? This text helps us understand the people we rub shoulders with daily; we get it; we get what is going on deep down. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness, the truth they know but deny they know. They are without excuse. This may not be an easy fact to absorb when unbelievers do many good deeds. Of course, they do them because they are made in the image of God, and they have many good qualities because of God s restraining grace. Accordingly, when people deny Christ with syrupy speech and worldly wisdom, we know that they practice self-deception in a pretense of wisdom. We may not be able to expose the truth but we know that they pretend and deceive themselves because the Lord tells us that they suppress what they know of God. We have to look past the externals, the pretense, and foolish substitutions to hear what God tells us about them. We have to consider their need, their desperate need, because God burns in His anger against them and they will perish if they do not turn away from themselves in the obedience of faith; they will perish if they do not turn to God in faith and entrust themselves to Christ Jesus the risen Lord. 2. The power of the gospel Reflection on Romans 1 in context has to take us back to the great truth of the power of God at work through the gospel, through what Jesus did in the flesh in humiliation and exaltation, and through the preaching of what He did. We have to go there; I know that I have to go there when I get a sense of where people are not only from their reactions in my experience with them, but also from God s revelation of the human heart and its devices. We need a deep grasp on the power of the gospel when we hear the biblical testimony regarding man s condition in the fall and when we encounter it in daily life. We should view all people as fallen from the image of God, cantankerous in many ways, inexcusable, and in need of restoration in the image of God. These truths call us to trust the gospel; to ponder and trust the power of God for salvation at work in all who believe (Eph 3.20; Rom 1.16). So, we offer it to all with a call to faith: if you believe you will be saved whatever your status in life. We trust that the meat grinder of pretense and denial can be crushed by the Lord, and when it is crushed by grace, then the one who flees from God fearing wrath will fall down in submission and trust. When the Lord extends His call through the gospel that we present (through our inviting), we know that fearful and unwilling souls will call on the name of the Lord and be saved. So, as Paul presents man s need of the gospel (ch 2-3), we must respond with thankfulness for the wonderworking power of the gospel. 3. The pit from which we have been dug It goes without saying that thanksgiving and praise are due to the Lord for sustaining our lives every moment; they are His due for who He is as our Creator. We are to glorify Him because He is all glorious and we know it in the wonder of His works in the visible world. We know it because He has made it plain to us. Yet there is more reason still to praise Him and glorify Him and thank Him. As an old preacher used to say it: we should remember the pit from which we have been digged. Correct grammar or not, he made a great point. Romans 1 helps us understand where we have been, where we have come from, even the true nature of our heart attitude toward God. We need His word on it because the heart is deceitful and desperately

!6 wicked, who can know it? Well, the Lord knows it and tells us about ourselves. But the Lord has intervened to break off our determined practice of suppressing the truth. He has taken us from behind our backs where we have placed ourselves to hide from the truth we know, and from Him, fearing His wrath. He has intervened to call us to Himself, to introduce Himself to us with tender communication of His love as a forgiving father. He has done so to relieve us of the need to deny and pretend and to run away from God in fear of His punishment. When we think about the pit from which we have been digged, we can do nothing less than commit ourselves to Christ Jesus to be His slaves in all things for all of life because He is the eternal Son of God in power by the resurrection. Thus, we utter the prayer we sang earlier: teach me o Lord they holy way and give me an obedient mind, that in thy service I may find, my soul s delight from day to day. 4. The pitfall into which we tend to fall These reflections on man s condition in the fall must come home to roost. We know and must acknowledge that we have been dug from the pit of asserted autonomy, independence, denial, self-deception, and going our own way, more or less on our own, alone. I have to admit it and so do you. You must say: I have a tendency to go my own way contrary to God s design for me as a child in His family. You ought to consider carefully how often, how easily, how subtly you may tend to relapse into remnant autonomy and self-deception. The reason is simple: you have this tendency because that is the very core of your sin nature that went unchecked formerly in your fallen state. Many habits of life are thus carried over into the Christian walk, one being to deceive yourselves and to walk too often on the path of doing things on your own in your own way. You know better, but it is a pitfall. In one situation or another, in this or in that, you may fall into this trap. Be on guard and take note when your knee-jerk reaction to something is defensive and stiff-arming. At that point, you need a good dose of open-minded humility. You need to apply the words of Philippians 4.5: Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. In other words, check yourself and show yourself willing to reason things out with a submissive and yielding spirit. This has to come home to roost when you think about the context of Romans, the confession of Christ as your Lord, and therefore of your submission to Christ to be His slave. Hence, the prayer that we sing: O Lord give me an obedient mind! Consider this: practical submissiveness that prayerfully moves away from the remnants of autonomy that you all have, and that I have, is to move away from ungodliness, unrighteousness and truth suppression. That is something big for the Christian life as an examined life that is well worth living. After all, we have been delivered from God s righteous wrath! May we fall down before the eternal power and perfect glory of God in heaven who reveals His righteousness in the manifestation of His burning anger against the ungodly and unrighteous; may we honor Him as God, give Him thanks in everything, and worship Him according to His instruction; may the Holy Spirit keep us ever mindful of the pit from which we have been digged so that we may live to the glory of the triune God now in His church and forevermore, amen.