Footsteps #234

“But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.^{” (}Rom.1:18)

V18 represents the first great transition in Paul’s discussion. In the past few verses, we have been reading about grace, faith, and salvation. The highlight was mercy. V18 opens with the thunder of God’s wrath. 

The key to the transition is the word “for” which links the gospel presentation of Romans 1:16, 17 to the next couple of chapters and their discussion of sin. The word “for” implies that we need the gospel of salvation by the power of the gospel because of the depth of human sin. This section runs from Romans 1:18 to 3:20. where Paul explores the depth and universality of the sin problem. He demonstrates that “all [both Jews and Gentiles] have sinned” (Rom. 3:23). Therefore, all need God’s salvation by grace through faith based on Christ’s death on the cross (3:21-26.) Romans 1:18-3:20 is God’s diagnosis of the sin sickness. The rest of the book deals with the cure. But before the cure people need to see the depth of the problem. Sin is serious. We can’t just overlook it. It led to the death of Christ, God’s solution for a lost world. 

The word “wrath” is central to the theme of ‘lostness’ in this passage. Here we encounter the judgmental side of God’s character. While wrath, in the final analysis, has to do with the destruction of wickedness at the end of time, it also concerns the daily results of sin in our ordinary world. 

One thing is certain: God hates sin! He hates all those things that injure His children and opposes His love. In His Love God finds Himself forced to deal with the sin problem. The central part of His answer, Paul will show us, is the cross of Christ. 

In v19-20 he says that even without the Bible God is revealed in His creation and the gentiles rebel in their conscience and this makes them responsible. The revelations of God in nature are partial and imperfect and in our fallen state, we cannot interpret them correctly. That’s why we need the fuller revelation that God has given of Himself in His word.