18 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.
Romans 1:18-23 (ESV)
Right off the bat here we see something interesting. When I first read v. 18 I read it as a general condemnation of all sin. As the Bible Knowledge Commentary puts it, “God’s wrath is directed against all the godlessness (asebeian, “lack of proper reverence for God”) and wickedness (adikian, “unrighteousness”) of men, not against the men as such. (God’s wrath will also be revealed in the future; cf. 2:5.) God hates sin and judges it, but loves sinners and desires their salvation.” This is exactly how I read it initially.
Then, as I was reading the R.C. Sproul commentary I was introduced to the grammatical concept of hendiadys, or ‘two for one’. This is a common way of expressing one idea, but using two descriptive words to richly detail the concept. This can be found in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Sproul argues that this usage actually points to one sin, not all sin. The sin is our suppression of the truth of God through unrighteousness. When I look at v. 18 with this in mind I see something I didn’t see before: the emphasis here is on the sin of truth suppression, not on the ungodly nature of man. It’s the single sin of the truth supression that drives the wickedness in the world.
Verses 19 and 20 are some of the hardest to work through in all of Scripture in my mind. It’s not that they are difficult to understand in terms of their point, it’s that they are a hard truth, and one that many people don’t want to accept. Before diving into it, if you are not familiar with the concepts of general revelation and special revelation, read these Wikipedia links then come back. Done? Good.
In v. 19-20 Paul tells us that God’s general revelation has been made known to all men, and we are accountable for it. This is the truth that is referred to as being suppressed in v. 18. Our sinful nature has corrupted all aspects of our humanity, including the intellect; as a result even this most basic knowledge of the Lord is obfuscated. We are not blind to it, and still held accountable for it, but is harder to see in our natural state. Now this, point is one of contention. Calvin for example believed this point, that we cannot see what God has done fully because of our sin nature. On the other side, Sproul states that this is not consistent with Calvin’s own teachings and instead we should see it in a different way:
Here in Romans, [Paul] says that man’s problem is not that the knowledge fails to get through in the sense of a cognitive awareness of the reality of God. God is angry because that knowledge does get through. It is what we do with the knowledge that provokes the wrath of God. Knowing God, we refuse to honor him as God; neither are we grateful.
I am inclined to Calvin’s view, but admittedly it may be because if Sproul is right then it is a truly a hard truth and I may simply be rebelling against it. I’m just not in a position to draw a clear opinion here. In the end, what matters though is what Paul states plainly, “So they are without excuse”.
Verse 21-22 talks about how we deal with the general revelation. We know the truth about God, but we suppress it. This is the grave sin of humanity. We did not honor or give thanks to him, therefore we do not recognize his glory. Paul’s usage of the word foolish is interesting here. In Jewish culture, the word used here indicates a moral failing instead of an intellectual. Fools are wicked more than stupid the 1st century Jew would say. “Claiming to be wise, they became fools” – how many historical events since the writing of these words have confirmed this? Eugenics, Marxist dictatorships and in our own country abortion rights have all been defended or covered with the banner of ‘wisdom’ and progress. The human story is one of unrestrained and sometimes unexplainable immorality and evil when left to its own devices and reasoning.
Verse 23 calls us back to Exodus when Moses descends from Mount Sinai with the law of the Lord to see the people of Israel worshipping at the feet of a golden calf. To trade in the Lord who freed them from bondage in Egypt for a hunk of wood covered in gold was foolish, in their sense and ours. This is the heart of man’s sin. To take God’s glory from him and place it on something else is the highest form of sin. It is repressing his truth, worshipping the creation instead of the creator. This is the universal sin. This suppression of truth, this idolatry is the root of all sin.
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Sproul, R.C. St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary: Romans. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
Tags: Romans, Scripture, scripture-series
