‘The Wrath of God Revealed’
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 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. 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. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 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 (Rom.1:18-25).”
We can’t fully appreciate the Christian message of salvation by grace alone without first having a proper understanding of the human condition apart from Christ. The Apostle Paul argues that all people are living in a state of disobedience and rebellion against what God has revealed to them. For this reason, they are subject to divine judgment, understood as God’s restrained, disciplined, and precisely expressed retribution. This is the dark backdrop against which Paul displays the mercy and grace of God, which forms the heart of the gospel. It’s this understanding of the depravity of man that necessitates a salvation based on faith alone and God’s provision of righteousness.
Two important understandings have been revealed: the wrath of God against human sinfulness, and the ‘righteousness of God’ to cover our sin (Rom.1:17). These two understandings reveal the whole of humanities standing before God; either you’re living under the ‘wrath of God’ or you’re clothed in ‘the righteousness of Christ’ (1Cor.1:30). There is no position of neutrality.
The wrath of God is God’s response to irreverence (ungodliness) and immorality (wickedness), anything that violates God’s holiness and fails to acknowledge his ‘otherliness’. The point is, God isn’t indifferent to sin; he doesn’t shut his eyes to it….it will be judged! Also, we need to understand that God’s wrath has both a present and a future expression. The verb in the line ‘For the wrath of God is revealed…’ is in the present tense and literally reads - ‘For the wrath of God is being revealed…’. This present judgment takes two broad forms of expression, social upheaval and sexual immorality. And yet, the full outpouring of God’s wrath is a future event known as the ‘Great Day of the Lord’.
Those who are the objects of God’s wrath fit a profile; they are antagonistic to the truth - “...who by their wickedness suppress (resist) the truth.” How is this done? Ordinarily it’s done by ridiculing the biblical revelation, abusing Christians and those holding to a higher moral standard, and by ignoring our conscience. Dr. Billy Graham once said - “Most of us follow our conscience as we follow a wheelbarrow, we push it in front of us in the direction we want it to go.” Also, the thinking of the wicked is twisted….they’re spiritually dull and arrogant, what Paul calls ‘futile in their thinking’. Their thinking doesn’t lead to productive and proper conclusions. In other words, their reasoning produces falsehood, not truth, when it comes to religious things. They claim to be wise when, in fact, they are fools. Wisdom, as the Bible defines it, has little to do with intellect. According to the Psalmist, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Ps.111:10)”, and the fool says “there is no God (Ps.14:1).”
Finally, in verse 24 Paul says that many engage in sexual promiscuity that degrades the personhood of others and undermines their own dignity. They are driven by sexual lust. Therefore, God ‘gave them up in the lusts of their hearts…’; their conscience is dulled, their moral restraint is weakened, and they are given over to their sinful passions. This is the human condition in its most base and demoralized form when we’re apart from Christ. It’s a condition in which we’re lost, perverse, and driven. It’s absolutely tragic and hopeless, with nothing in the future except God’s full judgment.
As dark as the human condition is apart from Christ, there is gospel hope! In Romans 5 Paul writes - “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (vv.6-8).” Good news!