Has God Given Up on Us? (Romans 1:18–32)
Has God given up on us? See how Romans 1:18–32 answers the threefold "God gave them up" at the cross: wrath satisfied, righteousness given to sinners.
Introduction
We’re “in the trenches” of Romans now. 1:18–3:20 is one of the more sobering sections of the Bible. Paul lays bare why all humanity needs the gospel. Our sin makes us unrighteous and unable to fellowship with the righteous God who made us. It makes us wonder: has God given up on us? We must face the music: God’s wrath is being revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (1:18). We need saving righteousness (1:17) because of God’s condemning righteousness or wrath.
What’s “wrath?” It’s not the uncontrolled passion of rage. God is holy, and all that he is and all that he does, is without sin. He’s righteous—the standard of right and wrong. He’s just—he judges on the basis of his righteous standard. Thus, his “anger” and “wrath” are his holy opposition to sin and holy application of his righteous standard in judging justly. Why? Sin isn’t just some failure here and there; it’s rebellion against the holy, righteous, and just Creator. Has God given up on us? If you’re struggling with God’s anger against and wrath upon sin, then look at the cross. God’s wrath isn’t contrary to his love. The cross is where God’s wrath and love meet—Christ bears the penalty we deserve and we receive fellowship we don’t deserve.
Theme
1:18–32 leads us to this theme: God has given humanity over to the sins it loves, but he hasn’t given up on us—he gave us the gospel of his own righteousness to save us.
Idolatry Leads to Immorality
Paul says the wrath of God is revealed…against two things: ungodliness (idolatry v. God) and unrighteousness (immorality v. neighbor).
Our idolatry. God is pouring out his wrath upon the world of men (pl.) because we’ve tried everything in our power to suppress the plain and revealed things that can be known about him. Illustration: Like trying to keep bubbles in a jacuzzi from coming to the surface, we’ve suppressed God’s truth. What plain truth have we suppressed? His existence (divine nature) and eternal power to create all things (1:20). These invisible attributes ironically have been clearly perceived (1:20). Illustration: When you see art like Starry Night, do you refuse to acknowledge Van Gogh was the artist behind it? Of course not! So, why would you refuse to acknowledge the greatest master of all, God? How long have these things been knowable? Since the creation of the world (v. 20). This is a clue that he’s speaking of humanity collectively as societies. Because of this, all human beings are without excuse (v. 20). Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him (v. 21w). Instead, they became futile in their thinking, darkened…in their foolish hearts (v. 21), while claiming to be wise, they became fools (v. 22). Why? What they were was because of what they worshipped: they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things (v. 23). In the beginning God made us in his image and we’ve been returning the favor ever since.
Our immorality. Note briefly verses 24–25. Why did God give them up… to impurity, etc.? Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. Note verse 28: 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.
There is a close connection between idolatry and immorality. We are what we worship. Application: When we deny God, the magnetic pull that points our moral compass to the true North of God disappears and the compass is useless. When we lose truth, we live in lies. “I don’t have any idols! That’s for unsophisticated people!” What do you cherish, love, and prize most? That’s your god! Is it pleasure, power, or possessions? Is it security, success, or sex? What do these have in common? Self! Summary: Idolatry leads to immorality.
God Gave Them Up
From the beginning, humanity has loved Self over God; thus, God has given humanity over to the sins it loves. Note the threefold refrain in verses 24, 26, & 28: God gave them up. When we insist on living without the true God but serve the Self in the form of idols, he lets us go down the path of immorality to self-destruction. God calls us home to him; we continually wallow in the mud of our sin.
God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves (1:24). Like with Satan tempting Adam and Eve, they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature: themselves! Ever since, this has been our collective problem: we want to be the master of our own destiny, the captain of our own ship, unfettered from God’s laws to be “free.” This is what our culture is all about! So-called sexual “freedom” to do what you want with your own body.
God gave them up to dishonorable passions (1:26a). He gives two examples: first,women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature (1:26b); second,men likewise gave up natural relations…and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error (1:27). When you think you’re free because you’re your own “god,” you use your body autonomously without laws. This isn’t wisdom; it’s foolishness. This isn’t freedom; it’s bondage. When we try to free ourselves from God, the result is actually slavery.[i] Application: The ancient preacher, John Chrysostom, said we should be led to shed tears for those given over to same-sex attraction and lives.[ii] These are fellow image-bearers whose minds and hearts have been darkened to the God who made them. Love them. Pray for their conversion.
Why does Paul give these examples? Illustration: I heard someone ask a Christian, “Why do you care about who has sex with whom?” The Christian answered, “Because God does.” Then a crowd yelled, “Why does God care?” Here’s why. Note that word exchanged (1:23). In our selfishness, we’ve exchanged the glory of God for shameful idolatry. We’ve exchanged the truth about God for a lie (1:25). Why does God care about who sleeps with whom? Same-sex is the exchange of what is natural, meaning, how God created it, for what is contrary to nature (1:26). God cares because you’re turning his creation upside down.[iii] Objection: Your neighbor will say the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality is irrelevant because it doesn’t take into account modern psychology. What’s our answer? The Word of God teaches God’s creational pattern for human sexuality. Objection: Your neighbor will say the New Testament and Romans 1 are speaking of “pederasty”—adult males with male children. What’s our answer? The text is about homosexuality and not pederasty because Paul says women have exchanged what is natural (being with a man), for what is not natural (being with another woman). Objection: Your neighbor will say nature and natural aren’t universal truths. Why not? What’s natural to me may not be for you. What’s our answer? Natural and unnatural were used in the ancient world to contrast heterosexual with homosexual relations.[iv] In our text, they’re rooted in creation: “since the creation of the world” (v. 20) by the “Creator” (v. 25).
Application: You must be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you” (1 Peter 3:15). You also need to be wise, “answer[ing] a fool according to his folly” or not (Prov. 26:4–5). Know with whom you’re speaking. Know if they actually want to talk or are they so hardened that the first word out of your mouth they yell, “Hate!” Illustration: A former homosexual-turned-Christian said while we’re taking Scripture seriously and genuinely trying to answer objections, many academics and radical homosexuals throw out objections not because they actually believe their arguments; they do it because deep down they love their sins and want legitimacy.[v] Why? 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 (1:32). All humans know God exists; they know there’s an all-powerful, all-just God; they know right from wrong.
God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done (1:28). Then comes a litany of immorality with twenty-one examples (1:29–32). Application: What you believe or don’t believe about God affects how you live. Rejecting the Creator leads to confusion about God’s creation including who you are. It leads to confusion about what it means to be human; what it means to be sexual beings. The degradation of our society—its moral chaos, broken families, and violence—isn’t random; it’s the fruit of spiritual rebellion. Summary: God has given humanity over to the sins it loves.
Conclusion: Has God Given Up on Us?
God is pouring out his wrath in a way we don’t expect: giving sinners and societies over to the sins we love in idolatry and immorality. Has God given up on us?
God hasn’t given up on us because he gave us the gospel of his own righteousness to save us. At the cross, God showed that he is both just and the justifier of any and all who have faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). At the cross, God’s wrath was satisfied in the death of Jesus; from that cross, his love and mercy flow to sinners like you and me to give us life. Gospel: I want to say to you today, that it doesn’t matter what your sin is, there’s forgiveness and freedom in Jesus Christ! Amen? God commands you to repent, which means to turn away from your idols rooted in your Self-love, and he commands you to entrust your life to Jesus Christ. When you do this, the gospel is the power of God to break through your rebellious idolatry and immorality. When you do this, the gospel is the righteousness of God in the place of your unrighteous idolatry and immorality. Application: And believers: continue to rest in faith in Christ and continue to live by faith—from the first moment you trusted in Christ to the last breath you will take in this life—by fleeing idolatry and immorality.
[i] See Nygren, 111.
[ii] Chrysostom, 63.
[iii] Chrysostom, 59.
[iv] See the discussion in Stott, 77–78.
[v] Ronald G. Lee, “The Truth About the Homosexual Rights Movement” (July 16, 2015). As found at http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/the-truth-about-the-homosexual-rights-movement.