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ROAMING THROUGH ROMANS

A verse-by-verse study of Romans

LESSON TWO – Romans 1:18-32

OPENING PRAYER

Lord God, you know that we are surrounded by many dangers and that we often stumble and fall. Strengthen us in body and mind, and bring us safely through all temptation; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND?

How can we say homosexuality is wrong when it appears some people may be born with such an inclination?

AIM

What does God say to the unbelieving Gentile who is adamant about his/her rights to live in such an amoral lifestyle?

In our last lesson, we read in 1:17 that the righteousness of God (God’s acquittal by faith) is revealed in the gospel. In our verses today we read how the wrath of God is revealed in the law.

Romans 1:18-23 The ungodliness of the Gentiles

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

-- New International Version

KEY QUESTION TO ROMANS 1:18-23

Why is God angry with Gentiles who don’t believe in Him?

Romans 1:18

18 Because the anger of God is revealed from heaven upon every attitude of disrespect and wicked action on the part of human beings, who try to suppress the truth by doing what God says is not right,

  1. Why don’t unbelievers want to accept the fact that God is their Creator? They don’t want to face up to the fact that this would make them answerable to Him. Instead, they try to eliminate this truth from their thinking by doing what God says is not right. Foolishly, in denying the Creator in this way, they think they free themselves of any obligation to Him. The anger of God that comes on them already in this lifetime indicates otherwise.

Romans 1:19-20

19 …because the remarkable thing that is known about God is plain to see where they are because God put it out in the open for them to see. 20 Yes, His invisible characteristics, namely, His eternal power and His divinity, are constantly visible from the time of the creation of the world, since they are perceived by the things God made…with the result that they have no excuse.

  1. What evidence makes it a feeble attempt for the unbeliever to suppress the truth about the existence of God? This evidence is all around them all the time. They know His divine power from everything He has made.
  1. Agree or Disagree? No atheist is ever born; an atheist is always made. Agree. An athiest is somebody who has deliberately removed something from his mind. He has performed a mental operation on himself.

Romans 1:21-23

21 They have no excuse for this reason: even though they knew God, they didn’t give Him glory or thank Him. Instead, what they were thinking was total nonsense and their senseless heart was darkened. 22 While claiming to be wise, they made fools of themselves. 23 They do this by converting the glory of the immortal God into images that look like a mortal human being, birds, four-footed animals, and crawling things.

  1. Comment on this statement: “The theory of evolution has quite naturally contributed to a rise in immorality across the world wherever it has been taught.” The theory of evolution removes God from the lives of the many who accept it. In spite of the many holes in the theory, it is taught as great wisdom in grade schools, high schools, colleges, and graduate schools. It removes any accountability to God in the lives of millions since they believe there is no eternal, powerful God who created them. Therefore, although a fetus is clearly a human being and though sexual diseases are clearly the result of sin, abortion and sexual sins are not only allowed but encouraged. What did Paul say about those who bind themselves to what God has plainly revealed about Himself? “Their thinking is total nonsense, their collective senseless heart has been darkened.”

KEY POINT TO ROMANS 1:18-23

God is angry with the unbeliever because he/she stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the existence of the true God, which He has made so plain to everyone in creation, and instead worships false, non-existent gods.

Romans 1:24-27The immorality of the Gentiles

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

-- New International Version

KEY QUESTION TO ROMANS 1:24-27

What is one way God punishes unbelieving Gentiles?

Romans 1:24-25

24 That’s why God turned them over to the deep desires of their hearts, resulting in immorality. They do degrading things among themselves with their bodies. 25 The people who do this are the ones who exchange the truth about God for the well-known lie. They bow down in reverence and make offerings in worshiping anything and everything in creation instead of the Creator—He is worthy of praise forever. Amen.

  1. What is the first demonstration of God’s anger towards the wicked? Why does God do this? God abandons the wicked to sexual promiscuity because they stubbornly refuse to acknowledge God as their Creator.

Romans 1:26-27

26 For this reason God turned them over to disgraceful passions. Yes, just as their females exchange natural sexual intercourse for unnatural intercourse, 27 in the exact same way also their males, after abandoning natural sexual intercourse with females, are consumed by their craving for each other—men continually doing this indecent thing with men. They bring on themselves the punishment which they deserved for their perversion.

  1. What is the second demonstration of God’s anger towards the wicked? God turns them over to homosexuality. The wicked stubbornly refuse to acknowledge Him as the eternal and powerful Creator. First, they suppress this truth about Him by becoming absorbed in doing shameful things with one another’s bodies. When they are satiated with this kind of sexual sin, they turn to homosexuality—a kind of sex that is even more shameful and indecent.
  1. How would you respond to these arguments?

a. “Paul is not condemning all forms of homosexuality but only homosexuality that is practices by those who are heterosexual and/or a form of homosexuality that is abusive, such as pederasty.” Placing such limitations on Paul’s words is really twisting them to try to avoid what Paul plainly says about homosexuality in general.

b. “Love is the fulfilling of God’s law, and loving homosexual couples are really fulfilling God’s law, not breaking it.” This is a twisting of God’s words. Fulfilling God’s law is doing what God says is right in His sight, not what God says is wrong in both the Old and New Testaments.

c. “Recent study and human experience show that homosexuality is not bad but a legitimate lifestyle. Paul didn’t know as much as we do today about homosexuality. So what Paul says is only a reflection of his Jewish upbringing and not what God says.” To marginalize in this way what God says through Paul is to bring on oneself the judgment of Revelation 22:19, which will come upon all who subtract from God’s Word in this or any other way.

KEY POINT TO ROMANS 1:24-27

One way God punishes unbelieving Gentiles is by turning them over to promiscuous sex and homosexuality.

Romans 1:28-32The wickedness of the Gentiles

28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

-- New International Version

KEY QUESTION TO ROMANS 1:28-32

What is another way God punishes unbelieving Gentiles?

Romans 1:28-32

28 And just as they thought it was worthless to retain the true knowledge of God, God turned them over to a worthless mind to do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives are full of every kind of wicked and harmful actions, greed, and hateful feelings, full of envy, murder, wrangling, trickery, viciousness. 30 They are gossipers, slanderers, people hated by God, insolent mockers, proud boasters, and loud mouths. They think up all kinds of evil things. They disobey their parents. 31 They lack common sense. They break their promises. They are heartless and show no mercy. 32 These are the kind of people who, even though they know God’s decree that those who keep on doing things like these are worthy of death, not only continue to do these things but also applaud others who continue to practice them.

  1. All around us we see people who not only do these things but also openly applaud others who do them. What is the Christian to do? Remember that the ultimate key to reversing each situation is not to have our government make new laws to prohibit sins that are growing in popularity. The only thing that can change human hearts is the good news of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ. That doesn’t mean all we are to do is tell people the good news. God commands us, “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). That means speaking the law to others boldly and plainly. God can use our words to break the hard crust of senseless and darkened hearts (Romans 1:21) and lead people to repentance. Then when we share the good news of Jesus with them, God can use this good news to bring them to faith and give them a new heart that loves to do His will (Ezekiel 11:19-20; Ephesians 4:21-24; Romans 6:4,13). So with the Spirit’s help, let us be what Jesus says we are: “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13a,14a).

KEY POINT TO ROMANS 1:28-32

Another way God punishes unbelieving Gentiles is by turning them over to a worthless mind that turns on one another and harms one another in every imaginable way.

IS THIS HOW YOU RESPONDED?

Q: How can we say homosexuality is wrong when it appears some people may be born with such an inclination?

A:No unbiased, conclusive medical study confirms homosexuality is an inborn disposition. Even if such studies did conclusively show a biological component to homosexuality, that still would not make it right. We know we are all born with a sinful nature that is dead in sin and hostile to God. As Jesus remins us in Matthew 15:19, many things flow quite “naturally” out of our natural sinful hearts: “evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” We don’t defend such sins because they come to us naturally. Rather, we flee to the cross of Jesus for forgiveness and for power to run from such temptations. The same should be true with any “natural,” or “biological,” inclination to homosexuality.

This We Believe: Questions an Answersby Richard L. Gurgel. Northwestern Publishing House (2006), p120.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED

To the unbelieving Gentile who is adamant about his/her rights to live in such an amoral lifestyle, God says that He is angry with him/her and, as punishment, will let that person do whatever he/she wants, to one’s own temporal and eternal destruction.

CLOSING PRAYER

Almighty and eteranl God, you have created us in your image and have directed us to seek after all that is good, true, and beautiful, especially in the divine person of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Direct our thoughts and words and actions only to that which is pleasing to you. Lead us to treat with charity and patience all those souls we encounter; through Christ our Lord. Amen.