Romans 1 (Pt 4)

Romans 1:18 (ESV)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

You will often hear that the God of the Old Testament is a God of wrath, but the God of the New Testament is a God of love. It’s not true. There are as many passages in the Old Testament that speak to the mercy and love of God as there are wrath passages. Jesus, who is championed as the model of love, talked much about a place of judgment involving fire and anguish. God is a God of love and wrath in both the Old and New Testaments.

Here in Romans 1, Paul writes about God’s wrath. The first word in the Greek version of this verse is the word “revealed.” God’s wrath is revealed because

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. (Rom 1:19-20).

What can be known about God has already been revealed. Anyone can look around and recognize that God is, and that he is powerful. No one can say, “But I didn’t know.” Just look around. But instead of seeking to know the God who is and who is powerful, mankind has become

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.

The key thought in this passage is verse 22, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools.” God is not angry because people didn’t obey his rules. He is angry because people are actively suppressing the truth of God and exchange “the glory of the immortal God for images resembling” created things. People are ignoring the truth that is right in front of them. They elevate created things above the creator. Whether they make themselves god, view spirits or creations of their imagination as god, or worship nature, they have settled for something less than the truth.

Imagine two clay pots made by an artist. Then one pot turns to the other and says, “You are such a great pot. I love you. I want to be like you. Thank you for making me.” I know it sounds ridiculous, but that is exactly what people have done and then they wonder why God should be angry. God’s wrath is not because God is an angry God, but because his creation have substituted truth for error and rejected God as God. As believers let us pray that people would see and believe the truth of God rather than the false truth of their own imaginations.