ROMANS 1:18-32

[oldhermit]

In Verses 24-32, we see that reduction to the lowest element always forces the hand of God. What I am going to do first is give an overview of what is happening in verses 18-32 and then we will examine each of the four stages of decline in their proper order.

“Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.”

A. These verses outline a recipe for the disintegration of a society, any society. Paul outlines four stages of decline to which God deliberately and with purpose gave them over.

1. The first stage is the decline of knowledge and wisdom – 18-23.
This was the abandonment of revelation and the knowledge of God. This was not hidden knowledge. This was knowledge that was accessible to any observer of the natural world.

“That which is known about God is evident within them; (Why, because) God made it evident to them. (How?) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, (All of these representing the overall character of God in both his intrinsic qualities and his extended properties) have been clearly seen, (Not only had the character of God been clearly seen, but it had also been clearly) understood through what has been made, (This knowledge was perceived by the human mind. Creation reflects the character of God and there is no mistake about what creation reveals to the observer about God to such a degree) that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks.”

This represents a change of status in the epistemology of man, and Paul says man has no excuse for such an epistemological shift. There are only two epistemologies from which man can obtain knowledge – there is the natural world of human experience and there is revelation. Revelation had been abandoned for the epistemology of human experience. Now, man regards human experience as the revealer of truth. This was Eve in the garden of Eden.

2. The second stage is the decline into idolatry, 18-25.
God has been replaced by his own creation. Glory has been transferred by man from God to created things.

3. The third stage is the decline into sexual depravity, 26-28. This is all sexual depravity, not just homosexuality.

4. The fourth and final stage is the decline into absolute moral collapse. 29-32.
Here, sexual perversion, along with the perversion of every other human imagination, reaches its zenith. This is yet a deeper stage of depravity that goes beyond just the practice of homosexuality. Society has now descended into such things as bestiality and ALL manor of wickedness. No behavior was forbidden to them. Man recognized no limits of experimentation, and as a result, God gave them over to the most extreme perversions of every kind. This is the mind of man that is completely cut off from revealed constraints. No redeeming qualities remain. Man has descended as far as he can go into a depraved state and God has now totally abandoned them to the fate of their choices.

Let us look at the three prongs of this stage of decline in their proper order.
1. After they had exchanged God for creatures of the earth it says that “God gave them over....”

This certainly stands contrary to those who would argue against the idea of free will. We cannot say that God deprives us of our freedom to choose whom we will serve; and God honors whatever choices we make. God does not force a choice upon us, but what we must understand is that choices do have forced consequences.

If we so strongly desire the lowest element, then the Lord will allow us to seek it. He will not interfere. The Lord's policy is that if you want this kind of life or this kind of society so mush, then you can have it. As a result, people began to experiment with all manner of human experiences that God in his wisdom has forbidden.

2. Their insistence upon seeking depraved behavior caused God to give them over yet again, this time to sexual impurity.

“God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.”

This is a particular type of impurity that directly violates the intended function and purpose of the human body. It is an impurity of the body and the body is dishonored. This is not necessarily speaking of homosexuality, although it certainly would not exclude it. This first stage of sexual decline in a society is to remove sexual behavior from its proper place. This changes the context of sexual behavior which is limited by God to the marriage covenant.

Man has expanded the acceptable range of sexual behavior to the advancement of sexual experimentation. Marriage is no longer recognized as a boundary for sexual activity. Socially acceptable sexual conduct has now been expanded to include adultery, fornication, illicit sex, sodomy, and prostitution. This behavior is degrading because it abandons the divinely appointed context for sex. This is not the proper place or purpose of sexual behavior. What the Lord calls sexual impurity and degradation, man now calls freedom and enlightenment.

3. In verse 25, we see yet another exchange – “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie.”

a. Abandonment of the word of God is unidirectional.
It only travels in one direction – away from God. When people walk away from revealed truths, then all hope is gone. After that, there is an upheaval of the moral standard. What was once true has now become a lie, and what was a lie has now become truth. No one knows the difference any more.

Without a revealed standard to show man the difference between right and wrong, societies will always choose the wrong. Man will always descend into depravity – ALWAYS! In fact, what we learn here and from other places in scripture, such as Genesis six, and what history confirms for us, is that even in the presence of revealed truth, man will still eventually descend into depravity, and historically, it does not usually take long.

b. They “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.”
At this point, man himself becomes his own god. Man has now come to believe his own lies. He has resigned himself to a world devoid of absolutes, devoid of revealed truth, devoid of the limiting will of God. As Fredric Nietzsche once wrote, “God is dead and all we have left are values.” The values to which Nietzsche refers are those given by man, for man, and that are held by the consensus of man.

Because of this type of thinking, God once again “gave them over” to their “degrading, dishonorable, shameful passions.” The standard here for degrading, dishonorable, or shameful is not the opinion of man, it is the assessment of God. God says these things are degrading, dishonorable, and shameful.

When man casts aside his conscience regarding these things, then his sense of shame will be cast aside along with it. If we do not register any sense of shame regarding what scripture says about our sins, then these verses become meaningless to us.

The sense of shame is a human barometer that was given to us by the Lord to tell us how far we have moved away from the will of God. Shame is more than just embarrassment, it is a sense of guilt before God, and we have forgotten how to blush.

Just how deeply has our conscience been seared? Consider the music you listen to, the movies you take in, or what passes for humor to you on television. God has created us with a capacity for shame, and he has created us in this way to prevent us from engaging in such soul-destroying behaviors as these mentioned in out text.

In order to placate our own conscience, we have determined to separate ourselves from any standard that condemns our behavior. The removal of the word of God as a standard for regulating human behavior is a necessary step that allows us to rationalize and justify our choices. This is how you remove the sense of guilt.

 

[Pilgrimshope]

The disease is unbelief, forgetting about God. Even from vs.18, Pauls clear teaching that Gods wrath is revealed against those who hold back the truth has been distorted by the heretical belief that Gods wrath was revealed against his Son. who never held back the truth.

amen so heretical that belief you
Mentioned is

 

[oldhermit]

The fundamental cause of this descent into depravity is that man has taken upon himself the right to reassign meaning to everything in his world.

1. The meaning of the word of God has been reassigned.
The word of God has now become irrelevant to the human context. It is too restrictive, too antiquated, too unreasonable, too impractical, too imposing, too intrusive. This attitude is a far cry from how the Psalmist regards the word of God in Psalms 119.

a. “Oh, that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes! Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all Your commandments.” 5-6

b. “Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors.” 24

c. “From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore, I hate every false way.” 104.

d. “Your testimonies are wonderful; Therefore, my soul observes them.” 129

e. “The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.” 160

What a contrast of attitudes about the word of God.

2. The meaning of the natural world has been reassigned.
Objects of the natural world have now become venerated objects of worship. God has now been replaced by his own creation.

3. The meaning of human behavior has been reassigned.
Whatever man decides to do, whatever experience he chooses to experiment with, no matter how perverse, is now considered enlightened behavior and regarded as wise and progressive. But you see, only God has the right to assign absolute meaning to the universe. Only God has the right to assign absolute meaning to human experience. That function was never given to man. Our place is not to manufacture meaning. Our place is to accept meaning that has already been revealed to us.

The meaning of these verses is very clear. All human existence, all human experience is answerable to the word of God. This subordinate position seems excessive to those who see the Bible at best as nothing more than a subjective guide to behavior rather than an absolute.

Man insists upon projecting his own meaning onto the word of God, onto the universe, onto his own behavior. The problem with this kind of humanistic approach to human experience is that projected meaning by man is always limited, it is always time bound (disregards any notion of an eternal destiny or consequences). It is anthropomorphic (it sees behavior strictly from the vantage point of the human imagination). It is unfailingly prone to error, and is based solely on human subjectivity, which means that meaning has become malleable, it changes from one person to the next. Meaning no longer has an eternal, absolute context.

These verses eliminate existentialism as a viable, acceptable approach to human behavior. With subjectivism, there are as many different meanings to any given human experience as there are men to provide them.

The point is that the meaning of all human experience has already been supplied by God. All that is left to man is the decision of whether he is going to accept revealed meaning or supply his own. One results in blessing, the other results in terrible consequences. One is life sustaining; the other is terminal.

 

[oldhermit]

The Extreme Reach of the Exchange, 23-32 A. They exchanged the reality of the unseen God for images. The entire unseen world of God has been dismissed. This is a perversion of the idea of God. God has been redefined. God is no longer perceived as an unseen element. The idea of God is now confined to things that are observable. B. They exchanged the truth of God for lies. This is a perversion of the idea of truth. Truth has been redefined. Truth has now been given a strictly human context. Truth is now whatever society wants it to be. C. They exchanged natural relations for unnatural relations. This is a perversion of the created use of the body. It is now man rather than God who decides what is natural and unnatural. Sexual perversion of every description robs our body of its most noble purpose, which is to worship and serve the living God. These exchanges are deliberate. These are purposeful actions that are calculated to eject God from human thought and thereby eject him from all human affairs. The calculus of the exchange is to claim the freedom to pursue what scripture calls passions. In this, they claimed to be wise but from the Lord's point of view, they were fools. These self-proclaimed wise men determined to write their own set of rules, and to redefine what is right and wrong, acceptable, and unacceptable. What is now unacceptable is anything that resembles a revealed ethic. The world makes such men as these into wise men. Men like these are routinely elevated to the status of social heroes who “open the eyes of the people to greater truths and greater possibilities.” Washington DC, the media, and the entertainment industry are full of these kinds of people. Just like those of our text, our nation, and our society, has dedicated itself to this same pattern of descent into self-destruction. We have embraced this same reduction to the lowest element. We have thrown our conscience overboard. Our way of thinking has become a serious problem. We have exchanged the will of God for our own. We have replaced God with the worship of things. Our minds have become so depraved that we now seek out the most absolute base elements of human behavior. Sometimes I feel like Isaiah, “I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” We have become guilty both by association and participation. Our depraved minds have not only produced these depraved behaviors, but we have also given a nod of approval to those who commit such things. In verses 29-31 Paul says that such a society… 1. Has become a wicked people full of evil, greed, depravity, envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice, 29. 2. We have become slanders, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, and disobedient to parents, 30. 3. We have become senseless, faithless, heartless, and ruthless, 31. Wow! What an indictment. Paul mentions a lot of sins here and not one of them is trivial. All of these behaviors are practices that the Lord says deserve death, and not just to those who do them, but to those who give approval to those “who practice such things.” Be very careful what behaviors you choose to defend. We cannot either by word or by action defend that which God has condemned and expect God not to call us into account for it. Paul is very clear that the depraved mind will not be the instrument of reform. Only the word of God can be that instrument. The depraved mind has become institutionalized in our society and verse 18 stipulates that “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” So, here is another revelation of knowledge. Those of Genesis 6, Genesis 19, and the repeated examples of Israel in their departures from God, testify that God's wrath against ungodly and unrighteous behavior is a fact of history. There are both temporal and eternal consequences for such as these. I think you and I need to confront ourselves with these questions – To what degree has MY mind, MY thinking, MY behavior, been influenced by the world? Where do I presently stand in this descent into the lowest element? These are some very, very sobering words from the apostle Paul.

 

[eternally-gratefull]

I wonder how ot would influence our perspective of our present society if we were to read these verses as God was making these accusations directly against us and weigh our current state of affairs in this nation against these accusations.

I think the way we need to approach this text is to focus on the disease rather than the symptoms. What I have noticed is that most people who read or teach this segment of chapter one, generally tend to focus on the list of sins mentioned with particular emphasis on the sin of homosexuality. I am certainly not criticizing this approach to these verses, bit I think that focusing our attention on these sins does absolutely nothing to address the heart of the issue. All this does is treat the symptoms and leaves the disease untouched.

All of the sins cataloged in this segment, including the sin of homosexuality are not the problem, they are merely a symptom of a much deeper problem. What I would like to do is attack the disease at its nucleus by generalizing to some of the fundamental principles that created these types of behaviors that led to the four stages of terminal social decline that Paul presents.

I think Romans 2 is not so much about these sins but about people who know God but rejected him and made up their own Gods, and how although they know these sins are sin and whoever does them deserve death. They still continue to do it. And like someone said, they have no excuse

 

[eternally-gratefull]

I will be using the NKJV.

Beginning with verses 18-23 Paul says,

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

In these verses we can generalize first to the fact that the suppression of the human conscience is fundamentally necessary for the reversal of a revealed standard of morality. If you want to separate morality from the minds of people, you must first sear the conscience against all moral standards; and this begins with an assault on revealed standards.

The reduction of human existence to its lowest element suppresses even the most obvious knowledge of what is right and wrong, and it does this through the suppression of the human conscience. Our social conscience has become so badly deteriorated that we are no longer even able to distinguish the difference between male and female in this country. This is one of the most basic and obvious truths of the natural world. Truth does not get much more basic than this.

The passage said they suppressed the truth in their own minds, because they loved their sin, it was not the suppression that was the issue it was their love of sin, they wanted their sin, thus they had no choice but to suppress the truth, because no matter how much they deny it, they know God, and they know his truth, that’s why they made their own Gods by making idols out of natural things, God who would allow them to live in sin and would not condemned them. They wanted Gods who would be profitable to them

 

[Pilgrimshope]

I think Romans 2 is not so much about these sins but about people who know God but rejected him and made up their own Gods, and how although they know these sins are sin and whoever does them deserve death. They still continue to do it. And like someone said, they have no excuse

Mankind did this from the beginning he placed them in Eden with himself , made in his image and they instead followed Satan and became sinners like him after his image

“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil:

whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭3:8-10‬ ‭KJV‬‬



the true “ mark Of God “and “ mark of the beast “ is who’s image we take after the serpent who is the creature in transgression or God who is our intended image

 

[Blik]

1. The first stage is the decline of knowledge and wisdom – 18-23.
This was the abandonment of revelation and the knowledge of God. This was not hidden knowledge. This was knowledge that was accessible to any observer of the natural world.

“That which is known about God is evident within them; (Why, because) God made it evident to them. (How?) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, (All of these representing the overall character of God in both his intrinsic qualities and his extended properties) have been clearly seen, (Not only had the character of God been clearly seen, but it had also been clearly) understood through what has been made, (This knowledge was perceived by the human mind. Creation reflects the character of God and there is no mistake about what creation reveals to the observer about God to such a degree) that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks.”

This represents a change of status in the epistemology of man, and Paul says man has no excuse for such an epistemological shift. There are only two epistemologies from which man can obtain knowledge – there is the natural world of human experience and there is revelation. Revelation had been abandoned for the epistemology of human experience. Now, man regards human experience as the revealer of truth. This was Eve in the garden of Eden.

2. The second stage is the decline into idolatry, 18-25.
God has been replaced by his own creation. Glory has been transferred by man from God to created things.

3. The third stage is the decline into sexual depravity, 26-28. This is all sexual depravity, not just homosexuality.

4. The fourth and final stage is the decline into absolute moral collapse. 29-32.
Here, sexual perversion, along with the perversion of every other human imagination, reaches its zenith. This is yet a deeper stage of depravity that goes beyond just the practice of homosexuality. Society has now descended into such things as bestiality and ALL manor of wickedness. No behavior was forbidden to them. Man recognized no limits of experimentation, and as a result, God gave them over to the most extreme perversions of every kind. This is the mind of man that is completely cut off from revealed constraints. No redeeming qualities remain. Man has descended as far as he can go into a depraved state and God has now totally abandoned them to the fate of their choices.
.

You correctly list the stages. I stage one, you list that our basis of knowledge has shifted away from our creator being the base of Knowledge, now it is science that is the base. Today, going to college is often a time of turning from the Lord.

Children learn nursery rhymes and fairy tales instead of scripture, and the media is the main teacher of even Christian families.

In state two, men's value is gauged by idolatry, in the cars he can acquire, in his homes, his possessions. Our heroes are those who are skilled in play acting or how they throw a ball.

In stage three, even our definition of family has changed. People are no longer poised and beautiful but sexy or not. Beautiful clothing no longer covers, but shows off this sexuality.

In stage four, even the family that God established as the base of our nations has collapsed.

 

[Pilgrimshope]

You correctly list the stages. I stage one, you list that our basis of knowledge has shifted away from our creator being the base of Knowledge, now it is science that is the base. Today, going to college is often a time of turning from the Lord.

Children learn nursery rhymes and fairy tales instead of scripture, and the media is the main teacher of even Christian families.

In state two, men's value is gauged by idolatry, in the cars he can acquire, in his homes, his possessions. Our heroes are those who are skilled in play acting or how they throw a ball.

In stage three, even our definition of family has changed. People are no longer poised and beautiful but sexy or not. Beautiful clothing no longer covers, but shows off this sexuality.

In stage four, even the family that God established as the base of our nations has collapsed.

there is an escape from that fallen nature

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:2-4‬ ‭KJV‬‬





the only way to find it again is by the knowledge we parted from in the beginning

 

[throughfaith]

“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.” God reveals Himself to men inside of them.

 

[throughfaith]

Verse 20 tells you what God has shown mankind, in general. The verse says, “the invisible things of him...are clearly seen.” The things that cannot be seen “are clearly seen.” How is that for a contradiction? Now, how are they clearly seen? “Being understood by the things that are made.” So God explains the things you cannot see by things which you can see. The two specific things the verse mentions are “his eternal power and Godhead.” So no man anywhere has an excuse for being an atheist. Every unsaved man can know that God is eternal, that He is all-powerful (omnipotent, Rev. 19:6), and that He is a Trinity.

 

[Blik]

“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.” God reveals Himself to men inside of them.

What a blessing it is when our life is led by our knowledge of God, and not by the media and social norms. The inner peace and joy cannot be compared with what secular parties and secular possessions bring.

The blessings we receive don't end with the end of this life, but the blessing extend on and on in eternal life.