A Painful Truth

 If you were to ask me which passage of Scripture is the most divisive in today's American culture, I would have to say that it is Romans 1:26-32.  I knew that this passage was in the "Romans line-up", ever since making the decision to exegete this book; and, I've been dreading it. The Bible as a whole is unpopular in today's culture.  However, this passage is extremely inflammatory to many people.

Such was not the case when I was young.  50 years ago, there was near-universal acceptance in this country of this passage of Scripture.  Yet, the Bible has not changed.  "Modern society" has.

If you remember from yesterday, Paul has been describing people who reject God - - who reject His authority over their lives, His plan of salvation, His rules for righteous living.  These people choose badly, exchanging God's truth for the lie, which says "I am my own god."  They follow the example of Satan, who walked down this path away from worshipping the one, true God long, long ago.  We also touched on, yesterday, how God "gave them over" to their depravity, in the wake of their making such a horrible exchange.  In other words, He let them go, so that they could practice their godless ways unrestrained.

26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. 29 They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans 1:26-32 (NET)

Let's begin at the end of the passage, with verse 32, because it is the anchor verse of this passage.  The group of people Paul is describing practice these behaviors.  He does not say that they are tempted to do them, or that they occasionally sin and fall into them.  He does not say that they are "born to them" or that they are helpless against these sins.  He says that they choose these behaviors as a lifestyle, reveling in them, wallowing in their sin gleefully, defiantly.  AND, they encourage others to follow their example, while approving of those who live the same way.  Insolence, rebellion and unrepentance are present here, a sort of "in your face" attitude toward righteousness and toward God Himself.  Make no mistake: the lack of repentance is this group's most egregious sin.

That being established, let's look at the specific depraved behaviors which most often characterize this people:

• "dishonorable sexual passions" (any sexual relations with anyone or anything outside the bounds of holy matrimony) 
• wickedness (a general term)
• covetousness and envy (a hunger for what God has given to someone else)
• malice (spite, vengefulness)
• strife (promoting friction, discord and dissension)
• hostility
• murderers
• deceitful (a lying tongue)
• gossipers 
• slanderers (those who spread lies about others to destroy them)
• arrogant
• boastful
• haters of God
• heartless, ruthless
• disobedient/disrespectful to parents

Paul ends the passage with the strong affirmation that those who live this way KNOW that their actions and attitudes are wrong.  Still, they repeatedly choose to walk in their own ways, rejecting God's.

There is an analogous passage in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, and I was thinking about that as I copied down the list above.  Perhaps the apostle Paul was thinking of this passage as he wrote Romans 1.  Take a look and note the similarities.  Can you count the 7?

16There are six things that the Lord hates,

even seven things that are an abomination to him:

17haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

18a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that are swift to run to evil,

19a false witness who pours out lies,

and a person who spreads discord among family members.

20My child, guard the commands of your father

and do not forsake the instruction of your mother.

21Bind them on your heart continually;

fasten them around your neck.

22When you walk about, they will guide you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

when you wake up, they will talk to you.

23For the commandments are like a lamp,

instruction is like a light,

and rebukes of discipline are like the road leading to life

Proverbs 6:16-23 (NET)

I fully realize that some of you, readers of this blog, are going to be highly offended at this post, that you will see it as a rebuke.  Society has made some of the behaviors, sins, on this list very socially acceptable.  In fact, if you do speak out against certain sexual sins, you are condemned by a large segment of our modern American society.  However, I am not in this "business" of blogging in order to twist and pervert the word of God.  His judgment on me, were I to do that, would be more awful than any shunning or backlash I receive from readers.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is (physical and spiritual) death.

Proverbs 14:12

If you are my internet friends, how can I stand by silent, cherry-picking and choosing only the most comfortable Bible passages?  I can't, not in good conscience. Paul warns in Romans 1:32 that those who condone, approve of, give consent to these evil behaviors are just as guilty as those who practice them!  What a dire warning!  

The end of the Proverbs 6 passage reminds us that rebukes of discipline are like the road that leads to life, (both physical and eternal).  It is my prayer that today's post will be viewed by you in that light and that you will search your own heart in these matters.  As long as a person has physical life, there is hope.  He or she can turn around, walk in the other direction toward God, toward His plan of salvation, toward eternal life.

Father, these types of horrible trades remind me of folks who get high-interest title loans.  They trade something of true value for something of seemingly equal value, only to later find themselves in a deep, deep pit.  I pray for those who are in one of these lifestyle situations, walking purposely far from You.  I pray that You will open their eyes to their imminent destruction and their eternal peril! May they turn around, turn around and run toward You, their only salvation.  May they trade in their dirty, broken lives for life eternal.  In Jesus' name, amen.

A Horrible Exchange

If you were asked to describe the majority of people in this world, those without Jesus Christ, what would you say?  I find it interesting how the apostle Paul characterized them, particularly the first descriptor he used.  Our text this morning is Romans 1:18-25.  (For newcomers to this blog, we are on a journey through the book of Romans.)

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, 19 because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

(NET)

The number one characteristic of unrighteous, ungodly, lost-without-Christ people is that they suppress the truth.  We see this passage "book-ended" by Paul's statements to that effect, in verses 18 and 25.

This morning, I was watching a news channel which is trying its darnedest to ignore the presidential candidate who won the Iowa caucuses. The network is doing this in an attempt to sway the election, by painting a false picture to their viewers, the electorate.  Campaigns do the same thing.  One of the commentators mentioned how one campaign was doing everything it could to stay alive, while the other candidate's momentum "on the ground" in the current battleground state was impossible to ignore.  Yet, this is not being portrayed in the media.  I'm not saying that this network or that one is ungodly.  I am saying that they bend the truth to suit their own purposes.  It is the way of the world.

Interestingly, Paul asserts in verses 19-20 that godless people, in their heart of hearts, KNOW the truth, one evidence of God's supremacy being His amazing creation all around us.  Unfortunately, rather than bowing their hearts in worship to almighty God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, these people choose to worship created things, most often, themselves or other created beings.  They proclaim themselves to be 'smarter than the average bear' (vs. 22).  They believe themselves to be "enlightened", intellectual, not falling for foolish "Bible stories".  "Who lives his life according to a mere book, after all?!", they condescendingly say.

7But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, 29so that no one can boast in his presence.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29

(NET)

Paul allows these people, who make this deliberate choice, "no excuse" for their unrighteousness. They are unrighteous because they have made a conscious decision to reject God's plan for mankind's redemption, and more importantly, for their own.

They make a very, very short-sighted, foolish exchange.  They trade, or exchange, the glory of the immortal God for some other "idol".  Be sure you understand --- an "idol" can be any thing and anyone that takes the place of God in our lives.  Some versions of verse 25 say this "they exchanged the truth of God for 'the lie' ".  What is "the lie" referred to here?  It is the assertion that ---
"There is no God; therefore, He cannot be known.  Since He does not exist, I am not accountable to Him. I am my own god."

In verse 21, a dreadful verse, we see the result of such a catastrophic choice.  Because these people chose to be unthankful and ungrateful, because they chose to glorify "the created rather than the Creator", their thoughts became more and more dark, their actions more and more futile, their hearts more and more dark and impure.  In other words, it became more and more difficult for them to see the truth, to see the Light.

And then, the most horrible verse of all - - - verse 24 - - - God gave them over, to wallow in their sin.
Divine abandonment!  I'm going to borrow liberally here from John MacArthur:

"Paradidomi (gave … over) is an intense verb. In the New Testament it is used of giving one’s body to be burned (1 Cor. 13:3) and three times of Christ’s giving Himself up to death (Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:2, 25). It is used in a judicial sense of men’s being committed to prison (Mark 1:14; Acts 8:3) or to judgment (Matt. 5:25; 10:17, 19, 21; 18:34) and of rebellious angels being delivered to pits of darkness (2 Pet. 2:4). It is also used of Christ’s committing Himself to His Father’s care (1 Pet. 2:23) and of the Father’s delivering His own Son to propitiatory death (Rom. 4:25; 8:32)"1

If that doesn't put a chill in your morning coffee, I don't know what will.  Sounds pretty final, doesn't it?  Does this pronouncement mean that it is impossible for some to come to salvation, after they make an initial, disastrous choice?  The scriptures declare that "Nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37).  It is not up to us to declare someone "hopelessly, irrevocably lost".  As long as there is breath in the body, there is hope of eternal salvation.  However, this passage should sober us Believers for those we know to be lost and on their way to Hell.

Is this passage eerily familiar?  Do you see yourself in these verses?  Have you made the mistake, in your past, of rejecting Jesus Christ's offer of salvation?  Please don't delay!  He is the only Source of Life and Truth.  Surrender your life to Him, today.

Well, Father, this scripture passage just makes me ill.  When I mull it over I think of my loved ones who are living lives of self-worship, openly testifying to their rejection of You.  I'm going to keep living the Truth before them, Lord, loving on them, speaking to them as Your spirit leads and most of all, praying, praying, diligently praying that their eyes and hearts will be opened, that they will reconsider, before it is too late.  Oh Lord, have mercy on them!  Please speak to them in ways that they will best understand, so that they will be spared Hell and can dwell with You forever.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:

1  https://www.gty.org/resources/bible-qna/BQ100212/What-Does-Scripture-Mean-When-It-Says-God-Gave-Them-Over