God’s Anger at Sin
Romans 1:18-32 NLT
“But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who, by their wickedness, prevent the truth from being known.”
Paul presents the thought in verse 17 that it is a righteous person who has life thru faith, then in the next verse contrasts this thought with the fact that evil people suppress the truth making them an enemy of God. Creation itself reveals the existence of a God, therefore man has no excuse for not knowing Him. Those who are wicked take the truth and substitute it with lies (Ro. 1:25). This has been done throughout the centuries and is a main ploy of the enemy to stifle God’s plans for mankind. Satan has already lost; therefore he has nothing to lose. He will do whatever it takes to trip believers up causing chaos and conflicting information.
Those who knew God decided not to worship Him or even thank Him for what He’d done for them (salvation). Instead they opted to worship idols that were made in the image of mortals, birds, animals, and reptiles. Such wickedness comes with a severe cost. Shunning God will bring about guilt, shame, and ultimate eternal judgement.
God abandoned the evil ones to their own shameful desires. There is a reference shown where the evil ones will do unnatural sex acts with the same sex. The wicked began to worship that which the Creator had created, rather than the Creator Himself. This rebellion against God has been going on since the dawn of time.
It is a curious thing that people will tend to believe lies that reinforce their own selfish beliefs. They don’t believe they are free since in their own minds they are restricted by that which is required by God. God does give us a free will to do as we please; however, everything we do comes with resulting consequences. Strive for things outside God’s will results in nothing good. God loves you and seeks to lead you as you seek Him... but if you insist on doing your own thing, the consequences could end up being quite tragic.
Look at the list of things that people with a penchant for evil end up doing: every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy...they become backstabbers, haters of God, arrogant, and prideful. They refuse to understand the truth, break their promises, and are heartless, showing no mercy. Paul states that anyone who does these things will deserve death, yet they all do them anyway. Perhaps they feel that God wouldn’t condemn them due to His loving nature, however, not following God’s statutes pits you against Him directly. You can do that, but consequences await you. Free will is a wonderful gift until you are banished from God’s kingdom due to sever resistance to the Biblical truth. Paul concludes this portion of scripture by saying that in spite of all that man has done, something worse is their encouraging others to do the same as them. Paul is obviously not at all pleased with this type of behavior as it flies in the face of all that is good and righteous and fair and just.
Next time we’ll touch on God’s judgment for Sin. Until then, walk with the King and be a blessing.
In His name & for His glory,
Richard Keller
Bread of Life Ministries
Resources: The Life Application Study Bible; Expositor’s Bible Commentary: New Testament.
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