Comments: this is the last part of romans 1. i call it "the bad side of the good news"! at the end of the last section, paul speaks of the marvelous fact that God has revealed His righteousness to humanity and that it is accessible to us through faith. however, he sets us up to get into a "receiving" mode by pointing out the humbling fact that we are in major spiritual "do-do" (is this the correct spelling?!) left to ourselves (just read the daily newspapers for confirmation!). in the remainder of chaper 1, he deals with the non-religious among us and in chaper 2 he turns to the religious ones among us. we won't take the "medicine" of the good news, if we don't recognize our "disease"...and this is what paul so poignently reveals in these passages. we apparently often need to feel the "ouch" before we're willing for the Father kisses the wound!
this chapter is also a commentary on the "devolution" of human societies throughout the ages. the once understood "monotheism" that was passed down from the time of noah devolved into polytheism as the people groups strayed from the knowledge of God. this is in contrast to secular anthropology's assumption that polytheism evolved into monotheism. many cultures have the vestige of the knowledge of a "most high God" (and often a suitable inculturated name for Him that can be used in scripture translation) and this is a powerful redemptive key to reaching them with the good news of Jesus in the context of their own spiritual histories. it is interesting to also note that paul is clear about the immoral nature of homosexual sex, but it is important for heterosexuals to look at the rest of the list too and note the offensive nature of the many other sins that are being overlooked, or even justified, in our religious church cultures today. we must beware of our propensity to self-righteousness as we will painfully see in the next chapter.
Chapter 1--cont'd
This may sound strange, but the good new begins with some bad news! God's awesome anger is also revealed from heaven. He is adamantly against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of people, who suppress the truth because they love sin more than truth. You see; God has partially revealed himself to every person through both their own conscience and creation itself. His invisible presence and moral attributes have been easily discernible from the beginning of time. The fingerprints of his divinity and eternal power have clearly branded all he has made. Therefore people are without excuse for their unbelief in him. All throughout world history, although people knew God was there, they didn't honor his Divinity, neither were they thankful to him. Rather, they invented their own man-centered religions and philosophies of life thereby snuffing out the light of spiritual knowledge in their hearts. They claimed to be getting wiser, but they were actually becoming more foolish. They "remade" the invisible God, who is glorious and incorruptible, into gods of their own imagination- idols made in the likeness of human beings, birds, beasts and even bugs.
Because of their idolatry, God let the nations go their own way to pursue the unclean desires of their own hearts and even abuse his purposes for their own bodies. They sold out the truth to buy the original lie- to deify the creation and thus defy the Creator who is to be eternally worshipped. That's really the bottom line. So God backed off and they plunged headlong into sexual perversion: women's natural attraction for men became twisted and they turned to lesbianism. Men also turned away from heterosexuality and burned with lust for other men. They embraced unnatural sex and, as a consequence, seriously damaged their own souls and bodies.
Because they rejected the knowledge of God they once had, he allowed their consciences to become callused and they indulged themselves in evil things without remorse. Their lives were characterized by all kinds of unrighteousness: illicit sex, wicked ways, covetousness, malice, extreme envy, murder, contentiousness, character assassination, gossip, betrayal, hatred of God, vengeance, pride, arrogance, evil innovations, disobedience to parents, ignorance, promise breaking, lack of healthy affections, stubbornness, and absence of mercy. Although they know God's justice requires a spiritual death sentence for these offenses, they themselves not only do them, but also idolize others who do.
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