24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
We observed in the last section that God has provided an abundance of evidence to make it clear to us as human beings that God exists. Moreover, God not only has provided the evidence through His creation, He has made the knowledge and its message plain to mankind so that we understand it. Yet mankind refuses to acknowledge God; in fact, mankind suppresses, or “incarcerates” the truth about God through wickedness. Instead of worshipping and honoring God, mankind instead honors and worships idols. Man becomes foolish, disregarding the fact of God while bragging about how smart man has become without God. Despite all of the evidence that leads to the existence of God, that God himself has provided and made clear to us, man creates other more comfortable gods. Therefore, man has no excuse when faced with judgment on the last day. No man will be able to stand before God and say, “I didn’t know,” or “If I had had just a little more information, I would have believed in you.” God has made it clear to man that He is the Creator God, so man has no excuse for not believing.
In this next section, Paul continues his analysis of the human condition in sin and willful disobedience of man towards God. Up to this point, we have seen what man has done with God. Man 1) suppresses the truth of God, 2) man refuses to honor and worship God as He deserves, and 3) man refuses to be thankful. In this next section of Romans 1, Paul demonstrates what happens when man refuses to acknowledge God and instead creates for himself gods that satisfy man’s desire and longing for his creator. These gods are much more comfortable than a Creator God whose holiness stands in stark contrast to the sin of man, and who holds man accountable for his actions and beliefs. Paul begins this section with the word, “Therefore.” Paul wants to us to consider what he has stated about mankind in the preceding verses, because what is coming up next is a direct result of man’s activities in verses 18 – 23. God is not arbitrary, but His punishments are just and purposeful. Read the rest of this entry »
