Everyone’s Problem – Romans 1:18-2:11
Gospel in a Sentence: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
Big Picture: God, in righteous indignation, punishes the unrighteous.
Goal: That we give reverent thanks to God for rescuing us from his wrath against unrighteousness.
Key Ideas
1) God judges everyone for rejecting and replacing him.
2) That judgment presently consists of God giving humanity over to sin more so that we earn more wrath for ourselves at the final judgment.
3) Having Scripture or being a descendant of holy people doesn’t put you in right relationship to God; you must be righteous yourself.
4) This righteousness is only granted through faith in Christ, and is Christ’s righteousness, not ours. We are considered obedient based on Christ’s obedience alone. This new status is received by faith.
Key Terms
Wrath – God’s anger, or indignation. It’s not an emotional outburst of anger, but rather a slow, steady, rational, just (or righteous) hatred of unrighteousness.
Ungodliness – We were created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-28) to show his glory to all of creation. Thus, we were to be ‘godly,’ or ‘like God’ in character. Ungodliness is the characteristic of being unlike God in our character, tastes, actions, desires, and motives.
Unrighteousness – To be righteous is to do what is glorifying to God, or to be considered as one who does what is glorifying to God. Unrighteousness is the trait of someone who does not do what is glorifying to God.
Honor/Glorify – These words are the same in Greek in Romans 1. To glorify someone simply means to treat them in proportion to their worth. To glorify God, then, simply means to treat God as if he’s God, the creator of everything. That means that all glory exhaustively should be given to him.
Debased – Depraved. Not right or good. Bent towards evil.
Forbearance – To ‘hold off’ on dealing with something. In this case, God’s not immediately doling out punishment for our rebellion.
Repentance – To choose to change course from doing unrighteous things to obeying God.
Impenitent – Lacking repentance.
Works – Anything that a person does.
Jews/Greeks – God initiated his plan of salvation for the world with the nation of Israel, which consisted of the ‘Jews’. ‘Greeks’ is a euphamism for everyone who’s not Jewish by birth.
Key Observations
1:18 First, note that v. 18 begins with the word ‘for’. We must ask ‘why?’ Answer: in vv. 16-17 God has told us that everyone without exception who believes the Gospel will be rescued because the Gospel grants every believer a righteous status that is from God. Verse 18 and following tell us why that righteousness from God is necessary: we’re unrighteous.
18 Further, note what people do because they’re unrighteous: they suppress the truth.
19 This verse also begins with ‘for.’ Verse 19 will give supporting information for what was just said in v. 18. That supporting information is that God has made himself plain to humanity.
20 But what has God shown of himself to humanity? His eternal power and divine nature. Notice it’s not revelation about God’s love or mercy; it is simply revelation of his worth – his being the omnipotent God.
20 Because God has shown his Deity to humanity, humanity is without excuse for suppressing the truth of his glory.
This section therefore answers the question, ‘what about people that haven’t heard about Jesus?’ Such people will not be held responsible for rejecting Jesus. They haven’t done it! However, they know enough about God from creation to know that there is a God who is worthy of all their love, devotion, and worship. And even though they know these things, in their own sinfulness, they do not glorify God. No one does. Thus, people who haven’t heard of Christ will not be condemned for rejecting Christ; however, they will be condemned for a failure to glorify God and for replacing God with false gods.
21-23 Again, v. 21 starts with ‘for’. This is Paul’s basis for saying that humanity has suppressed the truth about God in unrighteousness: we do not glorify him as God, but rather, we stupidly replace God with other things.
As we’ll see in a moment, this is at the heart of all sin. Rather than seeing God as worthy of all our devotion, we worship other things. The Bible calls this ‘idolatry.’ Much idolatry consists of worshiping statues of false gods. However, the Bible calls anything by which we replace God idolatry. For instance, in Colossians 3:5, Paul calls ‘covetousness,’ or, the desire for something one doesn’t have, idolatry. In this case, the thing that person wants is their God. No longer are their desires set on God – but on something God made.
24-32 Three times in this section, in vv. 24, 26, 28, Scripture says that God gave humanity over to sin. But each time, it says that the reason for that is that we have all committed idolatry. We do not glorify God. Therefore, he gave us up to more rebellion.
God Handing us Over to Sin
This is hard doctrine, or teaching. This section teaches what God’s wrath currently looks like. It teaches us that the result of God’s wrath right now is that we sin more. Further, we learn from Romans 2:5 in the next section that, by sinning more, we increase the future condemnation we will receive in hell.
Does God actually make us sin by ‘giving us over’? No. God is not the one with sinful desires; we are. On the other hand, we must deal with the fact that God is active in these sentences; he actually does hand us over to sin. It is by his design that we sin more, even though he is not the one sinning.
It is helpful to remember that he handed us over because we already valued the creation more than him. We already had evil desires (see v. 24).
Whatever we do, we must avoid two unscriptural teachings here. One is the idea that God sins. He absolutely does not (James 1:13). The other wrong teaching is the idea that he is passive in this affair. He is active; he handed us over!
You’re going to want to diffuse this in your small group if it comes up. The way to do that is to point out that we were already sinful when God handed us over to sin; and that God is active in handing us over to sin.
One way to point those things out is to ask questions. “Does God hand innocent people over to sin?” “Does the text say that God just lets us sin more, or does it say something else? What does it say?”
The answers to these questions are ‘no’ and ‘God is active in handing us over to sin,’ respectively.
It is also helpful to remember in this conversation that this isn’t where God left things. Remember that in this section, Paul is showing us how sinful we are. He’s showing us that we don’t’ have a righteousness of our own to stand righteous before God, and so we need a righteousness, that is, a righteous status, from God to be saved from his wrath.
Sexual Perversion and Idolatry
We must also take note of another fact: in the ancient world, idol worship was often connected to sexual perversion. Many rituals and religious festivals were connected to all sorts of orgies.
One such perversion is homosexual lust and homosexual ‘sex.’ Your Bible study will probably pick up on this issue. It is important to note that homosexuality is the result of idolatry – the result of the rejection of God. Homosexuality is a sin because it is a person looking in the mirror and desiring one most like him or herself.
Homosexuality is not the worst of sins. It, like all other sins, is the result of rejecting and replacing God. On the other hand, it truly is sinful, and in a sense, is more perverse than heterosexual sin, since it not only takes sex out of its appropriate context but also replaces the partner with one in keeping more with the homosexual’s own ‘image.’
We must again avoid two extremes. One extreme would say that homosexuality is the worst of sins. This must be wrong because it is the result of idolatry. The other extreme would say it’s exactly like every other sin. There’s an iota of truth in this statement, since all sin has God as its object – all sin is rebellion against God (James 2:10). However, some acts consist of compounded sin; that is, some acts consist of more individual sins than others. That’s why Jesus said to Pilate, “…he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin”(John 19:11). Pilate was rejecting less righteousness than Jesus’ deliverer, and so his sin was lesser.
You’re going to want to diffuse the homosexuality issue in your study. It’s not the point of the text. The point of the text is that God, in wrath, hands us over to sin more, on the basis of our rejection of him.
You need to point out that homosexuality is first the result of God’s wrath before it is the basis for God’s wrath. Second, you need to point out that it is indeed sin. Third, you need to point out that every other sin also earns every person death and hell. This section doesn’t narrow down on particular people for particular sins – it is a mass indictment of all of humanity.
One practical way to diffuse this conversation is by the following line of questions: “Is homosexuality the result of God’s wrath or the cause of it in this section?” And, “What are some other results of God’s wrath that Paul lists?” And, “Which of these results of God’s wrath do you find yourself guilty of?”
Homosexuality is the result of God’s wrath in this section, and is listed with many other results of God’s wrath, including disobeying one’s parents and slander.
Remember – this isn’t the whole story. This is the reason that a righteousness from God is necessary to save us. We’re unrighteous, and God, in wrath, hands us over to sin more. Yet, he grants a righteous status to everyone who simply trusts Christ (1:16-17).
2:1 In 2:1, Paul begins an imaginary dialogue with a Jewish objector to his argument. See 2:17. This Jewish objector is judging, or condemning, the rest of the world for its sins. The problem is that this imaginary opponent does the same things as his Gentile fellow-sinners.
2-3 Paul tells his debate opponent that he himself knows that such works require punishment.
4 Paul instructs his imaginary opponent that he should not bank on things continuing to go well for him. He tells him that God is being patient now to give him a chance to repent.
5-11 However, without repentance, more wrath is in store. The more we sin, the more wrath is stored up to be doled out to us on the day of judgment. This section teaches that God judges by works. Righteous people get glory and eternal life; the unrighteous get the wrath of God. Verse 11 teaches us that our nationality or background doesn’t matter – God shows no partiality. The overarching problem here is in Romans 3:10: “none is righteous.” Therefore, every human deserves death and hell.
This section leaves us in need of righteousness to stand before God. We must here hearken back to Romans 1:17. The Gospel, which is about Jesus dying and rising from the dead as Son of God in Power, rescues everyone who believes it from this judgment because through it God grants the status of ‘righteous’ to everyone who believes. All the fury that we earned fell on Jesus, and all the reward he earned has been given to us who trust him.
Sample Discussion Guide:
-What are some words that come to mind when you think of God?
-Today we’re going to look at something about God we might not normally like to think about: his wrath. Why do you think it might be important to study God’s wrath?
-Before we do, let’s revisit what we studied last time. What were some of the main points of Romans 1:1-18? Make sure they get these: God gave us the apostles/Scripture for the sake of the Gospel for the obedience of faith of every nation; Christians grow through being in a community in which the Gospel is proclaimed; the Gospel is good news because God counts people righteous through faith in Christ.
-Tell them the aim of the passage.
-Have someone pray. Have someone read vv.18-23.
-Does anything catch your attention or raise any questions?
-What do we learn about God from this passage?
-What do we learn about ourselves? How does that make you feel?
-This passage answers the question, “What about people who haven’t heard?” What’s the answer? They’re guilty of failure to worship God and are under his wrath; but they are not guilty of rejecting the Gospel.
-What are some things that you think people in our culture devote themselves to more than God?
-What do you devote yourself to more than you devote yourself to God?
-Have someone read vv. 24-32 and ask about whether there are any observations or questions.
-What is God doing in this passage? Why?
-What are the results of God’s action?
-How do we see the effects of God’s wrath in our society? In the world?
-Where do you see yourself in this passage? (Or: What in this passage are you guilty of?)
-Have someone read 2:1-11. Explain the idea that Paul is debating an imaginary Jew who’s rejecting Christ and believes they’re okay with God because of their religious background. Ask for observations/questions.
-What are the imaginary Jew’s errors?
-How do American Christians make the same mistakes? How about you?
-What do we see God doing in this passage? At this point you’ll probably have to explain how God judges by works – yet justifies, or ‘counts righteous,’ the ungodly on the basis of Christ’s righteousness.
We’ll unpack this in weeks to come, but here is the basic thought process of the passage. One must have a status of ‘righteous’ to enter into God’s Kingdom. To have such a status, one must actually be righteous.
The problem is, according to Romans2:1 and Romans 3:10, that no one is righteous. Thus, God, in love, grants the status of ‘righteous’ to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ (1:16-17). Therefore, everyone who trusts Jesus is given the status of ‘righteous,’ saved from the wrath to come, and guaranteed entrance into God’s kingdom forever.
-How would you summarize what we’ve learned today about God? About humanity? About yourself?
-How do you think this should affect how we pray? Pray
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