The Gospel of God's Wrath

We are, once again, looking at Paul's explanation of the Gospel in his letter to the church in Rome. Today, we'll look at how Paul begins to lay that out. We'll do that by working through this first paragraph a sentence at a time. After doing that, I'll have a few questions to pull together what we've seen. This will work best if you read along with me as I read and comment on each sentence. So, please take a Bible and open to Romans 1.18. If you're using a church Bible, that's on page 939, unless you are among us elite who use one of the large print Bibles. Then, you'll find Romans 1.18 on page 1194.

I'm going to start by reading the whole paragraph to give you a bird's eye view of what Paul is up to. Please follow along.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Romans 1.18-23

Now, let's work through this a sentence at a time. First sentence.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Let's start with that first word, 'For'. I know it's just a little word. And it's easy to run right past little words like that. But don't skip the little words. This word 'for' is actually important. It's making a connection with what went before, giving some reasoning or explanation for it. So, what went before?

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17

Paul writes about how he glories in the Gospel in which God's righteous character is revealed. With that little word 'for' in the next sentence, Paul begins to explain why he glories in this Gospel.

All of that is important because it sets things up for what is next. Paul begins his explanation of the glories of this Gospel by talking about the wrath of God. According to that little word, 'for', this is something that makes the Gospel precious to Paul. You see, the Gospel reveals God's character. Here, it reveals that God gets angry. It's important to see that because it makes clear that there is a problem. And it's not a little problem. If it were, God would not get angry. But that there is wrath reveals that there is a problem, a serious problem that requires a serious solution. Seeing God's wrath sets the stage for seeing the beauty of God's serious solution, the Gospel.

So, God is angry. Why? What is this serious problem that has provoked such wrath in God? Paul explains that in the rest of the sentence. God's anger is aroused because of the

ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

What's this about? Humanity knows some truth about God. We know this truth, but we suppress it. We hold it down. The only reason we do that is so that we can ignore this truth that we know about God. And that's what makes God angry.

The next two sentences unpack this. We know that because of the little words that starts them both.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

There are things about God that can be known. And it's not that you need a doctorate to come to that knowledge. This knowledge of God is plain for everyone to see. God made sure of that. He has shown all of us important aspects of who He is. And He has done this by means of 'the things that have been made'. God has revealed Himself through creation.

Now, it's important to understand that Paul is not talking about the knowledge of some generic god. It's not that everyone knows that there is some sort of supreme being. No. People know things about the real God, the only God. We know some things about His power. And we know some things about His nature, that He is God. All humanity knows about the real God.

All of this supports and explains what we found in that first sentence. People know something about the real God. But we suppress this knowledge. We push it out of sight and claim not to know. And we do this even though God has made all of this as plain as the nose on your face. All we need to do is just look at what God has made. The evidence is overwhelming. But no, we maintain that there is no such God, not the real God, and that there is no reason to think that such a God exists. God sees this, and it gets Him angry, very angry.

All of this leads up to the next sentence.

So they are without excuse.

We have another little word here that we must not rush by: 'So'. With this little word Paul is drawing a conclusion. God has revealed Himself through creation. He has made Himself so very plain so that everyone can know. Everyone. But people don't want to see it. We refuse to see it. We suppress this truth. As a result, having revealed His great power and deity, and being rejected, God reveals something else. He reveals His wrath. God, our Judge, is angry. And confronted by that rage, no one can plead ignorance; no one. We all know enough. So, we are all without excuse.

Next sentence.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Another little word, 'For'. What is it that Paul is explaining here? He is explaining God's expectations. Humanity knows about God, the real God. What should have resulted was honor and thanks, worship and gratitude.

This worship isn't about doing some religious things for an hour a week. God expects more than that. He expects a life filled with worship. That's worth a sermon all on its own. Another time. But what is clear is that even a basic knowledge of God should result in worship.

And then, of all the things that Paul could have added to the expectation of worship, he writes about being grateful. And again, this isn't limited to saying a prayer of thanks every once in a while. No, God expects a life of gratitude. This, too, will have to wait for another sermon.

Paul is saying that the expected response to knowing about the real God is worship and gratitude. And that just makes sense. We're talking about the God who has created all of this and keeps it going. But we refuse to respond appropriately. In the face of all that we know, all that God has revealed about Himself, we refuse to worship and give thanks. So, it is clear that God's anger is justified.

The rest of the sentence shows a bit of what results from our refusal.

… but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Futile minds and foolish hearts. People lose the ability to think what is right and to desire what is right. What a mess.

One expression of futile thinking and foolish hearts, shows up in the next sentence.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

It's not that people refuse to worship. No, we were built to worship. It's part of what we are. We will worship. But we worship the wrong things. Instead of worshiping the immortal God, we give ourselves to gods that we have created for ourselves. We worship them instead. But consider. Can such gods save as we face the difficulties of life?

Now for those questions I promised. I have three.

What does this say about God?

God does not hide Himself from humanity. No, He reveals Himself. And He does that in such a way that anyone can know about Him and can know enough to respond well. God has expectations. He is not just sitting up in heaven passively watching what is going on. He has revealed Himself, and so He requires a proper response: worship and gratitude.

How insulting for someone to look at creation, to see the evidence of the power and character of the one true God, and then for that person to respond with a worship that credits something else. That is just wrong.

So, having revealed who He is and then being rejected, God reveals something else. He reveals His wrath. And who can dispute that His wrath is fully justified.

Now, consider this wrath. God in His wrath doesn't just fuss and fume. This anger has a goal. The goal of God's wrath is destruction which the Bible labels as ‘death’. God destroys people who reject Him. That destruction begins here. And it only gets worse later.

Even just this little bit of the Gospel tells us much about who God is.

Next question. What does this say about people?

Well, if what Paul has written in this paragraph doesn't make the utter sinfulness of all of humanity clear, nothing will. We all know enough, quite enough, but we reject the truth that has been plainly revealed to us. We suppress it. We push it down, out of sight. And we do that because we don't want to deal with it. We don't want to worship the real God. As we do this, we fall deeper and deeper into the lies that destroy us bit by bit, a destruction that will go on and on and on forever.

I hope that you have noticed another little word that I have been using. It's the word, 'we'. I didn't say 'They all know enough, quite enough, but they reject the truth that has been plainly revealed'. No, I used the word, 'we'. All of this was true of us as well. We all started out as bad as everyone else. We also knew enough to worship and be grateful, but we also suppressed the truth. And for a time, for some of us a longer time and others of us a shorter, God's anger was revealed against us as well. To some extent, we experienced the destructive power of God's wrath.

But, and this is a very important but, we haven't come anywhere close to experiencing the full force of that wrath. We should, but we haven't and won't. And there's only one reason why that's true. It's because of Jesus. Now, here is a man who from day one knew God and responded well: worship and thanks and lots more. No suppressing truth for Him. If anyone deserved reward from God for living well, it was Jesus. But what did He receive instead? He suffered the full wrath of God for sin. I question whether we will ever really know what that means. Jesus suffered God's wrath for us so that we wouldn't have to. By the grace of God, we were enabled to entrust ourselves to this Jesus and His Gospel. By the grace of God, we were rescued from the just wrath of God.

Today, there is a difference between us and them, between those who have been rescued and those who still reject the truth. But that difference has nothing to do with who we are. We are not nice people who deserve good things from God. We also have suppressed truth. We also were among the ungodly. But as we have grasped the beauty of this Gospel and the Savior it rests upon, it has resulted in lives of worship and gratitude. And thanks be to God for that.

Last question. What does this say about the Gospel?

It's important for you to understand that Paul is not describing how to tell people about the Gospel. This is not his method of evangelism. Paul is laying out the theory of it all. He is laying out a logical, step by step understanding of what the Gospel is all about. So, you don't have to tell a friend about the Gospel by starting with the wrath of God. You can if you think that's the best way to talk with some particular person, but you don't have to.

However, somewhere in your conversations about the Gospel with unbelievers you'll need to bring up the fact of God's anger. And you'll need to explain why He is angry. The Gospel is a solution to a problem. The problem is not that we are unloved. The problem is that we insult the God who created us. We do that by how we think and live. It is not wise to insult God. He has expectations. Rejecting those expectations has consequences. God gets angry. That is one aspect of the Gospel that needs to be clear before someone can come to Jesus for rescue. Without it, the Gospel becomes something other than what it actually is. So, be sure to include talking about God's response to sin, His wrath. But once that is clear, the love of the God who saves at such cost to Himself will become something glorious. Paul understood that. And that's why he was unashamed of the Gospel.