The Epistle to the Romans
Lesson 5
All the World is Guilty

Reading Assignment: Romans 1

Introduction
Lesson 4 completed our study under the general heading “Introduction – Righteousness Revealed.” Continuing with our suggested outline, this lesson covers the section under “Condemnation – Righteousness Required.” While our outline under this caption extends through Romans 3:20, this lesson will be limited to the balance of Chapter 1. God’s view of mankind is that the entire world is guilty and sinful (Romans 3:19; Galatians 3:22). Romans 1:18-32 relates to the reason for the condemnation of the entire Gentile world.

Importance of this Lesson

• To see the wickedness of this world as Paul describes it, is to catch a glimpse of the infinite love and grace of God who sent His Son into this world to save it (John 3:17).
• This lesson reveals the desperate need of the Gentile world for God’s righteousness without which no man will ever see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). God’s word is true.
• The verses we study in this lesson are an accurate description of a world that refuses to believe and obey God.

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The Lesson

Outline:

1. GENTILE KNOWLEDGE OF NATURAL REVELATION – ROMANS 1:18-20
2. GENTILE APOSTASY AND REPUDIATION OF THAT KNOWLEDGE– ROMANS 1:21-23
3. GENTILE PERVERSION AND DEGRADATION – ROMANS 1:24-32

I. GENTILE KNOWLEDGE OF NATURAL REVELATION

1. Romans 1:18
   1. For the wrath of God – “Wrath” is used 12 times in Romans and always as God’s wrath.
   2. is revealed should be translated “is being revealed.” While God provides righteousness for all believers, His wrath is upon all unbelievers. Read John 3:36.
      • The word “wrath” refers to God’s holy anger. In a world where so much emphasis is made of God’s love, we are prone to forget that God is a just and holy God who hates sin. Read Hebrews 10:26-31 and Psalm 7:11.
   3. from heaven – God sees from heaven all that men do. Read Psalm 14:2-3; Psalm 34:15,16; Jeremiah 32:19; and Proverbs 15:3. All judgment comes from heaven.
   4. against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
      1. “ungodliness”– all acts of sin against God revealing man’s state.
      2. “unrighteousness” – all acts of sin against man revealing man’s attitude and actions.
   5. who hold the truth in unrighteousness – “Hold” means literally to “hold down” or “repress” the truth. The same idea is found in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7. There the Holy Spirit restrains or holds down iniquity. Here wicked men restrain or hold down the truth in and through their unrighteous lives.
      • We must apply this section to ourselves or the point is lost.
      • In 1935, William R. Newell wrote, “Christendom is rapidly losing its sin-consciousness.” How much more so today
2. Romans 1:19-20
   1. God’s indictment is that all mankind are without excuse WHY?
      1. Man rejects the truth he knows within himself instinctively. “…is manifest IN them…” (Romans 1:19).
      2. Man rejects the God who is clearly seen in nature. The “…things that are made…” clearly reveal his eternal power and Godhead (Romans 1:20). (Know these for your exam.)
   2. …from the creation of the world… (Romans 1:20)
      1. God has never left this world without a witness to His power and deity. Read Psalm 19 and Psalm 8:3.
      2. Men reject the law of cause and effect. God is the great cause. His remarkable universe is the effect.
      3. The Genesis flood (Genesis 7 and 8), the tower of Babel (Genesis 11) and the call of Abraham (Genesis 12), all illustrate man’s repudiation of God.
         • Knowledge of the facts alone cannot save, but God holds man responsible for believing in Him through the light that he has. Kepler, the well-known astronomer said, “The un-devout astronomer is mad.”
   3. …so that they are without excuse. – That is, both then and now and at the judgment (Revelation 20:11-15).

II. GENTILE APOSTASY AND REPUDIATION OF THAT KNOWLEDGE

1. Romans 1:21 – Literally, “when they were knowing God.” In other words, all men once knew God.
   • The story of man provides no evidence of evolution. The history of man is one of degeneration.
   • Sir William Ramsey in “The Cities of Paul” writes, “Whatever evidence exists, the history of religion among men is one of degeneration.”
   • Men have been returning to the pit out of which the Gospel alone can deliver them.
2. Romans 1:21-23 – Note and learn these seven stages of Gentile apostasy:
   1. …when they knew… – all mankind once knew God.
   2. …they glorified him not as God… – Man refused to give God honor and praise. Note 1 Corinthians 10:31.
   3. …neither were thankful… – Ingratitude is a terrible sin. It indicates pride, selfishness, impudence, and disdain of others. It leads to all kinds of corruption. Note 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
   4. …became vain in their imaginations… – In ingratitude and pride, men began to imagine vain and foolish things about God.
   5. …their foolish heart was darkened. – That is, spiritually darkened. Man became blind to the true God and thus unable to discern truth from error. This is why many intellectuals who, while rejecting the God of the Bible, have embraced humanism, liberalism, oriental mysticism, etc.
      • Ephesians 4:18 – Having the understanding darkened…
   6. Professing themselves to be wise… – Man cannot know God through the processes of a blinded intellect.
      I Corinthians 8:1 says, “…knowledge puffeth up…”
      Read I Corinthians 1:20, 21 and 3:19 for Paul’s assessment of the worldly wise.
      • …they became fools; this is the opinion of learned philosophers.
   7. Romans 1:23 –And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man…
      1. God is ever the same! Incorruptible!
      2. Having rejected the true God, man, unable to escape the reality of God’s existence, changes his form! Note the digression – from corruptible man to creeping things. What a hideous insult! Archeological discoveries of the ancient world clearly reveal man’s degradation.
      • The farther from God a man gets, the more corruptible his life becomes! Beware of idols in your life.

III. GENTILE PERVERSION AND DEGRADATION

1. Romans 1:24 – Wherefore God also gave them up… This statement clearly answers the question, “Does God ever give a man up who persists in his rebellion and sin?” See Romans 1:26 and 28.
   1. 2 Peter 2:4-6 – God gave up the sinning angels, the old world of Noah’s day and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
   2. 2 Chronicles 36:15,16; Psalm 81:11,12; and Acts 7:42 indicate that God gave up His own people, Israel (temporarily, Romans 11:25).
   3. God does not give up until man repudiates God. Romans 1:28 …they did not like to retain God in their knowledge….
   4. The deeper man’s degradation, the filthier he becomes.
   5. The less holy your god, the less sacred your body – “To uncleanness – lusts, to dishonor – bodies.”
   6. What replies these are to all that claim that man is getting better and better!
2. Romans 1:25 should read: Who exchanged the truth of God for a lie….
   1. No one can deny God’s truth without believing Satan’s lie.
      This is what happened in the garden of Eden. Eve rejected God’s truth and accepted Satan’s lie.
      This fact is reflected in the teaching of the New Age movement and all that seek to make man his own god.
      During the coming tribulation on the earth, all that rejected God’s truth will believe the lie of the Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:11).
   2. “Who is blessed forever” – regardless of what man is or becomes.
3. Romans 1:26-27 (Should be read together) – …God gave them up into vile affections…
   1. Obscene, disgraceful, dishonorable affections.
   2. even their women – A condemnation of lesbianism. It is of interest that women are named first. Remember that Eve led in the fall of the human race.
   3. change the natural use – gave way to perverse, abnormal acts of sex. Another condemnation of lesbianism which God considers vile and abnormal.
   4. Men with men – Here is God’s indictment of homosexual conduct. God condemns it as vile, abnormal, perverse and unseemly and the result of repudiation of God’s truth.
   5. receiving in themselves that…meet (fitting). They got what they deserved. This could refer to the sicknesses, weakness, diseases resulting form this abnormal way of living.
      • Always keep in mind – this is the world out of which God saves us.
4. Romans 1:28 – …as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge….
   … God gave them over to a reprobate mind… (Romans 1:24,26,28).
   1. A fixed state of mind. They had abandoned God so God gave them a mind abandoned to sin.
   2. A mind disposed to do that which was “not convenient.” Not proper, not as God purposed, abnormal, unnatural.
5. Romans 1:29-31 – …being filled… – Mankind is full of sin.
   1. Paul now lists ten sins men commit:
      1. All unrighteousness – selfish, sinful acts against other people.
      2. Fornication – illicit sexual relationships.
      3. Wickedness – all hostile and destructive evil.
      4. Covetousness – idolatry (Colossians 3:5), lusting for what we do not need. Never satisfied.
      5. Maliciousness – a desire to injure.
      6. Envy – hatred and jealousy toward those who possess what we crave.
      7. Murder – see also Matthew 5:21.
      8. Strife – contentious debate.
      9. Deceit – guile, fraudulent claims, falsehood, etc.
      10. Malignity –slandering maliciously.
   2. Now follows eight things men become as the result of those sins:
      1. Whisperers – gossips. Secret slanderers.
      2. Backbiters – openly slanderous.
      3. Haters of God – Read Colossians 1:21 and Romans 5:10, 8:7.
      4. Despiteful – insolent. Given to insulting others.
      5. Proud – arrogant – a feeling of superiority.
      6. Boasters – swaggering imposters – opposite of meek.
      7. Inventors of evil things – Ever since Cain, men have devised mischief.
      8. Disobedient to parents – Note the fifth commandment. 2 Timothy 3:2.
   3. Now Paul lists five things absent from men’s lives because of their sin:
      1. Without understanding – unwilling or unable to grasp moral and spiritual truth.
      2. Without honor – covenant breakers – faithless. No intention of keeping one’s word. So evident today.
      3. Without natural affection – described vividly in Romans 1:24-27.
      4. Without placation – implacable – unwilling to make peace. Look at our world today!
      5. Without mercy – unmerciful – lacking in tenderness – unwilling to forgive.
6. Romans 1:32
   1. Who knowing the judgment of God – men inherently and instinctively know these things are wrong and worthy of judgment.
   2. Not only do the same – persist in doing them anyhow!
   3. But have pleasure in them that do them – Evil men have fellowship with and take pleasure in each other. Most of us have heard the saying, “Birds of a feather flock together” and “water always seeks its level.” Read John 3:19 and Philippians 3:19.

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