For several studies we have been studying the most dreadful description of the sinful human race in all literature, the description provided by the apostle Paul in Romans 1:18-32. It began with the rejection of God by all people and has proceeded to God’s abandonment of us, as a result of which human beings rapidly fall into a horrible pit of depravity, to their own hurt and the hurt of others. We come now to the last verses of Romans 1 where Paul rounds out his description by a catalogue of vices. It’s a long list, containing 21 items. How can we face such a devastating unmasking of ourselves? Some will not face it at all, of course. Even many preachers will not. These verses detail what theologians call “total depravity,” and people don’t want to hear about that. So many preachers change their message to fit today’s cultural expectations. They speak of our goodness, the potential for human betterment, the comfort of the gospel – without speaking of that for which the gospel is the cure.

Paul wrote in verse 18 that “the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” In that verse the second use of “wickedness” refers to man’s suppression of the truth about God. But at the beginning of the verse, where the term is used for the first time, “wickedness” is distinguished from “godlessness”; godlessness and wickedness are employed to designate two great categories of human evil. The first embraces the sins of man against man, those of the first table of the law. The second embraces the sins of man against man, those of the second table of the law. Generally speaking, it is the sins of “godlessness” that we have been looking at to this point; they are fundamental. However, in these last verses Paul lists examples of man’s “wickedness” (wickedness, evil, greed, depravity).

Paul, having shown earlier in this chapter that human beings hate God and would kill Him if they could, he now shows how they also hate and attempt to destroy their fellow man. In other words, the first four terms describe sins against the property and well-being of others. In the next five terms Paul details sins against the very persons of other human beings. The sins are: envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice.

It’s hard to see any meaningful groupings in Paul’s arrangement, and it may be wrong to try. However, if the first four terms catalogue sins against the property or well-being of others, and the next five list sins against other persons, it may be that the next six terms could be those of which pride is the center. They are certainly among the most harmful of these vices (gossips, slanders, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful). Up to this point all the vices mentioned are but one word in Greek. But now Paul seems to need two words each to describe the next evils: “inventors of evil things” and “disobedient to parents.” Paul concludes this devastating catalogue with these last four terms: senseless, faithless, heartless, and ruthless.

It’s hard to imagine anything more horrible than this great list of human vices, not merely because they are horrible in themselves, but also because they are with us everywhere. Yet, as horrible as this is, it is only a foretaste of what hell itself will be like; for hell is only what is described in these verses, going on and on for eternity. The basic point is that the human race has chosen to go its way without God and that as a result of this choice God has abandoned the race to the result of its own sinful choices. We have made earth hell! And we will carry that hell with us into hell, making hell even more hellish than it is already!

We need to be reminded that it is only an awareness of the horror of our sin that ever leads us to appreciate the gospel when we hear it. What if we think we are basically all right before God? What is we think ourselves good? Then we think we do not need the gospel. We think we can do without God, which is exactly what these verses are describing. When our blinders are stripped off and the depravity of the race – to which we contribute – is unfolded before us, the glory of the gospel bursts forth, and Romans 1:16 and 17 becomes for us what Martin Luther found it to be for him, namely, “the door to paradise.” The gospel is then seen to be “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” – no matter how sinful, no matter how corrupt.

We do not deserve this gospel. How could we? We couldn’t even invent it. But because God is not like us – because He is not “wicked,” “evil,” “greedy,” depraved,” “envious,” “senseless,” “faithless,” “heartless,” “ruthless,” or anything else that is bad – He not only could invent it, He did!

Romans 1:29-31 Reflection Questions:

Where in the gospel of Mathew does Jesus talk in detail about these sins?

Do you basically think that you are all right before God? Why?

Do you think of yourself as good?

So far in our study of Romans we have been concentrating on human rebellion against God, and we have seen – as Paul has explicitly told us – that the wrath of God “is being revealed from heaven” against men and women because of this rebellion. It’s clear what we have done. We have (1) suppressed the truth about God; (2) refused to glorify, or worship, God as God; and (3) declined to be thankful. As a result human beings have become “darkened” in their thinking. We have become fools. Nevertheless, up to this point we have not been told specifically of anything that God has actually done to unleash His wrath upon humanity. Now this changes. For the first time in the letter we are told – three times in succession – that God has abandoned men and women to perversion (vv. 24, 26, and 28). But here is the irony. Man’s punishment is to be abandoned by God. But, of course, this is precisely what man has been fighting for ever since Adam’s first rebellion in the Garden of Eden. Man has wanted to get rid of God, to push Him out of his life. Like the Prodigal Son, He releases the rebellious child, permitting him to depart with all his many possessions and goods for the far country.

Well! Isn’t that what we want? Yes, it’s what we think we want. But the problem is that it doesn’t turn out as we anticipate. In fact, it turns out exactly the opposite. We think of God as a miser of happiness, keeping back from us all that would make us happy. We think that by running away from Him we will be happy, wild, and free. But it doesn’t work that way. Instead of happiness we find misery. Instead of freedom we find the debilitating bondage of sin. When we run away from God we think our way will be uphill, because we want it to be so. But the way is actually downhill. We are pulled down by the law of moral gravity – when God lets go.

Down! Down! Down! It’s a sad life history, but it is the experience of all who run from God, and Paul says all men and women do run from God, trying to rearrange the universe to fit their own desires. In Romans 1:24-28, Paul marks this downward rush of the human race in three stages. We don’t know why, when he set out to trace this downward moral path of human beings, the apostle Paul concentrated on sexual sins, since he could clearly have chosen other sins as well. Perhaps it’s because sexual sins are so visible (sins of the spirit are harder to detect) or because the damage in this area is so evident or because this was the obvious, stinking cesspool of corruption of his day and, therefore, something those to whom he was writing would clearly understand. Whatever the reason – and there may be more reasons than these – it is an excellent example.

At the start of this path the Prodigal Son would no doubt extol it for its freedoms. He would speak of being free to think new thoughts, have new experiences, and shake off all that old inhibiting sense of guilt that bound him previously. But given time, the feeling changes, and the one who is running away comes inevitably to feel used, taken advantage of, dirty, and betrayed. There was once an hour-long TV special on the freewheeling lifestyle in California, interviewing particularly many women who had been caught up in it. Interestingly, their nearly universal opinion was that they have been betrayed by the sexual revolution. As one woman said, “All men want from us is our bodies; we have had enough of that to last a lifetime.” Isn’t it the case that these women were expressing precisely what Paul says in verse 25, when he observes that those who act this way “have exchanged the truth of God for a lie”?

Paul’s description of a declining society in this great first chapter in Romans unfortunately, becomes even more apparent as Paul, with almost shocking candor, begins to talk about sexual perversions, namely lesbianism and male homosexuality (vv. 26-27). For centuries these matters were hardly spoken of in western society. Although some were no doubt practicing these acts, they were considered reprehensible that a moral person not only was not to speak about them, but he or she was not even to know what such vices involved. But today? Today they are written about with explicit detail in virtually every media in our land. Grade-school children discuss them. Not only are we not shocked – but we have become complacent, as if this were a natural expression of an upright spirit.

“Natural” is the important word here – Paul uses it in verse 27, and the opposite term, “unnatural,” in verse 26 – because it explains why this stage is a further step along the downward moral path. Perhaps this is why at this point, and at no other point in his discussion of the results of our rebellion, Paul speaks of a specific judgment of God upon the sin itself (v. 27).

We have come to understand that when men and women abandoned God, God abandoned them: first, to sexual impurity and, second, to sexual perversions. Now we find that God abandons them “to a depraved mind” (v. 28). Paul is writing not just any sinful mind – he has earlier talked about the generally foolish minds and generally darkened hearts of human beings – but about the specifically “depraved mind” created by continuing down this awful path for a lifetime. At the end is a mind not merely foolish or in error, but totally depraved. It is a mind so depraved that it begins to think that what is bad is actually good and that what is good is actually bad. The evidence of this bottom stage of depravity is disclosed in Romans 1:32. A person might be ashamed of his or her action, and then repent of it. But here, at the very end of this awful downhill path of judicial abandonment described in this chapter of Romans, the individuals involved actually come to approve of what is evil.

Hopeless? Yes, but not for God. For if it were, why would Paul even be writing this letter? Although in a sense God has certainly given the race over to the natural out-workings of its rebellious ways – a judgment we see about us on all hands – in another sense God has not “given up” at all. At least He has not given up on those whom He has set His affection. If God actually did give up on humanity forever, all would be hopeless. The Lord Jesus Christ would not have come. He would not have died for our sin. There would be no gospel. But that’s not the case, Jesus did come. There is a gospel. The way back to the eternal, sovereign, holy God is open. This is the Good News. Hallelujah!

If there is the gospel, if this is still the age of God’s grace, if God has not given up on us ultimately and forever – though He will eventually do that for some one day – then we are not to give up on other people either. How can we, if we have tasted the elixir of grace ourselves? We tend to give up, at least if the sin of the one we are abandoning is different from our own. We think of others as too far gone, or as having sinned beyond the point of a genuine repentance. Or, terrible as it is, we think of their sin as proof, evidence, that God has abandoned them forever. Many have done that with homosexuals. They regard AIDS as the kind of divine judgment on this sin. Is AIDS a judgment? It may be, just like many other consequences of sin. But it is not the final judgment. And until that final judgment breaks forth on our race, it is still the day of grace in which all who know the Good News and are obeying the voice of Christ in taking it to the lost can be hopeful. The consequences of sin are dreadful. But they alone, if nothing else, should compel us forward as agents of God’s great grace and reconciliation.

Romans 1:24-28 Reflection Questions:

What’s another classic example of man running away from God found in Scripture?

Have you given up on someone or a group of people?

What could you be doing for them or how can you reach out for the lost?

Our study of Romans 1:18-21 has shown what human beings have done in terms of their relationships to God. They have (1) suppressed the truth about God; (2) refused to glorify, or worship, God; and (3) neglected to be thankful. Because of the first and perhaps also because of the second and the third of these transgressions, the wrath of God has already begun to come upon them.

But the problem not only involves people’s relationships to God. It also involves what happens to them as a secondary result of their breaking of the ties that should exist between this holy and loving Creator and His rational creatures. When Adam rebelled against God it was not only his relationship to God that was broken. His relationship to Eve was broken also, and this, too, was to affect the history of mankind. Adam acted the fool, and he became one. So also with the race as a whole; thus, having spoken of that cosmic rebellion by which the human race has set its face against God, Paul goes on to declare verses 21-23. According to these words, the first result of man’s rebellion against God, so far as he himself is concerned, is that he became a fool. His heart was darkened.

The opening phrase of verse 21 tells how perversion to idolatry initially came about. “For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God…” means there was a time when idolaters saw God as majestic, transcendent, all-powerful, infinitely greater than themselves. However, though they understood this, they did not honor Him but instead worshiped images like themselves. It’s important to see that what is involved is a falling away from high level truth, received by revelation, and not an upward climb to it.

It’s important to see this, because the world believes exactly the opposite. It tries to teach that the path of the race has been consistently upward from its original “animal” beginnings and that our present world religions or philosophies are a step upward from whatever religious sensibilities went before them. We have been taught that primitive ages of the race were marked by animism and that animism progressed upward to polytheism, which in turn produced monotheism. But this is not the way it happened. Research from anthropologists suggests that the original form of religion was monotheism and that the polytheistic or animistic religions we see today among certain “primitive” peoples are actually a falling away from that much higher standard. Claiming to be wise, we have become fools. For what could be more foolish that to have “exchanged the glory of the immortal God” for gods of our own devising?

In the midst of these important verses, Paul introduces another word that is extremely significant for understanding the nature of non-biblical religions and the human psychology that has produced them. This is the word exchanged. It occurs in verse 23 as well as verse 25. The word explains why the human race has been so determined to invent religions to replace worship of the one true God. The fact that people are religious does not prove that we are all seeking God. It proves the contrary. It proves that we are all running away from God. Although we are unwilling to know God and do not want Him, we are nevertheless unable to do without Him and try to fill the void with our substitute gods.

There is one more word we need to look at before we bring this study to a close, and that is the word darkness (v.21). Darkness is an image, of course. It’s the equivalent of Paul’s saying that “their thinking became futile” or “they became fools” or “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. When men and women turn away from God, they don’t admit this, of course. Instead, they speak of “bright new ideas,” “enlightenment” or “seeing the light.” But since God is the sole source of light, any ideas of enlightenment apart from Him that we may think we have are an illusion. And what we need is the revelation and power of God to bring us back from self-inflicted darkness into God’s light.

This is what has happened to Christians. We do not have any ability to rediscover the light of God by ourselves. Before God worked in us we were as much in the dark as anybody. In the case of Christians, God has uncovered for us the cause of our great spiritual trauma. He has dealt with our rejection of His revelation (as well as with all our other sins) in Christ, making that known to us. Then He has brought us back into harmony with Himself so that we no longer need fear Him or run away from Him but rather bask in His light.

We are also to live by His light. From Ephesians, Paul goes on to say: “Live as children of light (for the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord” (Eph. 5:8-10). If we are of the light, we must live by the light. If we know God, we must show it by being like Him.

Romans 1:21-23 Reflection Questions:

Today in the 21^st century, what idols do we use instead of worshiping God?

Are you basking in God’s light daily? What does that mean to you?

Are you living by the light? What does that mean to you?

No one likes to talk about the wrath of God, particularly if it is thought of in relation to ourselves. But if we have to think about it, as our study of these verses obviously forces us to do, we find ourselves reacting generally in one of two ways. Either (1) we argue that wrath is somehow unworthy of God, a blotch on His character, and therefore a mistaken notion that should be abandoned at once by all right-thinking people; or (2) we reply by denying that we merit God’s wrath, that we  don’t deserve it. This second reaction is the more serious of the two. So it is the one Paul tackles in the development of his argument for the need we all have of the Christian gospel.

Romans 1:18-20 contains three important concepts, which together explain why the wrath of God against men and women is justified. The first is wrath itself. It is being revealed from heaven against the ungodly, Paul says. The second is the suppression of the truth about God by human beings, a point picked up and developed more fully in verses 21-23. The third idea is God’s prior revelation of Himself to those very people who suppress the truth about Him. These concepts need to be studied in inverse order, however. For when they are considered in that order – revelation, suppression, and wrath – they teach that God has given a revelation of Himself in nature sufficient to lead any right-thinking man or woman to seek Him out and worship Him, but that, instead of doing this, people suppress this revelation. They deny it so they don’t have to follow where it leads them. It is because of this willful and immoral suppression of the truth about God by human beings that the wrath of God comes upon them.

Revelation of God in Nature: It’s important to begin this study with some important definitions and distinctions. First, a definition: natural revelation means what it sounds like, namely, the revelation of God in nature. It is sometime called “general revelation,” because it’s available to everybody. Natural revelation is distinguished from “special revelation,” which goes beyond it and is the kind of revelation we find in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, the Bible, and the revelation of the Bible’s meaning of the minds of those who read it by the Holy Spirit. When Paul talks about knowledge of God made plain to human beings as he does in this text, it is the general or natural revelation, not a specific scriptural revelation that he has in mind.

The second concept that needs to be defined here is “knowledge of God.” This is necessary because we can use the words know or knowledge in different ways. (1) Awareness: To begin on the lowest level, when we say that we know something we can be saying only that we are aware of its existence. (2) Knowing about: Knowing about something goes a step further, because knowledge in this sense may be detailed, extensive, and important. (3) Experience: The word know can also be used to refer to knowledge acquired by experience. (4) Personal: The last kind of knowledge is the highest and most important level. It is what we would call personal knowledge, the kind of knowledge we can only have of God, of ourselves, or of any human being. When the Bible speaks of knowing God in a saving way, this is what it has in mind. It involves the knowledge of ourselves in our sin and of God in His holiness and grace. It involves the knowledge of what He has done for us in Christ for our salvation and actual coming to know and love God through knowing Jesus Christ. It involves head knowledge, but also involves heart knowledge. It expresses itself in piety, worship, and devotion. It is what Jesus was speaking of when He prayed, “This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:3).

In the context of our text, of the four senses mentioned it is basically awareness, or nature that reveals God in such a way that, even without the special revelation of God that we have in the Bible, all men and women are at least aware that God exists and that they should worship Him. This awareness of God will not save them. But it is sufficient to condemn them if they fail to follow nature’s leading, as they could and should do, and seek out the true God so revealed.

Eternal Power and Divine Nature: Paul is precise here as he explains what the natural revelation involves. It consists of two elements: first, “God’s eternal power” and, second, God’s “divine nature” (v. 20). The second means quite simply that there is a God. In other words, people have no excuse for being atheists. The first means that the God, whom they know to exist, is all-powerful. People know this by definition, since a god who is not all-powerful is not really God. We can express these two ideas philosophically by the term “Supreme Being.” “Being” (with a capital “B”) refers to God’s existence. “Supreme” denotes His ultimate power. What Paul is saying is that nature contains ample and entirely convincing evidence of the existence of a Supreme Being. God exists, and we know it. Therefore, when people subsequently refuse to acknowledge and worship God, the problem is not in God or in the lack of evidence for His existence but in our own irrational and resolute determination not to know Him.

It’s important to understand that the revelation of God in nature is the limited disclosure of God’s existence and supreme power. There is no revelation of His mercy, holiness, grace, love, or the many other things necessary for us to learn if we are to know God savingly. Still, we are not to think of this limited revelation as minimal, as if somehow its limited quality alone can excuse us. According to the Bible, this natural revelation of God, though limited, is nevertheless extensive and overwhelming in its force. God’s revelation of Himself in nature does not stop with the external evidence for His existence, power, wisdom, and kindness, but it has what can be called an internal or subjective element as well. That is, not only has God given evidence for His existence; He has also given us the capacity to comprehend or receive it – though we refuse to do so.

Suppressing the Truth: This brings us to the second point of Paul’s argument in this section of Romans, the point that justifies and leads to God’s wrath; it is the human rejection of the revelation God has given. Paul’s description of what people have done in regard to natural revelation is in the phrase “who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (v. 18). Why do we do this? It’s because we prefer sin to that to which the revelation of God would take us.

If, as Paul maintains, the revelation of God in nature is fully adequate to condemn people who do not allow it to bring them to worship and serve this true God, how much more terrible and awful is the case of the vast numbers of people, particularly in our country, who have not only the natural revelation to lead them to God but also have the Bible and the proclamation of its truths in virtually every town and hamlet of our land and (by means of radio and television and social media) at almost any hour, “without excuse”? The people of Rome were without excuse, and they had nothing but nature. No Bible, no churches, no preachers! What about us who have everything? If we reject what God tells us, we are a thousand times more guilty. No excuse! “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (Heb. 2:3).

Romans 1:18-20 Reflection Questions:

What is your opinion of the “wrath of God,” do you believe it still applies in today’s world as it did in the Old Testament days?

Why do you think this country has so many atheists?

Who do you know to invite to church?

Paul’s confidence in the power of the gospel, an underlying and recurrent theme of the book of Romans, is revealed here in two of the most powerful and cherished verses in all of the Bible. Paul had to be one of the gutsiest guys in all of history. This bow-legged, poor-sighted, little Jewish rabbi was ready to preach the gospel in Rome.

Rome was a city wherein anti-Semitism had reared its ugly head, resulting in waves of brutal persecution. Rome was the home of Caesar Nero, the madman who was determined to exterminate Christianity. Nero, the one who dressed thousands of Christians in the skins of lambs and threw them to wolves and lions as he cried, “Where is your Good Shepherd now, little flock?” Nero was the one who dipped Christians in hot wax and lit them as candles in his garden while he shrieked, “How does it feel to be the light of the world now, Christians?” Rome was the entertainment capital of the world with a moral standard so low it would make Hollywood blush. Rome was the military mecca where generals and captains paraded pompously on the backs of black stallions. Rome was where the accepted greeting of the day was, “Caesar is lord.”

For a Jewish Christian who claimed no other Lord than One who commanded no army, One who made His triumphal entry on the back of a donkey, One who was pinned to a Cross by Roman soldiers, to preach a message of repentance in Rome, would take guts indeed. Why could Paul not only declare that he wasn’t ashamed of the gospel, but that he was ready to preach it in Rome? In this study I’d like to suggest eight reasons why we shouldn’t be ashamed of this gospel.

The Gospel is “Good News”: The first reason why we should not be ashamed of the gospel is the meaning of the word gospel itself. It means “good news,” and no rational person should be ashamed of a desirable proclamation. It’s good news about what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. It is the best news imaginable.

The Way of Salvation: The second reason why we should not be ashamed of the gospel is that it is about “salvation.” And not just any salvation, it is about the saving of ourselves. Left to ourselves, we are in desperate trouble. We are in trouble now because we are at odds with God, other people, and ourselves. We are also in trouble in regard to the future; for we are on a path of increasing frustration and despair, and at the end we must face God’s just wrath and condemnation. We are like swimmers drowning in a vast ocean of cold water or explorers sinking in a deep bog of quicksand. But there is good news! God has intervened to rescue us through the work of His divine Son, Jesus Christ.

God’s Way of Salvation: The third reason why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel is that it is God’s way of salvation and not man’s way. How could Paul be proud of something that has its roots in the abilities of sinful men and women or is bounded by mere human ideas? The world doesn’t lack such ideas. There are countless schemes for salvation, countless self-help programs. But these are all foolish and inadequate. What is needed is a way of salvation that comes not from man, but from God! That is what we have in Christianity! Christianity is God’s reaching out to save perishing men and women, not sinners reaching out to seize God.

The Power of God:  This leads to the fourth reason why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel, the matter he chiefly emphasizes in our text: The gospel is powerful. That is, it is not only good news, not only a matter of salvation, not only a way of salvation from God; it is also powerful enough to accomplish God’s purpose, which is to save us from sin’s pollution. It’s important to understand what’s involved here, for it is easy to misconstrue Paul’s teaching. When Paul says that “the gospel…is the power of God for salvation,” he is not saying that the gospel is about God’s power, as if it were merely pointing us to a power beyond our own. Nor is Paul saying that the gospel is the source of a power we can get and use to save ourselves. Paul’s statement is not that the gospel is about God’s power or even a channel through which that power operates, but rather that the gospel is itself that power. That is, the gospel is powerful; it is the means by which God accomplishes salvation in those who are being saved. He means that is, it’s the actual preaching of the gospel that the power of God is demonstrated in the saving of men and women.

A Gospel for Everyone: The fifth reason why Paul was not ashamed of this gospel is that it is a gospel for everyone – “everyone who believes.” It is “first for the Jew” and then also “for the Gentile.” Paul’s phrase has led readers to think that he was saying that the Jew was above the Gentile or than other people. But of course, this is not what Paul intends. In this text Paul means exactly the same thing Jesus meant when told the woman of Samaria that “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). Both were speaking chronologically. Paul’s point is that the gospel is for Gentile and Jew alike. It is for everyone!

Salvation Revealed to Sinners: The sixth reason why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel is that God has revealed this way of salvation to us. If God had not revealed the gospel, we would not know of it and would be living with the same dreary outlook on life as the unsaved. But the gospel is revealed. Now we not only know about the Good News but are also enabled to proclaim God’s revelation. When Paul says that the gospel of God “is revealed,” he is saying that it is only by revelation that we can know it. It is not something we could ever have figured out for ourselves.

A Righteousness from God: The seventh reason why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel is that it concerns a righteousness from God, which is what we need. In ourselves we are not the least bit righteous. On the contrary, we are corrupted by sin and are in rebellion against God. To be saved from wrath we need a righteousness that is of God’s own nature, a righteousness that comes from God and fully satisfies God’s demands. This is what we have! It is why Paul can begin his exposition of the Good News in chapter 3 by declaring, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify” (v. 21).

By Faith from First to Last: The eighth and final reason why the apostle Paul was not ashamed of the gospel is that the means by which this glorious gift becomes ours is faith, which means that salvation is accessible to “everyone who believes.” What does Paul mean when he writes “a righteousness that is by faith from first to last?” The meaning of the phrase is that the righteousness that is by faith (the first “faith”) is revealed to the perceiving faith of the believer (the second “faith”). This means that the gospel is revealed to you and is for you – if you will have it.

Romans 1:16-17 Reflection Questions:

Have you ever been ashamed of the gospel?

How are you proclaiming the gospel?

Do you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

The NIV says “I am bound” and the RSV says “I am under obligation” which should be properly translated “I am [a] debtor” (AV). What Paul is saying in a sense is that he is in debt, not because he has borrowed anything from the Romans, but because Jesus Christ has entrusted him with the gospel for them. Several times in his letters he writes of having been “put in trust with the gospel”. It is true that this metaphor is one of stewardship (or trusteeship) rather than indebtedness, but the underlying thought is the same. It is Jesus Christ who has made Paul a debtor by committing the gospel to his trust. He was in debt to the Romans. As apostle to the Gentiles he was particularly in debt to the Gentile world, both to Greeks and non-Greeks (literally “barbarians”), both to the wise and the foolish (v. 14). Why did Paul feel this way? Because he was amazed at the goodness of God that saved him so radically at the very time he was erring so greatly.

Actually, the gospel has always been for everybody. God reminded Peter that the gospel was for Roman military officers, like Cornelius, as well as for those, like the Jews, were ceremonially “clean. (Acts 10:34-35). Jesus showed the geographical scope of the gospel’s proclamation in Acts version of the Great Commission (Acts 1:8). How easily we forget this! Christians forget, or at least willfully ignore, that the gospel is for people other than themselves. Unbelievers argue, as an excuse, that the gospel is for other types of people.

The gospel is for you if you are among the educated of our world. You need this ancient Christian gospel. Whatever your educational attainments, however wise you may be, you are still a sinful man or woman and are cut off from God who made you and to whom you must one day give account for your many sins. You are mortal. One day you will die. You will enter eternity with or without the Lord Jesus Christ – just as surely as any other man or woman. Your intellect and education are great gifts. But it is God who has given them to you. And if you do not thank Him for these gifts and use them in ways that honor Him, you are more deserving of judgment than those who are unintelligent. You need a Savior. The apostle Paul had one of the best educations of his day, having been taught in the wisdom of the Greeks as well as in the religious traditions of Israel. He was a Roman citizen too! But Paul learned that the gospel of the crucified Son of God alone was true wisdom.

The Greeks called “barbarians” all who were not Greek, the next category of people to whom Paul says he was obliged to preach the gospel. “Barbarian” did not have the negative overtones to the Greeks as it has for us, barbarians were people who didn’t speak Greek. Although the word “barbarian” didn’t have quite the negative overtones it has for us – some of the “barbarians” were quite cultured people – it nevertheless had some. Greek was the language of the educated. Since the histories, epics, and plays were in Greek, to be a barbarian was to be cut off from this cultural storehouse. Perhaps you are a person who feels yourself similarly disadvantaged. I suppose there are more people today who feel themselves to be cut off from the mainstream of society than there are people who feel a part of it.

You may feel cut off because of a lack of educational opportunities, or because of your race, or because of your low income, which shows in the clothes you wear, the neighborhood you live in, the car you drive, and many other distinctions. We too often forget that Jesus Christ didn’t go first to the wise, wealthy, or influential citizens of His day, but to the everyday people, whoever and wherever they were. The important people didn’t like Him for it! They called Him a friend to drunkards and sinners. Nevertheless, that is where He went. His friends were carpenters, fishermen, tax collectors, and others who worked hard for a living. After His death and resurrection, when the gospel began to spread beyond the geographical borders of Israel, it was among the working people – often among slaves – that it advanced most readily.

At the close of his statement of obligation to the Greeks and non-Greeks, the wise and unwise, Paul explains his views by declaring, “That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.” When he mentions “you who are at Rome” Paul isn’t adding a new category, for the Romans fit within the earlier Greek or non-Greek, wise or foolish groupings. The church at Rome included every conceivable type of man or woman and was therefore itself all-embracing. In essence Paul is saying, “The gospel is for you, whoever you may be and wherever you may find yourself.” The gospel is for everyone everywhere, whoever you are, you need the gospel. The world needs the gospel and the gospel it needs is the whole gospel of God’s grace to sinners through the atoning death of Jesus Christ. If you are not a Christian, you need to hear this and come to the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. If you are a Christian, you need to make this great news known to other people, as Paul did!

Romans 1:14-15 Reflection Questions:

Jesus has committed the gospel to your trust; what are you doing to share the gospel to the world?

What are some of your prejudices that you may have in regards to spreading the gospel?

If you are not a Christian, get with a Christian to help you come the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior!

I think most of us have heard the story of the little boy who was praying for a bicycle for Christmas. His was a poor family, so when Christmas morning came there was no bicycle. A friend of the family, who was not too sensitive about such things, said to the boy, “Well, I see God didn’t answer your prayer for a bicycle.” The boy replied, “Yes, He did; He said No.” Most of us are aware that No is an answer every bit as much as Yes. But I have always felt that the story of the little boy’s prayer doesn’t quite get to the heart of the prayer problem. To receive a bicycle might be nice, but it is clearly not essential. Nor is it spiritual. Most of us understand that when we pray for things like bicycles – a better job, more money, success in a business deal, or the resolution of certain personal problems – there is no real reason why we should expect a Yes answer. God may give what we ask for, but again He may not. We accept that. But what about prayers that really are spiritual? What about prayers that are (or at least seem to be) unselfish? What happens when these prayers are not answered? This is where the real problem with prayer lies and why the people who have trouble with it are not the novices in prayer, as we might suspect – novices do not expect much from prayer anyway – but rather the church’s mature believers. It is the saints who feel the burden of unanswered prayer. It is the godly who wrestle with it strenuously.

In the case of Paul’s prayer, recounted in Romans 1, we have a superb example of precisely this problem. Why is it such a good example? First, it is a prayer by an apostle. This doesn’t mean he is without sin, of course. Nor does it mean that all of Paul’s prayers were spiritual. Second, Paul’s prayer was a proper prayer: It is to the Father on the basis of the atoning work of Jesus Christ and, although Paul doesn’t say so explicitly, it was undoubtedly also in the Holy Spirit. There is one more thing to see about this prayer, the third item: It was a prayer for right things. Paul might have prayed for something that would only have enhanced his prestige or personal comfort; that is, he might have prayed selfishly. But that was not the case here at all. He wanted to assist in the spiritual growth and fruitfulness of the Roman believers. This was an entirely worthy and quite spiritual motive. Yet, Paul was prevented from coming. His prayer was not answered positively. Paul doesn’t suggest a reason why his prayers were unanswered, and the fact that he doesn’t opens the door for us to reflect on why prayers like this – including the best of our own prayers – go unanswered.

There may be several reasons why perfectly proper prayers may go unanswered and what we may learn from this. The first is: Unanswered prayer may be God’s way of teaching that we are not as necessary to the work we are praying for as we think we are. This is clear in Paul’s case. Paul had been praying that he might be permitted to travel to Rome to serve and strengthen the Roman Christians. But noble as this desire may have been, it is also clear that the believers in Rome were doing quite well without him. They were doing well without any apostle or noteworthy teacher. Paul testifies to this when he records that their strong faith was being reported on all over the world (v. 8).

The second reason why perfectly proper prayers of ours may be unanswered is that God may have other work for us to do. This seems to have been the chief (perhaps the only) reason why God did not send the great apostle to Rome earlier. Paul speaks of his ministry among the remote cities of the Gentiles as a fulfillment of Isaiah 52:15 in the fifteenth chapter of Romans. Then he adds, somewhat unexpectedly, “This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you (v. 22). Paul recognized that delay in reaching Rome was for the sake of the Christian mission elsewhere. We need to learn this too, and be content through learning it.

The third reason why our prayers may go unanswered for a time is the hardest to understand: There may be spiritual warfare of which you and I are unaware (2 Cor. 12:7, 9; Dan. 10:1-14). Spiritual battles are mysteries to us because we cannot see the warfare. But there are spiritual battles, and we need to know about them. They are an important reason why some of our prayers go unanswered.

In the last study I asked the question, “Does prayer change things or change people?” I answered, “Both.” Prayer changes things (or circumstances) because it is a God-ordained way of changing them. But prayer also (perhaps chiefly) changes people, as pointed out. It’s important that we return to that point now, because, in addition to all that has been said so far, one important reason for God not answering prayer is deficiency in us. And so, prayer needs to change us before it changes circumstances. What needs changing in us?

1)Unconfessed sin: There are more verses in the Bible saying that God will not answer prayers than there are verses that say He will, and one of the chief categories of verses that deal with unanswered prayer concerns sin. 2) Wrong motives: James spoke of this when he said, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3). 3) Laziness: It is said of Elijah that he prayed “earnestly” that it would not rain and that it did not rain for three and a half years (James 5:17). Prayer was a serious business with him. One reason our prayers are not answered is that we are not really serious about them. 4) We are too busy: Sometimes we are too busy to pray “earnestly.” If we are too busy to pray, what we are really saying is that we consider the things we are doing to be more important than praying. Idols in the heart: Is an idol keeping you from having prayers answered? Is that idol a person, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a wife, a husband, your children, is it your job, your lifestyle, your social position, your worldly reputation, your image of yourself, and are you  determined above all else to be “successful”? To place anything ahead of God is idolatry! 6) Stinginess in our giving: If you do not give to the needy, God will not give to you when you ask Him for something (see Prov. 21:13). 7) Unbelief: The greatest cause of failure in our prayer, and the area in which we most need to be changed, is unbelief. If we do not believe God’s Word unquestioningly, why should we get what we pray for? Is it any surprise that our prayers are unanswered?

Here you are someone who has been praying earnestly for something for a long time and has not had an answer. As we have seen, there are numerous reasons why a positive answer may be delayed, all the way from spiritual warfare in the heavenlies to our sin or unbelief. What are to do? Should you keep on battering the brass doors of heaven with ineffectual petitions? Or should you accept God’s rejection? Should you quit praying? The answer is in Jesus’ parable of the importunate widow, which Luke tells and teaches us that we “should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). Prayer may change us. It may change history. But whatever the case, we must keep on praying! Paul kept praying, and he got to Rome eventually.

Romans 1:13 Reflection Questions:

How do you feel when your prayers go unanswered?

Have you ever realized that your prayers of being answered positively were being delayed? If so how did you respond?

Why do you think you prayers are not being answered?

This study is not a “how-to” for an effective prayer ministry. Rather, it’s a glimpse into the apostle Paul’s own prayer life – into his pattern of prayer for Christians in the growing church at Rome – and is therefore a model for us as we think about our own prayer patterns, or lack of them.

There are a number of things I want you to see about this passage, and the first is this: A strong prayer life is not the least bit inconsistent with vigorous and fervent service for the Lord. It shouldn’t be necessary to say this, of course, but we often separate the two in our thinking. We reason that some are called to be “prayer warriors” and some are called to work. Some people are called to a special ministry of prayer perhaps because of some physical handicap. Prayer warriors are needed. But this doesn’t mean that those who are active in Christian work (or any kind of work) do not also need to be strong in praying for God’s direction and blessing. Here is where the example of Paul is so helpful.

Prayer is not inconsistent with vigorous Christian activity. On the contrary, and this is the second point: Prayer directs Christian service properly. Again the apostle Paul is our model. We can think of examples of people who are engaged in Christian work but who don’t seem to be going about it in the right way. Either they use the world’s methods, which produce the world’s results. Or else their goals seem to be secular rather than truly Christian. As we read what Paul says about his prayer life in this chapter, we see that this was not the case with him. He prayed about his work, and as a result God directed it to be done in a spiritual way and for spiritual ends. He says several things about it: Paul’s service was sincere, or wholehearted; Paul’s service was gospel-centered; and Paul’s service was for others.

Prayer will overcome an undue oppression from criticism. Prayer will redirect our energies, so we will not be so tired. Prayer will strengthen us for doing what needs to be done in spite of our tiredness. Prayer will keep us from temptation.

The third point of this passage is that prayer makes the service of the praying one effective. If you are praying for someone, don’t think your prayers are ineffective just because God is not using you to fulfill the request. God has infinite means at His disposal. He may be answering your prayers by others’ service. When Paul prayed that the way might be opened for him to come to Rome, he prayed, as he tells us, that the door might be opened “by God’s will” (v. 10). That is, Paul was praying first that the will of God might be done and only secondly that he might come to Rome. Paul did get to Rome eventually. It wasn’t when he would have chosen, and it certainly wasn’t in the manner he would have chosen. But he did get there, and God did use him to reach many in the capital. Were Paul’s prayers answered? Of course, they were. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16b KJV).

There is one last thing I want you to see in this study. Not only is prayer not inconsistent with a life of active service for Jesus Christ, and not only (on the contrary) does it direct that service and make it effective – Prayer also changes the one praying so that he or she increasingly becomes the kind of person through whom God can accomplish His purpose. This was true of Paul. By temperament he was not a particularly gracious individual – at least, that is how it seems to me. In his early days he was cruel. He killed those who disagreed with him. Even after he became a Christian I’m sure he had his bad moments. He quarreled with Barnabas over John Mark, for instance. Yet how gracious he is in this letter! Paul writes of his desire to visit Rome “so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong” (v. 11). But no sooner has he said this than Paul, not desiring to set himself up above the believers at Rome as if he were somehow superior to them, immediately adds as an important qualification “that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith” (v. 12). That is an insight into the life of a man who had been changed by prayer and who was being used by God greatly.

Sometimes people ask, “Does prayer change things, or does prayer change people?” It is a good question, and the answer probably is “both.” Prayer does change things, since God responds to prayer and frequently alters circumstances because of it. James points to this result when he says, “You do not have, because you do not ask God” (James 4:2b). On the other hand, I’m convinced that far more frequently God uses prayer to change us. Because by it He brings us into His presence, opens our eyes to spiritual realities, and makes His perspectives ours.

Romans 1:9-12 Reflection Questions:

How would you compare your prayer life with Paul’s?

Have you lost your desire to serve others (either secular or Christian work)? Prayer can help.

How has your prayer life changed you? Journal on it and give thanks to God!

In the first chapter of Romans, in a section that is second, informal introduction to his letter (vv. 8-15), the apostle Paul speaks about a reputation that the Christians at Rome had acquired, and the important point is that he thanks God for it. Their reputation was for faith, and what Paul tells us is that their faith was being spoken about all over the world. This does not mean that every individual in every remote hamlet of the globe had heard of the faith of the Roman Christians, of course, but it does mean that their faith was becoming widely known – no doubt because other Christians were talking about it. “Do you know that there is a group of believers in Rome?” they were asking. “Have you heard how strong their faith is, how faithfully they are trying to serve Jesus Christ in that wicked city?” Since Paul begins his comment by thanking God for this reputation, it is apparent that however worthless some worldly reputations of some worldly person may be, this reputation at least was worth having. Why is a reputation for faith worth having? The text suggests four reasons.

1. A Genuine Faith: The first reason that the reputation of the Christians at Rome was worth having is that the faith on which it was based was genuine. It was a true faith. This is an important place to begin, because there is much so-called faith that is non-biblical faith and is therefore a flawed and invalid basis for any reputation.
2. A Contagious Faith: The second reason why the reputation for faith that the Christians at Rome had was worth having is that it was a contagious faith. I mean by this that it was a faith not merely heard of and talked about throughout the known world, but that it was also a faith picked up by and communicated to others. Because of this faith, the Roman church grew and the gospel of the Roman congregation spread.
3. Faith That Encourages Others: There is a third reason why the reputation for faith that the church at Rome had was worth having: it was an encouragement to other believers elsewhere, including even the apostle Paul himself. In verse 12 Paul speaks of this as an anticipated outcome of his proposed trip to Rome: “that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” That expectation was still future. But Paul could look forward to it and speak so confidently of its happening because reports of the Roman Christians” faith had undoubtedly already been a source of encouragement to him.
4. Faith: The Central Item: The last reason why the reputation of the Christians at Rome was worth having is that faith, and not some other attainment or virtue, is the essential item in life. Faith in Jesus Christ is what matters. Knowledge is good; Christianity considers knowledge quite important. Good works are necessary; without them we have no valid reason for believing that an individual is saved. The fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23) – is essential. But faith alone – faith in Christ as Lord and Savior – is essential. For “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6a). Without faith no one can be justified.

I wonder if we have the spirit of the apostle at this point. Is this the way we actually evaluate other Christian works and testimony? I think we evaluate other works first on the basis of size. When we hear of a church that has ten thousand members, we are ten times more impressed than if we learn of a church that has only one hundred members. Let me be clear, I’m not against large churches. I’m glad for them; large churches can do things smaller churches cannot do. We may thank God for numerical growth, but what we should be especially thankful for is strong faith. Is this what we modern Christians are known for; strong faith? Is our faith, like the faith of the Roman church of Paul’s day, spoken through-out the world?

Another thing we do is evaluate Christian work on the basis of programs. The more the better! Or, the more original the better, particularly if the people involved can write a book about it! Again, I’m not against programs. Right programs are for the sake of the people and rightly minister to them. But is this the proper way to evaluate churches? Do programs prove God’s blessings? You know the answer to that. I don’t think the fledgling, first-century church at Rome had many programs, certainly not the kind of things we mean by programs. But it was a famous church – and rightly so. For it was known for what was essential, which is faith! Is that what we are known for? Do people say to us, “How strong is their faith in God and in Jesus Christ”?

I think we are also impressed by big budgets and big buildings. Again, I’m not against either budgets or buildings. Without adequate financing many worthwhile Christian works cannot be done, and without adequate meeting spaces much important activity is hindered. Still, a proper concern for budgets and buildings is quite different from evaluating a work on the basis of how large the budget is or how spacious and modern the church structure has become. The Roman church of Paul’s day probably just met in people’s houses. Yet it was a church whose faith was known throughout the world. Are we known for that? Or is the best thing that other Christians can say about us is that we have a seven-figure budget or impressive church structures?

Faith really is the essential thing, not members or programs, not budgets or buildings. It is by faith that we “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). The apostle John said “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

Romans 1:8 Reflection Questions:

What is your reputation in the world? What is the reputation of your church from your community? What will you do to enhance that reputation for God’s glory?

What is your definition of a genuine faith? Is it biblically based?

What do you think people are saying about your church? Is it strong in faith?

There was a great deal of travel in the ancient world, much more than we might suppose. Rome was the center of these comings and goings. Undoubtedly, people who had been brought to Christ as a result of Paul’s Gentile mission went to and from Rome, and many undoubtedly settled there. This would explain how Paul came to know as many of the Roman Christians as he did, and it would explain why Paul wasn’t hesitant to write to this church to seek its prayer support for his trip to Jerusalem as well as its financial backing for his projected missionary excursion to Spain (Rom. 15:24, 30-31). It would also explain why, although the church was undoubtedly composed of both Jews and Gentiles, Paul writes to these believers largely as Gentiles. We see this as early as verse 6, where the phrase naturally picks up from the description of Paul’s commission in verse 5: “to call people from among all the Gentiles.”

The interesting thing about the end of this introduction to the letter is what it tells us about the spiritual origins of these people. Here is a group of people who were in the midst of a corrupt pagan society, yet were entirely different from the mainstream. How did they get to be different? How did they become Christians? In these verses Paul tells us four important things about the early church at Rome.

1.       The Christians at Rome, like all Christians, were called to belong to Jesus Christ. This is a general description of Christians, which is different from the similar phrase “called to be saints” that occurs in the next verse. What does it mean? Some people have read verse 6 as if it were describing Christians as people “called by Jesus Christ,” because the Greek can be translated that way. But the NIV is undoubtedly correct when it inserts the words “to belong to.” The sense is not that Jesus has called Christians – that is a work usually attributed to God the Father – but rather that, as a result of God’s calling, Christians are attracted to Jesus and have their true life in that relationship. A Christian is one who belongs to Jesus Christ. That is what makes him or her different and why such a one inevitably seeks the company of others who also belong to Jesus. Does this describe you? Do you belong to Jesus Christ? If you do, you will live like it. If you do not, you are no true Christian, regardless of your outward profession.

2.       The Christians at Rome, like all Christians, were loved by God the Father. God’s love is an electing, saving love. So the statement “loved by God” actually describes how those who are Christians come to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ in the first place. Some think that people become believers by their own unaided choice, as if all we have to do is decide to trust Jesus. But how could we possibly do that if, as we have seen Paul say, each of us is “dead in…transgressions and sins”? How can a dead man decide anything? Some have supposed that we become Christians because God in His omniscience sees some small bit of good in us, even if that “good” is only a tiny seed of faith. But how could God see good in us if, as Paul will later remind us: “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one (Rom. 3:12). Why then does God love us? The answer is “because He loves us.” There is just nothing to be said beyond that. It is love and love only. The most important thing is that God has loved us. Therefore, we should love and serve Him.

3.       The Christians at Rome, like all Christians, were called to be believers by God. Here is the same idea that occurs earlier in the phrase “called to belong to Jesus Christ”; but although the meaning of the verb is the same, the emphasis here is different. In the earlier phrase the emphasis was on what is means to be a Christian. A Christian is one who belongs to Jesus Christ; this is his identity. Here the emphasis is on the call itself, and it is a follow-up to the truth that Christians have been loved by God. First loved; then called. Left to ourselves, we are all spiritual corpses. We cannot do anything. But when God calls savingly, some of these spiritual corpses come to spiritual life and do God’s bidding. Anyone who has been saved by God has heard this call in some way and has responded to it.

4.       The Christians at Rome, like all Christians, are called saints. Here “saint” does not mean what it has come to mean in large sectors of the Christian church: one who has attained a certain level of holiness and is therefore worthy of some special veneration or even hearing human prayers. In the Bible, being a saint or being sanctified always means being separated to God and His work, precisely what Paul said of himself in verse 1 in the words “set apart for the gospel of God.” Having been loved by God and called by Him, to live for Him and work for Him in this world. This is why the faith of the Roman Christians was “being reported all over the world,” as Paul says it was in verse 8. Because they had been called by God and were separated to Him, these believers were different from the culture around them; and people noticed it! Their being saints was not the cause but the result of their election.

The one who has been loved and called by God does obey God and does follow after Him. Yet this involves struggle. It requires the grace and peace of God each step of the rugged upward way. When Paul closes his introduction with the wish that the believers at Rome might experience “grace and peace…from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ,” he is not merely passing on a traditional Christian greeting. He is wishing them what they, and we also, need every day we remain on this planet. We have been saved by grace. We must live by grace also. Just as we live moment by moment by moment by drawing on His favor. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5b); and peace? We always need peace, for these are not peaceful times. Only fools think them peaceful. These are troublesome times. But those who are in Christ and are drawing on Him for their strength live peacefully in the midst of them.

I close with Paul’s own prayer for those great Roman Christians: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” What great gifts these are! What a wonderful and inexhaustible source of supply!

Romans 1:6-7 Reflection Questions:

What Psalm is Paul quoting in Romans 3:12?

How are you loving and serving God, because He loved you first? How are you responding to God’s call?

Do people today notice the difference in those who profess to be Christians? Do they see a difference in you?

Are you drawing on Jesus Christ for your strength to get you through these troublesome times we are all going through?