Romans 1

CHAPTER 1THEME: Paul’s personal greetings; Paul’s purpose; Paul’s three “I ams”; a natural revelation of God; subnatural response of man; unnatural retrogression of manThis opening chapter is an inclusive as it embraces the introduction, the missionary motives of the great apostle, the definition of the gospel, and the condition of man in sin which necessitates the gospel. This chapter furnishes the tempo for the entire epistle. Romans teaches the total depravity of man. Man is irrevocably and hopelessly lost. He must have the righteousness of God since he has none of his own. It is interesting to note that this great document of Christian doctrine, which was addressed to the church at Rome to keep it from heresy, did not accomplish its purpose. The Roman church moved the farthest from the faith which is set forth in the Epistle to the Romans. It is an illustration of the truth of this epistle that man does not understand, neither does he seek after God. Verses Rom_1:16 and Rom_1:17 have long been recognized as the key to the epistle. These two verses should be memorized and the meaning of each word digested. The words will be dealt with individually when we come to them.

Romans 1:1

PAUL’S PERSONAL GREETINGSThe name Paul comes from the Latin Paulus, meaning “little.” (He was Saul of Tarsus but was also called Paul as indicated by Act_13:9). Paul identified himself to the Romans in the very beginning as a slave, or doulos, of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took the position of a servant willingly. The Lord Jesus Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, but He never makes us His slaves. You must come voluntarily to Him and make yourself His slave. He will never force you to serve Him. He said even to Jerusalem, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!” (Luk_13:34).

On another occasion our Lord said, “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (Joh_5:40). It is wonderful beyond measure that you have the privilege of making yourself a bondslave to the Lord Jesus Christ. You must do it on your own; He will not force you. On the road to Damascus, the Lord said to Paul, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” And Paul replied, “Who art thou, Lord?” He said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” It was at this moment that Paul came to know Him as his Savior. Then Paul’s question was, “What wilt thou have me to do?” (see Act_9:4-6). This is when Paul made himself a bondslave of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle"the infinitive of the verb “to be” is not in the original manuscripts. Paul was a “called apostle"called is an adjectivehe means that he is that kind of an apostle. It was not his decision that made him an apostle. It was God’s decision, and God called him. Paul first made himself a bondslave of Christ, and now he is a called apostle, a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. One whom He has chosen is the only kind of servant God will use.

There are too many men in the ministry today whom God has not called. Paul could say, “…woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (1Co_9:16). You may remember that Jeremiah was called when he was a child (Jer_1:4-10). God said of the false prophets, “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied” (Jer_23:21). Jeremiah was a called prophet, and Paul was a called apostle. Paul says that he is an apostle, which means “one who is sent.” Our Lord said that he that is sent [apostle] is not greater than he that sent him (see Joh_13:16). The same word occurs again in Php_2:25. The word has the technical meaning in the New Testament of one chosen by the Lord Jesus to declare the gospel. He must be a witness of the resurrected Christ. Paul said that the resurrected Christ had appeared to him. “And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time” (1Co_15:8). Then Paul asks the rhetorical question, “Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? …” (1Co_9:1). Another evidence that Paul was an apostle was that he had what we call “sign gifts.” He said that he could speak other languages, other tongues. I believe that when he went through the Galatian country, for instance, into that area along the Aegean Sea where there were so many Greek cities and tribes in which unfamiliar languages were spoken, Paul was able to speak the language of each tribe as he came among them. He had the apostolic gift of tongues. Also he had the gift of healing, a gift that I do not believe is in existence today. When God heals in our day, He does it directly. I tell folk that I take my case directly to the Great Physician, not to one of the interns.

I know that God heals, but He does not give that gift to men in our day. However, Paul had the gift of healing; he was an apostle. He could also raise the dead. We have records of both Peter and Paul raising the dead. They were apostles. Now, Paul is a bondslave of Jesus Christ; he is a called apostle; and he is “separated unto the gospel of God.” Notice that “separated” is used with the preposition unto, not from. He was separated unto the gospel of God. The word separated is a marvelous word. There are several words that have almost an opposite meaning. For instance, there is the word cleave. An object can cleave to something or an object can be cleaved asunder. One time cleave can mean to join together and another time it can mean to separate. Paul was a separated Christian, but he was separated to something, not from something.

I am afraid that many Christians today are only separated from something. When I hear some people talk, I get the idea that they are doing a spiritual striptease. They say, “I don’t do this and I don’t do that anymore.” Well, my friend, unto what are you separated? Paul tells us that the Thessalonians turned to God from idols. They did not get up in a testimonial meeting and say, “We do not go to the temple of Apollo anymore.” There was no need to say that because they were separated unto the Lord Jesus Christ. A Christian who is separated from something and not separated unto Christ will have a barren life.

His life will be without joy, and he will become critical and sometimes cynical. A phrase in the marriage ceremony I use says, “Do you promise to love and to keep yourself unto her (or him) and no one else?” This is separation unto one person. That is what marriage is. Imagine a fellow on the first night of his honeymoon saying to his new bride, “I have a girlfriend in this town. I think I will go to see her.” There are many Christians who practice that kind of “separation”! If you are separated unto Christ, you will have a life that appeals rather than one that turns people off.

A little Chinese girl once said, “Christians are salt. Salt makes you thirsty.” Think it over, friend. Do you make anyone thirsty for Christ, the Water of Life? The word separated is the Greek word aphorizo, the same word from which we get our word horizon. I have noticed when taking off on a plane that the horizon becomes enlarged. I remember a flight from Athens, Greece. When we took off, I tried to see the Acropolis and the ocean, but I could not see a thing. We had not gone far when I could see the ocean, the Acropolis, the outer islands, and the mountains. The higher we flew, the wider was the horizon. It is wonderful to be separated unto Christ because He brings you to the place where your horizons are enlarged. This is what Paul is talking about in 1Co_13:11 when he says, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” I can recall a time in my early boyhood when I used to play house. Because there was a bunch of girls in the neighborhood and only a couple of boys, in order to play, we played house with the girls. There came a day, friend, when I outgrew that stuff, and I went outside and played baseball. The girls would say, “Let’s play house.” I would reply, “No, I am playing first base on the team. I am not interested in playing house anymore.” I had a new horizon. Today I am not only uninterested in playing baseball, I can’t play baseball. But I am interested in something else. My horizons have widened. And, friend, when you are separated unto Christ, it doesn’t mean you become little and narrow. Rather, life broadens out to include innumerable thrilling and wonderful experiences. Now notice that Paul says he is separated unto “the gospel of God.” In other words, man did not create the gospel. When you and I arrived on the scene, the gospel had been in existence for over nineteen hundred years. He didn’t wait until we got here to see if we had a better plan. It is God’s gospel. We can take it or leave it. The gospel was originated by God.

Romans 1:2

The gospel is not brand new. It was promised by His prophets all the way through the Old Testament. It is a message that God loves mankind and that God presents a way of saving mankind. It brings us into a love relationship. He loves us and gave Himself for us. How wonderful! Verses Rom_1:2-6 form a parenthesis which gives a definition of the gospel. First of all, it is all about Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:3

The word concerning is the little Greek preposition periused also in periscope and perimeterand means “that which encircles.” The gospel is all about Jesus Christ. It is what He has done. It is “concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” We have His full title here. He is the Son of God, and He is Jesus Christ our Lord. That is His wonderful name. We often hear today that we need the religion of Jesus. My friend, He had no religion. He didn’t need oneHe is God.

What we need today is to have a religion that is about Jesus, that surrounds Him, that is all about what He has done. Jesus Christ actually is God. He cannot worship; He is to be worshiped. Somebody objects, “But He prayed.” Yes, because He took the place of humanity. He prayed as a means of accommodation. For instance, at the grave of Lazarus the Bible says, “…Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me” (Joh_11:41-42). My friend, He prayed to help our faith, but He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that He also is of the seed (the sperm) of David, according to the flesh. This is the humanity of Jesus. He is virgin-born because He is declaredhorizoned out to bethe Son of God with power.

Romans 1:4

You see, the Resurrection did not make Him the Son of God; it simply revealed who He was. Declared is from the same Greek word horizo, which we have seen before. Jesus is declared, He is horizoned, the Son of God. This gives us the perfect humanity of Christ and the perfect deity of Christ. One of the oldest creeds in the church states that He is very man of very man and that He is very God of very God. And Paul said it before the creed was written. Here it is. Jesus Christ is not any more man because He is God, and He is not any less God because He is man. He is God-man. He is declared to be the Son of God “according to the spirit of holiness.” This could mean the human spirit of Jesus, but I personally believe the reference is to the Holy Spirit. I believe the Trinity is in view here. Now notice that He is declared to be the Son of God “by the resurrection from the dead.” The Resurrection proves everything. It is Resurrection that sets Him forth as the Son of God. As you read through the Bible you will discover that the Lord Jesus Christ is presented in the power of His resurrection. First He is seen in the days of His flesh, walking upon the earth, despised and rejected of men. He is seen even in weakness as He sits down to rest at a well and as He sleeps through a storm on the sea. And He finally is brought to ignominy and shame and death upon a cross.

Although He was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, there came a time when He was raised from the dead. His resurrection proves that He was accurate when He said, “…Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world” (Joh_8:23). The days of walking along the dusty roads of Israel are over now; He has come back from the dead in mighty power. His resurrection proves His virgin birth. He is the Son of God with power. Then there is another great truth here. We see Christ, resurrected and presently seated at the right hand of God in the heavens, interceding today for believers and giving them power and comfort. There is a Man in the glory, but the church has lost sight of Him. We need to recover our awareness of Him. Are you having personal contact with the living Christ today? Also the resurrection of Christ insures that He will return to this earth as the Judge and as the King of kings and Lord of lords. He will put down sin, and He will reign in righteousness on this earth. He will judge mankind, as Paul said to those glib, sophisticated Athenian philosophers, “…we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Act_17:29-31). It is a most solemn fact that because Jesus Christ came back from the dead, you will have to stand before Him someday. Will you stand before Him as one who has trusted Him as your Savior, or will you stand before Him to be judged?

If you have not received Him as your Savior, the condemnation of God must be upon you. You cannot stand before Him in your own righteousness. You must be condemned to a lost eternity unless you trust Him as your Savior. The Resurrection is the guarantee that each one of us is going to have to face the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:5

“Grace and apostleship” are significant terms. “Grace” is God’s method of salvation. None of us could ever have been saved if God had not been gracious. Although “apostleship” referred specifically to Paul and the others who were technically apostles, every believer is a “sent one.” The word in the Greek is apostole, meaning “a sending forth.” Every believer should be a witness, one sent forth with a message. What are you doing to get the Word of God out in these days? That is the business of those who have received grace and apostleship. For the “obedience to the faith among all nations, for his namethis epistle opens with obedience and closes with obedience. In the final chapter Paul says, “For your obedience is come abroad unto all men” (Rom_16:19), also “made known to all nations for the obedience of faith” (Rom_16:26). Obedience to the faith is very important to God. God saves us by faith, not by works; but after He has saved us, He wants to talk to us about our works, about our obedience to Him. I hear many people talk about believing in Jesus, then they live like the Devil and seem to be serving him. My friend, saving faith makes you obedient to Jesus Christ. Is there a difference in faith? There surely is. The difference is in the object of your faith. For example, I believe in George Washington. I consider him a great man, our first president, the father of our country. Also, I believe in Jesus Christ.

Now my faith in George Washington has never done anything for me. It has nothing to do with my salvation and has very little effect upon my life. But my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is quite different. “Saving faith” brings us to the place where we surrender to the Son of God who loves us and gave Himself for us. While correct doctrine is very important, there is a discipline and a doing that goes with it. You can’t be the salt of the earth without combining both of them. By the way, have you ever considered that salt is composed of sodium and chloride, and each taken by itself would poison you?

However, when they are combined, they form a very useful ingredient. Believing and doing go together, my friend, to make us the salt of the earth. My favorite hymn has always been “Trust and Obey,” by Rev. J. H. Sammis. But we never can prove The delights of His love, Until all on the altar we lay, For the favor He shows, And the joy He bestows, Are for them who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Romans 1:6

The called are the elect. Who are the called? Well, they are those who have heard. The Lord Jesus made it clear when He said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (Joh_10:27). If you are following someone or something else, you haven’t heard Him, you are not one of His sheep. The ones who hear and follow Him are the called ones. Let’s not argue about election. It is as simple as this: He calls, and you answer. If you have answered, you are among the elect, one of “the called of Jesus Christ.” Paul assures the Roman Christians that they are called ones. This concludes the profound parenthesis in the introduction to this letter to the Romans. Dr. James Stifler calls our attention to four features of this parenthesis: Paul has a message in accord with the Scriptures; the message is from the risen Christ; the message is universal; and the message is for the obedience to the faith. Now Paul returns to the introduction proper:

Romans 1:7

“Beloved of God"isn’t that lovely? God loved those believers in Rome. When I was there not long ago, there was a strike going on, and I found it a little difficult to love anybody as I was carrying my own suitcases up to my room and unable to get any kind of serviceeven a taxi. But God loves us. How wonderful! “Called to be saints” should be simply “called saints"the verb to be is not in the better manuscripts. They were “called saints” and this is the name for every believer. A saint is not one who has been exalted; a saint is one who exalts Jesus Christ. A person becomes a saint when Jesus Christ becomes his Savior. There are only two classes of people in the world: the saints and the ain’ts. If you are not an ain’t, then you’re a saint. And if you are a saint, you have trusted Christ. It is not your character that makes you a saint, it’s your faith in Jesus Christ and the fact that you are set apart for Him. As Paul said of himself in the beginning, he was a bondslave of Jesus Christ. “Grace and peace” constitute the formal introduction in all of Paul’s letters. Grace (charis) was the gentile form of greeting, while peace (shalom) was the Jewish form of greeting. Paul combined them.

Romans 1:8

PAUL’S PURPOSEWord had filtered out throughout the empire that many in Rome were turning to Christso much so that it disturbed the emperors. Later on, persecution began. Paul mentions here that their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world. I wonder about your group, your church. Has anybody heard about your personal testimony? What is it worth today? My, what a testimony this church in Rome had at the beginning!

Romans 1:9

“The gospel of his Son"in the first verse Paul called it “the gospel of God,” and later he will call it his gospel. “Without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.” Paul had a long prayer list. When I was teaching in a Bible institute, I gave the students the assignment of recording each time Paul said he was praying for somebody. Many of the students were deeply impressed at the length of Paul’s prayer list. He says here that he prayed without ceasing for the Roman believers.

Romans 1:10

Paul is praying for a “prosperous journey” to come to Rome. When we read about his journey in the Book of Acts, it doesn’t look exactly prosperoushe went as a prisoner, he got into a terrific storm at sea, the ship was lost, and he was bitten by a viper when he made it to land. Yet it was a prosperous journey. He says he wants to come to Rome “by the will of God.” I believe he went there by the will of God.

Romans 1:11

He wants to come to Rome to teach the Word of God. Paul loved to teach the Word of God. When a preacher does not want to teach the Word of God, he becomes a clergyman, he becomes an administrator, he becomes a promoter, but he is not a minister of the Word anymore. I know several men in this position. One man said, “I don’t enjoy preaching anymore.” I said, “For goodness sake, get out of the ministry. You have no business in the ministry if you don’t love to teach the Word of God!”

Romans 1:12

In other words, Paul would communicate something, but the believers in Rome would also communicate something to him. They would be mutually blessed in the Word. Not too long ago I had the privilege of speaking to a conference of over a thousand students. I laid it on the line for those folk and was a little hard on them at the beginning. Then I saw how wonderfully they responded, and it opened my eyes to a new world. I left that conference singing praises to God for the privilege of being there. While I was ministering to them, they were ministering to me. This is what Paul is talking about here.

Romans 1:13

He was hindered from coming to them, although he longed to come. Many of these folk were his converts, as he had led them to Christ when he had met them in different parts of the Roman Empire. His desire to have “fruit among you” probably does not refer to soul winning, but to the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of believers (see Gal_5:22-23).

Romans 1:14

PAUL’S THREE “I AMS"“To the Greeks, and to the Barbarians” was the Greek division of all mankind. The Greeks were cultured, educated, and civilized. The barbarians were those whom we label pagan and heathen today. Actually, it is a false division, but it encompasses all mankind and was understood by Romans. Paul said, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians.” How did he become indebted? Did he run up a bill for neckties and shoes (that is what Rome is famous for today) and forget to pay the bill? No, he had had no business transaction with these people. However, he had had a personal transaction with Jesus Christ which put him in debt to every man, because the grace of God had been so bountifully bestowed upon him. Paul was in debt to a lost world. I hear Christians say, “I pay my honest debts.” Do you?

Not until every person has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ have you and I paid our honest debts. One day I was driving with a preacher friend of mine in the interior of Turkey. (Turkey is closed to the gospela person can get into trouble even propagandizing there.) As we were driving along, we came to a little town in which all of the signs were in Turkish, and we felt very much like strangers in a strange land. Then way down at the end of the street we saw a big sign which read: “Coca-Cola.” I said to my friend, “Is it not interesting that Coca-Cola in just a few years has done a better job of advertising and getting out its message than has been done with the gospel in over nineteen hundred years?” We have not paid our debt, friend, until all have heard the good news, and multitudes have not yet heard. Paul says, “I am debtor,” and that was another reason he wanted to come to Rome. Then Paul has another “I am.”

Romans 1:15

Paul has said that he is a debtor; now he says he is ready to pay. In other words, Paul says, “My side is ready.” In The Epistle to the Romans Dr. James Stifler writes, “He is a master of his purpose, but not of his circumstances.” He is not only ready, he is eager to preach it. Oh, how we need that enthusiasm and high anticipation of getting out the Word of God! In the next verse we have the third “I am” of Paul. Also verses Rom_1:16 and Rom_1:17 give us the key to this great Epistle to the Romans.

Romans 1:16

“I am not ashamed of the gospel” (“of Christ” is not in the better manuscripts). Paul says, “I am debtor…. I am ready…. I am not ashamed.” I am a debtorthat is admission; I am readyremission; I am not ashamedsubmission. These are the three “missions” of Paul: admission, remission, and submission. Why did Paul say, “I am not ashamed of the gospel”? As I walked down the streets of Ephesus and looked at the ruins of marble temples, I realized that there was not a church building in Ephesus in the first century. In Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the gorgeous temple of Diana (or Artemis), but there was no church building. I suppose there were folk in Rome who were saying, “Well, brother Paul hasn’t come to Rome because he is just preaching a message geared for poor people. The message he preaches is without prestige; there are no great temples connected with it. He would be ashamed to bring it to an important place like Rome.” So Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.” Now why is Paul not ashamed of the gospel? “It is the power of God”! The Greek word translated “power” is dunamis, from which we get our word dynamite. It is dunamis power! It is the kind of power Dr. Marvin R. Vincent calls divine energy! In itself the gospel has power, innate power. It has power for a very definite thing: “It is the power of God unto salvation.” That is the end and the effect of the gospel. “Salvation” is the all-inclusive term of the gospel, and it simply means “deliverance.” It embraces everything from justification to glorification. It is both an act and a process. It is equally true that I have been saved, I am being saved, and I shall be saved. The gospel is “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” It’s to everyone. It includes the entire human race, irrespective of racial or religious barriers. And it is personal; it is directed to every individual"whosoever will may come.” It is universal in scope, but it is limited to “every one that believeth.” This statement wraps up election and free will in one package. The only way of procuring salvation is by personal faith. “To the Jew first, and also to the Greek” does not imply that the Jew has top priority to the gospel today. The important thing is to make sure the Jew is on a par with the Gentile as far as evangelism is concerned. Chronologically the gospel went to the Jew first. If you had been in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, you would have seen an altogether Jewish meeting. And Paul in his missionary journeys took the gospel first to the Jewish synagogue, but in Act_13:46 we are told, “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” The gospel began in Jerusalem, a Jewish city, then spread to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Dr. Stifler calls our attention to three very pertinent truths in this verse: the effect of the gospelsalvation; the extentit is worldwideto everyone; the conditionfaith in Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:17

“A righteousness from God is being revealed” is a literal translation. It should not be the righteousness of God, because that would be His attribute, and God is not sharing His attribute with anyone. It is a righteousness, and it is from God; it is not man’s righteousness. God has already said that He will not accept the righteousness of man, for the righteousness of man is as filthy rags in His sight according to Isa_64:6. Paul is talking about the imputed righteousness of Christ. God places a lost sinner in Christ, and He sees him in Christ.

The believer is absolutely accepted because of what Christ has done for him. The only method of procuring this righteousness is by faith. It is a by-faith righteousness. You can’t work for it; you can’t make a deposit on it; you can’t buy it. You can do nothing but accept it by faith. “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Php_3:9). The word for “righteousness” is dikaiosune. This word occurs ninety-two times in the New Testament, thirty-six times in Romans. The phrase “a righteousness from God” occurs eight times in this epistle. The root word dike means simply “right.” Justice and justify come from the same word. “To be right” is the primary meaning, which is the antonym of sin. Dr. Cremer gives this apt definition: “It is the state commanded by God and standing the test of His judgment; the character and acts of a man approved of Him, in virtue of which the man corresponds with Him and His will as His ideal and standard.” The righteousness he is talking about is what God demands, and it is what God providesit is a righteousness that is from God. “From faith to faith” simply means out of faith into faith. God saves you by faith, you live by faith, you die by faith, and you’ll be in heaven by faith. Let me use a homely illustration. Quite a few years ago I was born deep in the heart of Texas. When I was born, my mother said the doctor lifted me up by my heels, gave me a whack, and I let out a cry that could be heard on all four borders of that great state. I was born into a world of atmosphere and that whack started me breathing. From that day to this I have been breathing atmosphere. From air to air, from oxygen to oxygen. Much later, in the state of Oklahoma, I was born again. I was saved by faith, and from that time on it has been by faithfrom faith to faith. “As it is written” refers to Hab_2:4, where the statement is made, “…the just shall live by his faith.” This is quoted in three great epistles of the New Testament: Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews. “The just shall live by faith"justification by faith means that a sinner who trusts Christ is not only pardoned because Christ died, but he also stands before God complete in Christ. It means not only subtraction of sin, but addition of righteousness. He “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom_4:25)that we might stand before God complete in Christ. The act of God in justification by faith is not an arbitrary decision on His part. He does not disregard His holiness and His justice. Since God saves us by grace, this means that there is no merit in us. He saves us on no other ground than that we trust Jesus. God is in danger of impugning His own justice if the penalty is not paid. He is not going to open the back door to heaven and slip sinners in under cover of darkness. But because He loves you, Christ died for you to make a way. The Lord Jesus Christ is the way to heaven. Since Christ paid the penalty for our sin, salvation is ours “through faith in his blood” (Rom_3:25). The hymn writer is correct Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. This concludes Paul’s introduction. Now he begins a new section in which he reveals the sin of man. My friend, this is “sinnerama.” The universal fact is that man is a sinner. The ecumenical movement is always away from God. We can put down the axiom that the world is guilty before God; all need righteousness. In this section Paul is not attempting to prove that man is a sinner. If you attempt to read it that way, you will miss the point. All Paul is doing is stating the fact that man is a sinner. He not only shows that there is a revelation of the righteousness of God, but that there is also the revelation of the wrath of God against the sin of man.

Romans 1:18

A NATURAL REVELATION OF GOD"The wrath of God is revealed.” Actually, if you want to know what salvation really is, you have to know how bad sin is. Stifler says, “Sin is the measure of salvation.” The wrath of God is God’s feeling, not His punishment of sin. It is His holy anger. Wrath is the antithesis of righteousness, and it is used here as a correlative. “Is being revealed” is God’s answer to those who assert that the Old Testament presents a God of wrath, while the New Testament presents a God of love. There is a continuous revelation of the wrath of God in both the Old Testament and New Testament. It is revealed in our contemporary society. This is God’s constant and insistent displeasure with evil. He changes not. God is merciful, not because He is lenient with the sinner, but because Christ died.

The gospel has not changed God’s attitude toward sin. The gospel has made it possible to accept the sinner. The sinner must have either the righteousness or the wrath of God. Both are revealed from heaven. And you can see it on every hand. If you want to know how bad sin is, look at the cases of venereal diseases today.

You don’t get by with sin, my friend. I won’t give personal illustrations, but I have been a pastor long enough to see again and again the judgment of God upon sin. It is revealed from heaven. Also there will be a final judgment. “Against all ungodliness"ungodliness is that which is against God. It is that which denies the character of God. Oh, the irreligiousness of today! There are multitudes of people who disregard the very existence of Godthat is a state of the soul. That is sin. “Unrighteousness” is against man. Ungodliness is against God, but unrighteousness is against man. What does that mean? It is the denial of the rule of God. It is the action of the soul. That man who gets drunk, goes out on the freeway, breaks the traffic laws, and kills someonethat man is unrighteous. He is sinning against man. Another example is the man who is dishonest in his business dealings. God hates man’s unrighteousness. He will judge it. “Who holds the truth in unrighteousness” is literally to hold down, suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The wrath of God is revealed against folk who do this.

Romans 1:19

There is an original revelation from God.

Romans 1:20

This universe in which you and I live tells two things about God: His person and His power. This has been clearly seen from the time the world was created. How can invisible things be seen? Paul makes this a paradox purposely to impress upon his readers that the “dim light of nature” is a man-made falsehood. Creation is a clear light of revelation. It is the primary revelation. The psalmist said, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained” (Psa_8:3). Also “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork” (Psa_19:1). “His eternal power and Godhead"His eternal power and deity, power and person. Creation reveals the unchangeable power and existence of God. Paul said this, “…he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Act_14:17). And because all of us are the offspring (not the sons) of God, Paul said, “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device” (Act_17:29). Dr. James Denny writes, “There is that within man which so catches the meaning of all that is without as to issue in an instinctive knowledge of God.” I think the most ridiculous position man can hold is that of atheism.

It is illogical and senseless. When the psalmist said, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psa_14:1), the word for fool means “insane.” A man is insane when he denies the existence of God. “So that they are without excuse.” Creation so clearly reveals God that man is without excuse. This section reveals the historical basis of man’s sin. It did not come about through ignorance. It was willful rebellion in the presence of clear light.

Romans 1:21

SUBNATURAL RESPONSE OF MANIf you examine the next few verses carefully, you will see that there are seven steps which mankind took downward from the Garden of Eden. There is no such thing as man moving upward. These verses contradict the hypothesis of evolution. Man is not improving physically, morally, intellectually, or spiritually. The pull is downward. Of course this contradicts all the anthologies of religion that start with man in a very primitive condition as a caveman with very little intellectual qualities and move him up intellectually and begin moving him toward God. This is absolute error.

Man is moving away from God, and right now the world is probably farther from God than at any time in its history. The fact of the matter is that every primitive tribe has a tradition that way back in the beginning their ancestors knew God. Dr. Vincent in Word Studies in the New Testament says, “I think it may be proved from facts that any given people, down to the lowest savages, has at any period of its life known far more than it has done: known quite enough to have enabled it to have got on comfortably, thriven and developed, if it had only done what no man does, all that it knew it ought to do and could do.” No people have ever lived up to the light that they have had. Although they had a knowledge of God, they moved away from Him. “They glorified him not as God.” They did not give Him His rightful place, and man became self-sufficient. In our day man has made the announcement that God is dead. In the beginning the human family did not suggest that God was dead, they simply turned their backs upon Him and made man their god. “Neither were thankful.” Ingratitude is one of the worst sins there is. You recall that the Lord Jesus healed ten lepers, but only one returned to thank Him. Only ten percent were thankful, and I believe it is less than that today. “Became vain in their imaginations"they even concocted a theory of evolution. “Their foolish heart was darkened.” They moved into the darkness of paganism. You see living proof of this as you walk down the streets of Cairo in Egypt or of Istanbul in Turkey. In fact, all you have to do is walk down the streets of Los Angeles to know that man’s foolish heart is darkened. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” The wisdom of man is foolishness with God. Man searches for truth through logical reasoning but arrives at a philosophy that is foolish in God’s sight. “And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” Have you noted that the unsaved world has made caricatures of God? Look at the images and the idols of the heathen. I was aware of this during my visit to the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus. That city in the Roman Empire reached probably the highest degree of culture in civilization that any city has ever reached. Yet at the heart of that city was one of the most horrible images imaginable, enshrined in the temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Called also Diana, she was not the lovely image you see in Greek sculptures.

She is like the oriental Cybele, the mother goddess, the many-breasted one. She had a trident in one hand and in the other a clubshe was a mean one. That is the idea the most cultured, civilized people had of God! She was a female principal, and gross immorality took place around her temple, and dishonesty of the worst sort. They had turned the glory of the uncorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man. Actually, idolatry is a cartoon of God; it is a slander and a slur against Him.

Personally, I do not like to see pictures of Jesus, as Paul said that we know Him no longer after the flesh (see 2Co_5:16). He is the glorified Christ. He is not that picture you have hanging on your wall, my friend. If He came into your room, you would fall on your face before Him. He is the glorified Christ today. Don’t slur our God by having a picture of Him!

The Greeks made their gods like men; the Assyrians and the Egyptians and the Babylonians made their gods like beasts and birds and creeping things. I walked through the museum in Cairo and looked at some of the gods they had made. They are not very flattering representations, I can assure you. Man did not begin in idolatry. The savage of today is very unlike primitive man. Primitive man was monotheistic; idolatry was introduced later. In the Word of God the first record we have of idolatry is in connection with Rachel stealing her father’s idols (Gen. 31). Man descended downward; he did not develop upward. Religiously man has departed from God.

Sir William Ramsay, who was once a belligerent unbeliever, wrote in The Cities of Paul: “For my own part, I confess that my experience and reading show nothing to confirm the modern assumptions in religious history, and a great deal to confirm Paul. Whatever evidence exists, with the rarest exceptions, the history of religion among men is a history of degeneration…. Is it not the fact of human history that man, standing alone, degenerates; and that he progresses only where there is in him so much sympathy with and devotion to the Divine life as to keep the social body pure and sweet and healthy?” My friend, the reason today there is failure in our poverty programs and health programs and other social programs is because of gross immorality and a turning away from God. They say, “We want to be practical, and we do not want to introduce religion.” That’s the problem. The only practical thing for man to do is to return to the living and true God.

Romans 1:24

UNNATURAL RETROGRESSION OF MANNow we see the results of man’s revolution against God. In the remainder of this chapter it says three times that God gave them up. Man’s degeneration is measured by his perversion of sex. While many churches in our day are espousing sex perversion instead of condemning it, God says He has given them up. Idolatry and gross immorality are the bitter fruits of rejecting God’s revelation. “God gave them up” is literally God handed them overit is positive, not a passive attitude.

Romans 1:25

“Who exchanged the true God for the lie.” The suggestion is that they turned from God to Satan, the author of the lie and the father of idolatry. This is idolatry which led to the lowest depths of moral degradation.

Romans 1:26

These are passions of dishonor and disgrace and depravityregardless of what public opinion is today. Perversion entered into Greek life, and it brought Greece down to the dust. Go over there and look at Greece today. The glory has passed away. Why? These were their sins.

Romans 1:28

Anybody who tells me that he can be a child of God and live in perversion, live in the thick mire of our contemporary permissiveness, is not kidding anyone but himself. If he will come to Christ, he can have deliverance. The next three verses list a frightful brood of sins which follow man’s rebellion against God.

Romans 1:29

In my book Reasoning Through Romans, I define these sins, but it is enough to say here that this is what the human family is doing today. I used to tell the students in my classes to buy any of our metropolitan daily newspapers, sit down, and find a headline for every sin that is mentioned here. This is the condition, not only in Cairo, not only of Calcutta, not only of Beijing, but also of the United States today. How much longer will God tolerate it and be patient with us? He has judged great nations in the past who have gone in this direction.

Romans 1:32

Man has a revelation from God, but he flagrantly flaunts it by defying the judgment of God against such sins. He continues to practice them and applauds and approves those who do the same.