… image[s] made like to corruptible man,
and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things (Rom. 1:23).
COMMON GRACE ARGUMENT:
It has been suggested, by some, that when
the pagans worship idols of every sort, this idol worship is done in ignorance. The wicked, so it is said,
worship idols because they do not know
any better. They have not the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and
so they do not know that they must worship God,
nor do they know how they can do
this. Sometimes it is even added that the wicked long to worship the true God, but they do not know how to do this,
and so they worship idols as an expression of their desire to worship God.
(I)
Ronald
Hanko
[Source: Doctrine According
to Godliness: A Primer on Reformed Doctrine (RFPA, 2004) p. 9]
[According
to Romans 1, the] wicked do see [in the creation] “the invisible things of God,”
particularly his eternal power and Godhead (v. 20). There is even an internal aspect to this manifestation of
God. Verse 19 says that the things that may be known of God are manifest “in
them.”
This
has important implications. The manifestation of God in the things that are
made is the reason no one will ever be able to plead in the judgment that he
did not know God. There is, as far as Romans 1 is concerned, really no such
thing as an atheist. Therefore, the wicked who never heard the gospel can and
will be condemned in the judgment day as a result of this manifestation.
Nevertheless,
the only result of this manifestation of God, as far as the wicked are
concerned, is that they refuse to glorify God, continue unthankful, and change
the glory of God, manifested to them and in them, into images of corruptible
things (vv. 21-25).
Put
simply, this means that the idolatry of the wicked is not a seeking after the
God whom they do not know, or an attempt, however feeble, to find him. It is
rather a turning away from the true God, whom
they do know.
They
are not, according to Romans 1, seeking truth, but suppressing it (v. 25).
Their philosophies and religions do not represent a small beginning of truth or
a love of truth, but truth refused and turned into lies.
----------------------------------------------
(II)
Prof.
Herman C. Hanko
[Source: Another Look at Common Grace (2019
edition), pp. 147-152]
[The
heathen] people [are said, according to verse 18 of this chapter, to] suppress or hold under the truth. They deny
it. They refuse to let it enter their consciousness. They do all in their power
to keep it from being taught and believed.
Now it ought to be clear that if the wicked
suppress the truth, they know that truth. One cannot suppress
what he does not know.[248] And the apostle goes on
to explain how it is that they know this truth.
One
must remember that Paul is speaking here of the heathen who live outside the
sphere of the preaching of the gospel. He is talking about the people of the
Roman Empire, who, in his day, were characterized by all the sins which the
chapter goes on to describe in such vivid detail. And in speaking of those
outside the preaching of the gospel, he is speaking of all in heathendom, from
his day to the present, who have not the preaching of the gospel.
How
is it that these who have never heard the gospel nevertheless know the truth?
The
answer is very clear.
We
ought to note, at the outset, that, in explaining this idea, the apostle does
not use the word “reveal.” The wicked do not know the truth by revelation, in the biblical sense of
that term. The apostle uses here the word “manifest”: “That which may be known
of God is manifest in them.” The
Greek has here φανερόν ἐστιν (phaneron
estin). The word φανερόν (phaneron) is the
adjective of the verb φανερόω (phaneróō). It is
clear, therefore, that the Scriptures make a distinction between revelation and manifestation, and that Romans 1 is not referring to the former,
but to the latter.[249]
However
that may be, God does manifest
Himself outside Scripture and Christ to those who have no knowledge of
Scripture. Concerning that manifestation of God, the text in Romans 1 teaches
the following:
1)
This manifestation of God to those outside the sphere of revelation is the
means by which all men without exception know the truth, the truth which they
suppress in unrighteousness.
2)
The truth is manifest in the wicked because God shows it to them (v. 19). That is, God Himself is determined to
show Himself to the wicked so that they may truly know His truth.
3)
This manifestation is “from the creation” and is understood by the wicked
“through the things that are made.” That is, the creation itself, created by
God, is the means by which God shows Himself to the wicked outside the gospel.
It is evident in the creation that God is the Creator and that He has formed
all things and still upholds all things by the Word of His power.[250] The
trees and flowers, rain and sunshine, rivers and oceans, monkeys and ants—all manifest God as the Creator.
4)
What is manifested by God, in His works in creation, is “his eternal power and
Godhead” (v. 20). Not all that may be known of God is clearly shown in
creation. Basically, two things are
shown: God’s eternal power and His Godhead. If one thinks about it, what
Scripture has in mind here is this: In creation is manifested the great truth
that God alone is God and that He alone
must be served and worshiped. These fundamental truths are known to
everyone. The lowliest pagan, the most uncivilized heathen, the natives in the
darkest jungles of remote ocean islands—all
know, through the things that are made, that God is God and that He alone is to be worshiped and served. No one
can escape that knowledge. God Himself sees to it that that is known by every
person alive.
This
does not include, of course, the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ. It might be
well at this point to make a slight digression. The knowledge of God through
Jesus Christ is the only knowledge of God by which men can be saved. The wicked
who have a certain knowledge of God do not have such knowledge as will save them. There is only one name under heaven given among men
whereby we can be saved, and that is the name of God in Christ. Never can salvation come through God’s manifestation in
creation.
It
has been argued that this is cruel and unfair, since God does not give pagan
man sufficient knowledge to be saved. And this objection seems to be
strengthened by the fact that the apostle adds: “So that they may be without excuse.” The question then is this: How
can they be “without excuse” if they have insufficient
knowledge to be saved? But it must be remembered that fallen man was
created by God good and upright, able in all things to know and love God. The
fact that this is no longer possible, and that He needs knowledge in Christ to be saved, does not detract
from his responsibility. That man fell is his
own fault—not God’s. That pagan man can never be saved with the knowledge
that he possesses is not injustice on God’s part, but is the result of man’s
own consummate folly.[251]
5)
This truth the wicked suppress. They know it. They cannot deny it. They are
confronted with it. But in their sin they will have none of it. They hate it
because they hate God. They not only
make every effort to deny it, but they also suppress it in their own
consciousness.
6)
Yet God reveals all His power and Godhead to them “so that they may be without excuse.” In the Greek, this appears as
a purpose clause. It is a definition
of God’s purpose in making Himself
known to all men. Very clearly this means that God has His own sovereign
purpose in making Himself known. In the judgment day, no one in all the world
will be able to say that the reason why he did not worship and serve God was
because he was ignorant of Him. God will tell him: “You knew. You knew Me. I
told you of Myself. You have no excuse. When I now send you to everlasting
hell, I do so justly.” And every wicked man will have to admit, before the
great white throne of Christ, that that is indeed true.
7)
The text goes on to say that this suppression of the truth is the explanation for their idolatry.
Twice over, the apostle makes this clear. In verse 21 he says: “Because that,
when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but
became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” And
in verses 22-23 he adds: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to
corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.”
And once more, in verse 25, the apostle says, “… who changed the truth of God
into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than[252] the Creator,
who is blessed for ever. Amen.”
This
is very clear language, and its repetition emphasizes how important it is. When
the pagans worship idols of every sort, this idol worship is not ignorance. So often it is presented as
such. The wicked, so it is said, worship idols because they do not know any better. They have not the preaching of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, and so they do not know that they must worship God, nor do they know how they can do this. Sometimes it is
even added that the wicked long to
worship the true God, but they do not know how to do this, and so they worship
idols as an expression of their desire to worship God. Such notions are flatly
contradicted by the apostle. Their idolatry is deliberate.
The
wicked know the truth full well. They know it beyond denial. But they suppress
it. And the way they suppress it is by changing God’s glory into a creaturely
image and thus changing the truth into a lie. Note here the all-important word
“change.” They deliberately and
consciously, with malice aforethought, willfully and in rebellion against
God, change His glory into a
creature, and that creature they worship. They profess to be wise, but they are
fools. They seek in every way possible to destroy God and to suppress that
which they know about Him. This is their dreadful sin and the depths of their
depravity.
8)
Hence the wrath of God is upon them. And that wrath of God upon them is
especially revealed, according to the apostle, in giving them over to the
terrible sin of homosexuality. We ought to note that: God punishes sin with sin. And He, in His holy wrath,
punishes idolatry with homosexuality. “Wherefore God also gave them up to
uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own
bodies between themselves” (v. 24). And again, “For this cause God gave them up
unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that
which is against nature ...” (vv. 26ff.).
One
need only read the rest of the chapter to see what are the dreadful
consequences of man’s suppression of the truth of God.
==========
FOOTNOTES:
248. This
same idea—now in the case of the unbelieving Jews—is expressed in Jesus’ words
from Matthew 13, which we quoted earlier: “Seeing they see ...” There is,
therefore, a certain formal knowledge
of the truth which the wicked suppress. But revelation always gives saving knowledge.
249. We
are not interested in a controversy over the use of terminology for its own
sake. But it is my conviction that to use the biblical concept of revelation to
describe God’s manifestation to the heathen is a mistake which has had serious
consequences in the history of Reformed thought. As we mentioned earlier, just
because revelation, when it refers to
God’s work of making Himself known in Christ, is part and parcel of grace, the conclusion has been made that
“general revelation” is also somehow grace.
250. While
our present interest is not in the theory of evolution—a theory which denies
God’s creative work—it is clear, also from this passage, that to deny creation,
in the interests of evolutionary theory, is to deny that God makes Himself
known to the wicked through creation. The whole truth of Romans 1:18ff rests
upon a literal interpretation of
Genesis 1-3.
251. This
important truth implies the truth of original guilt. Man is responsible, not
only for his own sin, but, also, for the
sin which Adam committed in Paradise in eating of the forbidden tree. All
men are guilty for this sin, and man’s total depravity is his fault, for which he is accountable before God. This is the
clear teaching of Romans 5:12-14, and this truth is maintained by all the
historic Reformed and Presbyterian creeds. It is, as a matter of fact, the
great dividing point between the
Reformed faith and all forms of Arminianism. Scripture is clear on the doctrine
that total depravity is the just
punishment of God upon the human race, who are guilty, in Adam, for Adam’s
sin. See a clear statement of this truth in Heidelberg
Catechism, Lord’s Day 4: “Doth not God then do injustice to man, by
requiring from him in His law that which he cannot perform? Not at all; for God
made man capable of performing it; but man, by the instigation of the devil,
and his own wilful disobedience, deprived himself and all his posterity of
those divine gifts” (Q&A 9)
252. The
Greek here can be better translated “rather than.”
----------------------------------------------
(III)
More
to come! (DV)
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