18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness;
19 Because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are
made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 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.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became
fools,
23 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.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness
through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between
themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and
worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for
ever. Amen.
26 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:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural
use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working
that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their
error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in
their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things
which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder,
debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud,
boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers,
without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they
which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have
pleasure in them that do them.
Romans 1:18-32
COMMON GRACE
ARGUMENT:
This section of Romans 1 is often quoted in
favour of (1) a gracious, revelation of God to all men generally, and, (2) a
gracious, inward operation of the Holy Spirit upon the hearts of the
unregenerate, mitigating their depraved nature—the argument being that if
God “gives a man up” to sin, God must first of all “restrain” sin, and only
after failing to restrain sin, God ceases His restraint.
(I)
Prof. Herman C. Hanko
[Source:
Another Look at Common Grace (2019
edition), pp. 147-152]
Dr.
Abraham Kuyper, as well as others, appealed to this passage in support of the
doctrine of the “inward restraint of sin by the work of the Holy Spirit.” Those
who hold to this position appealed especially to the expressions “Wherefore God
also gave them up …” (v. 24) and “For
this cause God gave them up …” (v.
26). They argue that if God “gave these idolaters up,” He had, prior to giving
them up, “restrained” them.
Now,
on the surface, this will not do. In the first place. God’s act of giving up
the wicked to their vile affections does not imply that, prior to giving them
up, God had indeed restrained them.
Such a conclusion is invalid on the very face of it. But, in the second place,
if indeed God had restrained them,
prior to giving them up, surely anyone can see that the text makes no mention
of the fact that such restraint was accomplished by an “inward work of the Holy
Spirit in the heart.” [Note: We have no objection to the idea of the restraint
of sin, as long as that restraint was outward,
by means of God’s providence, HH.]
But
however that may be, the text makes no mention whatsoever of any kind of grace
of God towards these wicked; nor does it speak of any kind of revelation of God
in grace.
The
text does use the word “reveal”: “For
the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven ...” (v. 18). But notice, this is not the revelation of “grace and
kindness,” but of wrath. And we ought
to take note of the fact that this statement in verse 18 is really the theme of
the entire passage which ends with the end of the chapter. The Holy Spirit is
talking about the revelation of the wrath
of God from heaven in the entire section.
The
reason why God’s wrath is revealed
from heaven upon these ungodly is said to be that “they hold the truth in
unrighteousness.” The word “hold” is, in the Greek, κατέχω (katécho),
which means literally, “to have down” and can be translated, “suppress, hold
under.”
The
idea is, then, that these wicked people 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. 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.
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. 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.
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 (the Greek here
can be better translated “rather than,” HH) 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.
But
in this passage there is no mention, at all, either of any general revelation
or of any grace of God revealed in so-called general revelation. It is clear to
anyone who reads the passage that there is, therefore, no restraint of sin in
this general revelation at all.
---------------------------------------
(II)
More to come! (DV)
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