Verse 18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against the human race. His wrath is righteous. We deserve it. John Mac says that this is not an impulsive outburst of anger aimed capriciously at people whom God does not like. It is the settled, determined response of a righteous God against sin.
The Mosaic Law was written on two tablets of stone. The first tablet dealt with man's relationship with God; the second dealt with man's relationship with his fellow man. A man is ungodly when he isn't right with God; he is unrighteous when he isn't right with his fellow man as God wishes him to be. The wrath of God is revealed against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. You cannot have a right relationship with God and a wrong relationship with your brother. If you say that you love God, then you have to love your brother also. You cannot love God and hate your brother. (1 John 4:20)
who hold (suppress) the truth in unrighteousness; Holding the truth in unrighteousness is believing that there is a God, yet living as though He didn't exist. I really liked how Matthew Henry explained this:
“They held the truth as a captive or prisoner, that it should not influence them, as otherwise it would. An unrighteous wicked heart is the dungeon in which many a good truth is detained and buried. Holding fast the form of sound words in faith and love is the root of all religion (2 Tim. 1:13), but holding it fast in unrighteousness is the root of all sin.”
Verse 19: because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
God has supernaturally implanted evidence for His existence within our consciences. We know what is right and we know what is wrong. It is manifest within us.
That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.—John 1:9
For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them (Romans 2:14-15, ESV)
Verse 20: For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
The existence of God is universally attested to. The design of His work is self-evident to all. Those who deny or ignore God are totally without excuse. God, the Creator made all that we see (and don’t see) and sustains it by His eternal power. God is faithful, kind and good. From j MacArthur...
Divine Nature evident...
God is faithful...
And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." (Genesis 8:21-22, ESV)
God is kind and gracious...
Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness." (Acts 14:17, ESV)
The creation itself speaks to who God is...
The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
2 Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
4 Their linefn has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.
In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
6 Its rising is from one end of heaven,
And its circuit to the other end;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;—Ps 19:1-8
they are without excuse. From John MacArthur: God holds all men responsible for their refusal to acknowledge what he has shown them of himself in his creation. Even those who have never had an opportunity to hear the gospel have received a clear witness about the existence and character of God—and have suppressed it. If a person will respond to the revelation he has, even if it is solely natural revelation, God will provide some means for that person to hear the gospel.
for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:
24 "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
25 "Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
26 "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 "so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28 "for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'—Acts 17:23-28
(Emphasis mine)
Also...
See Acts 8:25-40 - “An Ethiopian Receives Christ”
My take away this week was the reminder that if I am not right vertically (in my relationship with God) I will not be right horizontally (in my relationships with others). I remember listening to a pastor teach on the Ten Commandments at a little church in Freehold not long after I got saved. It was the first time I heard what the difference was between ungodly and unrighteousness. I “preached” that message often to myself as well as to my kids when they failed to get along with one another. It taught me that if I wasn’t getting along with my husband, I needed to spend time with the Lord and allow Him to search my heart. It taught my kids to do the same in relation to each other. I am so grateful for His word and how it helps me to discern and understand the underlying motives of my words and actions.
For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.—Hebrews 4:12
Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart; Test me and know my anxious thoughts; 24And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.—Psalm 139:23-24
Verse 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful,
Paul's first charge against natural men is that they knew God, but they didn't glorify Him as God. His second was that they were not thankful.
“Will you kindly notice, that, according to my text, knowledge is of no use if it does not lead to holy practice? ‘They knew God.’ It was no good to them to know God, for ‘they glorified him not as God.’ So my theological friend over there, who knows so much that he can split hairs over doctrines, it does not matter what you think, or what you know, unless it leads you to glorify God, and to be thankful.” (Spurgeon)
Man’s simple ingratitude against God is shocking. “I cannot say anything much worse of a man than that he is not thankful to those who have been his benefactors; and when you say that he is not thankful to God, you have said about the worst thing you can say of him.” (Spurgeon)
“But when you glorify God as God, and are thankful for everything – when you can take up a bit of bread and a cup of cold water, and say with the poor Puritan, ‘What, all this, and Christ too?’ – then are you happy, and you make others happy. A godly preacher, finding that all that there was for dinner was a potato and a herring, thanked God that he had ransacked sea and land to find food for his children. Such a sweet spirit breeds love to everybody, and makes a man go through the world cheerfully.” (Spurgeon)
Psalm 50:23 (NKJV)
23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth [his] conversation [aright] will I shew the salvation of God.
in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.—1 Thessalonians 5:18
I am guilty of the charges against the natural man in verse 21 probably multiple times a day ...Thinking about this verse made me grateful for the conviction God’s word brings as I study it, and also for the subsequent transformation that takes place in our hearts as we surrender to the Spirit’s prompting and correct our course.
Verse 21 cont..but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened
Again, the problem wasn’t that man did not know God...He did. The problem was/is that he refused to glorify Him whom he knew to be God as God. God created us in His own image (Gen 1:27) to reflect who He is to the world. We are His image-bearers pointing the world to God. Our chief end is to glorify Him, and to enjoy Him forever. When man rejects this truth...they must by default embrace error. Their hearts become dark and their thoughts futile. They can no longer see truth because they have denied the central truth.
34 "The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.
35 "Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.
36 "If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light."—Luke 11:34-36
Isaiah 44:9-20 on the foolishness of idolatry esp vs 20...God speaking
He feeds on ashes;
A deceived heart has turned him aside;
And he cannot deliver his soul,
Nor say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"—Isaiah 44:20
Verse 22: Professing to be wise, they became fools,
It is foolish to deny what one already knows to be true. (The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God.") People who refuse to acknowledge God might think they are wise but in reality they become fools. They demonstrate this foolishness by making for themselves gods of their own imaginations and believe what they want to about the universe and said god.
"How can you say, 'We are wise,
And the law of the LORD is with us'?
Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.
9 The wise men are ashamed,
They are dismayed and taken.
Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD;
So what wisdom do they have?—Jeremiah 8:8-9
Verse 23: and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
Verse 23 is the polar opposite of honoring and glorifying God. God in His gracious kindness honored man by making him in His own image. Man, in effect, does a God makeover. He makes God into an image made like himself...corruptible, depraved man—and birds and four footed animals and creeping things. He attributes to them deity and uses them to represent God. Repugnant and repulsive.
Thus they changed their glory
Into the image of an ox that eats grass.—Ps 106:20
Has a nation changed its gods,
Which are not gods?
But My people have changed their Glory
For what does not profit.
12 Be astonished, O heavens, at this,
And be horribly afraid;
Be very desolate," says the LORD.
13 "For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water.—Jeremiah 2:11-13
From the Believers Bible Commentary: I liked this...
Instead of evolving from lower forms, "early man" was of a high moral order. By refusing to acknowledge the true, infinite, incorruptible God, he devolved to the stupidity and depravity that go with idol worship. This whole passage gives the lie to evolution. Man is instinctively religious. He must have some object to worship. When he refused to worship the living God, he made his own gods of wood and stone representing man, birds, animals, and creeping things, or reptiles. Notice the downward progression—man, birds, animals, creeping things. And remember that man becomes like what he worships. As his concept of deity degenerates, his morals degenerate also. If his god is a reptile, then he feels free to live as he pleases. Remember too that a worshiper generally considers himself inferior to the object of worship. Created in the image and after the likeness of God, man here takes a place lower than that of serpents! When man worships idols, he worships demons. Paul states clearly that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice to idols they sacrifice to demons and not to God (1 Cor. 10: 20).
Verse 24: Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
God gave them up...According to John MacArthur, this is a judicial term in Greek, used for handing over a prisoner to his sentence. By refusing to acknowledge the true, infinite, incorruptible God, man devolved to the stupidity and depravity that go with idol worship. (BBC) In response to the evil lusts of their hearts, God handed them over to “eat the fruit of their own way” so to speak. They dishonored Him, so He abandoned them to uncleanness (sexual impurity) to dishonor their bodies among themselves. I liked how the Amplified says it...He abandoned them to the degrading power of sin.
A man [who is held] in honor, Yet who lacks [spiritual] understanding and a teachable heart, is like the beasts that perish.—Psalm 49:20
Verse 25: who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
By choice they traded the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than their Creator.
The lie - A denial of God’s existence and his right to be obeyed and glorified
“ Has a nation [ever] changed gods Even though they were not gods [but merely man-made objects]? But My people have exchanged their Glory (the true God) For that [man-made idol] which does not benefit [them]. 12“ Be appalled, O heavens, at this; Be shocked and shudder with horror [at the behavior of the people],” says the LORD. 13“ For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned (rejected) Me, The fountain of living water, And they have carved out their own cisterns, Broken cisterns That cannot hold water.—Jeremiah 2:11-13
