The wrath of God
[Romans 1:18-32]
A long time ago, there was a Korean drama called ‘Mom is Angry’ among the popular Korean dramas. Watching this drama featuring famous celebrities such as Lee Soon-jae, Kang Bu-ja, Kim Hye-ja, and Baek Il-seop, I thought that writer Kim Soo-hyun wrote really well. The reason I thought that way was because even though there are some ideal parts in the drama (for example, the daughter-in-law Kim Hye-ja of a large family gets permission from her father-in-law Lee Soon-jae and her husband Baek Il-seop to leave the house and live alone in an apartment), I think it’s showing a realistic appearance well. There were times when I could sympathize with the way people live and listen to their words in that drama. Then, last week, when I saw “Christian Hellard,” one of the Christian newspapers coming to our church, there was an article by a pastor, so I read it. The reason why I read that article was because the title of the article was, “Is the saint ‘angry’?” The core exhortation of the article, in my opinion, is that believers should control their anger with the word of God. But the part of the article that interests me is this: ‘“Saints can’t raise their horns, but they have to be angry when doing righteous things. … In the original languages of the New Testament, there are two different words for ‘angry.’ Each expresses righteous anger and unrighteous anger” (Christian Hellard).
Here I think of “righteous anger,” or “righteous indignation,” rather than the “anger,” which we can often produce. The reason is that in today's text, Romans 1:18, the apostle Paul is speaking about "the wrath of God" while writing a letter to the saints in Romans. But the question that arises is why the apostle Paul is suddenly talking about “the wrath of God” when writing to the saints in Rome. In Romans 1:15-17, apostle Paul said to the saints in Rome, 'I long to see you' (v. 11), and one of the reasons is because he wanted to preach the gospel to them (v. 15). Then, suddenly, I wonder why he spoke to the Roman saints about God's wrath from verse 18. In order to answer this question, we should compare the word “the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel” in Romans 1:17 and “the wrath of God” in verse 18. In other words, the reason Paul is telling the saints in Rome about the unrighteous sinners under the wrath of God is to tell them how absolutely these unrighteous sinners absolutely need God's righteousness (MacArthur). In other words, while writing a letter to the saints in Rome, ‘I want to preach the gospel to you,’ he is implying that he also wants to preach the gospel to unrighteous sinners under the wrath of God. In the midst of this, Paul is challenging the Roman saints to boldly preach the gospel to unrighteous sinners and dying souls who are in the midst of God's wrath.
Then, in today's text Romans 1:18-32, as apostle Paul writes a letter to the Roman saints, to whom is God's wrath revealed? Indeed, to whom should we preach the gospel? We can think of it in 3 ways.
First, the Bible says that God's wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
Look at Romans 1:18 – “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” Here, those who suppress the truth with unrighteousness refer to those who have the knowledge to know God but suppress that knowledge through their own unrighteousness and ungodliness. How is this possible? How can they suppress the truth, the knowledge of God, with their own unrighteousness and ungodliness? Look at verse 21: “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Those who suppress the truth with unrighteousness know God but do not glorify God or give thanks to Him, so their thoughts become futile and their hearts darkened. Therefore, they live foolishly, suppressing the truth. This reminds me Psalms 14:1a – “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’ ….” However, if we look at Romans 1:19-20, the Bible clearly states that “which is known about God is evident within them.” The reason is because God the Creator has revealed Himself through all things He has made. In other words, God the Creator clearly showed us His power and divinity through all things He created (v. 20). Therefore, all people are aware of the existence of God in their conscience. That's why the apostle Paul says, ‘All people know God’ (v. 19, original translation). John Calvin said, ‘The natural world is a mirror through which we can see God’ (Park). Everyone knows in their conscience the existence of God through the natural world He created. Therefore, all people have no excuse for not knowing God (v. 20). Theologically speaking, this is called “natural revelation.” Natural revelation means that God has revealed Himself to all things in the universe He has created. Therefore, all creatures who see the universe created by God know that God the Creator exists. But what's the matter? Although those who see the heavens and the earth know that there is a God through natural revelation and know that there is a God by looking at their conscience, they still suppress the truth with unrighteousness and deliberately ignore it. In other words, all ungodly and unrighteous people suppress the knowledge of God. In the midst of this, they do not give glory to God or give thanks to God, but their thoughts became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened (v. 21). They claim to be wise, but they became fools (v. 22). The Bible says that God's wrath will be revealed to those who suppress the truth with unrighteousness. We must preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to them.
Second, the Bible says that God's wrath is revealed to those who exchange the truth of God for a lie.
Look at Romans 1:25 – “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” Those who are ungodly and unrighteous, who suppress the truth of God with unrighteousness, exchange the truth of God for a lie. Although they know the existence of God through natural revelation, they suppress that knowledge, so their thoughts become futile and dark. And they say that there is no God in their foolish hearts, and they abandon the truth and instead pursue lies. As a result, they worship and serve things made by humans (“creatures”) rather than God, the Creator. They are guilty of exchanging the glory of the immortal God for the images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles (v. 23). In a word, these people are guilty of idolatry. One of the sins of this idolatry is to love money more than God and idolize money. Despite the fact that the love of money is the root of all evil in the age of materialism, modern people live their lives trusting and relying on the power of money rather than the power of God because their intellect, emotion, and will, that is, their entire personality, is contaminated by the love of money. If we wrap this up in more Christian terms, it means that we, modern Christians, long for material blessings more than Jesus, the source of blessings. In the end, those who exchange the truth of God for a lie commit the sin of idolatry by idolizing material things and loving and serving money more than God, the Creator. What are the consequences of this sin of idolatry? In other words, what does the Bible say is the result of the sin of exchanging God's truth for a lie? Look at Romans 1:26-27: “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” In the end, the retribution that came upon those who exchanged God's truth for a lie was abandoned by God to their shameful lust (v. 26). In other words, God gave them over in the sinful desire of their hearts (v. 24). It means that both men and women commit the sin of exchanging what is natural relations for unnatural ones. Here, “natural” refers to the sexual desire of a man toward a woman and a woman toward a man. And the retribution given to those who exchanged God’s truth for a lie is not according to order, but according to the opposite, that is, woman to woman, and man to man. In a word, it refers to the sin of homosexuality. This is the result of the sin of exchanging God's truth for a lie. This is God's retribution and wrath.
Conflicts continue to crop up these days between groups that support Traditional Marriage and groups that support Homosexual Marriage. In particular, we often saw on TV news that supporters of same-sex marriage poured out to the side of the road and held a signpost to demonstrate. How should we Christians view this situation? Here I think it is necessary to distinguish two things. In other words, while homosexuality itself is a sin against God, our attitude towards homosexuals is that we should pray and work hard for their salvation with a heart of compassion rather than hostility toward them. The fact that homosexuality is a sin against God appears not only in today's text but also in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and Jude 7: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals” (1 Cor. 6:9), “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 7). In this way, the Bible says that homosexuality is unrighteous and a sin. Although we should hate this sin, it is not a desirable attitude to be hostile to homosexuals who commit that sin. Rather, we hate their sins, but we must embrace those who commit that sin with the love of Christ. And we should pray so that when they hear the gospel from us, they repent their sin of homosexuality and return to God.
Thirdly, the Bible says that God's wrath is revealed to those who don’t think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God in their hearts.
Look at Romans 1:28 – “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.” Here, “they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God” means that those who with unrighteousness suppress the truth of God, and those who exchange the truth of God for a lie think that knowing God is not worth having in a practical way (Park). In other words, they conscientiously know the existence of God through the universe and all things created by God. But they suppress the knowledge of God and do not give thanks and glorify Him because they consider it worthless to put the knowledge of God in their hearts. This clearly shows that the value of those who suppress the truth of God and exchange it for a lie is crumbling. In other words, they do not know how precious the knowledge of God is and regard it as insignificant. So, in the end they are led astray by lies and commit the sin of worshiping idols. Men lust after men and women lust after women. As a result, God gave them over to a depraved mind (v. 28). Those who suppress the truth of God (v. 18) God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity (v. 24). And God who gave them over to shameful lusts (v. 26) gave them over to the depraved mind (v. 28). God's wrath came upon those who did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, but He gave them over to the depraved mind that is, their wrong hearts. What was the result? They do what ought not to be done (v. 28). It is to act inconsistent with human duty and responsibility (Park). The list of those sinful acts is recorded in verses 29-32, and this list can be classified into 5 categories: (1) wickedness, evil, greed and depravity: sin in which a person mistreats himself; (2) envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice: sin that occurs when a person competes with others; (3) gossips, slanderers: sin in which a person harms another through the media; (4) God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil: sin of exalting himself and (5) disobeying his parents, senseless, faithless, heartless and ruthless: sin against loyalty (Park). Those who have the wrong mind to commit these sins say, “Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (v. 32). Therefore, God's wrath is revealed against these people. We must think about God’s wrath. This wrath of God is not the anger that is the saints often emit. The wrath of our God is righteous anger. In other words, His anger is holy anger. Why does God have such holy wrath? The reason is because people suppress the truth with unrighteousness (v. 18), because they exchange the truth of God for a lie (v. 25), and because they don’t think it’s worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God (v. 28). We must preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to these people. Therefore, I hope and pray that God's power of salvation will be manifested, so that the work of salvation will appear in which people repent of all their sins, return to Jesus, and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.