Romans 1:18-32
Romans 1:18-32 (God’s Wrath Revealed)
Background
Paul takes a pretty systematic approach when writing his letter to the Romans. Nothing is by accident! So after greeting the local church, he immediately begins making his first case: everyone - both Jew and Greek - falls short of God’s glory.
He starts by bringing the hammer down on the easiest group of people for anyone to blame: “those unrighteous people over there.” But to build his case, he has to show that the whole world is fairly held accountable for sins against a God they may not have even heard of. He’ll eventually get to the Jewish people themselves who should know Yahweh better than anyone, but today, this is where we are.
The World Knows [Something About] God
Paul says that people are accountable for everything they can know about God. And because God has made himself known through all creation - namely, his eternal power, divine nature, and the fact that death is justly deserved for sin - everyone is accountable for knowing there is a Creator God. (God has revealed himself in lots of ways. This generic, universal way he’s made himself known to us is called general revelation. Scripture and the incarnation of Jesus would special revelation.)
Before you were a Christian, were you aware of God? What did you know (or think you knew!) about him? Where’d you get that from?
What are common excuses you hear, have heard, or might have even said yourself as to why God might be okay if someone didn’t worship him? Do those make sense to you?
What do you think of Paul’s teaching that everyone has some knowledge of God? Does that make sense to you?
What are those invisible attributes of God that can be seen? How would you describe them? What can be known about God from nature?
Does it seem fair or unfair to hold folks accountable for knowing there is a Creator and acknowledging, worshiping, and being thankful to him as such - even if they don’t know exactly who he is?
Consider what that means for us who have heard so much more about God - not just through general revelation, but the special revelation of Jesus in the gospel and the Word. How much more accountable are we because of what we’ve seen and heard?
What can’t we know about God without his special revelation?
The World Rejects [What They Know About] God
Despite knowing there’s a Creator, the world naturally sweeps what that really means under the rug. People suppress the truth, reject God as their God, and instead worship creation and live according to worldly “wisdom.” Apart from God’s intervention in the hearts of humans, this is our natural trajectory.
Why would this be our disposition? What’s “in it for us” if we pretend like the truth about God isn’t really true?
What’s in it for us if we accept what’s true about God? What does that cost / require of us? What should we be grateful for?
In what ways does the world worship creation instead of the Creator? What does that mean in day-to-day life? What’s it look like? Is worship something more than just songs and prayers?
What part of creation is your flesh tempted to worship in sneaky, subtle ways? Why?
Is there truth about God that you sometimes wish wasn’t true? What is it? Why? What’s the alternative lie you’d sometimes rather believe?
How do you remain submitted to the truth, even if it’s hard?
God Lets the World Believe & Become What They Think They Know
While we might be used to thinking about God’s wrath in the form of fire and brimstone, Paul describes for us a much more passive (and somewhat more terrifying!) form of his wrath: his refusal to intervene in our lives. God can very simply give the world over to what it thinks it wants, with disastrous consequences. Just as God’s grace promises to conform his people to the image of his Son, the absence of it deforms his people in the way they think, feel, and behave.
“You become what you behold.” “You are what you love.” “Behavior follows belief.” Maybe you’ve heard those saying before, and maybe you haven’t. What do you think they mean?
How have you seen this play out - even in your own life? How do the things you pay attention to, treasure, and think shape the way you live?
While he talks about people worshiping birds, animals, and reptiles, Paul uses the example of same-sex sexual behavior as an example of inward-facing worship. Why would he use this example to make his point about people worshiping creation?
How are envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, gossip, slander, pride, etc. fruits of the same inward-facing worship?
Paul talks about people “applauding” and approving of what the Lord calls unrighteous. Even if we don’t partake in doing unrighteousness, how does this idea shape what we lend our approval of (or even support to) - in our families, in our churches, and in our communities?
When you encounter the kinds of people Paul describes here, what do you think they need? What do they need to know? …do? What’s the issue?
What does Paul teaching here say about the hope of the world? What do they actually need in order to begin living differently?
Likewise, what do you need? How are you in the same boat as “them?”
How does this change the way you interact with the world? …what you want for and from the world?