Romans 1:18-32
Google dictionary defines
"apocalypse" as:
the
complete final destruction of the world, especially as described in the
biblical book of Revelation.
Wikipedia gives a more complete
explanation when it says:
An
apocalypse (Ancient Greek: ἀποκάλυψις apokálypsis, from ἀπό and καλύπτω,
literally meaning "an uncovering") is a disclosure of knowledge or
revelation. In religious contexts it is usually a disclosure of something
hidden, "a vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly
realities". [1]
In the
Book of Revelation (Greek: Ἀποκάλυψις Ἰωάννου, Apokalypsis Ioannou – literally,
John's Revelation), the last book of the New Testament, the revelation which
John receives is that of the ultimate victory of good over evil and the end of
the present age, and that is the primary meaning of the term, one that dates to
1175.[2]
Today,
the term is commonly used in reference to any prophetic revelation or so-called
end time scenario, or to the end of the world in general.[1]
2 Peter 3:10-12 says:
But the
day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away
with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the
earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things
are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of
holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,
because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly
bodies will melt as they burn! (2 Peter 3:10-12, ESV)
According to Peter then, there
will be a final Apocalypse, a day when the world ends. However, this actually is not the end, but a
new beginning. 2 Peter 3:13 continues
with this thought:
But
according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in
which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:13, ESV)
All unrighteousness and
ungodliness will be done away with, thus in the new heavens and new earth there
will be only righteousness.
Until that time, we live in a
world full of unrighteousness and ungodliness.
According to Romans 1:18:
For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18, ESV)
There is a "revealing"
of God's wrath that is continuously going on.
God's wrath was being revealed at the time the epistle to the Romans was
written and it is being revealed today.
This revealing is the uncovering or unveiling that the word
"apocalypse" refers to, and it is a portent of the great Apocalypse
to come.
Romans 1:18-32 lays out for us how
God's wrath is being revealed.
God's wrath is being revealed in
three stages or steps. These stages are
progressive. In other words, they build
on each other, and yet at the same time, all three can be observed at any given
time. Throughout history, different
cultures and different individuals have displayed these stages in various
forms. Examples of all kinds abound;
from ancient Sodom, Israel and Rome to modern Europe, Syria and America we can
see all the stages of the revealing of God's wrath.
The stages are as follows:
1) God
gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity. v. 24
2) God
gave them up to dishonorable passions.
v. 26
3) God
gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. v. 28
We are going to look at these
three stages in turn. However, we first
need to consider the meaning of the phrase "God gave them up." The
word used in the original language is defined as: "to hand over, to give
or deliver over."
We see an example of "giving
over" in the account of the introduction of sin into the world. God warned Adam that in the day he ate of the
fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would surely die.
(Genesis 2:17) When Adam and Eve ate
from the tree, God turned them over to the consequences. Their spiritual death was immediate as
forewarned, but the consequences were many and complex. Disease, sickness, hardship, pain and various
consequences have been revealed. These
consequences are progressive, but are not revealed in the same way in every
person. For example, not everyone gets
cancer, but cancer exists as a consequence of sin. Not everyone is killed in a car crash, but
car crashes exist as part of the consequences of sin. This is not to say that everyone who dies of
cancer or a car crash is suffering for a specific sin. Rather, by choosing to sin and reject God's
protection, humanity opened itself up to death in all of its horrible
manifestations. The family that dies in
a house fire is no better or worse than any other family. God has turned humanity over to the consequences
of the choice we made to reject Him. I
know I am saying horrible, atrocious things, but look at the world around
us. Horrible, atrocious things happen
and most of them are done by people to people.
Rather than take away our freedom as responsible moral agents, God has
left us free to suffer the consequences of our actions. This handing us over or giving us up is how
God progressively reveals His wrath. He
does this as a warning so that we can be turned to repentance. He holds back His wrath, but the day of wrath
will come when unrighteousness and ungodliness are done away and all the
consequences of sin along with them. It will be a new day of rejoicing and
freedom for those who trust in Christ Jesus.
Therefore, God's giving over or
giving up of humanity to the consequences of our sin is how He reveals His
wrath.
The first giving over is explained
in Romans 1:24-25. Romans 1:24 says,
"God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity."
The key concept here is the lusts
of their hearts. By letting our lusts or
appetites rule us, we practice things that are termed impure. What is worse, we become enslaved by these
things. The stronger enslavements we
call addictions because as a slave, an individual has no power to say no to his
or her lusts. This enslavement and
subjection to our own appetites is described in verse 25 that says:
because
they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:25, ESV)
The key to understanding this
first stage is here in the “worshiping and serving the creature rather than the
Creator.” Our own appetites, desires or
lusts become our god. This is described for us also in Philippians 3:19 when it
says, "their god is their belly." In other words, we worship and
serve the little "I am" (self) instead of the Great I Am (God).
Verse 24 shows us the consequences
of this giving over in the statement, “...to the dishonoring of their bodies
among themselves.” This is referring to sexual immorality. The inability to control our lusts shows
itself in all kinds of ways but sex is where we shame ourselves. As 1 Corinthians 6:18 says, sexual immorality
is a sin against our own bodies. Sex is good and necessary, and God has
carefully protected and defined its boundaries as being for a lifelong covenant
relationship between a man and a woman.
It creates a "oneness" of soul that no other act or practice
can duplicate. This is why sex is so
powerful, and any other use brings heartache, grief and awful
consequences. Concerning sex outside of
marriage, God warns us, “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes
not be burned?” (Proverbs 6:27, ESV) It may seem like we have escaped without
consequence, but this is not what the Bible teaches. Immeasurable heartache, suffering and death
are in the world because of this one issue.
Because humanity does not consider
the consequences of stage one and because we still refuse to honor God as God,
He gives us up to stage two. Stage two,
like stage one, comes as a natural consequence of our stubborn refusal to
acknowledge the truth about God.
Verse 26 defines stage two as,
“God gave them up to dishonorable passions.”
The key concept here is
dishonorable passions. The word
translated dishonorable is defined: “dishonor (perceived as without recognized
value, worth).” As in stage one, the
"giving over" is in the passions or desires of the body, and it is
also specifically related to sexual desires.
There are desires for money, food, material possession, power, control
and a host of other material and immaterial things in which our desires are
given over. The passage talks about
sexual desires, but we see the "giving over" in a myriad of
ways. The progress from stage one to
stage two is one of a change or growth in the desires to something that is
unnatural. Verse 26 and 27 describes
this change as:
For
their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed
with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and
receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. (Romans 1:26-27 ESV)
The Bible is clearly speaking of
same sex attraction. There are two
mistakes we can make here. One is to
think that since we do not experience same sex attraction we are somehow free
from stage two and better than those that do.
The second mistake is to think that because we experience same sex
attraction we are somehow worse (or better) than those that do not.
The Bible is clear that we are all
tempted. What is a temptation for me may
not be a temptation for you. (I have
even heard of people who do not like chocolate.
I cannot imagine it but it happens.)
We are all affected by sin and suffer to some degree from the
"giving over" of stage two. Temptation becomes sin when we cast off
restraint and act upon our desires whether they be what others consider normal
or abnormal. The consequences of stage
two, just the same as in stage one, are catastrophic for the individual as well
as the community.
Romans 1:26 terms these passions
as being without value or worth. They
add no value and are seen as unnatural.
The fact that we have desires that are without recognized value or worth
should serve as a warning to all of us of our desperate need for God.
The third and final stage is
expressed in verse 28 as:
God
gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
The key concept here is a debased
mind. The word translated “debased” here
is defined as: “failing to pass the test, unapproved, counterfeit.” In giving us over to a debased mind, God has
turned the intellect over so that in its subjection to animal passions it has
become an animal mind. Like unthinking
animals, our behavior becomes totally corrupt.
The list of verses 29 through 31 is ugly.
They
were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.
They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil,
disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. (Romans 1:29-31 ESV)
While I do not wish to deny the
truly wonderful things that humanity has accomplished and that people do, I
have to recognize that this list reads like the world news. This third stage is the state of humanity
while God is holding back the evil that could be. When He takes away His restraining hand, the
world will pass through the great tribulation.
Seeing the evil that people perpetuate against other people should be a
warning to us that God is not going to hold back the consequences of our
rebellion against Him forever. Verse 32
gives the summary of how we can see the wrath of God being uncovered when it
says:
Though
they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to
die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:32 ESV)
Rather than repenting and
admitting that God is right and we are wrong, we support each other in our
sin. We encourage each other, and tell
each other that we are okay. Even
churches get into the act. Denying the
gospel, there are those that preach success or psychology or some other form of
truth. 2 Peter 2:1-2 warns us of this when it says:
But
false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false
teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even
denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth
will be blasphemed. (2 Peter 2:1-2 ESV)
Even here, we see that false
teaching comes from "sensuality."
This is more evidence of God "giving over" people to their
sin, and this is the scariest revealing of God’s wrath. When those entrusted with the truth of the gospel
stop proclaiming the truth and warning those who are perishing, what hope does
the world have?
The day of His appearing is fast
approaching. What will it take to wake
us up?
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