Idols- A Follow Up To Romans 1

 God is spirit. (John 4:24; Isaiah 31:3;Deuteronomy 4:12) No one has seen him. (John 1:18) He is invisible to us. (Colossians 1:15)

Since he has no visible form, any idol intended to represent him would be a sinful misrepresentation. Therefore, God forbade the making of objects that represent him. They are idols. The making of the golden calf while Moses was on the mountain receiving the commandments led to judgment on the Israelites. (Exodus 32) 

God has, however, made himself known to us through his son, Jesus. John 1:18 tells us that Jesus has made the Father known to us. He is the only and true image of the God. (Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4) He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. (Hebrews 1:3)

God’s Wrath Upon The Gentiles The Reason We Need Salvation 1:18-32

 God’s Wrath Upon The Gentiles

The Reason We Need Salvation

1:18-32

This section on God’s righteous wrath actually goes all the way to 3:20. We can divide it into three parts: (1) God’s wrath upon the Gentiles (non-Jews) in 1:18-32; (2) God’s Wrath Upon The Jews in 2:1-3:8; and (3) God’s wrath upon the whole world in 3:9-20. 

God’s righteousness in revealed through the gospel as God declares righteous those who believe in it. We need his declaration of righteousness because of our lack of righteousness and God’s wrath toward sin. 

God’s wrath is his strong and righteous anger toward sin. He is wrathful toward all ungodliness and unrighteousness. (18) Wrath is God’s reaction to sin. Through their sins, people suppress the truth about God, denying his righteousness and his right\authority to set the moral standards for mankind. 

All people should have some knowledge of God since he has shown it to them in creation. His eternal power and divine nature are revealed in the beauty, complexity, and order of creation. Because of this, their denial of God is unexcused. 

David saw the glory of God in creation. He wrote: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork”. (Psalm 19:1)

Hymn writers have proclaimed it. Consider the lyrics of “How Great Thou Art”:

Oh Lord, my God

When I, in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!”

In contrast, those who do not believe look at creation and either see nothing or a product of random chance.

People do not honor God or give thanks to him for what he has provided. (21) As a result, their thinking became futile and their hearts became foolish and darkened. In their foolish darkness, they began to worship things that God made rather than God himself. They made idols, images of resembling men, animals, and insects. 

Knowing this tendency in mankind, God prohibited his chosen people from making images to worship. The second commandment says:

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD you God am a jealous God.” (Exodus 20:4-5)

Mankind’s turning from God had consequences. It produced dark hearts and foolish minds. It produced idol worship. Another consequence is the reaction of God. 

Because of mankind’s turning away from God, God gave them up to their vices. There are three statements in the following verses that: “God gave them up”. They are in verses 24, 26, and 28. The statement in verse 26 is a continuation of the statement in verse 24. God’s giving them up to their self degrading reveals his wrath upon them. 

First, because of their idol worship, God gave them up to impurity and the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. (24) The exchanging of the truth about God for the lie of idols, led to the exchanging of God’s design for men and women to the lie of homosexuality. (26-27) 

God’s design is the union of men and women in marriage. Genesis 2:24 says: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Second, because of their idol worship, God gave them up to a debased mind. That mind developed unrighteous thoughts and deeds. Paul gave a long list of these sins in verses 29-31. Those who did these things deserved to die. The wages of sin is death. (6:23) 

Paul also condemned those who give approval to those who commit these acts. And today we still see that happen in our culture and in various denominations. 

So, we see that debased thinking, leading to sexual deviance and the approval of it, is a judgment. God’s giving mankind over to debased thinking is a judgment on mankind.

Takeaways

The good news of the gospel starts with the bad news of God’s wrath toward sin. 

To know and understand God, we must know and understand that he is holy. 

Since God is holy, he is revulsed by sin. 

Our sin must be dealt with for us to be in communion with God.

Believers must also deal with sin in their lives. 

We need to resist temptation with Scripture and conform our mind’s to what Scripture teaches.

We should also pray for deliverance from sin motivated by our love for God. 

PAUL'S PRAYER & MOTIVATION: ROMANS 1:8-17

 

Paul’s Prayer

1:8-15

After the greeting, Paul states his prayers for the Roman believers. First, he gives thanks for them. He does this in several of his letters. Here he says he is thankful because their faith is proclaimed in all the world. 

Here we see one of the interpretative issues in the New Testament: the meaning of the word “world”. Some people believe the word “world” means every person in the world. But it is very unlikely that Paul believed that the faith of the Roman church was known to every person in the world. It is doubtful that Paul even knew all of the countries and peoples of the world. 

The word “world” can mean different things in different contexts. Here, Paul likely means the world of the Roman Empire, of which he would have knowledge.  

And, it was, in fact, a significant thing for the church to grow in Rome. Rome was the capitol of the empire. It was the center of government, the residence of the empire, and the location of many temples and statues that served the Roman religion. The Roman religion was interwoven into the fabric of Roman culture and politics. 

The second thing Paul prays for is that he will will be able to visit them. He wants to preach to them to strengthen the believers and proclaim the gospel to non-believers. He also wants to receive encouragement from them. 

But Paul recognized God’s sovereignty in the matter. He said “by God’s will”. (10) If God willed him to come, he would make it happen. If not, God would prevent him from coming. 

Paul then mentions his apostolic ministry. He is to preach to the Gentiles, which he calls “Greeks”. This includes the Romans and others who are civilized members of the Roman Empire. They spoke Greek and adopted the Greek culture. It also includes the Barbarians, those Gentiles outside the Empire. 

 

Paul’s Motivation

1:16-17

The reason Paul wants to preach in Rome is that the gospel is the “power of God to everyone who believes”, both Jew and Greek. God has given power to the gospel to bring salvation to those who believe. In 1 Corinthians 1:18, Paul said: “For the word of the cross is folly to whose who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”. 

This is an important concept that has been forgotten by large segments of Evangelicalism. Many pastors and church leaders have come to rely on various acts of entertainment to bring people to attend their churches. Others rely on emotionalism. Consciously or unconsciously, these people have ceased to believe that we proclaim the gospel knowing that only the gospel has power to bring salvation. 

The gospel reveals the righteousness of God. God is righteous. He is perfect. He is, therefore, the standard of righteousness. His laws reflect his righteous nature. He requires righteousness from us, expressed by obedience to his laws. We cannot obtain it on our own. God, in his righteousness, imputes righteousness to those who believe in his Son. He declares them to be righteous because of their faith in Christ. Romans will make clear to us that the path to righteous standing before God is one of faith, not works. That is what the gospel reveals. 

 This was also true for the Old Testament saints. In fact, when Paul said “the righteous shall live by faith”, he was quoting the Old Testament in Habakkuk 2:4. We also know this to be true of Abraham. Genesis 15:6 says “And he [Abraham] believed the LORD and he counted it to him as righteousness. 

In Galatians 3:6-9, Paul wrote: “…just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

Paul will explain this in greater detail in this book of Romans, in chapters 3 and 4. 

Notice also that there is no universalism here. Universalism is the belief that all persons will be saved because of Jesus’ death. But, Paul clearly teaches that salvation comes only to those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God. 

 

THE GREETING: ROMANS 1:1-7

The Greeting

1:1-7

The first word of the letter tells us the author is the apostle Paul. Very few scholars dispute this. 

Paul dictated the letter to Tertius who wrote it out. (16:22) He was Paul’s “amanuensis”. 

Paul grew up in Tarsus, a city of culture and education, in Celicia (modern day Turkey). It was the capitol of the province, steeped in the culture and religion of Rome and Greece. 

Although he was a Roman citizen, Paul was Jewish. He was an educated Pharisee, studying in Jerusalem under a famous Rabbi. (Acts 22:3) He was zealous. He persecuted Jewish Christians. He held the coats of those who stoned Stephen and probably had a role in organizing the execution. (Acts 7:58)

You can read about Paul’s conversion in Acts 9. After his encounter with the risen Christ, and being blinded for three days, the Lord told Paul he had chosen him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel. (Acts 9:16) Paul was then baptized. He immediately began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues in Damascus. 

We believe Paul wrote the letter to the Romans between AD 55 and 58 while he was in Corinth collecting funds for a gift to Jerusalem. He stayed with Gaius. (16:23; 1 Corinthians 1:14) 

Paul described himself in three ways in verses 1-6. First, he was a servant of Christ. Christ was his lord and master. He was fully devoted to serving him. 

All of that zeal that Paul previously directed to persecuting Christ followers as apostate Jews, he now directed to serving Christ.

Second, Paul was an apostle. He was called by Christ. We know from Acts 9 that he saw the risen Christ and was called by him into service, qualifying him as an apostle. Being an apostle, he had the authority to proclaim God’s word so that people would come into obedience to Christ. 

Third, Paul was set apart for the preaching the gospel. He was to preach the gospel to all the nations. (5) In fact, God set him apart before he was born. (Galatians 1:15) This reflects the calling of Jeremiah. God told him: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations”. (Jeremiah 1:4)

Paul’s intended audience was the church (or churches) in Rome. He intended to go to Rome after delivering the gift to the church in Jerusalem. He did so, but under arrest and awaiting trial before the emperor. (Acts 28:14-16)

Paul also described the gospel in three ways. 

First, it is the gospel of God. It is the good news from God that he provided a way of salvation through his son, Jesus. It was not something Paul made up. 

Second, the gospel was promised beforehand through God’s prophets in the holy Scriptures. This is an important statement, especially for the Jewish people. Salvation through Christ was always God’s plan. 

It is first told in Genesis 3:15, as God said he would send one who would defeat Satan. Moses said God would raise up a prophet like himself that would speak God’s word and to whom people should listen. (Deuteronomy 18:15-22) It continues in Isaiah 53, where the servant and his suffering are described in detail.  There are many other references. 

Third, the gospel concerns God’s son. (3) His son was descended from David according to the flesh. This is particularly important for the Jews and God fearing Gentiles who knew the promise of God to David. (2 Samuel 7) He was declared to be God’s son by his resurrection from the dead. 

Paul did not start the church in Rome. We do not know who did. But, the Roman church in general did not know him, so this letter serves as an introduction to Paul and his teaching about the gospel. Paul did know several people in the Roman church, though. He mentioned several in Chapter 16.  

There appear to be two main reasons for the letter. First, Paul wanted to bring unity to the Roman church, unity between Jewish and Gentile believers. It is believed that the majority of believers there were Gentiles, but with a significant number of Jews. 

There were significant differences between the Jewish and Gentile believers that could destroy their unity. There was religious history, Judaism versus the Greek\Roman religion. In addition, the Jews of various sects, such as Pharisees and Sadducees, did not approve of each other. 

The Jews resented the Greeks for invading their land and defiling their temple. They resented Roman dominion over their country. The Romans tended to see the Jews as trouble makers and disrupters of the peace. 

There were racial and cultural differences, too. People from all over the Roman empire migrated to Rome, bringing their own customs, religions, and prejudices with them. 

But Paul believed they could all be unified in Christ when they understood Christian doctrine. He believed and taught that Christ himself is the peace of the church, having made both Jew and Gentile one body, breaking down the dividing wall of hostility between the two. (Ephesians 2:14)

Takeaways

I have heard it said that, if Paul could see the church today, we would be getting a letter! Certainly, there are many divisions. But, Jesus is our peace just as he was Paul’s. We can unite in Christ despite our different taste in music and worship styles, our diversity of races, ages, and economic statuses. And that will get the attention of the world.