Romans Chapter 1 Vs. 18

God's Wrath on Unrighteousness

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Rom 1:18

For the wrath... The wrath of God is also revealed in the gospel as part of God’s righteousness.

wrath of God... This phrase is found ten times in Scripture (Rom. 1:18; Psm. 78:31; John 3:36; Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:6; Rev. 14:10, 14:19; 15:1, 15:7;16:1).

against all ungodliness... This is what God’s wrath is against. In Rom. 1:18-32 Paul proves the utter ungodliness of the Gentile world and its deserving God’s wrath. In Romans 2:1-3:8 he proves that the Jews are also ungodly and deserving of God’s wrath. In Rom. 3:9-20 he sums up the case of both Jews and Gentiles, proving the whole world guilty.

Ungodliness, Greek: asebeia, impiety; no reverence for God or sacred things; irreligious (2Tim. 2:16; Tit. 2:12; Jude 1:18).

unrighteousness, Greek: adikia, all wrongdoing; immorality; wickedness of heart and life (Luke 18:6; Rom. 1:18, 1:29; 2:8; 6:13).

hold the truth... Hold down, suppress; imprison; bridle.

God’s Righteousness Revealed in Condemnation

The first step in the revelation of the righteousness that God provides for people by faith is to set forth their need for it because they are under God’s judgment. The human race stands condemned before God and is helpless and hopeless apart from God’s grace.

Condemnation against pagan humanity

This section looks at the human race prior to the call of Abram and the establishment of a special people of God. This situation persisted in the pagan world of the Gentiles as distinct from the Jews.

Reasons for Condemnation

God never condemns without just cause. Here three bases are stated for His judgment of the pagan world.

For suppressing God’s truth

This verse serves as a topic sentence for this entire section. In addition, it stands in contrastive parallel to Rom. 1:17. The continuing revelation (the verb is being revealed is in the pres. tense) of the wrath of God is an expression of His personal righteousness (which also “is being revealed,” Gr., Rom. 1:17) and its opposition to human sinfulness. Therefore people need the continuing revelation of “a righteousness from God” (Rom. 1:17) that He provides. God’s wrath is directed against all the godlessness (asebeian, “lack of proper reverence for God”) and wickedness (adikian, “unrighteousness”) of men, not against the men as such. (God’s wrath will also be revealed in the future; cf. Rom. 2:5.) God hates sin and judges it, but loves sinners and desires their salvation. 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.

“Is revealed”: More accurately, “is constantly revealed”. The word essentially means “to uncover, make visible, or make known.” God reveals His wrath in two ways:

1. Indirectly, through the natural consequences of violating His universal moral law,

2. Directly through His personal intervention. The Old Testament record for the sentence passed on Adam and Eve to the worldwide flood, from the fire and brimstone that leveled Sodom to the Babylonian captivity, clearly displays this kind of intervention.

The most graphic revelation of God’s holy wrath and hatred against sin was when He poured out divine judgment on His Son on the cross.

God has various kinds of wrath:

1. Eternal wrath, which is hell

2. Eschatological wrath, which is the final Day of the Lord

3. Cataclysmic wrath like the flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

4. Consequential wrath, which is the principle of sowing and reaping

5. The wrath of abandonment, which is removing restraint and letting people go to their sins.

Here it is that fifth form, God’s abandoning the wicked continually through history to pursue their sin and its consequences.

“Ungodliness”: This indicates a lack of reverence for, devotion to , and worship of the true God, a defective relationship with Him.

“Unrighteousness”: This refers to the result of ungodliness: a lack of conformity in thought, word and deed to the character and law of God.

“Hold the truth in unrighteousness”: Although the evidence from conscience, creation and God’s Word is irrefutable, men choose to resist and oppose God’s truth by holding fast to their sin.

Failure to give God His due inevitably results in failure to treat people, created by God in His image, the right way. Conversely, people (in their unrighteousness toward others) continue to suppress (katechontōn, lit., “holding down”) the truth (cf. Rom. 1:25; 2:8) concerning both God and man. People had God’s truth but suppressed it, refusing to heed it. And these wicked ones did this in an attitude of wickedness (en adikia). This suppression of the truth is Paul’s first reason for God’s condemnation of the pagan world.