Rom 1:21-23 | KingComments | STEP | . Have you ever felt ashamed of the gospel? I have. I think the reason for this is we haven’t yet fully realized the active power of God in the gospel. We pay too much attention to what people think because we are more concerned with their reaction toward us. But haven’t you discovered the effect of the gospel: salvation for lost people? Don’t you believe this? You have become a partaker of this salvation through faith. Maybe in the past you tried to earn your salvation by living as good as possible. At some point you had to acknowledge that man has no strength in himself to be saved. . This doesn’t mean God comes to assist a person in his attempts to be saved and that He will cause the good things to outweigh the wrong things. The gospel shows that if God saves man by faith and not through his efforts, He does this in a righteous way. This is the meaning of the expression “righteousness of God”. The righteousness of God is one of the main themes of this letter. This phrase means that God is righteous in His deeds. At this point it is sufficient to know that the power of God and the righteous deeds of God have saved you. So your salvation isn’t dependent on how you feel, nor is it a requirement for you to feel a certain way. Having faith in God’s plan of salvation is the key to receiving His salvation, and as long as you live on earth you will live by this faith. This faith (or belief) doesn’t have a sense of uncertainty that people often associate with the word. Faith in the Bible refers to steadfast trust. Faith is therefore a firm confidence in God and a steadfast trust in Him Who has done all for you to save you. He will also do all for you to guide you safely through this life until you are with Him. . How vitally important it was to be saved! “The wrath of God.” These are striking words! How many people contemptuously ridicule the thought of the wrath of God! This wrath is revealed against all forms of ungodliness. It is ungodly to ignore God. This wrath also comes on all the unrighteousness of people who hold the truth in unrighteousness. These are people who claim to know the truth, but manipulate it for their purposes. Therefore God includes them among those against whom His wrath is revealed. . The awful part of it is that man doesn’t pay attention to “that which is known about God”. No person could have apprehended anything concerning God unless He had revealed it to man. In creation, the work of His fingers, God made visible His eternal power and Godhead. Every rational person must conclude there is a God because of the wonders of what he observes around him in creation. The fact that there must be a God should lead him to glorify and thank God. However, the sad result is that he who shuts God out of his mind lapses into foolishness (such as evolution) and loses any light of the origin, the meaning and purpose of life. Their foolish hearts are darkened. What can be expected of such people? Now read Romans 1:16-21 again. Reflection: Ask God to help you not to be ashamed of the gospel.

‏ Romans 1:21-23

The Gospel Is the Power of God for Salvation

Rom 1:16. Have you ever felt ashamed of the gospel? I have. I think the reason for this is we haven’t yet fully realized the active power of God in the gospel. We pay too much attention to what people think because we are more concerned with their reaction toward us. But haven’t you discovered the effect of the gospel: salvation for lost people? Don’t you believe this? You have become a partaker of this salvation through faith. Maybe in the past you tried to earn your salvation by living as good as possible. At some point you had to acknowledge that man has no strength in himself to be saved.

Rom 1:17. This doesn’t mean God comes to assist a person in his attempts to be saved and that He will cause the good things to outweigh the wrong things. The gospel shows that if God saves man by faith and not through his efforts, He does this in a righteous way. This is the meaning of the expression “righteousness of God”. The righteousness of God is one of the main themes of this letter. This phrase means that God is righteous in His deeds.

At this point it is sufficient to know that the power of God and the righteous deeds of God have saved you. So your salvation isn’t dependent on how you feel, nor is it a requirement for you to feel a certain way.

Having faith in God’s plan of salvation is the key to receiving His salvation, and as long as you live on earth you will live by this faith. This faith (or belief) doesn’t have a sense of uncertainty that people often associate with the word. Faith in the Bible refers to steadfast trust. Faith is therefore a firm confidence in God and a steadfast trust in Him Who has done all for you to save you. He will also do all for you to guide you safely through this life until you are with Him.

Rom 1:18. How vitally important it was to be saved! “The wrath of God.” These are striking words! How many people contemptuously ridicule the thought of the wrath of God! This wrath is revealed against all forms of ungodliness. It is ungodly to ignore God. This wrath also comes on all the unrighteousness of people who hold the truth in unrighteousness. These are people who claim to know the truth, but manipulate it for their purposes. Therefore God includes them among those against whom His wrath is revealed.

Rom 1:19-21. The awful part of it is that man doesn’t pay attention to “that which is known about God”. No person could have apprehended anything concerning God unless He had revealed it to man. In creation, the work of His fingers, God made visible His eternal power and Godhead. Every rational person must conclude there is a God because of the wonders of what he observes around him in creation. The fact that there must be a God should lead him to glorify and thank God.

However, the sad result is that he who shuts God out of his mind lapses into foolishness (such as evolution) and loses any light of the origin, the meaning and purpose of life. Their foolish hearts are darkened. What can be expected of such people?

Now read Romans 1:16-21 again.

Reflection: Ask God to help you not to be ashamed of the gospel.

Mankind Without God

The verses in this section would not impress you with the greatness of man. Attempts are often made to get us to believe that people are basically good morally and everything is getting better. The opposite is true, and God bluntly says so. He honestly describes (maybe this is why it seems stern) how deep mankind has fallen after turning their backs on Him. What God says here was true of both you and me before we accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior. It is a description of the way we lived.

God didn’t create mankind in wickedness. Genesis 1 says: “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31). This includes mankind, but when a person abandons his connection with God, he is given over to himself by God. We read this phrase three times in this portion (Rom 1:24 ; 26 ; 28).

Rom 1:22-27. When people abandon the glory of the incorruptible God and replace Him with something else that looks like a perishable man or animal, God gives them over to it. He then gives them over to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts. You can see the result of it all around you. People who exchange the truth of God for a lie are given over by God to degrading passions: homosexuality among both women and men. Today this is called an alternative lifestyle that we should accept. Rather, we read here that this is a judgment of God; they receive in themselves what they deserve for their error. If the creature is honored and served above the Creator, then this is the result.

God created man to honor and serve Him. God has instilled this within the very nature of mankind. The ability to attain to true humanity only comes when mankind lives for God. If he does, he will experience the greatest of joy and happiness. This was what God desired when He created man. But if man doesn’t act accordingly, God gives him over to a life of abnormal relationships as Paul has described here. We can see this more and more around us, and the unnaturalness of it is openly denied. It is considered wrong to say anything against it, and we are supposed to accept it as normal and even face prosecution for discrimination. This is how the truth of God is being exchanged for a lie within the so-called Christian western countries.

Rom 1:28. The third time God gives people up to themselves and how this happens is described in this verse. Since they push God out of their thoughts, God gives them over “to a depraved mind” or perverted way of thinking. This is why they begin to act disrespectful.

Rom 1:29-32. At this point quite a list is summed up. You may recognize with shame some things you also have done. All you gained was “death” (Rom 1:32) rather than the satisfaction and pleasure you expected. All these things are present in man’s heart and revealed in his deeds when he lives without considering God. He produces, for himself and others, things that must only be reckoned as dead. There is nothing good toward God in these things. Deep down in their hearts they know what God thinks about these things, but they don’t care. They live their life as they please, and express their agreement with others who live the same way.

Now read Romans 1:22-32 again.

Reflection: Tell God that He is right in His judgment of mankind.