Romans 1:18–32 — what happens when people push God away

Through Romans, part 3 · Romans 1:18–32

Before Paul can explain the righteousness of God, he has to establish that nobody has it. He starts with the pagan Gentile world. This is the hardest section of Romans to read, and it's meant to be — you don't see the need for a Savior until you see the case against you.

Wrath revealed (v. 18)

God's wrath is revealed against "all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." Three things are named: ungodliness (sin against God), unrighteousness (sin against people), and unbelief (holding down the truth). That word "suppress" is the key to the whole passage. The truth about God is pushed back, held down, kept from governing a person's life.

Nobody is an atheist by nature (vv. 19–20)

"What can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them." The knowledge that there is an almighty God is in every person. We all trace back to one family, and the root of that knowledge is still there. You don't find atheists in remote villages. Every culture has its myths of gods, creators, and saviors — some close to the truth, some far from it — but the sense of a powerful God who is in charge and will punish wrongdoing is something everyone is born with. You have to be taught to be an atheist.

And creation backs it up. "His invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made." Psalm 19 says the heavens declare the glory of God. Between the witness inside and the witness outside, "people are without excuse."

The slide (vv. 21–23)

Watch the sequence. They knew God. They "did not glorify him as God or show gratitude." Thanklessness comes early. "Their thinking became worthless" — the word means empty, void of results — and "their senseless hearts were darkened." When you push the light out, the mind goes dark. It's not that they got dumber; it's that their thinking lost its anchor.

"Claiming to be wise, they became fools." The Greek behind "wise" is where we get sophomore — literally a wise fool. Teenagers think they know everything; adults know how little they know. The older I get, the more I realize how little I know. A society that gets too smart for God ends up denying the obvious.

Then idolatry: "They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles." Notice what's first on the list — man. It's the fulfillment of what the serpent offered Eve: you will be like God. The greatest honor is that God made man in His image; the greatest dishonor is that man makes God in his. Rome had its eagle. Egypt had hawks, oxen (where Israel's golden calf came from), crocodiles, beetles. Assyria had Dagon, half fish, half man. Mankind must worship something. Reject the Creator and you will end up worshiping something in creation — even a snake.

God gave them over (vv. 24–25)

"Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity." When truth is forsaken, errors multiply. The picture here is God saying, "Have it your way." His wrath in this passage isn't fire from heaven; it's abandonment to what people insisted on. And the human heart, left to itself, doesn't drift toward good. Jeremiah calls it deceitful and desperately wicked. Apart from God, people crave what's wrong the way a hungry man craves food.

"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie" — the word is different from verse 23; it means to alter or revise. Creation is revised into evolution. What God made fixed is made fluid. And the lie underneath all of it is that man is his own god and should serve himself rather than the Creator "who is praised forever." People end up worshiping and serving created things — the environment, the body, pleasure — instead of the One who made them. We're to steward creation, not bow to it.

Against nature (vv. 26–27)

Paul's next example is sexual sin, and specifically homosexuality, which Scripture consistently describes with words like "unnatural" and "shameful." The gods Rome worshiped were known for their immorality, and so were several of the Caesars. Self-deification produces self-indulgence. Paul is not singling out one sin as worse than all others — he's showing what a society looks like when God has been pushed out, and sexual confusion is one of its clearest markers.

Two things need to be said plainly and kindly. First, everyone has besetting sins — desires that come more easily to one person than another. Having a desire doesn't make acting on it right; that's true for every one of us in every category. "I've always felt this way" isn't an argument the Bible recognizes. Second, this passage is describing people Jesus died for. Romans 5 will say Christ died for the ungodly — the very people listed in Romans 1. Paul isn't writing them off. He's writing to show that they, like everyone else, need the same Savior. We're told to be "bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5), and that includes our desires.

A mind that fails the test (vv. 28–31)

"Because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind." The word for "corrupt" was used of metals that failed the test — rejected. A mind that can't form right judgments. Adam Clarke put it well: they wouldn't examine the evidence for God, so God abandoned them to a mind incapable of examining anything.

Then the list, and it's worth reading slowly, because it isn't just "those people." Unrighteousness, evil, greed, wickedness. Envy — the displeasure you feel at someone else's success. Murder, quarrels, deceit, malice. Gossips and slanderers. God-haters. Arrogant, proud, boastful. Inventors of evil. Disobedient to parents. Senseless, untrustworthy — when there's no God to hold you accountable, there's no reason to keep your word. Unloving — parents toward children and children toward aging parents. Unmerciful.

Applauding it (v. 32)

"Although they know God's just sentence — that those who practice such things deserve to die — they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them." It's one thing to sin. It's another to cheer when others do. Don't encourage wrong. Don't celebrate it. If someone posts something ungodly, you don't have to like it.

Where this is going

Paul has made his case against the pagan world: they are sinners, and they have no way in themselves to be saved. "They are without excuse" (v. 20). If you read this and thought, "Well, that's not me" — good. Paul was hoping you'd think that. He's about to turn to the person who reads a list like this and nods along. That's next.

Read that list again and be honest. Gossip. Envy. Arrogance. Not keeping your word. It was never a list about strangers, and if you found yourself in it, that's mercy, because God doesn't leave a person standing there. He gave His Son to die for that exact list and raised Him up, and He saves everyone who quits holding the truth down and calls on Him instead. You've known there's a God since you were a kid. Stop suppressing it. Come to Him while His answer is still an invitation and not have it your way.

Christian, verse 32 is yours. Don't applaud. This week, watch your thumb. When something ungodly comes across your screen, you don't have to like it, share it, laugh at it, or send it to anybody. Small thing. Do it anyway.

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Through Romans: ← Part 2 · Part 3 · Part 4 →