Romans: By His Grace - For His Glory
9th in the Series
The Rational Mind Deceived
Romans 1:18-23
April 21, 1996
by J. David Hoke
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the
godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what
may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since
the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine
nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are
without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave
thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the
immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
(Romans 1:18-23 NIV)
What is it about the idea of God that makes many people uncomfortable? The idea of God
does make many people feel that way, you know. For a country that has "In God We
Trust" on its money, we are pretty confused about what kind of God we trust. Just the
mention of His name brings forth a multitude of conflicting images. Some people want to do
away with the idea of God altogether. Others simply want to modify that idea to fit their
opinion of who God should really be.
In 1938, Harry Emerson Fosdick, then a very famous preacher in New York City, published
a book called A Guide to the Understanding of the Bible. In the opening chapter he
described how our understanding of God has evolved. In man's thinking, God had come from
the wrathful and vengeful God of the primitive mind to the God of fatherhood and
brotherhood in the teaching of Jesus. But Fosdick thought that the repugnant idea of hell
that Jesus had should also be abandoned in this upward quest of positive development.
Fosdick would probably also agree with Lord Bertrand Russell as he expressed this same
thought in his book, Why I Am Not A Christian:
There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ's moral character, and that is that He believed in hell. I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment. Christ certainly as depicted in the Gospels did believe in everlasting punishment, and one does find repeatedly a vindictive fury against those people who would not listen to His preaching . . . . You do not, for instance, find that attitude in Socrates. You find him quite bland and urbane toward the people who would not listen to him, and it is, to my mind, far more worthy of a sage to take that line than to take the line of indignation.
It seems to me that one of the real reasons that the idea of God makes people
uncomfortable is that they know that if God exists, we may have to stand accountable
before Him one day. The idea of a God who judges us by some moral standard we must meet is
a frightening idea to many, especially those who think that they should give account to no
one. So, people attempt to redefine God or eliminate God. The truth is that we do not want
to be held accountable for our sins.
Deep down inside, however, there is this gnawing knowledge that we are sinful people
and that we must deal with a righteous God. So, because of our wickedness we choose to
live without God and our sinful, rational minds become deceived and deluded as we ignore
the evidence of God in favor of our own gods. This is the downward spiral of sinful
unbelief. And this is what is exposed by Paul in our text. Here we will see the rational
mind deceived and deluded. Here we will see the outcome of unbelief. And hopefully we will
be challenged, not only to recognize unbelief in the world, but also to recognize it in
the church. Wherever it appears, it is dangerous.
Do you see the danger of the rationalizations of unbelief? Let's look at the steps in
the downward spiral of unbelief in order to observe where we end up when we start down
that path.
Deceit
The first step in this downward spiral of sinful unbelief is deceit. Because of the godlessness
and wickedness that is in the human heart, people have decided to suppress the
truth. It is this deceitful suppression of truth that brings upon us the wrath of
God.
Why do you suppose that we suppress the truth? Well, the plain answer given in
verse 18 is because of wickedness. Because humankind is wicked or sinful, people
choose to suppress any knowledge about God. Those who do not want to deal with God
choose to restrain, not only their own consideration of God but also all consideration of
God. The idea expressed in our text here is one of an active endeavor to repress or
restrain the truth. One connotation of the word translated "suppress" is
to "hold down." Somebody has put it this way in a little poem entitled "The
Humanist":
He exists because he was created.
He's here because he was placed here.
He's well and comfortable because divine power keeps him so.
He dines at God's table.
He's sheltered by the roof that God gave him.
He's clothed by God's bounty.
He lives by breathing God's air which keeps him strong and vocal to go about persuading people that whether God is or not, only man matters.
Today we see a lot of activity focused against any public display of religion.
Generally, the focus is Christian religion. Well known groups, such as the ACLU and other
groups, use the courts to try to block any public display of Christianity, citing the
First Amendment to the Constitution as their legal precedent and the idea of plurality as
their ideological principle. No doubt there are some who genuinely believe this. But
underneath it all, perhaps even below the consciousness of those taking this stand, is the
underlying desire to suppress the truth about God. This is the tragedy of the human
condition. Indeed, Jesus Himself said, "This is the verdict: Light has come into
the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone
who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds
will be exposed". (John 3:19-20)
Denial
A second step in this downward spiral of sinful unbelief is denial. Based upon this
wicked desire to suppress the truth, people deny what should be apparent all around them.
In fact, the evidence for the existence of God is everywhere to be found.
If people were really seeking to find knowledge about God, the Scripture says that all
they need to do is open their eyes, since what may be known about God is plain to them,
because God has made it plain to them. In other words, God has revealed Himself to
everyone who cares to see.
How has this been accomplished? Well, one way is through what has been created. Listen
to the words of verse 20: For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities
- his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what
has been made, so that men are without excuse.
What Paul is saying here is, "Look around you. Everywhere you see evidence that
God exists. Look at the sky. Look at the trees. Look at a human being. Did this all happen
by chance? Surely there must be a Creator." This is what is known as the
"argument from design." It is one of the most common arguments for the existence
of God. But if you choose to deny the truth, no argument will make a difference. Elizabeth
Barret Browning wrote:
Earth's crammed with heaven,
and every common bush aflame with God.
But only those who see take off their shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
It is awfully hard to see when you do not open your eyes. In our culture today, there
are many with their eyes firmly shut, trying to avoid seeing anything which will make them
uncomfortable in their lifestyle, which will remind them of the inner knowledge they
already possess that God exists and one day they will stand before Him.
Darkness
The next step in this downward spiral of sinful unbelief is darkness. Because of our
rejection of the truth that has been revealed about God, we are plunged into rationalistic
darkness. Verse 21 says that their foolish hearts were darkened.
Why? What was the cause of this darkness? The reason given is that although they
knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking
became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. This darkness is a result of
their own choice to reject what they knew about God. Because of this rejection, both their
thoughts and their moral center became corrupted.
It is obvious that God holds us accountable for what He has revealed about Himself.
When Paul says that they knew God, he is talking about the knowledge that they had
come to have by virtue of God's revelation of Himself through the created order. In the
creation they saw the magnificence and greatness of God. But they choose to reject that.
As a result they are without excuse. Ultimately, when we all stand before God, we
will have no excuse for rejecting Him. Donald Grey Barnhouse, former pastor of Tenth
Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, observed:
God will give a man brains to smelt iron and make a hammer head and nails. God will grow a tree and give man strength to cut it down and brains to fashion a hammer handle from its wood. And when man has the hammer and the nails, God will put out His hand and let man drive nails through it and place Him on a cross in the supreme demonstration that men are without excuse. (Romans, vol. 1 [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1953], p. 245)
So we see that people, rather than accepting this knowledge of God and choosing to live
a lifestyle that glorified Him as God and gave thanks to Him, rejected what
they knew and entered into darkness.
Delusion
The final step in this downward spiral of sinful unbelief is delusion. Although they
claimed to be wise, they became fools is the conclusion of their rationalistic attempt
to dismiss God. And it accurately describes the plight of many today. For all our academic
achievement, if we reject God we become fools. Indeed, the Scripture itself says in Psalm
14:1, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'"
Notice what these pseudo-wise fools did. They exchanged the glory of the immortal
God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. In
other words, these sophisticated intellectuals became idolaters! They traded in the
worship of God for the worship of lesser things.
The text mentions man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Notice the descending order. It reminds you of the theory of evolution. The idea that the
fish grew legs and walked onto the land and finally sprouted wings and flew into the tree
and grew a tail and swung to the ground and finally became human, or that we somehow
evolved from simpler organisms has been proposed as the way we arrived. I don't believe it
for a moment. In fact, evolution is now out of vogue in most scientific circles. And I
just do not believe that my ancestors swung through the trees by their tails. Some believe
it. But although they claim to be wise, they became fools - they made monkeys out
of themselves!
But even if you worship the pinnacle of God's creation, you are still worshipping
something less than God. In fact, Paul points out that it is "mortal"
man. In other words, if we choose to worship man, we are worshipping dying man,
for this is for what mortal means. Why have we exchanged the glory of the
immortal God for images made to look like mortal man? The only possible answer is
because we are deluded. And this is the direct result of our sinful unbelief.
What a tragic downward spiral of sinful unbelief mankind has chosen. Because of our
wickedness we choose to live without God and our sinful rational minds become deceived and
deluded as we ignore the evidence of God in favor of our own gods. But God has exposed the
downward spiral of sinful unbelief and He challenges us to beware of any evidence of this
sort of rationalization in our own lives.
Do you see the danger of the rationalization of unbelief? We are without excuse. God
has revealed Himself to us all. How shall we respond? Will we reject that truth? Will we
choose to ignore and suppress that knowledge? Will we go our own way, choosing our own
gods, consoling ourselves with the thought that we may not have to answer to the living
God? It is against this kind of thinking that the wrath of God is being revealed from
Heaven.
Do not be deceived. One day we will all stand before the living God. Our challenge is
to stand before Him now, in faith receiving Him as our Lord and Savior. If we do, then we
will be delivered from the wrath of God. We will be forgiven and accepted into His family.
We will receive His righteousness instead of His wrath. I don't know about you, but this
is where I want to be.
Copyright (C) 1996 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of
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