The Existence of God
Romans 1:18–20
Romans Lesson #011
March 3, 2011
www.deanbibleministries.org
Romans 1:18 NASB “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”
In verse 18 there is a shift. The introduction to this verse is the word “For” and most of the time in English this is a translation of the Greek word gar [gar]. It advances the argument to the next step. Sometimes it is an explanation; sometimes it is sets things up a little bit; sometimes it almost has the sense of because, because of an explanation, and it almost borders on that in this verse. What we have here is the beginning of a section that goes down to chapter three verse 20, and verse 20 states NASB “because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law {comes} the knowledge of sin.” The point there, from 1:18 down to 3:20, is that no one can measure up to God’s righteousness. His justice must be satisfied; it must condemn that which does not qualify according to God’s righteousness. Only creatures who qualify on the basis of God’s righteousness can be declared just. So basically the indictment against the human race is given in 1:18-3:20 and then the solution to the indictment follows from 3:21 down through the end of chapter five.
Romans 1:18 begins by talking about this judgment of God. For the most part the majority of the verses that speak of the wrath of God are verses that speak of God’s discipline or judgment within human history; it is not talking about condemnation at the great white throne judgment or the wrath of God in the lake of fire. There are some passages where the wrath of God is related to the Tribulation period, the time of Daniel’s seventieth week, the time of Jacob’s trouble. This is related to God’s plan and purposes for Israel, but this wrath is poured out on the entire human race. The reason it is called Jacob’s wrath in the role of Israel is because as God is pouring out His judgment on the human race the human race blames Israel. So wrath is used to refer to that coming eschatological judgment. Luke 3:7 NASB “So he [John the Baptist]{began} saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?’” He is talking about this future judgment. Remember, he was announcing that the kingdom was at hand. For the kingdom of God to come there had to be the seven-year period of judgment upon mankind and that is why he is phrasing it “the wrath to come.”
Luke 21:23 NASB “Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people.” Jesus is talking about a time of judgment that will come in AD 70, during the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, the defeat of the Jews in the Jewish revolt by the armies of Titus and the destruction of the temple.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 NASB “For God has not destined us for wrath …” That is, those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who are members of the body of Christ. “…but for obtaining salvation [deliverance by not going through that future judgment of the Tribulation] through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
But then it also relates in other passages to non-future events, to just the ongoing divine discipline in time. For example, John 3:36 NASB “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” That is a verse where people might say that seems to be future judgment, the lake of fire—except for the present tense verb there. It doesn’t say that the wrath of God will abide on him but the wrath of God (present tense) abides on him. This is exactly what Romans 1:18 is saying: “The wrath of God is revealed”—that’s now, it is not talking about the future. It is a gnomic or habitual present, indicating something that is going on throughout time; it is a customary situation. So we see that God’s wrath is a present reality. Those who do not believe in the Son are under wrath and continue under wrath.
Romans 5:9 NASB “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath {of God} through Him.” There if we understand wrath to be divine discipline in time then it is talking about sanctification truth, spiritual life truth; that if we are walking in obedience to God we will avoid divine discipline and the temporal judgments of God upon our lives.
Colossians 3:6 NASB “For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience.” Again, this is a customary present tense.
1 Thessalonians 2:16 NASB “hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.”
So these are all uses of wrath in present situations and when we read Romans 1:18 Paul says the wrath of God is being poured out right now. It is being revealed or manifested and displayed right now because there is sin in the world. Because the human race is rejecting God, God is going to judge the human race. This happens in two different ways. It is not always raining down fire and brimstone like God did at Sodom and Gomorrah. God has built into the structure of human relationships and human souls cause and effect, so that when we violate God’s standards there are consequences that come into effect. That is what we see in the rest of this chapter. Paul is going to outline, starting in verse 24, how God allows these consequences to enter into human history and social, marriage and family relationships end up having disruptive and destructive consequences, and there are three stages that God takes the human race through in terms of giving them enough rope to hang themselves.
So the principle that is laid down in 1:18 is that God’s judgment in time, in history, as an ongoing state in history is revealed from heaven. It is revealed from heaven because heaven is the location of God’s throne as the sovereign ruler of the universe. He is the one who in His providential care oversees the execution of His judgment.
Then the text goes on to say it is “revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.” The word “ungodliness” is ASEBEIA which indicates that which violates God’s character and probably relates to idolatry, especially as it relates to the first four of the Ten Commandments; and “unrighteousness” which is ADIKIA, that which is a violation of the last six Commandments in terms of its violation in human relationships. Incidentally, in 1 John 5 John says, “All ADIKIA is sin.” This is the same word that is used in 1 John 1:9—“all unrighteousness.” Paul covers everything by these two words, ungodliness and unrighteousness. Ungodliness probably alludes to forms of idolatry because that is exactly what is brought into the context beginning in verse 21. So God is not passively sitting off somewhere in heaven, He is actively involved in allowing the human race to reap the consequences of its rejection of Him, and He oversees that so that things are not always as bad as they could be. One of the ways He oversees it is through the restrainer—2 Thessalonians 2 which says the Antichrist will not be revealed until the restrainer is removed. The restrainer is a term for God the Holy Spirit who is working in history right now to restrain evil so that things can’t get as bad as people think they will. That doesn’t mean they can’t get bad.
Definition of sin: Anything that violates the character of God. It is when the creature acts independently of the creator.
When we act in autonomy we are making ourselves and our standards equivalent to God’s standards; we become self-idolaters. Once that happens within the human race there are all manner of different consequences that happen and it eventually leads to the collapse of personal life, family life, businesses, nations and civilizations. That is what the rest of this chapter is really describing. The wrath of God is revealed against this and the core problem, as we will see, is idolatry. It is worshipping something as the absolute standard and reference point of the universe other than God.
The focal point in verse 18 is the human race. Only the human race among God’s creatures, other than angels, can sin because they have volition. You can’t sin if you don’t have volition. We are created as image bearers to reflect God and when we deny God and we put ourselves in the position of God then we are violating our core humanity. You cannot be a genuine human if you do not recognize that you are here to reflect God, not to be God. When you take God off the throne and sit down on the throne yourself then you have violated your humanity.
“… against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” The word that is used here to describe the suppression of truth in unrighteousness is the Greek verb KATECHO. It means to push something down, to suppress it. It is the rejection of God and a description here of the men who are practicing ungodliness and unrighteousness. To worship an idol means that you also have to be denying truth. At the same time you are affirming error you have to be denying and suppressing truth, and you do it “in unrighteousness” or “by means of unrighteousness.” The kind of thinking that is entailed in denying God is unrighteousness. So we think in an unrighteous way to suppress the truth and the reality of the existence of God.
Why do they suppress the truth in unrighteousness? This is described in the next verse. Romans 1:19 NASB “because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.” This is an interesting verse. The terminology here relates to all mankind—ANTHROPOS = humanity. Paul says, “that which is known about God.” So there is positive content to the meaning of the word “God” and His existence and reality—“is evident [manifest] in them.” Prior to everything else, prior to seeing and observing creation, the Scripture says the knowledge of God is embedded in the soul of every human being because they are in the image of God. There is a point and counterpoint between deity and the image of God in us so that our souls automatically, inherently vibrate to the existence of God because we are human beings.
A theist is somebody who believes in the existence of God; an atheist is somebody who does not believe in the existence of God. If somebody says that it is wrong to talk about God in the classroom because any statement that affirms the existence of God is teaching religion, then it is also wrong to teach that that God doesn’t exist because the statement “God exists” is as theological and religious as the statement “God does not exist.” Just because you negate the statement doesn’t mean it becomes non-religious. The statement that there is no God, or I’m not sure of there is a God, are just as strong religious statements as the statement there is a God. So we have to realize that whenever anybody speaks of or teaches about ethics, whenever they teach or speak about ultimate reality, whenever they teach or speak about creation, they are making a religious statement. They are either saying God exists, we don’t know if God exists, or they are saying that God does not exist. Whatever they are saying, if they are saying one of three things, they can’t avoid that. Anything and everything ultimately goes back to one of those three positions; it is ultimately a religious statement.
If you say I believe X is right or X is wrong and somebody says, well how do you know that, ultimately to prove your case you have to affirm some sort of ultimate value. Where does that ultimate value come from? Either the creature or God, but you’ve made something God: the creature, man, or God’s revelation; something of that nature. Everything related to an ultimate reality is religious whether you want to admit that or not. We live in a world that wants to say only the positive statements about God are religious, statements that there is not a God: that’s okay, that’s not religious. That is a rationality which is exactly what this text is going to demonstrate. In Romans 1:19, though, Paul says that God created man in His image and likeness, and what that means is that from day one the creature knows he is a creature; he knows that he is the mirror image of God. What happens because of volition is that he starts to suppress it: “I don’t want anyone else to be over me, I’m going to figure out how to deny.” Then what happens when somebody comes along and says, well maybe there’s a little evidence here that there is something out there beyond us, they just go ballistic. What it means is that this whole house of cards they’ve constructed to justify their life and belief system and everything else is threatened. If God exists then everything they are devoting their life to and for is wrong, and their belief system, their value system, is wrong and everything else is wrong, and they can’t stand that. So they have to squash it. All of a sudden that which they have been suppressing in the corner of their soul, the reality of the existence of God, starts to wiggle a little bit. God is not going to let them rest.
So Paul says first of all that what may be known about God is clear from the intelligent design argument. Is that what he says? No. He says it is manifest in them. It is something that God built into every human being from creation. The nature of being human is that you know you are in the image of God; you are a reflection of Him. Then it goes to the next level: “for God made it evident to them.” Not only is there something internal in the makeup of man but also there is something external where God has shown it to him. How did God show it to him?
Romans 1:20 NASB “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” The invisible is clearly seen. How do you see something that is invisible? The literal idea of the words “clearly seen” is that it is apparent, obvious, understood. Scripture says that God is a spirit. He is not flesh and blood; He is not mortal, so how do we see Him? We see Him by the effects of His work. They are understood by the things that are made, “even the eternal power and Godhead.” The bottom line is that God is saying that you look at creation. Creation came from the hand of God. God’s brand is stamped on everything He created. There is something in man and man’s makeup in the image of God so that when he looks at anything in God’s creation he also sees God’s brand stamped there. These two things resonate with each other so that he knows God exists. That is what Paul is saying.
“His eternal power and divine nature.” That doesn’t mean he is going to be able to go out and say God is sovereign, just, etc., and name all of His attributes. It is a general revelation; he doesn’t have the specificity of special revelation. The attributes of God we learn from special revelation; all general revelation gives us is the fact that we know that God exists, we know that He is greater than we are, and we have this sense that he is righteous and good.
You can’t talk about good and bad if you don’t have a God or something out there that is the source of what is good and what is bad. Just because you think lying is bad that is just your culture. You go to some cultures in Papua New Guinea and they believe that lying and deception and being able to deceive another person to the point where it costs them their life is the greatest virtue in life. Who is to say they’re wrong if there is not some ultimate reference point? What this verse is saying is that in general revelation there is enough evidence of God’s existence to hold every human being accountable to the knowledge of God. And it is not based necessarily on understanding rational philosophical arguments for the existence of God because it is ultimately based on what is manifest in them: that God put in every human being, deep in their soul, the brand of God. That means that within them there was at some point a knowledge that God existed, and at that point they had to decide whether they wanted to know more about God or not. They could either seek God or reject Him—suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Most people suppress. They are out there trying to stuff everything down the garbage can because they don’t want to admit there’s even garbage there because then they have to take out the garbage. They just want to stuff it all down the garbage can of their soul and keep it stuffed down, keep it suppressed.
So it is not ultimately based on understanding these sophisticated articulations or arguments for the existence of God—not that those don’t have some role to play. But based on the exegesis of this passage it goes beyond that, it goes before that, back to the three-year-olds, the four-year-olds and the five-year-olds who have never heard of the cosmological arguments of God because there God’s brand in their soul was telling them that when they looked at a daffodil, a snowflake, etc. and when they saw the clouds form in the heavens there was something in their soul that said God exists, or something greater than I am. Then they said yes or no to that. From that point on that wasn’t the final decision. Later on they could say no or they could say yes. But what this verse is saying is that the most devout, dedicated atheist in all of history at one point knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God exists, and it was evident within their soul. It is the external that brings out the internal. So, Romans 1:20 NASB “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” When they show up before the throne of God they can’t say there just wasn’t enough evidence. Psalm 19:1 NASB “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” It is non-verbal.
There are four ways in which we think and in which we look for authority and knowledge. Somebody asks, how do you know that is true? It is because of reason, because of empiricism (validation of things in the laboratory), because of mysticism (intuitive insight into the nature of things), or it is because somebody told you it was true (authority or, in Christianity, revelation).
The first three are all manifestations of the same thing. We have rationalism, the belief that human reason alone can arrive at truth. What is the object of your faith? It is really based on faith ultimately and human intellectual ability. That is the focus of faith: I believe man is capable of doing it. That is part of humanism: man can do it; he doesn’t need God. But in terms of philosophy philosophical idealism and rationalism it has always collapsed under its own weight because it can’t get to ultimate truth. The method is always on the basis of logic and reason but it can’t get beyond a certain point. Rationalism historically is always followed by empiricism. Empiricism says that truth comes from observing what we can see, taste, touch, feel. It follows the scientific method but again it is this faith that man is neutral and that he can properly and accurately interpret the data that comes in through his senses. And again, it is based on the rigorous use of logic and reason. Empiricism has always failed. You can’t get to truth on the basis of reason and you can’t get to truth on the basis of empiricism.
Where are we going to go? Well we’re just going to leap into the void, we’re just going to take this big leap of faith, we are just going to believe it because we can’t live in the darkness and the scepticism that neither reason nor empiricism can give us the answer. That is too hopeless. We know there has to be meaning; we can’t live in a meaningless world. So we either have to turn to drugs, to alcohol, sensual pleasure or to success, ambition or something to give meaning in my life because reason can’t give the answer, experience can’t give the answer. And then there are those who turn to mysticism, some sort of internal religious hot flash: I just know it because it is true. So this is based, just like rationalism, on some inner private mental event but it is not based on logic or reason; it is irrational, not verifiable. How do you know it is true? I just know it is true!
In contrast we have revelation. God who is outside of creation, who is not a creature, not subject to the laws of creation, is saying, I was there when I created everything, let me tell you how I did it. He is an eyewitness; He is an authority; He is giving us that information. That is what revelation is analogous to. It is on the basis of authority: God revealed to us, and on that revelation, though, we can validate. That is why in Deuteronomy 13 and 18 there are tests for a prophet, because there are going to be those who come along and say God told me this, and God said this is how you evaluate whether it is true or not. God said I am embedding my Word with all kinds of validation points. Nothing in archaeology has ever disproved any claim in the Bible; nothing in history has ever disproved anything in the Bible; nothing that has ever been discovered has disproved anything in the Bible. God has salted history with things that will validate His Word. Not that that will convince people to believe because it will just harden them in their unbelief, but it will give those who do believe Him the evidence to confirm them in their belief. Christian evidences has more to do with giving us confidence that what we believe is true because it is not going to convince the unbeliever that God exists, because he has got more evidence in his soul of the existence of God as per verse 18 than you and I can ever give him through some kind of rational argument for the existence of God. He is suppressing it in irrationalism.
Revelation is objective; it can be validated. And its understanding is based on a dependent use of logic and reason, dependent upon God. It is not irrational, it is not rejecting reason but it is using it under the authority of God.