Wrath of God Revealed Against All Ungodliness

Romans 1:18-19

(18) “FOR THE WRATH OF GOD IS REVEALED FROM HEAVEN AGAINST ALL UNGODLINESS AND UNRIGHTEOUSNESS OF MEN, WHO HOLD THE TRUTH IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.”

The phrase, “For the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,” tells us several things:

1. As the Righteousness of God is revealed to those who have Faith in Christ, likewise, “The Wrath of God” is revealed against those who reject that Righteousness.

2. The “Wrath” or anger of God is here revealed, along with the purpose of the Revelation.

It is absolutely imperative that God hate evil, because if He did not do so, He could not love good. If there is to be one (to love good) of necessity, there must be two (to also hate evil). In other words, God must do both or neither.

The Greek word for “Wrath” is “Orge.” It is used of Jesus when, after healing the man with the withered hand, He observed the hardness of heart of the Pharisees, and looked upon them with anger (Mk. 3:5). “Orge” is an anger “Which Righteous men not merely may, but as they are Righteous, must feel; nor can there be a surer and sadder token of an utterly prostrate moral condition than the not being able to be angry with sin—and sinners.”

Vincent describes “Orge” as God’s personal emotion with regard to sin. It represents God’s abhorrence and hatred of sin.

3. These Passages tell us that inasmuch as God has revealed His Righteousness from Heaven to sinful men, if that Light is rejected, as it mostly is, the Wrath of God automatically follows. In fact, Paul said, “And the times of this ignorance (the world before Jesus came) God winked at; but now Commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30).

This tells us that the Judgment of God is even more severe now than it was in Old Testament times, which is the opposite of what most people believe. However, it should not be difficult to understand.

To where little Light of the Gospel was given, the Lord did not step in until there was absolutely no other choice. I speak of the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the proposed extermination of certain Tribes, the threat and ultimate destruction of Nineveh, plus others. As should be obvious, there was some Light before Christ, but it was ensconced almost altogether in Israel, who at times hindered its illumination.

Since Jesus came and died on Calvary, thereby paying the sin debt, and rose from the dead, the Holy Spirit now has much more access to the world and to men in general, thereby, providing much greater opportunity for acceptance of the Lord. In other words, considering the proliferation of the Gospel, ignorance is no longer an excuse.

I think the record will show, that inclement weather, wars, famines, disease, and pestilence is the judgment of God against “ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”

A man asked me once if I believed that AIDS was a judgment from God?

My answer is an unequivocal “Yes!”

I realize that many would say, and rightly so, that all sickness and disease originate with Satan. However, even though that is correct, the Lord is still in control of everything. In other words, Satan can only do what the Lord allows him to do (Job Chpt. 1). To not understand that, is to deny the Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence of God!

The phrase, “Who hold the Truth in unrighteousness,” does not represent here the Gospel, but the fact of a Supreme Being with Divine Attributes to Whom worship and obedience are due.

This “Truth” being seen by all men through their observation of the created Universe, thus demands a Creator to answer for its existence.

The human race, possessing this Truth which is overly obvious, yet holds it down in the sense of refusing to acknowledge its moral implications, continues on in its sin, despite the proliferation of “Light.”

The primary thrust of this particular Passage deals with evolution, which without a doubt has to be the biggest farce ever perpetrated upon gullible humanity. The promoters of this drivel, and drivel it is, claim to be scientific, which has no place for Faith, etc. The Truth is, it takes much more Faith to believe in evolution than it does the Biblical account of Creation.

The purveyors of this lie claim that all the evidence is available, with the exception of the “missing link.” The Truth is, the whole chain is missing.

It is amazing that educators will teach this fabrication, especially considering that there is not one single specimen of evolution in the world. The simple fact is, were the teaching of evolution correct, there would be hundreds of millions of beings who are half ape and half man, or any such combinations. The answer that it takes billions of years to produce such, is no answer at all.

Once again, the simple fact is, if through these millions or billions of years evolution has produced the human family from apes, if we now have the finished product, or even a stage toward the finished product, there would also be other stages in between. Of necessity, that is a must, that is if there is any truth to evolution!

However, in this of which the Holy Spirit says through Paul, the “Holding of the Truth in unrighteousness,” not only applies to evolution, but as well to psychology. It too is an insult to God.

As evolution denies the Creator, psychology denies the Saviour. It claims it holds the answer for the sin and aberrations of humanity. In other words, man can save or rehabilitate himself.

As I have stated many times, and will continue to do so, if man is able to do that, then Jesus wasted His time coming down to this sinful world. He should have read a few of the books written by modern Psychologists and saved Himself the trouble.

No! As evolution is a lie pure and simple, psychology (psychoanalysis) falls into the same category.

It is ironical that two of the standards of atheistic Communism are “evolution and psychology.”

And yet the modern Church, even the Pentecostal variety, has accepted and bought into this lie pretty much totally. 

(19) “BECAUSE THAT WHICH MAY BE KNOWN OF GOD IS MANIFEST IN THEM; FOR GOD HATH SHEWED IT UNTO THEM.”

The phrase, “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them,” simply means it can be known if so desired. It speaks of the universal objective knowledge of God as the Creator, which is, more or less, in all men.

The phrase, “For God hath shewed it unto them,” means that in Creation is His Signature.

As we have stated, the Gospel reveals a Righteousness from God on the principle of Faith, as opposed to merit. Those who reject this Righteousness are justly exposed to the Wrath of God not only because they are without Righteousness, but because they are wholly unrighteous and corrupt and desire to remain that way. As well, all humanity is declared here to be sunken in this corruption.

The heathen world then as now, debased the gift of reason, degraded God to “a creeping thing,” and conduct being determined by creed, they gave themselves to vile affections.

Twenty-four of these are particularized, to which we will address ourselves momentarily, all of them together proving fallen human nature to be sunken into an appalling abyss of moral putridity.

This true picture of sinful man is fiercely denied by modern thinkers, as energized by the evil author of ancient and modern thought.

The Greeks and Romans who were the Disciples of Philosophy, condemned the heathen. One of the greatest of the Greek Philosophers was Socrates, and one of the most celebrated of the Romans was the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. But these cultured Nations disobeyed, degraded, and corrupted the wisdom which they had, for while applauding virtue they practiced vice, and taught that man being impotent to do what was right was not to be condemned if he practiced what was wrong.

To the Hebrew people was granted by Divine Election the most precious of all gifts—Revelation. Since man is a creature it was reasonable that his Creator should have made a Revelation of Himself to him. But just as the Rationalists and the Philosophers degraded the Light given to them, so Israel corrupted the Law, and became proud and self-righteous.

Thus, all men are by voluntary action subject to the Wrath of God; and the Holy Spirit places this terrible Truth in the forefront of the Gospel in order that the Doctrine of Justification by Faith might be based upon the fact of universal guilt and condemnation, and so open wide the door of boundless Salvation.

For the Gospel can only be truly preached, or embraced, as being the Good News of Life and Pardon to all who are lost beyond recovery and know it.

So the first Foundation Doctrine of the Gospel which the Apostle preached (vs. 15) announced the Wrath of God (vs. 18). This dogma angers self-righteous man (Williams).

~JSM