“Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give (enthusiastic) approval to those who practice them.” Romans 1:32
Two things to remember as we consider this exigent passage:
One, sinners know God’s righteous decree – His moral law – but are actively suppressing it. This is the heart of the Biblical argument and we must not conform to the world’s philosophy and think of ourselves as neutral or moral “free agents” on some kind of personal quest for the truth. On the contrary, we know the truth about God but we’ve exchanged it for a lie. In verse 21 we’re told emphatically that “even though they knew God, they didn’t honor Him as God or give thanks.” This is the foundational truth of life. This makes sense of everything we see going on around us – all the moral lunacy and confusion. It also explains our own internal issues (Romans 7 covers our battle against the fleshly mind, the earthly principles being put to death within us in more detail).
We aren’t neutral. No one is neutral. Outside of Christ, all men are actively “holding down” the truth about life. This is God’s world, we were created by Him and for Him, and this is a moral universe, governed by Him. We aren’t able to make moral evaluations or think about life clearly unless we presuppose God’s word in all our reasoning (Proverbs 1:7). Using anything other than the Lord’s holy word as our final authority is the source of all sin and, therefore, human suffering.
Second, God’s response to our rebellion is a calculated “pulling away” of the blessings of freedom, reason, and the common sense of moral sanity. He “gives us over” to the consequences of the principle of our core ideas. If we insist on pretending that He doesn’t exist, if we insist on having our own way, His judgment is to give us over to the desultory consequences of that lie. In verses 24, 26, and 28 we’re told that He “gave them over”. Thus, because of our pattern of truth suppression we too easily miss the stunning truth about life explained only in Romans 1.
Remember: we aren’t neutral and God’s judgment against sin begins with His “letting go”. This also means that even now sinners receive the “common grace” of some form of rationality. A complete letting go by God will result in the utter devastation of mankind, a violent and illogical mashup of epic proportions. A break from God is a rejection of our true image and calling, causing us to tumble headlong into animalistic behavior. The self-flattery of sin, the high estimation of self, the presumption of our own civility, are all dependent upon God’s grace.
The best example of this truth is found in Daniel 4:28-37. The great king of Babylon exalted himself over God (verse 30) and the Lord responded by “giving him over” to the principle of autonomy. What was the result? The great king was reduced “eating grass like cattle” (verse 33). The principle is that if God lets go of us we’re like Nebuchadnezzar living like a beast in the wilds.
The bottom of this descent is seen in our verse today. Still upheld by God’s grace, despite the worsening storm of judgment – tumult and strife everywhere – we insist on our avowed principle of rebellion, of using our mind as the standard of right and wrong. We call evil good and good evil. We applaud and enthusiastically support the evil conduct of others.
To consider the madness of it let’s look at abortion. Its proponents have gone from soberly declaring it should be “safe, legal, and rare” to “Shout Your Abortion. (SYA)” SYA is a movement that sells shirts and other merchandise with messages that celebrate the ending of the most innocent and vulnerable human life. The movement itself presumes a moral order in the world. It presumes that right and wrong exist and yet that’s the very thing they deny in every other aspect of knowledge. The funny thing about sin is that the most moralistic people in America today utterly deny moral absolutes. Everything abortion advocates do and say is based on the existence of morality. But where would right and wrong come from except from God? Due to the damage of sin, they don’t notice the terrible contradiction of what they’re preaching…and, yes, they’re openly preaching.
Viva Ruiz, an artist and abortion advocate, has started a movement called “Thank God For Abortion.” Yes. Seriously. She has a “traveling abortion church.” You see, in the absence of truth these deluded souls establish a false gospel of self-indulgence, lack of responsibility, and false morality at its core. The end of these things is, of course, death as there is no grace, no redemption, and no Christ. They are their own saviors and they proudly broadcast that they are moral free-agents who despise the Lord and His righteous rules for sexual expression.
The answer to such madness is and can only be the gospel of Jesus Christ for the simple reason that no one logically believes these things. To think that men can be women, and to utter unscientific gibberish like “birthing people” because the principles of radical humanism leads us to declare that men can give birth too, is proof that God has given us over to foolishness. Such things aren’t logical, nor scientific; they eviscerate basic biology. It’s all raw emotionalism. It’s pure rebellion – an attempt to remake reality in our own image. Man as rebel wants God’s power rather than to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29) through faith and grace. The principle of rebellion leads us to live like animals (Romans 8:13) rather than living in the Spirit where the deeds of the flesh and principle of autonomy are put to death.
In all, don’t despair. Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of the world? America isn’t the church of Jesus Christ and though it’s painful to witness this descent into the moral void, understanding Romans should comfort us. It should remind us that we are personally saved, not because of works, lest we should boast, but because of His call. We should stand in awe of God’s kindness toward us and His severity toward those who reject Him (Romans 11:22). And we should be in love with Him, praising Him always for so great a salvation and deliverance from the madness of sin. Oh, and yes, we must and should always preach the sweetness of mercy in Christ alone whenever and wherever we can, for that is the only way out of sin.
Until that time (of ultimate deliverance) we rejoice in our sufferings and wait with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. This judgment of America is not the end of the matter because, though we love our country, we know that it isn’t the Kingdom of Heaven. In all, God’s judgments on sin are blessings because they move us closer to Him in faith as we see His divine wisdom and nature in action. So we rejoice as we see the truth of Scriptures, even the judgments, play out before our very eyes.
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