“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18).
I believe that Romans 1 verses 16-32 are some of the most important verses in all the Bible. They tell us why people excuse their sinful behavior. Other translations say they “suppress the truth” or “hold down the truth.” The sexual revolution suppresses what they know to be true. We all do. It’s our nature to shut down our conscience and replace it with lies and excuses. Someone once said, “An excuse is the skin of a lie wrapped with a reason.”
The real problem with suppressing the truth over and over is that our conscience stops functioning. The Scriptures refer to this as a calloused conscience. I am well aware that we are marinating in immorality as a society.
Even though this chapter is dealing with lost humanity, it can carry over into the world of church. We can get used to the darkness. When that happens we lose our sense of hating sin and seeing it as no big deal. When a nation collectively loses its conscience, God gives them over to their own way as Romans says three times in chapter 1. We are our own worst enemy, but we’re so blinded we can’t see it. When you can’t see where you are headed, you can be certain a collision is in your future. Have you looked at our nation lately? We are living in total rebellion toward God. When God gives us over to our own way, we find ourselves leaning on our own understanding, which Proverbs tells us not to do (Prov. 3:5-6).
This soon becomes God’s judgment, which is what we are under at this very moment. Let’s make sure we as the children of God are not helping to speed up the decay.