Pastor Steven J.

Cole
Flagstaff Christian Fellowship
123 S. Beaver Street
Flagstaff, Arizona 86001
www.fcfonline.org

IS GODS WRATH JUSTIFIED?

Romans 1:18-23

By

Steven J. Cole

August 29, 2010

Steven J. Cole, 2010

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture
Quotations are from the New American
Standard Bible, Updated Edition
The Lockman Foundation

August 29, 2010

Romans, Lesson 6
Is Gods Wrath Justified?
Romans 1:18-23
Probably the most famous sermon ever preached in America
was Jonathan Edwards Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,
preached at Enfield, Connecticut, July 8th, 1741. I had a college
philosophy professor who ridiculed that sermon and the frantic
response that many had to it that day. But, clearly, God used that
sermon like He has few others!
To say that the concept of Gods wrath is out of sync with our
modern world is to state the obvious. Even many who claim to be
evangelicals object to and minimize any mention of Gods wrath.
They may say that they believe it because its in the Bible, but
theyre embarrassed by it. Ive even heard of professing Christians
who say, I believe in a God of love, not a God of wrath. Sometimes such people ignorantly imply that the God of the Old Testament was a God of wrath, but by the New Testament, He mellowed out to be a nice old guy! Ive been told that Jesus was always
loving and never judgmental. I always want to ask such people,
When was the last time you actually read the New Testament?
Modern seeker churches have drawn huge crowds by never
mentioning sin and judgment, and instead focusing on the more
positive aspects of the gospel: God loves you. He offers you an
abundant life full of peace, joy, and love. He will help you with
your problems. He wants you to be happy. Wont you invite Him
into your heart?
But there is no mention of a holy God who is justified in His
wrath against sinners. Weve bought into the old liberal message,
which theologian Richard Niebuhr once described (The Kingdom of
God in America, p. 193, cited by Sydney Ahlstrom, A Religious History
of the American People [Image Books, 1975], 2:249), A God without
wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment
through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.
When the apostle Paul begins to expound on the gospel that
he proclaimed, he does not lead off with the love of God (as we
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saw last time), but with the righteousness of God. When he elaborates further, he does not even then mention Gods love, but
rather, Gods wrath. Modern critics would say, Paul, youre not
going to win any converts by that approach! Lighten up! Maybe,
much later, you can touch on that subject. But when youre trying
to win people to Christ, dont mention Gods wrath!
But Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, leads off with (Rom.
1:18), For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness. For links this to verses 16 & 17. If were going to
understand why we need Gods power in the gospel and why we
need His very righteousness imputed to our account, then we need
to understand His wrath against our sin. If were not such bad folks
and if we have enough good deeds to earn points towards heaven,
then we dont need Gods righteousness and Christ did not need to
bear Gods wrath on our behalf. But if we are ungodly and unrighteous in Gods sight, if we have suppressed the truth in unrighteousness, and as a result are under His just wrath, then we
desperately need Gods saving power through the gospel!
Thus Paul begins a lengthy section (1:18-3:20) in which he sets
forth in great detail the sinfulness of the human race. At first, he
gives a general indictment, although the sins that he mentions
(1:23-32) may be more prevalent among the Gentiles. He moves on
(2:1-16) to indict those who think that they are moral enough to
commend themselves to God. Then (2:17-3:8), Paul turns on the
Jews who pride themselves on having the Law, showing how they
are also guilty before God. Finally (3:9-20), he sums it up by showing that the entire human race is justly guilty before God. Only at
that point (3:21-26) does he come back and pick up the theme of
1:17, that the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ is available to
sinners through faith alone.
In our text, then, Paul is showing why God is justified to inflict His wrath on the sinful human race, which shows why we
need the gospel. We can sum up his message in 1:18-23:
God is just in pouring out His wrath on the human race
because we have sinfully rejected His revelation of Himself
and have worshiped the creature rather than the Creator.
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1. God is just in pouring out His wrath on the human race

because we have sinfully rejected His revelation of Himself (1:18-20).
Paul argues that God has revealed Himself to the human race,
both through His wrath (1:18) and through His creation (1:19-20).
But we have inexcusably rejected Gods revelation and instead have
resorted to inventing gods of our own (1:21-23).
A. God reveals Himself through His wrath against human sin.
There is an obvious parallel and yet contrast between verses
17 & 18. In verse 17, the righteousness of God is revealed. In
verse 18, the wrath of God is revealed. The phrase, from
heaven adds weight to the revelation. This isnt just an idea that
popped into Pauls mind. This is a revelation from heaven, that is,
from God Himself.
When we think about Gods wrath, we need to get rid of any
human notions of someone with a bad temper who flies off the
handle over the slightest provocation. Rather, Gods wrath is a part
of His holy nature. It is His settled, determined, active opposition
to all sin. If God loves righteousness, He also must hate evil. If
God were all love and no wrath, then He would not be God at all,
because He would be unrighteous. We know this even on a human
plane. If a judge was all love and hugs towards cold-blooded murderers or child molesters, he would not be a righteous judge. Even
though our anger easily slips from being righteous to unrighteous,
we all know that anger is the proper response to certain sins. In the
same way, God would not be holy or good if He did not react to
evil with wrath and righteous judgment.
We only have time to look at a few of the biblical references
to Gods wrath. Ignoring the many Old Testament references, the
New Testament starts off with the ministry of John the Baptist,
who tells his audience (Matt. 3:7), You brood of vipers, who
warned you to flee from the wrath to come? In Matthew 23:33,
after pronouncing a series of woes on the Pharisees, Jesus thunders, You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the
sentence of hell?
In John 3:16, we have the marvelous verse, For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
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believes in Him shall have eternal life. Oops! I left out something:
shall not perish! Years ago, I conducted a funeral where they had
printed up the little cards with John 3:16 as I just erroneously
quoted it to you! I didnt let it go! To perish means to come under
Gods eternal wrath. In John 3:36 we read, 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.
In Ephesians 2:3, Paul says that we all (Jews and Gentiles)
were children of wrath, a Jewish way of saying that we were
characterized by being under Gods wrath. In Ephesians 5:6, he
uses the same Jewish expression to say that the wrath of God
comes on the sons of disobedience (also, Col. 3:6). In 1 Thessalonians 1:10 he says that Jesus rescues us from the wrath to come.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, he writes that God will deal out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey
the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal
destruction . The entire Book of Revelation shows the many
forms of wrath that will be poured out on sinners both before and
after Jesus returns.
J. I. Packer (Knowing God [IVP], pp. 134-135) said, One of the
most striking things about the Bible is the vigor with which both
Testaments emphasize the reality and terror of Gods wrath. A.
W. Pink (The Attributes of God [Baker], p. 82) wrote, A study of the
concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture
to the anger, fury, and wrath of God than there are to His love and
tenderness. So we cannot shove Gods wrath into the closet! R.
W. Dale observed (cited by R. C. Sproul, The Cross of Christ Study
Guide [Ligonier Ministries], p. 35), It is partly because sin does not
provoke our own wrath, that we do not believe that sin provokes
the wrath of God.
Later (2:5), Paul acknowledges that a future day of wrath is
coming at the final judgment, but here (1:18) he calls attention to
the present revelation of Gods wrath (the verb means, is being
revealed). What does he mean? If we look around, we can see
Gods wrath in all of the effects of the fall, both on creation and on
human misery and suffering. We see floods, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, famine, and disease, which cause untold suffering
and death. There are the more direct links between sin and judg4

ment, such as STDs and the AIDS epidemic on the sexually immoral, and the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol on addicts. We
see the terrible effects of drunkenness and drug abuse in the home,
on our highways, and in society at large. We see the devastating
effects of war and terrorism. The list could go on and on.
Also, a glance through past history, both in the Bible and outside of it, shows the ongoing wrath of God. He destroyed the
whole world through the flood. He poured out fire and brimstone
on Sodom and Gomorrah. He punished both Israel and Judah allowing invading armies to kill many and send others into captivity.
But the greatest example of God pouring out His wrath was
when He put His own Son on the cross to bear our sins, so that He
cried out in agony (Matt. 27:46), My God, My God, why have You
forsaken Me? Jesus terrible death shows that God cannot just
brush our sin aside. His righteous judgment must be satisfied. As
Paul argued with the philosophers in Athens (Acts 17:31), the resurrection of Jesus from the dead proves that God has fixed a day
in which He will judge the world in righteousness. Woe to all
who have not repented of their sins and trusted in Christ before
that day! God reveals Himself through His wrath. Dont miss it!
B. God reveals Himself through His creation.
Paul goes on to show another way that God has revealed
Himself, namely, through His creation. Here Paul is referring to
Gods general revelation in the created universe, not to His special
revelation in His written word. Most commentators understand
His invisible attributes to be a summary term that is further explained by the next two terms, His eternal power and divine nature. Anyone should be able to look at the vastness of the universe (even in days before there were telescopes!) and conclude,
God is amazingly, incomprehensibly, powerful! You dont have to
gaze into outer spaceget caught in an exposed area in a thunderstorm and you will appreciate Gods power! Marla and I have had
some terrifying experiences with that!
Gods divine nature refers to the sum of His attributes (S.
Lewis Johnson, Paul and the Knowledge of God, Bibliotheca Sacra
[Jan.-March, 1972], p. 69). This does not mean that we can learn as
much about God through nature as we can through His Word. But,
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even so, men should be able to look at Gods creation and conclude many things about His attributes, in addition to His power.
John Calvin sums it up well (Calvins Commentaries [Baker], pp.
71-72), His eternity appears evident, because he is the maker of all
thingshis power, because he holds all things in his hand and continues their existencehis wisdom, because he has arranged things
in such an exquisite orderhis goodness, for there is no other
cause than himself, why he created all things, and no other reason,
why he should be induced to preserve themhis justice, because
in his government he punishes the guilty and defends the innocenthis mercy, because he bears with so much forbearance the
perversity of menand his truth, because he is unchangeable.
It is important to recognize that Gods revelation through
creation is not enough to save anyone, in that it does not reveal His
plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, apart from which no one
can be saved (Acts 4:12). But it is enough to condemn everyone. By
looking even at their own bodies or at the marvel of a little gnat
that can fly, eat, and reproduce, people should bow in worship before God. But they dont. They swat the gnat in annoyance and go
on without a thought about the intelligence, power, and wisdom
that it took to create a gnat, much less all of creation! They ignore
the obvious fact that there is an all-powerful God and go full bore
in their selfishness and sin, ignoring the obvious revelation of His
wrath in the fact that they will soon die!
Two brief comments before I move on: First, in answer to the
question that often comes up, Will God judge the innocent heathen who has never heard about Jesus? The answer is, there are
no innocent heathen. All have sinned against the light that they
have received and all will be judged accordingly (Matt. 11:20-24).
Second, I hope that you can see how utterly absurd and yet
how widely destructive to peoples eternal destiny the belief in evolution is. It gives sinners a supposed escape from being accountable
to God, as some prominent atheists have openly admitted. Although there is more than abundant evidence of an all-powerful
Creator, evolutionists cling to the absurd idea that everything came
out of nothing. At the root of their belief is not science, but immorality. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness. That leads to:
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C. Sinners have inexcusably rejected Gods revelation of Himself, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.
Paul says (1:18) that Gods wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Some commentators see
these two words, ungodliness and unrighteousness, as being
somewhat synonymous, repeated for emphasis. But others say that
Paul is using them quite strictly to refer to lack of reverence for
God (ungodliness) and lawlessness or injustice towards our
fellow man (unrighteousness).
Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Romans: The Gospel of God [Zondervan],
pp. 355-359) argues at length that the terms refer to these two different aspects of sin and that Paul has put them in this order for an
important reason: ungodliness is always the root sin and unrighteousness flows from it. Our first and basic problem is that we disregard and disobey God. This leads to our sins against one another.
Ungodliness was the first sin, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God.
This led to separation from God, which then led to alienation between them and eventually to the sin that caused Cain to murder
his brother Abel.
The word suppress may mean to hold on to, or to hold
down, which is the idea here. It implies that men knew the truth
(note that there is such a thing as knowable absolute spiritual
truth!), but they want to hold it down so that they can pursue their
sins. Whether it is evolution denying God as the Sovereign Creator,
or philosophy speculating that we cannot really know God at all, or
psychology telling us that we are not responsible for our problems
(psychologists dont like the word sin!), these are all ways of
pushing God away from us so that we can be our own lord. So
that they are without excuse is probably a purpose clause that
means, Sinners cannot plead ignorance as an excuse (Johnson, p.
69). God has posted huge warning signs with flashing lights,
namely, His ongoing wrath and His magnificent creation. If sinners
drive past them over the cliff, they only have themselves to blame.
So, Pauls first point is: God is just in pouring out His wrath
on the human race because we have sinfully rejected His revelation
of Himself. I can only comment briefly on his second point and its
implications:
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2. God is just in pouring out His wrath on the human race

because we have worshiped the creature rather than the
Creator (1:21-23).
Paul makes five points here:
A. People knew God generally through the revelation of Creation.
Paul seems here to be interpreting human spiritual history in
light of the fall (Johnson, p. 72). Verse 21 does not mean that men
knew God in a saving way, but rather that they had a general sense
that He exists. In The Institutes (ed. by John McNeill [Westminster
Press], 1:3:1), John Calvin asserts that all people have an awareness
of God. He says, There is no nation so barbarous, no people so
savage, that they have not a deep-seated conviction that there is a
God. As Paul has just shown, Gods creation makes His attributes
evident within all people, until they suppress it. There is also the
universal presence of the conscience (2:15).
B. People did not glorify God or give thanks.
This is the root sin: Although people know about God, they
do not give Him His proper glory and they do not express thanks
to Him for His many undeserved blessings. We could easily develop an entire sermon or two here, but let me apply it directly: Its
easy to sit here and shake our heads at the heathen, who have no
concept of glorifying God or giving thanks. But do I glorify God
for His goodness and mercy and grace? Do I give thanks to God
for His many blessings that He showers on me every day?
C. As a result, the foolish hearts of sinners were darkened.
Paul also refers to this in Ephesians 4:18, where he describes
the Gentiles (pagans) as darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in
them, because of the hardness of their heart. When Paul says,
their foolish heart was darkened, he is referring to their entire
inner life, including their intellect, emotions, and will (Leon Morris,
The Epistle to the Romans [Eerdmans/Apollos], p. 85). To be in the
dark refers to total moral and spiritual blindness. Only God can
shine His light into such dark hearts (2 Cor. 4:4-6).
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D. As a result of darkened hearts, sinners profess to be wise,

but are fools.
Since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Ps.
111:10), those who do not fear God or bow before Him as God
profess to be wise, but are fools (Ps. 14:1). Fools does not refer
to mental deficiency, but to spiritual and moral deficiency. Turning
from the revelation that God has given of Himself in His wrath
and in creation, sinners plunge into futile speculation. As a philosophy major at a secular university, I know of no better description of godless university professors than Romans 1:21 and 22. The
final result is:
E. This foolishness is exhibited by worshiping the creature
rather than the Creator.
Rejecting God does not lead to atheism, but to substituting
the glory of the one true God with manmade idols in the form of
corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling
creatures. Man didnt begin with idolatry and polytheism and work
his way up to monotheism. Man began by knowing the one true
God, but when he suppresses the truth in unrighteousness, he falls
into the supreme foolishness of creature worship (Isa. 44:9-20).
Ive seen idolatry of statues and sacred cows in Asia. Ive observed people worship the creation here in Flagstaff. But it never
ceases to amaze me, as Ive said before, that here in a university
town, we have a store that has stayed in business for many years by
selling nothing but idols! Its as if the idols of self, sex, money, and
power were not enough! Weve got a store selling just about any
conceivable idol that you could see worshiped in India or Nepal or
Thailand! Idolatry is really stupid, but, I should add, there is real
power in idolatrybut it is demonic power, not Gods power.
Conclusion
So, is God just in pouring out His wrath on those who have
rejected His revelation of Himself, who turn instead to worship the
creature rather than the Creator? When you stand before Him, do
you have any chance of winning your case? Only if by faith you
stand there covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ!

Application Questions
1. Does the concept of Gods wrath offend or embarrass you?
Why? Examine your reasoning and motives.
2. Some have said that things like the AIDS epidemic and other
catastrophes cannot be Gods judgment because the innocent
suffer along with the guilty. Why is this faulty reasoning?
3. There is an organization that purports to be evangelical and yet
is dedicated to theistic evolution. Why is this not a biblical
option?
4. Why are glorifying God and giving thanks such fundamental issues? How can we practice these qualities more faithfully?
Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2010, All Rights Reserved.

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