Romans: Session 2 – The Wrath of God is Revealed

Notes:

The Wrath Of God Is Revealed – Rom.1:18-32    See Session Slides Here

Why is the gospel such good news? Because the wrath of God has been revealed against all unrighteousness. An inaccurate understanding of these leads to an erroneous gospel.

Unrighteousness Is Revealed

In New Testament times the world was divided into two groups – Gentiles and Jews.

The Gentiles were characterized by unrighteousness.

Rom. 1:18. God’s wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.

Rom. 1:19-20. This wickedness is inexcusable because the knowledge of God is clear. They may not have had the book of revelation, like the Jews, but they have the book of creation.

Rom. 1:21-23. Instead of glorifying God, man has chosen to either ignore the truth about Him or to replace Him with idols of their own imagination.

In Rom. 1:29-32 Paul lists 23 sample sins included in “all unrighteousness”.

The Jews were characterized by self-righteousness.

  • They thought that if they kept most of the laws that was sufficient. (Jas.2:10; Gal.3:10).
  • Kept the law externally, i.e. the letter not the spirit.
  • Respectable people commit the worst of that list of sins, i.e. they are “haters of God.”

 The Wrath Of God Revealed

Rom. 1:18. The wrath of God is revealed. The wrath of God is not some uncontrolled outburst of anger. It is His complete hatred of sin because it is a direct assault upon His holiness. God is holy and hates sin with His whole being. Sin cannot abide in His presence for one moment. Therefore, He has to judge it with the ultimate punishment which is to banish it from His presence.

The truth about God’s righteous judgment against sin has been revealed from heaven through:

  • The conscience (Rom.1:32)
  • God gives people up to their sin (Rom. 1:24-28).
  • The Scriptures. The idea of God’s wrath is put forth 580 times in the Old Testament alone. For example, in the case of the Flood (Gen.6:7), Sodom (Gen.18:20-21), etc. In Romans the Greek word for wrath is used 12 times in Romans; always in connection with God.
  • He taught on the subject of hell more than anyone else in the Bible. He clearly said that His death was the enduring of God’s wrath on our behalf.
  • God is love, and love cannot rejoice in iniquity. And therein is our eternal guarantee that sin will never wreck heaven, as it did earth. “There shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie…” (Rev.21:27).

God’s Righteousness Is Revealed

When God’s reveals His righteousness He does three things:

  1. He places the judgment that was due to us because of our unrighteousness, upon Jesus.
  2. He imputes righteousness to us and justifies us, i.e. declares us to be righteous.
  3. He treats us accordingly. The believing sinner is brought into union with the Risen Christ and given the same acceptance with God as Christ Himself, so that the believer is now “the righteousness of God in Him”. He is treated as a son of God, i.e. as royalty!



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