Greetings friends,
Today let’s look at a statement that Paul makes in his letter to the Romans about those who profess to be wise:
“Professing to be wise, they became fools.”
— Romans 1:22
This section of the text comes as Paul outlines the depravity of man. In the previous verses, Paul calls out the people who, despite knowing about God, still suppressed the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). Paul says men have no excuse when it comes to the knowledge of the existence of God. While men will fight tooth and nail to ignore the clear evidence of the existence of God, God has already made Himself known to all men so that no one has an excuse.
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”
— Romans 1:20
Paul goes further to explain that after seeing all the evidence of the existence of God, men chose to be willfully ignorant. Paul says this ungodliness and unrighteousness of men is what causes them to ignore God. The response that comes back from such men is one that neither glorifies God nor thanks Him.
“For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
— Romans 1:21
Because of man’s decision to deny God, Paul says there are consequences to such defiance. The consequence is the revelation of the wrath of God.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”
— Romans 1:18
This is a dreadful truth, and naturally, the response of man towards such dread is simply to ignore it. Man tries to ignore this truth and hopes that it goes away. The reason man would not want to recognize God and turn to God is played out for us by Jesus in the gospels.
“And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light lest his deeds be exposed.”
— John 3:19-20
Jesus says the reason man hates the Light is because they know that their deeds are evil and they would much rather cling to their evil deeds than risk coming to the Light lest their deeds be exposed.
In the course of trying the impossible task of hiding from God, man then tries to fill in the void of God with other worldly things. Man makes for himself gods from other created things; sometimes man fills this void up with broken logic, and other times with unproven theoretical science, all this in the name of ignoring the existence of absolute truth that is found in the true God.
Paul says, “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” The foolishness is in denying what is obvious, denying the existence of Truth itself, choosing instead to have individualistic truth that cannot be tested against reality.
This is the stark reality of all men. Sin corrupts the heart of men such that they suppress truth in unrighteousness. Only the Savior Jesus Christ can undo what was done. He is the life-giving Spirit.
Here are some key takeaways:
- All men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
- Left to themselves, men can never be saved.
- God has already revealed Himself in creation so that no one has an excuse for denying Him.
- The wrath of God is revealed towards all ungodliness and unrighteousness.
- Our salvation is in faith in Jesus Christ alone.
I pray this word helps us have an accurate diagnosis of the horrific state of the heart of man.
Bless you,
Paul
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