Although They Knew"

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” (Romans 1:21-23 ESV)

God has been revealed to humans from the beginning of creation. The documentation of God in scripture began with God and Moses. The Pentateuch, or the first five books of the Protestant Bible, was written by Moses under the inspiration of God. For those not exposed to the Bible, there was the innate understanding that someone or something great had to have made the creation that surrounded them.

Paul, in Romans 1, is writing to the Roman people whom he had not yet preached to, but desired to reveal the gospel to deeply. In today's verse, Paul is speaking of those who knew God but did not honor God. Paul was one of these people before he met Christ.

Unlike today, in the first century, Christianity was not established. Today, there are very few who have not heard of Christianity, and those who have not eventually will. Many people, especially in today’s society, are exactly as Paul wrote. They know God or knew God, yet refuse Him. Despite the overwhelming evidence of our Creator that is witnessed before our eyes every day, they choose not to seek Him.

In verse 18, Paul talks of the wrath of God being revealed to all, and it shall be. Perhaps it is the lack of belief that God is still personally involved with His creation. If God is not taken seriously in the mind, then the idea of wrath becomes, in some sense, to the modern mind, a preconceived, mechanized, calculated application of wrath, rather than the anger of a living, thinking, all-powerful, eternal God.

So today, people reject God’s rightful rule. Paul tells first-century Rome that heaven reacts to the unrighteousness and rejection of God's rightful rule. This very thing is still happening today, and God’s wrath is still expressed by the heavens' reaction to the rejection of God.

God’s anger exists for two reasons. First, the attempt of humans to reject God’s authority in their lives by suppressing divinity in their lives, as if He did not exist. Secondly, human unrighteousness.  Therefore, the ignorance or suppression of God in one's life produces ungodliness. Because one rejects God and ignores His righteous rule, idolatry, adultery, and all sin are indulged in by the one who rejects God. Ungodliness is the vertical rejection of God. Unrighteousness, is seen in the horizontal relationship one has in and with creation. The consequences of this rejection are severe and should be a cause for concern.

Just as Paul saw the darkness in his society, we see it as well. We see those who claim to be wise yet make fools of themselves before God. Like Adam and Eve, who tried to hide from God in their sin, people today, foolish as it is, believe that if I do not acknowledge God, if I reject Him, if I suppress Him, He has no rule in my world. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth, and those who persist in this way throughout their life will find out they were wrong when, by the sovereign authority of God, His wrath crushes them. Remember it was Jesus who said to the Pharisees, “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” (Matthew 21:42-44).

God’s transcendent perfection is revealed in creation every day. This is what Paul told the Romans in 1:20, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” When you look at creation and realize it was in fact created, you cannot deny God.

Only by grace will one come to faith in Christ and be made righteous in salvation before God. If you do not know God and can see that the world around you could not have just happened on its own, seek Jesus now. Do not wait. The wrath of God will come to those who suppress the Almighty. Remember, it is through Jesus that we find hope and salvation.

Grace and Peace.