What is the significance of Romans 1:18 in this context?
Romans 1:18 marks the flip side of salvation, revealing that God is also a God of wrath. Yet in the present age of grace, He has not been pouring out wrath for nearly 2,000 years; even the flood was not His wrath but an act of mercy and cleansing.
Les teaches that Romans 1:18 is the flip side of the salvation blessings just described. Previously, God had forgiven, regenerated, baptized into the Body, justified, and redeemed believers—around 12 or 13 good things. Now verse 18 shows the other side of the coin: God is also a God of wrath. But Les emphasizes that for nearly 2,000 years God has not been pouring out wrath, because we live in the age of grace; even to the ungodly and those steeped in wickedness, He deals in grace, not judgment or wrath. Catastrophes, earthquakes, and disasters may get man's attention, but they are not God's wrath. Even the flood was not wrath; God was broken-hearted because what He began had fallen apart and turned in rejection. It was an act of mercy to unborn generations, since violence was so rampant that children would be murdered; it was a cleansing of the slate and starting over, accomplished almost instantaneously.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
More Questions
What does the Greek in Romans 1:18 imply about how people treat the truth?
In verse 18, the Greek implies that unrighteous people hold down the truth in unrighteousness, literally standing on it with their feet and trampling it underfoot.
What does it mean to hold the truth in unrighteousness in Romans 1:18?
In Romans 1:18, holding the truth in unrighteousness means taking the name of Jesus Christ and holding it underfoot, rejecting anything He said and anything that comes from the Bible.