The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee

The Sinfulness of Humanity - 2

Note: See the Answer Key at the bottom of this page to fill in the blanks.

Brief Review:

Paul’s letter starts out with the BAD NEWS of the Gospel. He invests the first 81verses of his letter to the Romans in outlining the sinfulness of humanity.

Last week we covered: Romans 1:1-17 which includes Paul’s GREETING to the Romans (1:1-7) and a very basic presentation of the CONTENT of the GOSPEL (1:8-17)

Today we move on to Paul’s presentation of his case that _______ people are sinners, regardless of their race or ethnic background, and that God’s response to human sin is _______________.

Overview:

Romans 1:18-32	God’s anger at sin	The next 15 verses pour out an explanation of God’s anger at ALL sin.
Romans 2:1-16	God’s judgment of sin	The first 16 verses of chapter two establish that God WILL judge sin.
Romans 2:17-29	The Jews and the Law	The final 13 verses of chapter two establish that the Jews though they have the Law of Moses are equally subject to the judgment of God unless they keep the law.
Romans 3:1-8	God remains faithful	In the first 8 verses of chapter three Paul points out the absurd logic of some who say that sin serves a “good purpose” in showing God’s goodness in declaring sinners innocent.
Romans 3:9-20	All people are sinners	In the next 12 verses of chapter three Paul establishes from Scripture that ALL have sinned.

Romans 1:18-32

In the following fifteen verses Paul starts to build his case that ALL of us are sinners and that God’s response to sin is anger (traditionally—wrath from heaven). This case will continue to build until the middle of chapter three, when Paul shows that Jesus’ sacrificial death is the source of God’s satisfaction for our sins, our forgiveness of sins, and the “free gift” of salvation from God.

18But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves.*

*A literal translation of this verse is: “for the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (humanity) who in unrighteousness are suppressing the truth.”

Anger or wrath of God. This portrayal flies in the face of a ___________ and ____________ God in the New Testament who is always loving and forgiving no matter what we do.

Shows or reveals from heaven. God interacts with people. God is not indifferent or aloof about what we are and what we do. God’s response to sin must always be _______________, because He is holy.

Sinful, wicked people or all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men(humanity) The _______________ nature of sin is presented here. It is not a statement simply that “all” sinners are shown the wrath of God, but that ALL of us are sinners. This flies in the face of humanist teaching, which says that people are basically good, with a few flaws that need to be adjusted.

who push away the truth from themselves or who…are suppressing the truth. It is the nature of sin to deny the truth or to suppress it. From childhood we learn that one way to avoid the punishment of sin (or even to admit it’s reality is to lie—that is to suppress the truth.) is to avoid or suppress the truth. In the end suppressing the truth only deepens our involvement in sin. As it has been said, “Only those who tell the truth can afford short memories.” Once a lie is told, once ungodliness starts to reign in our lives, we must have excellent memories, or we will find that our web of lies eventually catches us.

In this single verse Paul establishes that all have sinned, now he goes on to present a brief case for our guilt regardless of whether we have been exposed to _______________ teaching about God and His truth.

19For the truth about God is known to them instinctively.£ (is “manifest in them”) God has put this knowledge in their hearts. 20From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.

Application Point:

What is going to happen to the “Aborigine in Australia”? What is God going to do with those who have never heard of Jesus Christ? What about the “unreached people groups” of the world? How can a just God judge them and condemn them to hell, because they have not received Jesus as their Lord and Savior?

Paul does not completely answer this question here. He makes no mention of a knowledge of _________________.

He does tell us that from the time of creation the truth and reality of God have been known to human beings “instinctively” or has been “manifest in us.” Paul appeals to the proof of God in _____________. Creation teaches us of God’s “invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. Therefore, no person has an excuse for lacking a ________________ knowledge of God.

21Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused.

22Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. 23And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes.

THE “DOMINO” EFFECT Once a human being (or community of human beings) “suppresses the truth” (1:18) a “domino” effect follows:

We find ourselves out of ____________________ with God.

We stop _____________________ God.

We stop ________________ ___________________ to God

We start _____________________ or __________________ God in OUR likeness.

Our minds become “dark and confused.” We think we are ______________, but we become “utter fools.”

We worship idols.

We may think that this domino effect doesn’t impact “modern” people, especially the idol worshiping part. The reality is that modern human beings are some of the most idolatrous people in all of human history. Some folks order their lives completely around material things (idols). While our idols don’t look like people, birds, animals and snakes here in America (although they actually do for an increasing number of Americans who are involved in “alternative” religions), they look like job promotions, growing property assets, and increasing influence for our own gain.

NOTE: It is NOT a sin to accumulate wealth for the purpose of serving God’s kingdom as a steward/manager. It only becomes a sin, when the ______________ _______________, becomes our god.

The remainder of chapter 1 is devoted to a graphic description of the consequence of our turning away from God. The painful truth of God’s great love for us is that while it is unconditional on His part, we must receive it, or be consigned to experience the consequences of our rejection of His love.

Notice that there is a predictable “pattern” of sin: It moves from the spiritual to the physical: When we abandon our worship of God and replace Him with idols, our spiritual discernment disappears, our human judgment is clouded and we participate in physical acts of sin.

24So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.

As Jesus told us that it is out of the abundance of our “hearts” that our mouths speak, so Paul reminds us

That out of evil hearts come evil acts. When we abandon God, He releases us to “whatever shameful things” our hearts desire.

As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.

This statement introduces a reality that is to be further explained in 1:26-27. Paul assumes that the human body is designed by God to be the “Temple of the Holy Spirit,” (See 1 Cor. 6:18-20) Therefore, when God “lets us go ahead and do whatever shameful things our hearts desire,” the result will be a corruption of our human bodies.

25Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies.

Paul reminds us over and over that human beings KNOW the truth about God, and in order for us to deny that is to ______________________ choose to believe lies.

We may argue that those who are born in countries where other religions predominate, have not deliberately chosen to believe lies. Paul’s case is that there is an internal manifestation of God in ALL people. Therefore, we are without excuse. An important reality for all of us is that we have been taught the truth about God, most of us for our whole lives. THEREFORE, we are REALLY without excuse!

So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen.

Even as Paul reiterates human nature’s tendency to worship creation rather than the Creator, he breaks into spontaneous praise. WHO IS TO BE PRAISED FOREVER. AMEN. This parenthetical comment demonstrates that for Paul, the beginning and end of all things is God!

The following section has been debated heatedly in American Christianity over the past several decades, particularly in denominational Christianity. Let us look at the New Living Translation, then a literal translation done by Chris Marshall from the Greek text.

26That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved.

On account of this thing, God gave them over into all shame and then their women exchanged the natural uses for the contrary to natural, and likewise also the men forsook the natural uses of women, they became inflamed in their longing for one another, men with men, doing the shameless deed and receiving in themselves the penalty which was the unavoidable fate of their error.

The Obvious:

God does NOT approve of the actions about to be described in 1:26-27.

God “gave them over” as a result of their ______________ abandonment of worshiping Him. These actions were, at least originally, a choice. There was no biological necessity nor environmental compulsion to carry them out.

In the current “debate” over homosexual practice in American culture there is a heated debate over whether homosexuality is a biological or environmental reality. That is: Are people “born” as homosexuals or do they become homosexuals as a result of their environments?

Paul makes it clear that homosexuality is primarily and environmental choice, and the clear consequence of abandoning our worship of God.

What, then, of those in our culture who claim to be devoted followers of Jesus, who are practicing homosexuals?

Their response to passages such as this one is that Paul was talking about “animalistic” lust, not “committed love.” They contend that God created them as homosexuals (biologically) and that He blesses them in their relationships so long as they are relationships of commitment and love. The contention is that God cannot be “against” something that is as natural for them as heterosexual love is for a man and woman “born” as heterosexuals.

The obvious flaw in these claims is that Paul makes no editorial comments about there being “acceptable” kinds of homosexuality and unacceptable kinds. (We could also note that in the order of creation God created human beings “male and female” and told them to be fruitful and multiply.) homosexual practice is a sin, and is in this particular text separated out for the moment from a “laundry list” of sins that human beings commit when we turn from our worship of God.

NOTE: What if a “genetic” link is one day determined for homosexuality? Will that mean that homosexuality is acceptable? Not at all. It will simply demonstrate the pervasiveness of the effects of sin on humankind. Those who have a genetic predisposition toward alcoholism, for example, are not thereby excused from the consequences of their actions if they choose to become intoxicated. After all, there is no inherent sin in being predisposed to any kind of sinful activity (as all human beings are apart from the grace of Jesus Christ in our lives). The sin is in succumbing to the temptation to act on those predispositions.

Practical Application:

This passage of Scripture was not written in order to give us the “ammunition” we need to persecute practicing homosexuals. It was given to us to demonstrate what happens when we abandon our worship of God and the truth. Therefore, we must all learn from it the crucial truth that apart from our relationship with Jesus Christ, each of us has the __________________ to sin, because we _________ sinners.

CONSEQUENCES OF ABANDONING OUR WORSHIP OF GOD: When we turn away from God the consequence is __________. The various types of sin we will carry out are listed in the following verses:

28When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done. 29Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. 31They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving. 32They are fully aware of God’s death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

QUESTION? Is homosexual practice any worse than any of the other sins listed in 1:28-32?

According to the Bible sin is sin. As James reminded us if we keep the WHOLE LAW, yet stumble in one part we are sinners. (James 2:10) Therefore, as Paul has demonstrated here, ________ are sinners

ANSWER KEY: ALL, anger, meek, mild, wrath, universal, explicit, Jesus, creation, general, relationship, worshiping, giving thanks, imagining, creating , wise, created thing, deliberately, willful, tendency, are, sin, all

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