Rom 1:16-28
16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is God's powerful method of bringing all who believe it to heaven. This message was preached first to the Jews alone, but now everyone is invited to come to God in this same way. 17 This Good News tells us that God makes us ready for heaven-makes us right in God's sight-when we put our faith and trust in Christ to save us. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scripture says it, "The man who finds life will find it through trusting God."
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, evil men who push away the truth from them. 19 For the truth about God is known to them instinctively; God has put this knowledge in their hearts. 20 Since earliest times men have seen the earth and sky and all God made, and have known of his existence and great eternal power. So they will have no excuse [when they stand before God at Judgment Day].
21 Yes, they knew about him all right, but they wouldn't admit it or worship him or even thank him for all his daily care. And after awhile they began to think up silly ideas of what God was like and what he wanted them to do. The result was that their foolish minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming themselves to be wise without God, they became utter fools instead. 23 And then, instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they took wood and stone and made idols for themselves, carving them to look like mere birds and animals and snakes and puny men.
24 So God let them go ahead into every sort of sex sin, and do whatever they wanted to-yes, vile and sinful things with each other's bodies. 25 Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they prayed to the things God made, but wouldn't obey the blessed God who made these things.
26 That is why God let go of them and let them do all these evil things, so that even their women turned against God's natural plan for them and indulged in sex sin with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sex relationships with women, burned with lust for each other, men doing shameful things with other men and, as a result, getting paid within their own souls with the penalty they so richly deserved.
28 So it was that when they gave God up and would not even acknowledge him, God gave them up to doing everything their evil minds could think of. TLB
This gospel reveals "a righteousness of God." Righteousness denotes the right standing God gives to believers. Believers are righteous (justified) through faith and by faith but never on account of faith. Faith is not itself our righteousness, rather it is the outstretched empty hand that receives righteousness by receiving Christ. Paul's concept of righteousness or justification is a complete and total work of God, and we can do nothing to earn it.
Even though God had given sufficient revelation of his existence and power in the world through creation, men and women had nevertheless become idolatrous and polytheistic with resulting moral degradations. Paul claimed that God gave them up to their dishonorable lusts (1:24), passions (1:26), conduct (1:28), and all kinds of evil. The refusal to acknowledge and glorify God results in a downward path: worthless thinking, moral insensitivity, and religious stupidity.
Those who did not see fit to have God in their knowledge were handed over by God to a reprobate mind. The Greek word has the meanings: "base," "unqualified," "worthless," "not standing the test," or "unapproved." Here is a mind with no stabilizing point on which inward harmony may be built. Such a mind can produce only that which is improper (AV, not convenient) or those things which are not fitting.
More treasures next month.
