Subject: ROMANS STUDY |
Bible Note: Hi zion, I would like to speak to your sentence, "Maybe the answer is that the sinner needs to honour God as THE God (one and only) and that creation is the evidence of His "eternal power" and "divine nature"." I think that you are very near to the answer. I think of Romans 1:20 as speaking of God as Spirit. The creation of the world is the closest thing that we have of clearly "seeing" the invisible attributes, eternal power, and divine nature of the Spirit of God. Verse 31 shows the one and only God contrasted with the form of the corruptible man. You may know that the Bible contrasts over and over the difference between men and the Man and the creature and the Creator. So when I think of the incorruptible God here in verse 23 I think of the Man. The ungodly and unrighteous men exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God and put Him (Jesus) in the image of a corruptible man. Verse 21 says, to me, that even though God was made known to them by His being with us, they did not honor [or glorify] Jesus as God, or give thanks. Verse 25 says, to me, that these ungodly men exchanged the truth that this Man was God incarnate, and worshiped and served the man rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. The Spirit gave them over to the lusts of their hearts, in other words He let them bring God down to their level and let them worship the man. We know Jesus and glorify Him as the one and only God but they did not see fit to acknowledge Him as God any longer. So I think that Jesus (God) gave them over to a depraved mind, to do things that are not proper. Jesus is glorified and is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father. We now know Him as Spirit and it is the judgment of God (Spirit) that "rightly falls upon those who practice such things." Romans 2:2 When I read Romans 1:18-20 I think of the God who came among us as a Man and made it,the truth, evident to us. He is the Truth. Romans 1:18, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them." This is my faith and perhaps yours, that God became a Man and now His Spirit dwells in us. |