Romans 1

Aug 4

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 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. 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.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

(Romans 1, ESV Bible)

Romans 1 Commentary

"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 1:1-4)

The gospel of God is the good news about the kingdom of God. The Kingdom "which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures." It is intriguing how Paul physically separates the identity of Messiah. When Paul says that his Son, Jesus, "who was descended from David according to the flesh," that is to say, Jesus was physically a man from the family line of David, but at the same time, declared by God in power according to the Holy Spirit to be the Son of God by the resurrection of the dead. In other words, Paul asks, "How do we know these claims about Jesus being the Messiah and the Son of God are true?" His resurrection is the evidence that we're basing our case on. The resurrection is the evidence of our belief in Him. The resurrection of Jesus is significant because the expectation of a resurrection of the dead was a common belief during the first century. Most believers of Jesus had a Pharisaic worldview, including a belief in the resurrection of the dead.

“Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace.” (Romans 1:5)

How Grace and Imputed Righteousness Works in the Bible

Grace is often said to be an unmerited favor. Many people don't realize, but calling it unmerited favor is problematic. Why? The word grace appears throughout the Tanakh and always means merited favor. In the Tanakh, the Hebrew word for "grace" is "חֵן" (pronounced "chen"). In Greek, the word for "grace" is "χάρις" (pronounced "charis"). The implication of chen is someone has the favor or kindness of God. "If I have found favor in your eyes and you like me, do such and such for me. That's how chen works in the Tanakh. So why does the word's meaning flip in the New Testament? In short, it doesn't.

Let's take a look at how grace works in the Old Testament. Exodus 33 is a chapter in the Bible that describes a pivotal moment in the relationship between God and the Israelites. After the incident with the golden calf, where the Israelites had sinned against God by worshiping a golden idol. They have already broken the covenant. He can still fulfill those promises he made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by raising up a new nation out of the children of Moses.

God tells Moses to lead the people to the Promised Land, but He also says that He will not go with them because of their stiff-neckedness, which could lead to His destroying them on the way. Moses responds by pleading with God to go with them, recognizing that the presence of God among them is what sets them apart from all other nations. Moses intercedes on behalf of the people. Here is the conversation:

Moses said to the LORD, "See, you say to me, 'Bring up this people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.' Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people." And he said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?" And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." (Exodus 33:12-17, ESV Bible)

In verse twelve, Moses said to the Lord, "See, you say to me, bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me," meaning what angel will you send? "You have said, I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight." So we see that Moses has chen with God.

"Now therefore, if I have found favor (chen) in your sight, please show me now your ways that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people." Moses is trying to spread the favor. It's as if Moses says, "I understand, you like me, and you don't like them, but you're sending me with them. Do not bring us up from here if your presence will not accompany me. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight? Is it not in your going with us that makes us distinct from everyone?"

And the Lord said to Moses, “this thing that you have spoken, I will do for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” And so then, as you keep reading, God declares that He's going to forgive the children of Israel and take them back as his people and make a new covenant with them. What happened here is Moses merited favor with God, but then he lent that favor that he had earned to the children of Israel based not on Israel's but Moses' merit. Israel is saved thanks to Moses.

This concept of chen or favor/grace is the same one we'll encounter in the New Testament. We are saved not based on our chen or the grace we have earned. It is an unmerited favor from God as it refers to us but instead on the merit of the grace that Messiah has earned. He has earned God's favor through his faithful obedience, through his suffering, and through Him being the chosen, anointed one, the king. And through the favor Jesus has earned, he can include us in that favor as his disciples and as his people.

It's the same concept with his righteousness. And that is a big theme of Romans: imputed righteousness. That's the righteousness not by the Torah but by the Messiah. It's a Torah concept, but as Paul says, it is not by our actions that we obtain righteousness; instead, it is through the Messiah.

“Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,” (Romans 1:5-6)

Paul wastes no time at the opening of this letter telling the audience what he is about. He is about the Gentiles. Romans 1:5 summarizes his goal for the Gentiles: "to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations."

Paul was very zealous for this, and he called this his gospel. He had a lot of theological points he wanted to make. First of all, the kingdom of heaven is supposed to be universal. It's supposed to encompass all nations. But if all nations become Jewish, how will that work? All nations are supposed to come up to Jerusalem bearing tribute to Messiah. We need the nations under King Messiah without being Jewish to fulfill the prophecies.

Another point he wants to make is that God is not just the God of the Jewish people but the God of the whole world. He created all peoples and is the God of every nation. Paul is driven by prophecies such as those in Isaiah about Israel being a light to the nations, the Messiah being a light to the nations, and nations being drawn to the light of the Messiah, and so forth. And if everybody's Jewish, those prophecies evaporate. "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."

If the Roman audience Paul is writing to are already believers, why must he preach his gospel? Paul refers to his gospel, which teaches that Gentiles do not need to become Jewish to earn salvation. Paul references his gospel, which identifies the Gentile Nations as part of God's redemptive plan. The conversion of Gentiles to become Jewish was not a foreign concept. Many people during this time converted, known as proselytes. Famous rabbis, like Rabbi Akiva, was the son of a proselyte. Even Jesus refers to it:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. (Matthew 23:15, ESV Bible)

Making proselytes is a well-established thing. So what's the problem? The problem is that Paul comes along and says this isn't the way. The right thing is for Gentiles to remain Gentiles and for Jews to remain Jews. This argument is essentially the whole epistle of Galatians.

By this time in history, Paul's gospel was no longer just his. Jerusalem endorsed it several years ago, as documented in Acts 15. Change is slow.

As you begin to understand Paul’s gospel, you can start to see the point or the problem that is the backdrop for the Epistle to the Romans. They are not one of Paul's congregations and he needs to educate them on his gospel.

Bringing all the nations into the obedience of faith is getting them into the knowledge of the God of Israel in the Scriptures and into the hope of the God of Israel that they may abound in hope with all joy and peace. What God has promised through the prophets is going to come to pass. He's guaranteed it, and He's proven it, primarily through the resurrection of Jesus. Paul says we need to get the Gentiles into this story. And this is profound, representing a very different perspective compared to a typical Roman road presentation of the Book of Romans.

What is the Obedience of Faith Among the Nations?

The Torah reveals God's expectations for the Gentiles. God holds all the nations to seven commandments. The Noahide Laws are a set of seven moral and ethical imperatives that, according to the Talmud, were given by God as a binding set of laws for all humanity. They are named after Noah, who survived the Great Flood, along with his family and representatives of all animals.

The seven Noahide Laws are:

Do Not Worship Idols: The prohibition against idolatry extends to the worship of any object or concept as a deity.
Do Not Blaspheme God: This includes speaking disrespectfully about God or using God's name in vain.
Do Not Murder: The prohibition against murder extends to all forms of unjust killing.
Do Not Commit Adultery: This includes all forms of sexual immorality.
Do Not Steal: This prohibits the wrongful taking of another person's property.
Do Not Eat Flesh Taken From an Animal While It Is Still Alive: This was also interpreted to mean eating an animal with blood still in it.
Establish Courts of Justice: This mandates the establishment of a legal system to administer justice fairly and impartially.

The Noahide Laws are derived from passages in the Talmud, specifically the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 56a-b and 57a. These passages discuss the universal moral principles binding on all humanity even before the Torah was given to the Israelites. While the laws are not explicitly enumerated in the Torah, the Talmudic rabbis derived them from various verses and traditions.

The Talmud was compiled and edited over several centuries, with the final version completed around the 5th century CE. However, the discussions and traditions recorded in the Talmud reflect teachings and interpretations that had been passed down orally for centuries before being written down. Therefore, while the specific formulation of the Noahide Laws in the Talmud dates to the period of the Talmud's composition, the principles themselves are understood to be much older, dating back to the time of Noah and the biblical flood.

How do we know God expects the nations to keep these seven laws? He punishes them if they don't. One example is Sodom and Gomorrah. Even before giving the Torah to the Israelites, there was an expectation of righteousness and justice. Just before Israel takes the promised land, the taking of the land is portrayed as a punishment for the wickedness and idolatry of the Canaanite nations (e.g., Deuteronomy 9:4-5). In Amos chapters 1 and 2, the prophet delivers oracles against the surrounding nations for their sins. These examples imply that these nations were held accountable for their actions, even though they were not in the covenant with Israel. God has always had a moral standard for all humanity, which is reflected in the principles of the Noahide Laws.

As Paul starts preaching his gospel and the Gentiles come to faith, there is concern over what the Gentile's obedience to faith will look like. This is part of the context of Acts 15. If these Gentile believers are going to be living among the Jews, eating with them, and worshipping with them, then there have to be some ground rules. The apostles looked into the Torah and found laws pertaining specifically to Gentiles among the Jewish people. They singled out four laws that pertain to Gentiles among the Jewish people to abstain from everything tainted by idolatry, including food that had been sacrificed to idols or wine poured out to an idol. They should refrain from things that are not correctly slaughtered, which is expressed as the meat of strangled animals. To abstain from ingesting blood is different than the rabbinic interpretation of law number six, which was not to eat an animal while it's still alive. They are to abstain from sexual immorality, which is different from law number four, because according to the standard rabbinic definition of law number four, what is sexual immorality for a Gentile? The answer is whatever the standard of their culture dictates. Okay, well, that can be pretty loose. And so the apostles, by introducing this fourth measure on the Gentile, believers were raised to the Jewish standards, in other words, Torah standards of sexual morality. And so that's, in a nutshell, the seven plus the four. The seven plus the four are the laws that are incumbent on Gentiles.

“To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:7)

Romans is an epistle to all those Jewish, proselyte, and God-fearer followers of Jesus in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints. Saints means holy ones. Everybody who reads the letter to the Romans, and for that matter, the letter to the Ephesians, the letter to the Galatians, a letter to the Philippians, and every letter that Paul ever wrote is already a believer. Because Paul's audience is already believers, you will never find many discussions about how to become a believer or why you should become a believer.

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” (Romans 1:8)

“All of you," meaning every Jewish believer, believing proselytes, and God-fearing Gentiles.

“For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.” (Romans 1:9-13)

Paul has been wanting to go to Rome for some time. He explains why he wants to go to Rome. "For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift." What does he mean by spiritual gift? To Paul, a spiritual gift in this context is a teaching, insight, or revelation to strengthen them, thereby encouraging both Paul and the Roman believers. Paul also wants to present his gospel to Gentile idolaters. He wants to reap a harvest among the Gentile community of Rome.

“I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.” (Romans 1:14)

Paul says, "I am under obligation to both Greeks and to barbarians." What's a barbarian? A barbarian is someone who doesn't speak Greek. So, he is under obligation to both the Greeks and barbarians who do not speak Greek. What does Paul mean by being under obligation to the wise and the foolish? I think he means "wise" are those who fear and worship the God of Israel, in other words, God-fearing Gentiles. The "foolish" are those who worship idols, the Gentile idolaters. In other words, Paul is saying he is under obligation to both groups of Gentiles: God-fearing Gentiles and non-believing Gentile idolators.

So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:15-16)

In other words, despite the unpopularity of my message about the inclusion of the Gentiles, I am not ashamed. This gospel keeps getting Paul in trouble every time he preaches it.

The gospel, the good news about the kingdom of God, is not just for the Jews but for everyone who believes. It is for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)

Paul Quotes Habakkuk 2:4

“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17) This is a familiar phrase from Habakkuk, one of the prophets. It is referenced several times in the New Testament. The context of Habakkuk chapter one revolves around the prophet Habakkuk's dialogue with God concerning the injustice and violence he sees in Judah. Habakkuk questions why God allows the wicked to prosper and why there is so much suffering and wrongdoing. God responds by revealing that He will bring judgment upon Judah through the Babylonians, using them as a tool to punish His people for their sins. This dialogue sets the stage for the rest of the book, where Habakkuk wrestles with understanding God's ways and ultimately comes to trust in God's justice and sovereignty. Habakkuk throws a little bit of a temper tantrum regarding the judgment through the Babylonians and tries to get God to change his mind. And then in chapter two, the Lord responds:

And the LORD answered me: "Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. "Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:1-4, ESV Bible)

In this passage, God says, " I spoke to you, and you asked me to change my mind. Now I'm telling you, write it down. The oracle is going to happen, the Babylonians are coming, and it will happen, just like I said. The vision will happen at the appointed time. It hastens towards the goal. It will not fail, and though it tarries, you must wait for it. It will certainly come, and it will not be delayed. And so the thrust of the passage here is to affirm the certainty of this oracle. This oracle involves the surrounding of Israel by the Chaldeans and the desolation of Jerusalem. And so the reference to the "one who reads it may run" is so that the one who hears the oracle can leave town before the thing happens.

One of the things about this passage is that many people have highlighted that the word Emunah is conveyed in Habakkuk 2:4, which in Hebrew means steadfastness or reliability or trustworthiness. And so the righteous man will live by steadfastness, by trustworthiness. And so there are a couple of commentaries that have highlighted the fact that this is most likely not a reference to the righteous person but to the oracles, which are reliable and trustworthy. And so, in a way, you could translate that as “the righteous man will live as though the oracles were reliable.”

Going back to Romans 1:17, all Paul is saying by quoting Habakkuk is that he wants the Gentiles to trust and rely upon the scriptures of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible. He wants them to trust in those oracles as he trusts them as a first-century Jew. Paul intentionally connects the expected eschatology and obedience of faith in Romans 1:17. It is the power of salvation on the day of wrath for all who believe. Suddenly, it's not mysterious language if you understand what Paul is saying. And you don't even really need Habakkuk to realize what he's saying. He's saying, I was given apostleship to bring about this response to the proclamation of the Jewish oracles among the Gentiles.

The whole letter of Romans says the same thing throughout. One of the most powerful chapters of the Book of Romans is chapter 15, where he closes the book the same way he opens it. Paul climaxes in verses eight and nine:

For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. (Romans 15:8-9, ESV Bible)

Paul summarizes that Jesus's life, death, and resurrection confirm the promises of the prophets in the Holy Scriptures. It confirms the promises given to the Patriarchs. It does not redefine or reimagine these promises but actually confirms them to be reliable.

In chapter eleven, Paul explains that God's mission to the Gentiles is a sub-narrative within a presupposed Jewish narrative. His goal for the Gentiles was to bring them into that Jewish narrative from the prophetic literature of the Hebrew Scriptures. He quotes many passages from the Hebrew Scriptures in Romans, all of which have the Gentiles worshipping the God of Israel. And so he's trying to get these Gentiles in Rome to recognize the narrative of the God of Israel and the covenants.

There's high continuity with Paul's native Jewish worldview. It makes things fit. The mission to the Gentiles is a spiritual actualization of the hope of Israel. And just all of this strange nonsense that modern theological discourse engages in makes it impossible to understand it in a simple, straightforward way. Thus, understanding Paul's worldview helps make sense of Paul's mission to the Gentiles. Generally, reconstructions of the Gospel rely on all these mechanisms that were so foreign to first-century Jews. And so, in reality, once you start to break it down, it becomes about some very elementary things, and you don't have to import all these fancy mechanisms to understand the Bible.

Understanding Habakkuk 4:2 from the Talmud

Habakkuk 4:2 is also referenced in the Talmud in Tractate Mahot, which discusses the 613 commandments of Judaism. It highlights a concept where Habakkuk is said to have condensed all these commandments into one principle: "The righteous shall live by his faith." This concept is interpreted to mean that the righteous will obtain the world to come through faith, emphasizing the importance of faith in Judaism. Paul says that the righteous shall live by faith and inherit eternal life by faith.

God’s Faithfulness Invokes a Response from Us

What does "from faith for faith" mean? The truth is, nobody knows what Paul meant by this or why he used this particular phrase. In the Greek, faith can be read as faith or faithfulness. For example, several times in Pauline Epistles, he says, "Faith in Christ." We could read that as "faith in Christ" or could read that as "the faithfulness of Christ." Are we saved by faith in Christ, or are we saved by the faithfulness of Christ? Scholars go back and forth with this. And so, in this particular case, one commentary suggests that "from faith for faith" should be read as "from God's faithfulness to our faithfulness." God has been faithful in what he did for us through the gospel, through giving us His Son, through giving us the Messiah. And that faithfulness of God brings us to faith and faithfulness to Him in return.

Romans 1:16-17 Summarized

We could paraphrase Romans 1:16-17 as:

For I am not ashamed of this good news that redemption and eternal life are available to the Jew and to the Gentile, even though the inclusion of the Gentiles is not a popular message. This gospel is is the power of God for salvation on the day of judgment to everyone who believes. This is a promise from God, and we need to trust His word and promises and live in light of those things to come. Since God has been faithful in His promises, we, too, should be faithful in response to Him. For the righteous shall live by faith. (Romans 1:16-17, paraphrased)

This section represents a diatribe against idolaters. It's a Jewish rant against those godless pagan idol worshippers. A diatribe is a rant. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who, by their unrighteousness, suppress the truth," the truth of monotheism and God's expectation of ethical standards. That's what we mean by truth here: that God is one, and he expects us to behave ourselves.

"For what can be known about God is plain to them." In other words, it's obvious. It's plain to the Gentiles, even without the revelation of the Torah, "because God has shown it to them."

What are God's invisible attributes? Number one, His eternal power. Number two, all human beings have perceived his divine nature ever since the world's creation. "They are without excuse" for their immoral behavior. This idea of creation demonstrating God is a standard Jewish position we have. For example, Psalm 19:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1, ESV Bible)

It's a scriptural position, but many tend to be skeptical. Is it possible to live a complete human life without realizing that there's a higher power, especially in the modern era? In ancient times, when you saw a bolt of lightning, you thought the gods were mad. In modern times, it is more reasonable to be a scientist and an atheist and to take a naturalistic approach to things. There are some unanswerable questions. But does an unanswerable question, therefore, demand a divine being? Today, we don't know the answer. Maybe tomorrow we will. Perhaps in a generation, we will.

Paul says God's presence is pretty apparent. You look at things, you look at creation, you look at the heavens, you look at the earth, the mountains, the trees, life itself. Who programmed this? I mean, Paul's saying, have you ever looked at the double helix of the genetic code? You'll tell me it's random and rose from the primordial soup? Paul is saying that it's clear that there's only one God.

"Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images." In other words, people started to worship not God but gods who they imagined to be human beings looking like men, animals, or reptiles. And these, of course, were the gods of the ancient world that Paul had in mind. When they turn from the one God to multiple gods, the moral authority of the one God also crumbles. That makes sense because maybe this god is against your behavior, but you know this other god over here will be for it. And so you can kind of work the gods against each other.

"Therefore, God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity." Humanity has turned its eyes away from the divine and spiritual and toward the material. By superimposing the material onto the spiritual and saying that the spiritual is actually in the shape of the material, God gives human beings completely over to materialism. God is supposed to be the source of your spiritual fulfillment, but if you want to find spiritual fulfillment in the material, physical world, have at it.

Paul throws in a quick doxology, a short hymn or formula of praise to God in verse 25.

"For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men." Why is Paul picking on homosexuality? What about other sexual sins? Why did Paul go straight after this and not adultery, which is far more common and more destructive? Paul is playing the reader at this point. He's got the reader in this opening section. He knows his audience. He's writing to Jewish people, proselytes, and God-fearing Gentiles who are looking down on these Roman non-believers that they live among. What he's saying is all true, but he's preaching to the know.

Like Paul, the prophet Amos does something similar in the Book of Amos, specifically Amos 1:3-2:3. In this passage, Amos delivers a series of oracles against the surrounding nations, including Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. Each oracle follows a similar pattern, describing the nation's sins and pronouncing judgment upon them. The phrase "for three sins, even for four" or "for three transgressions, and for four" is repeated before each pronouncement of judgment, indicating that these nations have gone beyond a threshold of sins that warrant punishment.

The passage you're referring to describes Amos's prophetic message against Israel, which comes after he has pronounced judgment on the neighboring nations. This shift in focus to Israel would indeed have been unexpected and likely unsettling for his audience, as they may have been expecting him to continue condemning their enemies rather than themselves. Overall, this passage in Amos emphasizes the universality of God's judgment and the idea that all nations, including Israel, are accountable to God for their actions.

Paul's tactic here is to draw attention to the world's sins, and he will eventually turn to the sins of the believers in chapter two.

Notice what is unrighteous for a gentile. He won't say violating the Sabbath or not following the Torah. Instead, he'll hit these significant ethical categories. People do not generally sin in innocent ignorance, for they know God’s righteous decree (at least in an instinctive way) that their evil deserves condemnation. Indeed, the evil goes further when people give approval and applaud others for their sin, probably because having others join in their sin makes them feel better about the evil course they have chosen.

References

This commentary was curated using the ESV Bible and from teachings by Daniel Lancaster at Beth Immanuel Messianic Synagogue.

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