As I mentioned before, we need to
(figuratively) tattoo this truth on our forehead: Before anyone truly
understands the Good News (about Jesus), they have to grasp the Bad News. The
book of Romans is the most comprehensive presentation of the Good News in the
Bible, the most theologically complete book in the Scriptures. In one of his commentaries, John MacArthur
recounts the testimony of someone who came into his office who received Jesus
as their Savior simply by reading the Gospel of John then the book of Romans, with no one explaining it to him.
And Paul spends at least two chapters (1:18-3:20) giving us the bad news.
After his introductions in the 1st
part of chapter one, Paul indicts all of humanity for turning away from God.
Here’s how it begins: God created everything. All of the universe came about
simply by the Lord Almighty speaking it into existence.
In my discussions with skeptics about the need for a Savior, I can usually count the minutes until they bring
it up: “What about the poor pagan in the middle of Africa who’s never heard?
What about him? Is he going to Hell for not believing in a Jesus whom he’s
never heard of?” What’s amazing to me is how people pretend like this is an
original argument, something the Church has never confronted before, something
its thinkers have never answered.
Part of the answer is found in these
verses. God has created the universe, and we can see some things about him in
creation. Let’s assume for a moment that the African has never heard of the God
of the Bible at all. All he has to go on is what we call “general revelation.” Verse 20 says that the Creator has revealed his “invisible
qualities—his eternal power and divine nature.”
What
does that mean? We can see his incredible wisdom, his infinite creativity, and
his infinite power. We might even get a hint of his caring for us, i.e. the
fact that our planet provides for us so abundantly. For example, one of our
most immediate needs is water: We can only survive a couple of days without it.
Well, lo and behold, we have plenty of it for everyone! We're perfectly
positioned in regards to the sun to make sure we don’t fry or freeze. And I
could go on.
That’s why Paul says that if we
don’t worship the Lord, we have no excuse. But please notice here that he’s not addressing atheists. He doesn’t
even feel the need to talk to them. The possibility that someone could actually
not believe in some sort of God is literally
unthinkable to him. It’d never even occur to him. I’ve mentioned this before,
and I'm fully ready to concede that it's not original with me: God doesn’t believe in
atheists. As far as he’s concerned--the One before whom all hearts are naked
and exposed--they don’t exist.
No,
atheism isn't the problem here. Paul isn't addressing the problem of atheism,
because as far as the Lord’s concerned, there is no such problem. When he’s
saying that people have no excuse, he’s saying there's no excuse for idolatry. Men
could know--in fact at one time they did
know—that the God who created animals and plants and the sun and the moon is
different and separate from those things. In order to really create nature, he
has to be outside nature.
Men
knew that God is separate and different from nature. We all descended from
Adam, and then from Noah, who certainly knew it. But here’s where the real
problem lies: “[Although] they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor
gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts
were darkened.”
Again,
we need to pay close attention here. The root of the problem is not convincing
people that God exists. The root of the problem is not ignorance, contra the
question about the poor African referenced earlier. The root of the problem is
not even egregious sins like murder or adultery. The root of the problem is not
even idolatry. Those are symptoms.
The
root of the problem—the disease behind these symptoms--is rebellion.
Specifically, it’s the issue of not giving God his due. He’s due worship. He’s
due all the glory. He’s due thanksgiving. We knew this, and we turned away from
him. We refused to give him what he deserves. It’s not that we didn’t know the truth. We suppressed the truth in unrighteousness (vs. 18).
I’m
not just using the term “we” in the general sense, like “we have a problem with
the national debt.” I mean “we” as in “I.” I’m not a murderer or an adulterer
(at least not physically), and I don’t have a stone or metal statue to which I
bow down and pray. But the roots of the problem—that lead to idolatry,
ignorance, turning away from God, etc.—lie within me. How often a day do I
fail to give God the glory, worship, and thanksgiving he deserves?
G.
K. Chesterton was once asked by a London newspaper to join other authors and
thinkers to address the weighty and important question of "what's wrong
with the world." His response:
Dear
Sirs,
I
am.
Sincerely
yours,
G.K.
Chesterton
Lord Jesus, my greatest enemy is not
Satan or the world. My greatest enemy, the greatest hindrance to my
wholeheartedly following you—is me. Like everyone else, I have no excuse. Please
forgive, and please change.
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