Have you ever found yourself saying, What is happening to our world? Or, Things are not like when I was growing up?
From popular culture, to education and even in the church I am amazed by the collective “darkening” of understanding and truth. On the one hand we see the economy roaring back, more liberties and freedoms of expression than ever before and churches growing by rapid numbers. Some might say such signs are indications that the good old days are back!!! But are they? In this very same moment in time we can watch entire TV shows dedicated to people living according to their selfish desires, celebrities promoting lifestyles of greed and lust and “liberty” that has bred intolerance all while the church is largely absent as a spiritual voice for the culture….that doesn’t sound like the good old days to me.
Some might say we are loosing common-sense but the Apostle Paul tells us we have lost that and so much more. For all of humanities advancements we are actually becoming less-intelligent in both the things of the Spirit and in the matters of our world. We may believe we are smarter, and more evolved, because we have made life easier; but all of “our easiness” has created endless diversities that make life more confusing, uncertain and divisive. Since we have misplaced our dedicated learning from history with “learning from the here and now” we forget the Apostle Paul lived in a world much like our own. 
Daily he encountered competing philosophies, a variety of worship practices, shady business deals and even a divided church. Nevertheless Paul understood, in a time of darkening, there was a true light that has always been present and now revealed through Jesus. Paul’s desperate apologetic to share the truth of Jesus’ words are timeless because he experienced, first hand, a darkening that turned to light on the Damascus road.
Paul knew, and therefore had to share, that only the truth of Jesus was capable of illuminating the dense understanding of his / our world. It was not coincidental that Paul was writing his letter to Christians living in Rome at such a time. Daily, these brave men and women of the Christian faith faced unbearable adversities within the “belly of the beast” as the contended for truth in an time of darkness. Paul’s letter to the Romans shows us from creation, to today, we are darkening more and more in our understanding of the spirit and culture and the only solution can be the Truth of Jesus’ Word….the same yesterday, today and forever!
If you pause to consider if we living in a darkening or awakening you need only look to history, and creation, to reveal Romans 1 is true. So, in an age of increased darkness how do we recapture our understanding? BIBLICAL TRUTH! The age long philosophical question of, What is truth can only be answered through the lens of faith and the with a revelation there can only be ONE TRUTH that holds everyone, from every age, accountable.
Many ask, others claim and even more make it up as they go along life’s way; but Paul brings us back to why we are here, how we got here and the only way to get back. We can, and should, engage our culture in the debate of truth; but any discussion, with a darkening world, will prove ineffective if we cannot speak with the authority of Jesus’ Name and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Such a bold apologetic doesn’t need to look like some backwoods church house and is often on display in universities, college campus’ and even in some dedicated churches and ministries. What is missing in the age of darkening is commitment to not just speak the truth but life is consistently and practically in the ordinary of life.
What our world desperately needs is a solid dose of TRUTH and that can ONLY be discovered through Jesus. More on this to follow but I want to leave you with a great commentary note on Romans (see below) and the passage itself. For today, remember to Remain and truth bearer and speaker!
Blessings – JOSHUA
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Commentary by WW Wiersbe on Romans 1:18-25
A. They knew God (vv. 18–20).
God had given them a twofold revelation of Himself “in them” (conscience) and “unto them” (creation), v. 19. Man did not begin with ignorance and gradually work his way up to intelligence; he began with a blazing revelation of the power and wisdom of God and turned his back on it. God had revealed Himself from the very time of creation, so that people who have never heard the Gospel are still without excuse. (How God judges such people will be taken up in chap. 2.)
B. They glorified Him not as God (vv. 21–23).
Vain thinking and foolish reasoning turned men from the truth to lies. We see indifference leading to ingratitude, resulting in ignorance. People today bow before the Greek and Roman philosophers and honor their words above the Word of God; but Paul calls all of these philosophies “empty imaginations” and “times of ignorance” (Acts 17:30)! The next step was idolatry, honoring the creature (including man) rather than the Creator.
C. They changed the truth of God (vv. 24–25).
This word “changed” should really read “exchanged.” People replaced God’s truth with Satan’s lie! What is Satan’s lie? Worshiping the creature and not the Creator; worshiping man instead of God; worshiping things instead of Christ. Satan tempted Christ to do this (Matt. 4:8–11). Note that in Rom. 1:18, the Gentiles “held down the truth,” and now they “exchange the truth” for a lie! The truth believed and obeyed sets us free (John 8:31–32); the truth rejected and disobeyed makes us slaves.
D. They rejected the knowledge of God (vv. 26–32).
These people had begun with a clear knowledge of God (vv. 19, 21) and His judgment against sin (v. 32); but now they reached the lowest level of their downward fall: they did not even want to have knowledge of God! “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’ ” (Ps. 14:1, NKJV).
It is sad to see the tragic results of this decline. Evolutionists want us to believe that humans have “evolved” from primitive, ignorant, beast-like forms into the marvelous creature they are today. Paul says just the opposite: man began the highest of God’s creatures, but he made himself into a beast! Note the three judgments of God:
God gave them up to uncleanness and idolatry, vv. 24–25.
God gave them over to vile passions, vv. 26–27.
God gave them over to a reprobate mind, vv. 28ff.
God gave them up! This is the revelation of the wrath of God (v. 18).
The sins listed here are too vile to define or discuss, yet they are practiced today around the world with the approval of society. People know that sin will be judged, yet they take pleasure in it anyway. Were it not for the Gospel of Christ, we would be in this slavery to sin ourselves. “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15).
Wiersbe, W. W. (1992). Wiersbe’s expository outlines on the New Testament (pp. 364–365). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
“18 God’s anger is revealed from heaven against every ungodly and immoral thing people do as they try to suppress the truth by their immoral living. 19 What can be known about God is clear to them because he has made it clear to them. 20 From the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly observed in what he made. As a result, people have no excuse. 21 They knew God but did not praise and thank him for being God. Instead, their thoughts were total nonsense, and their misguided minds were plunged into darkness. 22 While claiming to be wise, they became fools. 23 They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for statues that looked like mortal humans, birds, animals, and snakes.
24 For this reason God allowed their lusts to control them. As a result, they dishonor their bodies by sexual perversion with each other. 25 These people have exchanged God’s truth for a lie. So they have become ungodly and serve what is created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen!”
GOD’S WORD Translation. (1995). (Ro 1:18–25). Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group.
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