Read Romans 1 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Greek Testament has no Hebrew paragraph divisions. This is my outline of chapter one:
1:1-7, Greeting and benediction;
1:8-15, Desire to visit Rome;
1:16-17, Theme of the letter: the Gospel reveals the righteousness of God;
1:18-5:21, Justification and the righteousness of God;
1:18-3:19, The unrighteousness of man;
1:18, The wrath of God is revealed against all unrighteousness of men;
1:19-32, The unrighteousness of idolatry (denial of God as Creator);
Rom 1:18-32 Chiastic Structure:
Paul clearly sets forth, before he begins, what he is going to be talking about. The Gospel, or the Good News, reveals the righteousness of God. He is going to explain this Good News and explain this Righteousness. His first stop in explaining the Good News, according to our outline of the book, is explaining Justification, which he will spend much of the first five chapters on.
So, in order to reveal the Good News, the Gospel, he begins by revealing the Bad News: the wrath of God revealed against all unrighteousness of men (Rom 1:18). A Jewish or Hebrew audience would get that immediately. In the Hebrew worldview, Torah clearly explains the difference between the righteousness of God and the unrighteousness of men.
But Paul’s audience is Romans, non-Hebrews, Gentiles, many of them. He is going to explain the unrighteousness of men to those probably unfamiliar with Torah and the Hebrew worldview.
The first thing we learn, from the Contrast, is that righteousness is of God, while unrighteousness is of men. Let’s not get those two things mixed up!
The rest of the chapter explains the unrighteousness of idolatry. In the ancient world, the common religion was pagan idolatry. This chapter is just as applicable today as it was then, because even though most people in first world countries no longer bow down to images made in the form of man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things (Rom 1:22-23), people in first world countries today still worship the creature rather than the Creator. Who do scientists say created the world and its life? Essentially that the creature created itself. They have exchanged the truth about God for THE LIE (Rom 1:25), the foundational lie, which opens the door for every other error. Today, just as in Paul’s day, the ones who profess that they are wisest, are the greatest fools.
Make no mistake: darwinism as an explanation for the creation of life is incompatible with and contradictory to the teaching of Scripture, both Hebrew and Greek Testaments.
If there are questions, this is a good resource:
The Lie – Ken Ham
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