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Romans 1

Romans 1:18-30 is talking about God’s wrath on unrighteousness
We know the unrighteous are those who don’t believe Jesus is the Son of the One True God who saves us and don’t believe in the One True God
 
When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? (1 Co 6:1)…Can it be there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, & before unbelievers? (1 Co 6:5-6)
 
Romans 1:21-23
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. 
 
What does it mean to be futile in thinking?
It means to be useless, unprofitable, ungodly, unproductive, fleeting, ineffectual, fleeting; in vain;
without ground or any real purpose (fruitfulness)- actions that don't produce good fruit 

Isaiah 41 and 57: The Futility of Idols; Israel's Futile Idolatry
“Present the case for your idols,” says the Lord. “Let them show what they can do,” says the King of Israel  (Isaiah 41:21)
 
They are all a delusion; their works are nothing; their metal images are empty wind. (Is. 41:29)
 
In the New Testament there are a few words translated to futile/vain.
Mataios (6); Maten (2); Mataioo (1) 
 
When the crowds saw Paul heal a man, they lifted their voices, saying in Lycaonian,  “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. (Acts 14:11-12)

But Paul said, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain (mataios) things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.” (Acts 14:15)
 
Vain things are worshipping & sacrificing to idols & other gods. Putting hope in perishable things like silver & gold. Thinking it could save them, answer prayers or send rain, provide, comfort, etc.
 
Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver and gold (1 Peter 1:18)
 
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance in them, due to their hardness of heart. (Eph 4:17-18)
 
Nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ alone can save us.
This is the hope for which we are to hold fast and not lose faith. 
 
Why are they a delusion? Because they can’t help or save us
 
They can’t do anything. They aren’t real. They are worthless. They are a creation, not the Creator. Worshipping things other than God is the strong delusion. Today we are worshipping the creation (marriage), instead of the Creator (Father and Son) who actually can save us.
 
Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 41:14)
 
Romans 1:22-23
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, & exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man & birds and animals and creeping things.
 
Beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. (Deut. 4:16-18)
 
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. (Deut. 5:8)
 
They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass (Psalm 106:20)
 
The heavens proclaim his righteousness, & all the peoples see his glory. All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! (Ps. 97:6-7)
 
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. (Ex. 20:4)
 
I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifice with cult prostitutes, and a people without understanding shall come to ruin. (Hosea 4:14)
 
Romans 1:24-25
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.
 
Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, & in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ They made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: “Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.” (Acts 7:39-43)
 
Stephen was stoned for this sermon and Paul (Saul) was there for it. Soon after, Saul’s conversion to Paul happened he wrote Romans. He has been known to reference Stephen’s sermons in other books he wrote too. Molech worship included sexual worship of Ashtoreth.
 
There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. (Psalm 81:9-12)
 
But you trusted in your beauty & played the whore because of your renown & lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. You took some of your garments & made for yourself colorful shrines, & on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore… declares the Lord God. You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured… And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood. (Ezek. 16:15-22)
 
God doesn’t want us worshipping the creation and not the Creator. He is the one that gave us all these things. Children. Marriage. Food. A house. Everything.
 
They exchanged the truth for a lie, because the truth is in Jesus & the truth is Jesus (Eph 4:21, John 14:6, John 17:3) and the truth is that Jesus saves us, Jesus sanctifies us, Jesus seals us with the Holy Spirit for redemption and teaches us all things, comforts us, and brings us inexpressible joy.

The truth is that it doesn't depend on us, it depends on Him. And It is finished. It was finished when he took the guilty punishment we deserve. 
 
Romans 1:26-27
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.
 
They exchanged natural relations because the majority of people were heterosexual just like today, but they performed sexual acts as worship with cult prostitutes trying to find comfort, be cleansed, have children, or whatever else they requested from the god for whom they did the sacrifice or worship.
 
But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved. (Hosea 9:10)
 
Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them (Jer. 10:14)
 
We see shameless acts and shameful acts in relation to idolatry repeatedly in the Old Testament. And we see shameful acts shamelessly performed when referring to the worship and sacrifices for other gods and idols.
 
Romans 1:28
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 weren’t acknowledging God is the One True God or Jesus is his Son sent to save the world or their guilt toward God by worshipping these other idols and gods.
 
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the Lord (Jer. 3:12)
 
Romans 1:29-31
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. 
 
We can in my previous blog post about understanding Biblical Roman Culture how Nero ruled during the times Paul was writing the New Testament. Nero was a violent, hateful man who killed Christians, married two men one of which he had castrated, slept with his mother then had her killed, killed his pregnant wife, set up prostitution stops along the street. The people rejoiced when he died and this is the type of behavior, flesh, and violent evil Paul is referring to. 

In the context of the whole Bible it makes much more sense that this is talking about idolatry and Paul is speaking to the people of those times. We know that God's heart is that we don't worship the altar, but the God of the altar, and we don't worship the creation, but the Creator and that we don't put anything else in our hearts first above Him. He wants to heal us. He wants to know us and He wants us to know Him. He wants us to know that only He can do everything our hearts are desperate for and that he wants to because He loves us and is a good Father. He wants all the praise, all the thanks, all the glory. He doesn't want anyone here getting it. He wants us to be humble. He wants us to love. He wants us to be that image of Him. Not in the nature of other gods or a nature that isn't ours or focusing on earthly things or thinking anything else can save us, except Him alone. He is our physician. And he wants us to let Him gently refine us and teach us how to love like He loves. 

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