‘ALL HAVE SINNED…’
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Opening Prayer
I praise you, Lord, for your victory over evil. Help me see the forces at work against you that surround me and help me depend on your power to fight against them.
Read ROMANS 1:18—32
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21For 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. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Reflect
‘… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’1
On a dark, clear night, we look up at the star-studded sky. Its beauty is awesome. Whether or not I’m a Christian, I cannot resist the sense that this tells me of God’s grandeur: ‘his eternal power and divine nature’ are clear for all to see (v. 20). From the beginning, since creation, human beings have known about God but have chosen ‘wickedness’ (vv. 18—20). The gospel, according to Paul, leads us back to Genesis and the Garden of Eden.2
In preparation for explaining the good news, Paul now sketches the tragic human path of turning away from God. Proudly, human beings have claimed to be wise (v. 22). Programmed for worship, they foolishly made images from creation to be their gods, instead of the Creator himself (vv. 23, 25). No longer glorifying the immortal God, they worshipped things that are of no eternal worth. Paul makes it clear: when we remove God from his rightful place in our lives, idolatry follows. We see the truth of his words in our own society (in our own lives?) today.
The story of sin continues. Once God’s rule is rejected, human thinking becomes futile, unleashing a catalog of sinful behaviors as we look for meaning apart from God (vv. 26—31). As believers, we are often tempted to judge others—even within our own churches, where divisions exist. But reflect a moment—‘there, but for the grace of God… .’ For those who persist in deliberate unbelief, God ‘gave them over’ to their sinful imaginations (v. 28). The taint of sin has affected us all: greed, envy, deceit, arrogance, boastfulness, and more. Even though we know that such sins deserve death (v. 32), we are all caught in our fallen world. How much we—and others—need the knowledge of God’s faithfulness, love, and mercy (v. 31).
Apply
Confess your sins to God, seeking his forgiveness. Thank him for his grace and mercy.
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, please give me passion to share your good news with others who are suffering because of sin.
1 Rom 3:23, 24 2 Gen 3.
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