The verdict that they
are without excuse (v20) is based on two truths.
1. Men
had access to truth about God. This was
shown in 1:18-20.
2. Men
have rejected this truth. That is
explained in today’s passage.
There is a 7-step regression
away from God that is laid out here.
(You can see it in a simple diagram form on the back cover of this booklet.) It is a definite, purposeful movement away
from the truth. Let us consider the
downward steps.
·
They knew
God. It begins with man knowing God
through creation. One can imagine this
at the beginning of creation. But I am
not so sure that this also applies to every civilization and society. Even a child might easily know God in this sense of seeing a
Creator in nature. It is common
sense. We actually have to work to
reject the idea and conclude that something
came from nothing.
·
They did
not glorify Him as God. Though
creation cries out the glory of the
Creator men do not acknowledge Him as God.
They deny His involvement.
·
They were
not thankful. Men benefit from creation.
But they do not seek out the Creator so that they might acknowledge His
goodness. Instead they seek to explain
the benefits in purely natural terms.
·
They
became futile in their thoughts. Their
thinking becomes empty. Men have not glorified or thanked God. They have emptied their minds of the truth
they knew. They explain the existence of
the stars and mountains and flowers without the Creator. And this explanation is empty, devoid of
truth. God’s assessment is that we live
an empty way of life (1 Peter 1:18),
that we should turn from worthless things
(Acts 14:15), no longer living in the futility
of our thinking (Eph. 4:17).
·
Their
foolish hearts were darkened. The
heart refers to the seat of our affections, our desires, our motivations. Out of the heart we live. The mind is always the channel to the
heart. So empty thoughts lead to dark
hearts.
·
Professing
to be wise they became fools. Claiming
to be wise as they seek to explain creation apart from a Creator, men in fact
become fools. The ultimate foolishness is to say in your
heart, There is no God (Psalm 14:1).
·
They
exchange the creature for the Creator.
To conclude that there is no God
is eventually a thought that man cannot endure.
Something within man (in fact the Creator put it there, Gen. 1:26-28)
cries out that there is more to life than what meets the eye. Further, men cannot live without some kind of
higher power. Without it life and civilization and society
are chaotic. But since man will not
acknowledge and submit to the Creator he must then become his own god (into
an image made like corruptible man) or else, as is evident worldwide, he
worships creatures (birds, four-footed
animals and creeping things).
Don’t miss Paul’s reference to God. In creation men can see that there is a
Creator, one who is the First Cause
for which there is no other cause. Thus
it makes sense to refer to Him as the incorruptible
God. He is the One with life in
Himself. On the other hand, man is
always dying. Always, without exception,
man is corruptible. Yet it’s that corruptible man who has decided there is no incorruptible God. How
arrogant! If God is defined as the One
to whom you give glory, and that you thank for life’s blessings, let us ask
honestly: Who is our God? Who is my God?
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