God Gave Them Up
Romans is a letter that Paul carefully thought through before writing. Other letters from Paul are much more spontaneous, speaking from his p
assionate heart to minister to his hearers. Philippians is a great example, where he bubbles over with joy for his walk in Christ and the fellowship he relishes with beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. But Romans seems to be one of his most carefully written books.
As we go through Romans, we need to keep in mind that Paul has carefully planned this letter. It is designed to be a thorough, summary of the Substance, Strength and Scope of our Christian faith. What we read is there by design.
- Substance: Romans 1-5 – All of the essential doctrines of our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation are clearly elaborated, and Strength: Romans 6-11 – God’s provision for the Holy Spirit’s enablement in us to live our new life in Christ is explained. There is also a parenthetical section (9-11) regarding God’s provision for Israel’s hope in Christ.
- Scope: Romans 12-16 – Paul finishes the letter by thinking through our life walk and mission, how we are to demonstrate to the world our new life in Christ…
Bible Study Journal… Please take the time now to read through Romans 1 in preparation for studying this chapter. Be sure to read the notes in your Study Bible (hopefully you have one), and also take time to look up the additional marginal references As mentioned in the first session, click here to have an outline chart that shows you the scope of Romans.
Man’s Tragic Condition
In Rom. 1:18, Paul starts to set the stage for the first major 
segment of the letter (1:18-3:31) which deals with the utter hopelessness of all Mankind’s lost condition because of our sin. Look at the dramatic shift in Rom. 1:17-18! Faith and Righteousness are the essential elements of our salvation, placed up against the wrath of God and ungodliness. The scale of God’s holy judgment will prevail. Paul is very effective at getting our attention!
Bible Study Journal
Take a few minutes to review Romans 1:18-32 to see the scope of tragic sin that Paul describes.
Note in 1:24 that man has been so perverted and obstinate in rebellion that God… gave them up! He has turned man loose to chase after his sinful passions, and the result is that man spirals deeper and deeper into his sinful mind and behavior.
As described in Rom. 1:18-32, what kind of things has man found to do as he pursues his uncontrolled lusts? He creates idols! Isn’t that amazing? He screamed and chafed at being obligated to God’s holy principles of living, so God let him go. And once Man was free, what did he do? He created a representation of greater powers for him to somehow worship and yet be obligated to! Amazing! 
Note the descriptive references to various idols – images of man, birds, beasts, the immoral worship of the body. Can you think of idols that man has today and worships the same way?
Note then what “comes out” of man as a result of rebellion against the One True God – a long list of very bad things! Do we see these behaviors today in our society? We certainly do. And we interact every day with people who are saturated with these behaviors, and they continue in their presumptuous railing against God and carrying on in their pleasure. A very sad picture indeed.
Bible Study Journal
Look through the next several verses to find the phrase “God gave them up” repeated three times. Can you see a relationship between each of the verses that have this phrase which connects them as making one important statement?
Presumptuous Rebellion
Just the sound of the word “presumptuous” tells you that something isn’t right. Being presumptuous infers coming to conclusion without adequate evidence, to take liberties with the truth, or to force your own bias on the facts. One who is presumptuous proceeds with their own course of action without consideration of verifiable facts and what the impact his actions will have on others. In Rom. 3:32, Paul describes sinful man as taking liberties in behavior in spite of knowing the truth about what God has revealed. They were presumptuous in their rebellion.
However, when the Jews read Paul’s declaration in Romans 1:18-32, they likely were emboldened, thinking “go get ’em Paul!”, confident that “those other people” were deep in sin while their own Jewish people stood high in righteousness. In 1:18-32, Paul was preaching to “those”, however, in chapter 2, Paul addresses his fellow Jewish countrymen (see 2:17), and he is going to make it clear to them that they have been trusting superficial actions with no lasting value to accomplish their righteousness. They were in reality being presumptuous about God’s offering of His righteousness to the individual, assuming they had some “inside edge” on God’s favor and blessing! The bottom line: Every individual must either attempt to accomplish his own righteousness, or they must fall on the mercy of God and accept His free gift of salvation through Christ.
Bible Study Journal
Think carefully: Are idols and idol worship all around you where you live? What idols have you allowed into your life? Do you worship them? Many idols aren’t really religious – can you tell the difference?
