Albert Barnes Commentary Romans 1:18

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness;" — Romans 1:18 (ASV)

For. This word indicates that the apostle is about to give a reason for what he had just said. This verse begins the argument of the epistle, an argument designed to establish the proposition advanced in Romans 1:17: that God's plan of justification is revealed in the gospel.

To demonstrate this, it was necessary to show that all other plans had failed and that there was a need for some new plan or scheme to save humanity. The apostle devotes this chapter and the two following to this purpose. The design of this argument is to show that all people were sinners.

To establish this point, it was necessary to show that they were under law. This was clear concerning the Jews, as they had the Scriptures. In this chapter, the apostle shows that it was equally clear concerning the Gentiles. He then proceeds to show that both groups had failed to obey the law.

To understand this clearly, one only needs to add that only two ways of justification can be conceived: one by obedience to law, and the other by grace. The former was the way Jews and Gentiles had sought to be justified. If it could be shown that they had failed in this, the way would be clear to demonstrate the need for some other plan.

The wrath of God—Greek, orgē theou. The word translated as wrath properly denotes that earnest appetite or desire by which we seek anything, or an intense effort to obtain it. It is particularly applied to the desire a person has to take vengeance when injured and enraged.

It is thus synonymous with revenge (Ephesians 4:31, Let all bitterness, and wrath, etc.; Colossians 3:8, Anger, wrath, malice, etc.; 1 Timothy 2:8; James 1:19). However, it is also often applied to God. It is clear that when we consider the word as applicable to Him, it must be stripped of everything like human passion, especially the passion of revenge.

Since He cannot be injured by human sins (Job 35:6–8), He has no motive for vengeance, properly so-called. It is one of the most obvious rules of interpretation that we are not to apply to God passions and feelings which, among us, originate in evil.

In making a revelation, it was indispensable to use words that people used. However, it does not follow that when applied to God, these words mean precisely what they do when applied to humanity. When the Savior is said (Mark 3:5) to have looked at His disciples with anger (Greek, orgē, the same word used here), it is not to be supposed that He had the feelings of an implacable person seeking vengeance.

The nature of the feeling is to be judged by the character of the person. So, in this context, the word denotes the Divine displeasure or indignation against sin and the Divine purpose to inflict punishment. It is the opposition of the Divine character against sin and the determination of the Divine Mind to express that opposition in a proper way by excluding the offender from the favors He bestows on the righteous.

This is not an unamiable or arbitrary principle of conduct. We all admire the character of a father who is opposed to disorder, vice, and disobedience in his family, and who expresses his opposition appropriately. We also admire the character of a ruler who is opposed to all crime in the community and who expresses these feelings in the laws.

The more such a person is opposed to vice and crime, the more we admire their character and laws. Why, then, should we not be equally pleased with God, who is opposed to all crime in all parts of the universe and who determines to express this opposition appropriately for the sake of preserving order and promoting peace? The term Divine displeasure or indignation, therefore, expresses the meaning of this phrase.

See Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7, 21:23; John 3:36; Romans 2:5, 8; Romans 3:5; Romans 4:15; Romans 5:9; Romans 9:22; Romans 12:19; Romans 13:4–5; Ephesians 2:3; Ephesians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:16, and other passages. The word occurs thirty-five times in the New Testament.

Is revealed. This means it is revealed to the Jews by their law, and to the Gentiles in their reason and conscience, as the apostle proceeds to show.

From heaven. I understand this expression to mean simply that the Divine displeasure against sin is made known by a Divine appointment—by an arrangement of events, communications, and arguments which demonstrate that they originated in heaven, or are divine. Paul proceeds to state how this occurs, namely, in the works of creation and in the law which the Hebrews possessed.

A variety of meanings have been given to this expression, but this interpretation seems the most satisfactory. It does not mean that the wrath will be sent from heaven, or that the heavens declare His wrath, or that the heavenly bodies are proofs of His wrath against sin. Nor does it mean that Christ, the executioner of wrath, will be manifest from heaven (as suggested by Origen, Cyril, Beza, and others), or that it is from God who is in heaven. Rather, it is revealed by an arrangement which shows that it originated in heaven, or has proofs that it is divine.

Against all ungodliness. This word (Greek, asebeian) properly means impiety: the failure to honor the true God, and instead paying to idols the homage that was due to Him. Multitudes in every age also refuse to honor Him and neglect His worship, even though they are not idolaters.

Many people suppose that if they do not neglect their duty to their fellow human beings—if they are honest and upright in their dealings—they are not guilty, even if they are not righteous or do not do their duty to God. This is as though it were a lesser crime to dishonor God than humanity, and as though it were innocence to neglect and disobey our Maker and Redeemer.

The apostle here shows that the wrath of God is as truly revealed against the neglect of God as it is against positive iniquity. He shows that this is an offense of such consequence as to be placed first, deserving the Divine indignation more than the neglect of our duties towards other people. (2 Timothy 2:16; Titus 2:12; Jude 1:15, 18).

This word does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament.

Unrighteousness of men. This refers to unrighteousness or iniquity towards other people—all offenses against our neighbor, our parents, our country, etc. The word ungodliness includes all crimes against God; this word, "unrighteousness," includes all crimes against our fellow human beings.

Together, these two words encompass the violation of all God's commands: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, etc., and thy neighbour as thyself (Matthew 22:37–40). The wrath of God is thus revealed against all human wickedness.

Who hold the truth. This means those who keep back or restrain the truth. The word translated as hold here sometimes means to maintain, to keep, or to observe (1 Corinthians 7:30; 2 Corinthians 6:10), but it also means to hold back, to detain, to hinder.

For example, in Luke 4:42: The people sought him, (Jesus,) and came to him, and stayed him (the Greek word used here is the same). Also, Philemon 1:13: Whom I would have retained with me, etc. And 2 Thessalonians 2:6: And now you know what withholdeth, etc. In this context, it also means that they held back, or restrained the truth, by their wickedness.

The truth. This refers to the truth of God, in whatever way it is made known, and particularly, as the apostle goes on to say, that which is made known by the light of nature—the truth pertaining to His perfections, His law, etc. They hold it back, or restrain its influence.

In unrighteousness. Or rather, by their iniquity. Their wickedness is the reason why the truth had made so little progress among them and had exerted so little influence.

This occurred because they yielded to corrupt passions and inclinations, and were therefore unwilling to retain the knowledge of a pure and holy God, who is opposed to such deeds and who will punish them.

Because they were determined to practice iniquity, they chose to exclude the knowledge of a pure God and to worship impure idols, by which they might give sanction to their lusts. Their vice and tendency to iniquity were, therefore, the reasons they had so little knowledge of a holy God. By their love of this wickedness, they held back the truth from making progress and becoming widespread among them.

The same thing is substantially true today. People hold back or resist the truth of the gospel by their sins in the following ways:

1. People of influence and wealth employ both in directly opposing the gospel.

2. People directly resist the doctrines of religion, since they know they could not adhere to those doctrines without abandoning their sins.

3. People who resolve to live in sin, of course, resist the gospel and endeavor to prevent its influence.

4. Pride, vanity, and the love of the world also resist the gospel and oppose its advances.

5. Unlawful business—business that begins in evil, progresses in evil, and ends in evil—has this tendency to hold back the gospel. Such is the effect of the traffic in ardent spirits, in the slave trade, etc. These ventures begin in the love of money, the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10); they progress amid the tears and sorrows of the widow, the orphan, the wife, the sister, or the child; and they end in the deep damnation of multitudes in the world to come. Perhaps nothing has so much held back the influence of truth and of the gospel as indulgence in the vice of intemperance and the traffic in liquid fire.

6. Indulgence in vice, or wickedness of any kind, holds back the truth of God. People who are resolved to indulge their passions will not yield themselves to this truth. Consequently, all the wicked, the proud, the vain, and the worldly are responsible, not only for their own sins directly, but also for hindering, by their example and their crimes, the effect of religion on others. They are answerable for standing in the way of God and His truth, and for opposing Him in the benevolent design of doing good to all people. Nothing prevents the universal spread and influence of truth but sin. And people of wickedness are answerable for all the ignorance and woe that are spread over the community and that have extended themselves over the world.