Clear and Heavy Words ...

Friday, August 26, 2016. In Romans 1, we find a passage about life without God, which is quite heavy stuff. It is about what happens when humans loose the connection to God. It is about what happens when you loose your moral and ethical compass. For modern ears, this is strong words. Let us read with an open heart and mind.

Paul on Wrong Ways …

To be very precise with our understanding of the following lines, we read it according to the “English standard version”:

[…] 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 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.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 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. 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.

29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (from Romans 1)

Where are you …

I think this text gives us plenty to think about. It usually also leads to a lot of discussions. But let us start with one remark: probably you find your own behavior in some of the parts above. Even if you follow 80% of it, you will still discover some behavior which is just a description of your own life. We all are influenced and shaped by ideas which are far from God's truth and love.

Where do we worship things other than the creator? When we attach our heart to things and when they become more important than our relationship to God, we worship his creation instead of him. That can happen quite quickly. But God is there day by day, he wants to live with us in and through all things, good and bad!

Clearly, the text is addressing some things which our modern society tries to establish. It sees homosexual relationships as a sign of a wrong path. The same is true for gossip, for heartlessness, for slander. Boasting is seen as a sign of a lost personal path. There is a lot here which is taken up. And it is good to think about where I fail personally, where I need to go to God, repent and receive forgiveness and reconciliation! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts