The wrath of God is being revealed from heavenThis phrase indicates the divine displeasure and judgment that God expresses towards sin. The concept of God's wrath is consistent throughout Scripture, seen in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, God's wrath is often depicted in events such as the flood (Genesis 6-9) and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19). The phrase "from heaven" emphasizes the divine origin and authority of this judgment, contrasting human justice with divine justice. It underscores the idea that God's perspective is not limited by earthly constraints and is all-encompassing.
against all the godlessness and wickedness of men
This part of the verse highlights the universal scope of human sinfulness. "Godlessness" refers to a lack of reverence for God, while "wickedness" pertains to moral corruption and evil actions. The Bible consistently portrays humanity's fallen nature, beginning with Adam and Eve's disobedience inGenesis 3. The universality of sin is further emphasized inRomans 3:23, which states that all have sinned. This phrase serves as a reminder of the pervasive nature of sin and the need for divine intervention.
who suppress the truth by their wickedness
This phrase suggests an active effort to reject or ignore the truth of God. The "truth" here refers to the knowledge of God and His righteous standards, which are evident in creation and conscience (Romans 1:19-20). The suppression of truth is a willful act, indicating that people choose to ignore or distort the truth due to their sinful nature. This concept is echoed inJohn 3:19-20, where people love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. The suppression of truth leads to further moral decay and separation from God.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
GodThe divine being whose wrath is being revealed. In this context, God is portrayed as just and righteous, responding to human sinfulness.
2.
HeavenThe realm from which God's wrath is revealed, symbolizing divine authority and the ultimate source of truth and justice.
3.
MenRefers to humanity, specifically those who engage in ungodliness and wickedness, suppressing the truth through their actions.
4.
Ungodliness and WickednessThese are the actions and attitudes of people that provoke God's wrath. Ungodliness refers to a lack of reverence for God, while wickedness involves moral corruption and evil deeds.
5.
TruthThe divine truth that is being suppressed by human wickedness. This truth is inherent in God's creation and moral order.
Teaching Points
Understanding God's WrathGod's wrath is not arbitrary but a righteous response to sin. It is a reflection of His holiness and justice.
The Reality of SinSin is not just a personal failing but an offense against God's order. Recognizing the seriousness of sin is crucial for understanding the need for salvation.
Suppressing the TruthHumans have a tendency to suppress the truth of God through sinful actions. Acknowledging this helps us to seek God's truth earnestly.
Living in ReverenceAs believers, we are called to live in a way that honors God, avoiding ungodliness and wickedness.
The Call to RepentanceUnderstanding the wrath of God should lead us to repentance and a desire to align our lives with His will.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of Romans 1:18?
2.How does Romans 1:18 reveal God's response to human unrighteousness and ungodliness?
3.What does "suppress the truth" mean in the context of Romans 1:18?
4.How can we avoid suppressing the truth in our daily lives?
5.Connect Romans 1:18 with Genesis 6:5 on human wickedness and God's response.
6.How should Romans 1:18 influence our understanding of God's justice today?
7.How does Romans 1:18 define God's wrath against humanity?
8.What is the significance of "suppressing the truth" in Romans 1:18?
9.How does Romans 1:18 relate to the concept of natural revelation?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from Romans 1?
11.How can I overcome fear of God's wrath?
12.How does God's wrath manifest in the Bible?
13.Does the portrayal of God’s wrath in Revelation 16 conflict with the portrayal of God’s mercy elsewhere in the Bible?
14.What does "suppressing the truth in unrighteousness" mean?What Does Romans 1:18 Mean
The wrath of God- Scripture presents God’s wrath as His holy, settled opposition to sin, not a temperamental outburst (Psalm 7:11;Nahum 1:2).
- Because God is perfectly righteous, He cannot overlook evil (Habakkuk 1:13).
-John 3:36 reminds us, “Whoever rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him,” showing that wrath is inseparable from God’s justice.
is being revealed- The verb is present-tense; God is already showing His displeasure.
• InRomans 1:24-28 Paul highlights how God “gave them over” to their desires—a present revelation of wrath through the consequences of sin.
• Natural consequences echoGalatians 6:7-8: “Whatever a man sows, he will reap.”
• The Holy Spirit also exposes sin (John 16:8), making God’s stance against evil unmistakable in every generation.
from heaven- Heaven is God’s throne (Psalm 103:19); wrath originates from His perfect, sovereign rule.
- This phrase underscores that judgment is not human opinion but divine assessment (Revelation 20:11).
-Daniel 4:26 affirms that “Heaven rules,” reminding us God’s perspective is ultimate.
against all the godlessness and wickedness- “Godlessness” targets irreverence toward God—breaking the first commandment (Exodus 20:3).
- “Wickedness” speaks to unjust actions toward others (Micah 6:8).
- Nothing escapes His notice; His wrath addresses every form of rebellion, whether religious hypocrisy or blatant immorality (Colossians 3:5-9).
of men- Humans, created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), are moral agents accountable for their choices (Romans 2:1).
- Society often blames systems or upbringing, yet God’s Word holds each person responsible for personal sin (Ezekiel 18:20).
who suppress the truth by their wickedness- “Suppress” pictures pushing something down; people actively stifle what they know about God (Romans 1:19-20).
• Darkness prefers to hide from light (John 3:19-21).
• Persistent sin clouds understanding, asEphesians 4:18 notes: “Their minds were darkened.”
-2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 warns that delighting in wickedness leads to deeper deception—truth rejected becomes truth resisted.
summaryRomans 1:18 declares that God, from His holy throne, is currently displaying His righteous anger against every form of irreverence and injustice. This wrath targets people who knowingly push down the truth He has made plain, choosing sin over submission. The passage shatters any illusion that sin is harmless or that God is indifferent; it calls every reader to face the reality of divine justice and to seek the only refuge—His grace revealed in the gospel (Romans 1:16-17).
(18) As a preliminary stage to this revelation of justification and of faith, there is another, which is its opposite--a revelation and disclosure of divine wrath. The proof is seen in the present condition both of the Gentile and Jewish world. And first of the Gentile world,
Romans 1:18-32.
Revealed.--The revelation of righteousness is, while the Apostle writes, being made in the Person of Christ and in the salvation offered by Him. The revelation of wrath is to be inferred from the actual condition--the degradation doubly degraded--in which sin leaves its votaries.
From heaven.--The wrath of God is revealed "from heaven," inasmuch as the state of things in which it is exhibited is the divinely-inflicted penalty for previous guilt. Against that guilt, shown in outrage against all religion and all morality, it is directed.
Ungodliness and unrighteousness.--These two words stand respectively for offences against religion and offences against morality.
Who hold the truth in unrighteousness.--Rather,who suppress and thwart the truth--the light of conscience that is in them--by unrighteousness. Conscience tells them what is right, but the will, actuated by wicked motives, prevents them from obeying its dictates. "The truth" is their knowledge of right, from whatever source derived, which finds expression in conscience. "Hold" is the word which we find translated "hinder" in2Thessalonians 2:6-7--having the force ofto hold down, orsuppress.
Verse 18 -
Romans 2:29. - (1)
All mankind liable to God's wrath.Verses 18-32. - (a)
Theheathen world in general.Verse 18. - For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold back the truth in unrighteousness. Here the argumentation of the Epistle begins, the first position to be established being that all mankind without exception is guilty of sin before God, and therefore unable of itself to put in a plea of
righteousness. This being proved, the need of the revelation of
God's righteousness, announced in ver. 17, appears. "The wrath of God" is an expression with which we are familiar in the Bible, being one of those in which human emotions are attributed to God in accommodation to the exigencies of human thought. It denotes his essential holiness, his antagonism to sin, to which punishment is due. It expresses an idea as essential to our conception of the Divine righteousness as do the words, "love" and "mercy." Wrath, or indignation, against evil is as necessary to our ideal of a perfect
human being as is love of good; and therefore we attribute wrath to the perfect Divine Being, using of necessity human terms for expressing our conception of the Divine attributes. When the Name of the LORD Was proclaimed before Moses (
Exodus 34:5, etc.), it was of One not only "merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth," but also "that will by no means clear the guilty." This last attribute is the same as what we mean by the Divine wrath. This "wrath of God" is said in the verse before us to be "revealed from heaven." How so? Is it in the gospel, as is God's righteousness (ver. 18)? Against this view is the change of expression -
ἀπ οὐρανοῦ instead of
ἐν αὐτῷ ( as well as the fact that the gospel is not in itself a revelation of wrath, but the very opposite. Is it in the Old Testament? Possibly in part; but the marked repetition of
ἀποκαλύπτεται in the present tense seems to point to some obvious revelation
now; and, further, the first part of the proof, to the end of the second chapter, does not rest on the Old Testament. Is it what the apostle proceeds so forcibly to draw attention to - the existing, and at that time notorious, moral degradation of heathen society, which he regards as evidence of Divine judgment? This may have been before his view; and, as he goes on at once to speak of it, it probably was so prominently. But the revelation of Divine wrath against sin seems to imply more than this as the argument goes on, viz. the evident guilt before God of all mankind alike, and not only of degraded heathenism. It is difficult to decide, among the various explanations that have been offered, on any specific mode of revelation which the writer had in view. Perhaps no particular one exclusively. Commentators may be often unduly anxious to affix an exact sense to pregnant words used by St. Paul, who so often indicates comprehensive ideas by short phrases. He may have had before his mind various concurrent signs of human guilt, and the Divine wrath against it, at that especial time of the world's history; all which, to his mind at least, brought conviction as by a light from heaven. And the gospel itself (though in its essence a revelation of mercy, so that he purposely avoids saying that wrath was in it revealed) still had been the most powerful means of all for bringing home a conviction of the Divine wrath to the consciences of believers. For its first office is to convince of sin and of judgment. Cf. the words of the forerunner, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" On all such grounds we may conceive that the apostle spoke of the wrath of God against human sin being especially at that time plainly revealed from heaven; and he desires to bring his readers to perceive it as he did. For now was the time of the Divine purpose to bring it home to all (cf.
Acts 17:30, "The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent"). "All ungodliness and unrighteousness' (
ἀσέβειαν καὶ ἀδικίαν) comprehends all evil-doing, in whatever aspect viewed, whether as impiety or as wrong. The phrase,
τῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν κατεχόντων, is wrongly translated in the Authorized Version, "who hold the truth." If the verb
κατέχειν allowed this rendering here, it would indeed be intelligible in reference to the knowledge of God, even by nature, which all men have or ought to have, though they do not act upon it, and the very potential possession of which renders them guilty. This is the thought of what immediately follows. Thus the sense would be, "They
hold, i.e. possess, the truth; but they do unrighteousness." But whenever
κατέχειν means "to hold," it denotes a firm hold, not a loose hold, such as would be thus implied. It occurs in this sense in
1 Corinthians 11:2 ("I praise you that ye
keep the ordinances"). and
1 Thessalonians 5:21 ("
Hold fast that which is good"). We must, therefore, have recourse to a second sense in which the verb is also used - that of "keeping back," or "restraining." Thus
Luke 4:42 ("The people
stayed him, that he should not depart from them") and
2 Thessalonians 2:6 ("Ye know what
withholdeth"). The reference is still to the innate knowledge of God which all men are supposed to have had originally; but the idea expressed is not their
having it, but their
suppressing it. "Veritas in mente nititur et urget: sed homo eam impedit" (Bengel).
Parallel Commentaries ...
Greek
[The] wrathὀργὴ(orgē)Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3709:From oregomai; properly, desire, i.e., violent passion (justifiable) abhorrence); by implication punishment.of GodΘεοῦ(Theou)Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316:A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.is being revealedἈποκαλύπτεται(Apokalyptetai)Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 601:To uncover, bring to light, reveal. From apo and kalupto; to take off the cover, i.e. Disclose.fromἀπ’(ap’)Preposition
Strong's 575:From, away from. A primary particle; 'off, ' i.e. Away, in various senses.heavenοὐρανοῦ(ouranou)Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3772:Perhaps from the same as oros; the sky; by extension, heaven; by implication, happiness, power, eternity; specially, the Gospel.againstἐπὶ(epi)Preposition
Strong's 1909:On, to, against, on the basis of, at.allπᾶσαν(pasan)Adjective - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3956:All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole.[the] godlessnessἀσέβειαν(asebeian)Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 763:Impiety, irreverence, ungodliness, wickedness. From asebes; impiety, i.e. wickedness.andκαὶ(kai)Conjunction
Strong's 2532:And, even, also, namely.wickednessἀδικίαν(adikian)Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 93:Injustice, unrighteousness, hurt. From adikos; injustice; morally, wrongfulness.of menἀνθρώπων(anthrōpōn)Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 444:A man, one of the human race. From aner and ops; man-faced, i.e. A human being.whoτῶν(tōn)Article - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.suppressκατεχόντων(katechontōn)Verb - Present Participle Active - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 2722:From kata and echo; to hold down, in various applications.theτὴν(tēn)Article - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.truthἀλήθειαν(alētheian)Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 225:From alethes; truth.byἐν(en)Preposition
Strong's 1722:In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.[their] wickedness.ἀδικίᾳ(adikia)Noun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 93:Injustice, unrighteousness, hurt. From adikos; injustice; morally, wrongfulness.
Links
Romans 1:18 NIVRomans 1:18 NLTRomans 1:18 ESVRomans 1:18 NASBRomans 1:18 KJV
Romans 1:18 BibleApps.comRomans 1:18 Biblia ParalelaRomans 1:18 Chinese BibleRomans 1:18 French BibleRomans 1:18 Catholic Bible
NT Letters: Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed (Rom. Ro) 
