In our last visit we began looking at the first point Paul makes in the book of Romans, the universal need of salvation. All of us have sinned and come short of God’s glory or standard, Romans 3:23. This point is developed in Romans 1:18-3:20. 

 

Paul paints the tragic story of man’s depravity in graphic terms and with convincing logic. One overarching point he makes is that God is justified in condemning all. The pagan has no excuse according to Romans 1:19-20, because “what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” 

 

This addresses the issue of what happens to those who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. How could God judge and send them to hell? Paul says they are without excuse, because there is something about God everyone can know through natural revelation. 

 

We’ve advanced significantly in science, but all we do is discover what already is. When we become overconfident with our knowledge God often pulls the curtain back and let’s us discover something more of what He has made. 

 

You can’t know all there is to know about God through natural revelation, but you can discover his eternal power and divine nature. If you know that, even if only in part, you have reason to bow and worship, and seek to know more. Unfortunately, Paul describes the tragic response of man to this revelation.