Romans 1:16–20 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” God’s Anger at Sin 18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
Application: Suppress: κατέχω katechō - to hold back, detain, retain, to restrain, hinder (the course or progress of), In a bad sense c. of “holding illegally,” “holding in prison” (with ἐν) in R. 1:18;
Obvious: φανερός phaneros - apparent, manifest, evident, known. to be plainly recognized or known, to shine, to make to shine or to cause to appear. The primary reference is to what is visible to sensory perception, In such cases the reference is still to what can be perceived by the senses but in such a way that the perception involves understanding.
This is a heavy indictment of what we all do with God’s truth. How often do I hold the truth prisoner in my selfish flesh so I can rationalize what I want to do? Especially when His truth is plain to me. I realize this is talking about an unsaved man and his determined blindness – but it does have application to me. I do suppress or push away the truth when I choose to sin openly. When I am sinning openly I sense what the truth is but ignore it. Help me Lord to make the proper choices.
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