False and True Worship in Romans 1:18-25

By Ronald E. Man

[Ronald E. Man is Pastor of Worship and Music, First Evangelical Church, Memphis, Tennessee.]

In Romans 1:18–3:20 Paul described the sinful condition of humans in all its darkness.[1 ]He did this so that by contrast the light of the gospel (in 3:21–5:21) might shine all the more brightly. In 1:18–32 especially, he portrayed the downward spiral into succeeding depths of degradation that inevitably accompanies willful rejection of God. In their blind folly people have “exchanged the truth of God for a lie” (v. 25), “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (v. 25), and “suppress[ed] the truth in unrighteousness” (v. 18). The first part of this section (vv. 18–25) includes powerful statements about the purpose for which humanity was originally created—the worship of the Creator—and about the potential restoration of that purpose through the grace of God (v. 7) and the gospel, “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (v. 16). As sin’s degradation is universal, so the offer of salvation and restored worship is universal.

The Folly of Humans

The connecting word “for” at the start of Romans 1:18 introduces Paul’s reason for asserting that the gospel is the only hope of salvation for the unregenerate, and that the righteousness of God through faith is the only remedy for unrighteousness (vv. 16–17).[2]

The “wrath of God” is described as already being revealed (v. 18), which is also true of the “righteousness of God” (v. 17).[3] Harrison states that the present revealing of God’s wrath, while not obviating the certainty of ultimate future judgment of sinners, “means that the unfolding of history involves a disclosure of the wrath of God against sin, seen in the terrible corruption and perversion of human life.”[4] God’s wrath here speaks of His righteous displeasure with sinful man’s utter and willful rejection of the created order and of his proper place in it. God’s wrath is “against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (v. 18).[5]

The basic issue here is one of worship, for that is at the heart of the sin problem (which has brought God’s wrath). This fact is made explicit in verse 25, is implicit in verse 21, and plays a major role in Genesis 3 as well. Hooker has demonstrated that there are close ties between Romans 1 and Genesis 1–3 in both vocabulary[6] and structure.[7] In fact she concludes that “Paul’s account of man’s wickedness has been deliberately stated in terms of the Biblical narrative of Adam’s fall.”[8] Indeed, in Genesis 3 the temptation that the serpent dangled before Eve was that she could become “like God” (Gen. 3:5). And that cuts at the very core of worship, for true worship assumes a fundamental distinction between the object of worship and the worshiper. True worship assumes that only God is worthy of worship.[9] (Even in its most banal use the word “worship” implies a vast superiority of its object—one might be said to worship a ballplayer or a hero because his capabilities are so far above one’s own. And regarding God and humans the difference is of course infinite.)

Someone has said, “All mistakes about prayer are mistakes about God.” The same is true of worship: All mistakes about worship are mistakes about God.[10] If people would acknowledge God as God, and recognize that they are His creatures, they would be well on the way to true worship. But this is the truth that natural man has suppressed, as Romans 1:19–21 makes clear.

Invitation to Worship (1:19-20)

Verses 19–20 comprise what amounts to an invitation from God for His human creatures to worship Him. Men and women have always known within that God exists, that a supreme Being of immense power is responsible for the universe. This knowledge is so innate, so fundamental to human nature that when a person denies it, he is not merely denying something external to himself—he is also denying himself and his true nature. God’s invitation is present to worship Him, to acknowledge Him as God and to give Him what is due, but mankind as a whole rejects it.[11] So “they are without excuse” (v. 20). They can never plead ignorance of God or of His majestic power. No, people deliberately turn from true worship of the true God to false worship.

False Worship (1:21-23)

The attitude of false worship (1:21a). False worship begins with an attitude, an attitude that responds to the invitation to worship with a resounding refusal: “Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks” (v. 21a). As Morris puts it, Paul sees “people, then, as always ready to take up an irreligious attitude toward the universe in which they live, despite the many marks it bears of the Creator’s hand.”[12] In spite of the innate (though incomplete)[13] knowledge about God that is evident in nature, people deliberately refuse to give Him the recognition and reverence He deserves; they do not honor Him (literally, “glorify” Him). They do not acknowledge the fact that distinguishes Him from everyone and everything else: that He is God. This is what people do not want to acknowledge. The serpent’s lie says that people can be like God, they can usurp His position, they can lift themselves up by bringing Him down to a more “manageable” level. As Barrett writes, “Man was unwilling to recognize a Lord; he chose to be Lord himself, and to glorify himself.”[14]

If people deny who God is, then they thereby presume to exempt themselves from gratefully recognizing all He has given to them: “They did not … give thanks.” An attitude of irreverence for who God is and of ingratitude for what He has done typifies false worship. They “did not acknowledge Him as their God and did not bestow on Him the honor and praise they owed Him. Nor did they return thanks to Him for the blessings they were constantly receiving.”[15]

The doctrine of false worship (1:21b–22). The attitude of false worship leads to what might be called the doctrine of false worship: People willfully reject God (in spite of the evidence of His existence that is plainly before them), and then they seek to justify their decision after the fact by developing a system of beliefs that grow out of their chosen denial of God’s existence and His claims on those whom He has created. They build their lives and their worship on principles born out of a prior rejection of the One who gave them life. They “became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools” (vv. 21b–22). Hendriksen describes the situation this way: “Whenever people, in their conceit and ingratitude, begin to reason on their own, without constantly checking the results of their speculations with God’s revelation in nature, history, conscience, and especially, whenever possible, with the Word of God, their foolish hearts are darkened.”[16]

Once people reject true meaning and light and wisdom, the downward spiral continues in ever worsening rounds of self-deception, self-justification, and self-aggrandizement. Barrett maintains that “their idolatrous minds and practices are themselves a punishment from God.”[17] The darkness of people’s hearts is exemplified in those who in the early years of this century preached the inherent and progressive goodness of humankind, only to see that myth exploded by two world wars. And today, in a remarkable leap of “nonfaith,” the most intricate examples of design in the universe are attributed by the unregenerate to freak biochemical accidents.

There is in natural man a desperate willingness to construct and live by any kind of belief system except one that requires humbling themselves before their Maker. The fundamental doctrine of false worship is that humans are the arbiters and the measure of all things. But no matter how cleverly this idea is packaged, this so-called wisdom is in reality foolishness, for it denies the most basic facts—where human beings came from, who made men and women, and that people are not the ultimate measure (Pss. 14:1; 53:1).

The practice of false worship (1:23). The supreme demonstration of foolishness is seen in the transaction described in verse 23. The glory of God Himself,[18] who is “incorruptible” (imperishable, eternal), is rejected in exchange for mere images of people and animals, who are corruptible, mortal beings. They “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,” and “they exchanged the truth of God for a lie” (v. 25). Again this strikes at the heart of true worship, blurring the fundamental distinction between Creator and created beings; and again this harks back to the deception in Eden in Genesis 3, when this most fundamental truth (that God, and only He, is God) was supplanted by the great lie, which lies at the root of all sin.[19]

The gods and goddesses of ancient mythology are noted for all kinds of intrigue, deception, petty jealousy, and outright animosity. In fact they act just like people! Made in the image of humans, these gods could hardly be a source of comfort or security to anyone; they were too busy fighting their own battles.

The Scriptures mock the very thought that idols, the products of human efforts, should be objects of worship. See, for example, Isaiah 40:19–20; 42:17; 44:9–19; 46:1–2.

People have exchanged the glory of God—the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, all-merciful, sovereign Lord—for manufactured objects. People today may scorn such unenlightened practices as bowing down before lifeless carved images, but instead they worship corruptible, fleeting things such as wealth, power, influence, temporal security. So many people cruise along, forgetting the ultimate source of all their possessions, their health, their abilities, their very existence. They are dropping their anchor into shifting sand. How foolish to exchange the glory of God for a vapor!

Though desperate for security, people have rejected God. They have not honored Him as God nor given Him thanks. They have fallen into futile speculations and vain pursuits. They think they have constructed an oasis where all will be well, but it is only a mirage and they are left with a mouthful of sand.

The outcome of the tendency toward false worship is, according to verse 18, the wrath of God abiding on unredeemed humanity. Paul showed in 1:24–32 that this wrath has found partial expression in God’s allowing people to follow their own course in a downward spiral of hopeless debauchery.

The Glory of God

Yet in spite of this dark portrayal of human folly there is hope. Paul fully expounded that hope later in his epistle, but even chapter 1 has a glimmer of the light that is to come.

Another Invitation to Worship (1:16-17)

The invitation previously seen in 1:19–20 is insufficient because people do not and will not respond, because of their fallen nature. But in verses 16–17 there is an invitation that carries with it the power to respond positively. Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous man shall live by faith.’ ”

God in His grace, through the death of His Son, provides for an infusion of new life for the unregenerate. This new life is salvation, effected by the life-giving righteousness of God offered through the gospel. Like a barren tree, when spring begins to send sap running back through it so that the tree bursts into blossom and sends out new growth, so is the one who sinks his taproot into the righteousness of God and tastes of the power of God unto salvation.

Bruce says of verses 18–32: “There is a moral law in life that men are left to the consequences of their own freely chosen course of action, and unless this tendency is reversed by divine grace, their situation will go from bad to worse.”[20] Of course (as Bruce recognizes) divine grace has been made available to make this reversal possible. The power of the gospel can reverse the downward spiral seen in Romans 1.

True Worship (1:21-23)

The attitude of true worship (1:21a). A person redeemed by God’s grace and the power of the gospel will have a proper attitude toward worship. The true worshiper is able to take the logical step that the natural man cannot, namely, the logical step from knowing about God to honoring Him as God. If a person has been humbled by coming to Christ for salvation, he or she has acknowledged that God is God, and alone is worthy of one’s allegiance and worship. Such a person has despaired of the ancient desire to be like God and has instead joyfully accepted the position of a created being who is loved and cared for by his Creator. And so God can be honored as God, unique in His holiness and transcendence.

There is no humiliation in taking one’s proper place in God’s created order. That is the way to true fulfillment and happiness—being what He made us to be, and allowing Him to be what He is, and honoring Him as God. The one who honors God as God will also give Him thanks. An attitude of true worship praises God for who He is and gives thanks for what He has done, especially for the gift of His Son. Jesus’ death opened the way to life and to true worship; therefore believers’ lives should be characterized by an attitude of true worship, honoring God as God and giving thanks to Him. To worship “in spirit” (John 4:23–24) is to have an attitude of true worship that honors Him as God and is grateful to Him.

The doctrine of true worship (1:21b–22). Believers also must worship “in truth” (John 4:23–24). An attitude of true worship leads to a doctrine of true worship. True worship is the opposite of those futile speculations and that darkening of the heart, whereby humans seek to construct any kind of belief system that will not require them to give allegiance and obedience to God. When a person comes to Christ, he or she is free to learn of what Paul called “the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge” (Eph. 3:18–19). Believers can be “transformed by the renewing of [their] minds,” so that they can “present [their] bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is [their] spiritual service of worship” (Rom. 12:1–2). An attitude of true worship cleanses one’s thought processes and allows one to follow Paul’s encouragement to “set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2).

William Temple described worship well: “To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.”[21] An attitude of true worship can lead to such a doctrine of true worship.

The practice of true worship (1:23). In the practice of true worship believers by God’s grace repudiate the vile substitute of idols, and they acknowledge and cherish the glory of the incorruptible God. They recognize that He alone is unchanging, imperishable, eternal; He alone possesses glory in and of Himself; He alone is worthy of worship.

Worship (whether corporately in church, privately in devotions, or in one’s everyday walk of faith) may seem on the surface to be an unproductive activity. But that is actually the point. In worship believers set aside the world’s ideas and even their own ideas about what may be important, and they reorient their priorities according to the One to whom they owe everything. They focus on Him. They honor God as God. They bow as creatures before the Creator and Sustainer of life, to praise Him for His invisible attributes, His eternal power, His divine nature (v. 20)—that is, to praise Him for who He is, to honor God as God. And they give thanks to Him, for all that He has given to them—life, life more abundant, life eternal through Jesus Christ the Lord.

The result of true worship. The beauty of true worship is that it is its own reward. Focusing on God is an end in itself. Honoring Him and giving thanks to Him is the highest human endeavor. Men and women were created for that purpose, namely, to worship Him. Worship is what one gives to God. That is all He asks for. By worshiping Him, God’s people will find (as William Temple put it) that their consciences are quickened, their minds are fed, their imaginations are purged, their hearts are opened, and their wills are more devoted. But that will be because as creatures they have met with their Creator and given Him His due, honored Him, and given thanks to Him.

Conclusion

Thus the infusion of God’s grace can reverse the cycle of decay in people’s lives, described in Romans 1. True worship can rise out of the ashes of false worship. The downward spiral of human folly can be transformed into an ascendant testimony to the glory of God.

In light of the power of the gospel to transform sinners into worshipers, perhaps the message of Romans 1:18–25 could be reverently paraphrased as follows:

For the grace of God is revealed from heaven to fallen and sinful people who have accepted the truth of the gospel, to those whom God has drawn to Himself. For now not only is the power and majesty of God evident through what has been made, but He has also revealed His love, mercy, compassion, and grace through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ His Son, so that people may be saved. And now they not only know God, but they also honor Him as God and give thanks, their minds filled with thoughts of Him and their hearts filled with devotion to Him; acknowledging themselves to be fools, they became wise, and exchanged images and false objects of worship for the glory of the incorruptible God. Therefore God indwelled their renewed hearts with His Spirit unto purity, so that they might present their bodies as living and holy sacrifices unto Him. For they exchanged a lie for the truth of God, and now worship and serve the Creator rather than the creature, to the glory of His name. Amen.

Notes

1. John Murray entitles this section “The Universality of Sin and Condemnation” (The Epistle to the Romans, New International Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988], 34). Leon Morris calls it “Universal Sinfulness” (The Epistle to the Romans [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988], 73), and F. F. Bruce names it “Sin and Retribution: The Universal Need Diagnosed” (The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959], 81).
2. William Hendriksen, Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), 67.
3. “With the new subject (wrath) Paul uses the same verb, in the same tense, as with the subject (righteousness) in v. 17” (C. K. Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, Harper’s New Testament Commentaries [New York: Harper & Row, 1957], 33).
4. Everett F. Harrison, “Romans,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1976), 10:22.
5. Harrison says “ungodliness” is rebellion against God and His ways, and “unrighteousness” is sinful behavior toward other people; the two encompass “the failure of mankind in terms of the requirements of the two tables of the Decalogue” (ibid.).
6. M. D. Hooker, “Adam in Romans I,” New Testament Studies 6 (1960): 300-301, 303.
7. “The sequence of events outlined in Romans 1 recalls the story of Adam in Genesis 1–3. God revealed to Adam what can be known of Him (Rom. 1:19), and that from the creation onward, God’s attributes were clearly discernible to him in the things that had been made and that he was thus without excuse (v. 20). Though Adam knew God, he failed to honor him as God, and grew vain in his thinking and allowed his heart to be darkened (v. 20). Adam’s fall was the result of his desire to be God, to attain the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:5), so that, claiming to be wise, he in fact became a fool (Rom. 1:21). Thus he not only failed to give glory to God but, according to rabbinic tradition, he lost the glory of God which was reflected in his face (v. 23). In believing the serpent’s lie that his action would not lead to death (Gen. 3:4), he turned his back on the truth of God, and disobeyed, thus giving his allegiance to a creature, the serpent, rather than to the Creator (v. 25)” (ibid., 300–301).
8. Ibid., 301.
9. Barrett expounds Romans 1:20 in a similar way: “That is, what is clearly seen is that God is God and not man” (Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, 35).
10. Bruce says that in Romans 1 Paul was offering the following explanation of the paganism of his day, with all of its perversions: “It all arises, [Paul] says, from wrong ideas about God. And these wrong ideas about God did not arise innocently; the knowledge of the true God was accessible to men, but they closed their minds to it” (Bruce, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, 82).
11. “Their fault lay not in lack of knowledge but in their rebellion” (ibid., 36).
12. Morris, The Epistle to the Romans, 84.
13. Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, 36.
14. Ibid., 36-37.
15. Hendriksen, Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, 71.
16. Ibid.
17. Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans, 37.
18. “The ‘glory’ of God is the sum of those perfections referred to in the preceding context, as made manifest in God’s visible creation (vv. 19, 20)” (Murray, The Epistle to the Romans, 42).
19. Harrison, “Romans,” 25.
20. Bruce, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, 81.
21. William Temple, Readings in St. John's Gospel, First Series (London: Macmillan, 1940), 68.