Romans 1: The Great Deception

Few things destroy as easily as deceit. A relationship based on deceit is not a relationship. It destroys all trust, all love and all hope. Proverbs 15:4 says, “A deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.” It destroys and consumes everyone involved. But what happens in self-deceit? The photographer Diane Arbus said, “Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.” That sounds eerily similar to Romans 1.

All men know God because God has made it known to them. God has been clearly seen since the creation of the world (v. 18-20). But this does not seem very close to reality. So is it true? The philosopher Nietzsche did not think so and boasted that, “God is dead.” Time magazine in 1966 did not think so in fact they claimed that “the basic premise of faith—the existence of a personal God, who created the world and sustains it with his love—is now subject to profound attack.” Some in the article even claim, “Personally, I’ve never been confronted with the question of God.” So who is right: Paul or Nietzsche?

Paul states that men suppress or hold back the truth by the means of their wickedness. It is our desire to rebel against God that drives us to damn up the river of evidence that God has revealed to us about himself. All humanity is self-deceived by our desire to live as our own masters. This comes so easily to us that we have no idea we are even doing it. That is why Paul says we are without excuse we know the truth but suppress it. This is our great rebellion—our great self-deception.

But God in his great mercy has given us grace through our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 5-6). He has renewed our minds while we were living in our self-deception. Now we belong to him and he is our only comfort in life and in death. We live in a time of great deception in fact history has always been that way. People will always deceive themselves because it is easy for them to do so. But it is in these times that God calls his church to be light to the truth of his grace.

Posted by Aaron Miner