The Wrath of God. Romans 1:18 The last of the "Four 'Fors'" is God's holy, just wrath against all that is contrary and opposes His nature and His will. This is not a look down through the years to a future day of judgment but a present handing over of rebellious people who choose to go further in their rebellion against God. These lost people, "the Son of Man came to seek and save." These are people who are condemned by their own sin of choosing darkness over light, ideas over evidence, imaginations over evidence, idols over God, and religion over salvation.
There is a general revelation of God in front of every person so they can understand that God exists. The creation around us that everyone can see moves the inner sense of God that is placed in every person to know there is someone who has a design and an intellect that is far greater than the limitations of mankind. We know that it is God who has existed eternally and requires recognition from us. To hold the truth in unrighteousness means that people deliberately suppress the truth by holding it back and putting themselves in the place of God by thinking, “God exists if I think He exists.” That is saying, “I am my god.”
God's wrath is not an irrational burst of anger. It is not a petulant reaction to the sins people commit that are common to human beings. This is the ongoing work of His righteous wrath being carried out today. It is being revealed as a judicial handing over of those who turn away from Him and His revealed will to the consequences of their actions. He lets people go their own way and do their own thing. He abandons the wicked for their sins and the results of their own sins.
People need to think about the seriousness of self-imposed blindness. There is no excuse for it, but it is the result of not wanting to admit to the guilt of sin. One person simplified their belief about God by saying, “There is a God, and I know I am not Him.” When a person comes to that place in their mind honestly, there is hope for their salvation. The wrath of God is directed at sinful people because they want and accept a lie instead of truth. That is calling God a liar because they do not believe His words.
Ungodliness is a direct disregard of God. To the Jews, this would be clarified to them in the first commandment. To the Greeks, it would go against the inborn nature of man, which knows there is one higher than mere men. The unrighteousness of men refers to the wickedness of conduct in life. "Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil." But those to whom the wrath of God is revealed go even further. They suppress the truth. They seek to restrain it and hold it down.
People take that position because they want to support a sinful lifestyle and so ignore and condone sin. God cannot condone sin because He is morally perfect. He loves all people but does not love their sins. He cannot justly overlook or allow sin to go unpunished. To suppress the truth to support what one wants is to bring the wrath of God down on any who reject the truth. They know what the truth produces when it is at liberty to be presented. It exposes evil. It makes guilt for sin and pricks the conscience. It does not allow sin to go on unchallenged. To live an unrighteous life, truth has to be defeated in an individual’s mind and heart. The power of the Gospel is that it exposes sin right away. Then, it presents the remedy for sin. God Himself, with universal authority, reveals His wrath today against wickedness.