No Excuse – Romans 1:18-20
Bethel Baptist Church, David Rising
Romans 1:18-20; April 12, 2026, Sunday AM
No Excuse
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God that brings to us salvation through Christ Jesus.
Each one of us needs to be rescued – saved – because our sin separates us from God and we are lost without God’s intervention.
The bible is clear that the sin of our forefather, Adam, was passed to us through the process of birth and there are no exceptions. It may not seem fair, but it is the truth.
We are not only sinners by birth but we sin by choice, and any sin we commit qualifies us for judgment.
In our text today we will see the other side of the gospel – the wrath of God and the sinful mind of mankind.
After showing to us the glorious gospel, now Paul will move into a few chapters where he paints a picture of a guilty world.
He will highlight first the Gentile, then the Jew, and then everyone – even those who think they are morally alright.
In the end, we will come face to face again with the gospel toward the end of chapter 3 and see in Christ once again the only solution to our sin problem. Opening Prayer.
1. God’s Wrath (1:18a)
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
Just as we see the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel and in the life of God’s children, so too we see the wrath of God being revealed against the sin of mankind.
We may not like to think about God’s wrath because it is a negative subject, but it is something we have to recognize.
As we study the Old Testament, we can clearly see God’s wrath on display on many occasions as His people sinned against Him.
We see it also manifest in the judgment of the nations that Israel conquered as they were ungodly nations and worshipped other gods than the true God.
God’s wrath is His judgment against the sin of mankind. God is angry for a reason. He is being perfectly consistent with His character to judge sin since it violates His perfect moral law.
Notice in verse 18 that God’s wrath is demonstrated against two things in mankind: ungodliness and unrighteousness. This is the opposite discussion than we had in verse 17 where the righteousness of God is demonstrated in the gospel.
When we get the latter part of chapter three we will see this explained more, but the gospel demonstrated the righteousness of God because it grants to us what we lack. Without the righteousness of God, we could not stand before God.
God is holy and all who violate His law are doomed without help.
Paul is discussing here the state of mankind apart from Christ. There is no exception.
He is not just speaking about the Romans or some specific group of individuals at a time in the past. His assessment about mankind is across the board – everyone.
God’s wrath is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
He first mentions ungodliness (ἀσέβειαν). This is any thought or action that leaves out God, that excludes Him and His standards. It is the world in which we live that tries every single day to scrub any reference or notion to a higher power.
When tv networks interview people and they give God glory in the full interview, quite often those comments are left out because of their concern for the reaction of their wider audience.
Ungodliness also refers to desires and actions that directly violate God’s standards, as we will see later in this chapter.
In Romans 11:26, the only other time this word is in Romans, one day God will turn away all ungodliness from Jacob (Israel) as they turn to Christ.
Paul also mentions unrighteousness (ἀδικίαν). This word is very similar as it highlights everything that is completely against God’s perfect standards. Both of these words in the original have the ‘a’ prefix, which is a way of negating the base word. A-theism, A-gnosticism, etc.
The just, the righteous one, will live by faith. The unrighteous will not live by faith. Thus, they only live by sight – what they can see, what they can understand with their own thoughts and validate. They become the standard, and this is the formula for the mentality of the world apart from Christ.
We will see shortly that unrighteousness is knowing what is right, but refusing to do it.
And so in the first part of verse 18, we see God’s wrath.
The next part of verse 18 speaks about …
2. Suppressed Truth (1:18b)
Notice that last phrase of verse 18: “who suppress the truth in unrighteousness”
God’s judgment is upon sinful mankind because mankind suppresses the truth by their unrighteous attitude and behavior.
This phrase illustrates what I had just mentioned – that humans know what is right, but simply refuses to acknowledge it and act upon it.
What does it mean to suppress something? (κατεχόντων< κατέχω) This word means to hold back, hold down, restrain, prevent.
There is plenty of discussion about this phrase as it relates to the idea of truth in general, but the context indicates that one of the major truths that is suppressed is the creation that we see all around us (verse 20).
Mankind, apart from God’s grace, suppresses the knowledge about God that He has clearly revealed to everyone.
Whether our unsaved friends would admit it or not, this verse tells us there is a common knowledge about God that is shared by all.
And here, for many, it is a suppressed truth. This fact gives us a reason that God is right to judge because all are guilty.
They do know God, but so many suppress that truth. They do know enough about God to seek Him, to question their actions, but they keep that knowledge secret and do not reveal their hand, as it were.
This fact alone should give us a major pause when we seek to debate unbelievers about so many things.
The smartest people we might know are often people who claim to be atheists or agnostics. They use their intellectual skills and rhetorical skills as a protectant against this suppressed truth.
It is only by God’s grace and power in the gospel message that will break this barrier and bring light to a darkened mind.
This is why prayer is the first action we should take when we are involved with the gospel of Christ. There is first and foremost a spiritual battle taking place.
Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV) 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Notice verse 19 where we see our third point:
Romans 1:19 (NKJV) 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
3. Internal Knowledge of God (1:19)
When we suppress the truth, we may externally claim ignorance, but this verse says that is a lie.
Here in this verse we see what is suppressed and how God made it known.
Paul says in verse 19 that God revealed such things in them, in humanity, in everyone. NET/ESV: “What can be known about God is plain to them.” NASB: “is evident to them.”
How can Paul make this bold claim? He says because “God has shown it to them.”
This knowledge of God has been made known within mankind by God.
This is truly astounding.
We who take the Word of God as God’s truth have no problem with this verse. We may wonder about this truth at times, but we have to read these words and ponder them.
The world around us would argue with us that this verse is false. They would strongly disagree with it in their public words.
In reality, the verse is explaining why they are acting as they do. They are simply suppressing what they know.
The text says that God made it known ‘in them’ (ἐν αὐτοῖς). They have a knowledge that they did not have to acquire through class.
How did they come to know this? The next phrase: “God has shown it to them.”
Because this is true, the world is liable for what they know and therefore their actions and the subsequent consequences that follow are just.
We can say “unfair” or “this doesn’t seem to match reality” but we hold that this is true.
When a little child has done something wrong, and the adult comes to learn the truth and seeks for a confession we sometimes that that little smirk on the guilty face. The hope is that the truth does not have to be revealed, but the eyes give it away.
That’s an illustration of the world that seeks to deny the truth about these two verses. God has revealed Himself to all in some way, but so many suppress this truth and seek to claim ignorance and thus no accountability.
Notice a fourth point in verse 20:
4. External Knowledge of God (1:20a)
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
This verse makes it clear that all mankind is in view. The context of humanity is stretched back to the creation of the world.
How was God just to wipe out the entire planet except for Noah and his family? Because the world had rebelled against Him.
Ever since God created the world, God’s character has been in full view.
One of the major stumbling blocks within the culture of our day is the idea of special creation. Bring up the topic of creation as opposed to evolution at most universities and you will be mocked and ridiculed.
Paul assumes the truth of special creation as he speaks about what creation demonstrated: God’s attributes.
What we observe all around us is the power of God. Paul calls these His invisible attributes.
Actually the word ‘attributes’ is supplied, but is intended in the
context. KJV has ‘invisible things’ (τὰ γὰρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ).
What God is like is clearly seen. There is some irony here: we can see what is invisible by what is visible.
Humanity not only sees God’s attributes in creation, but this verse says that humans understand this as well.
This is a very powerful verse puts into perspective the issue that is so often lost in the popular debates that go nowhere.
In my understanding of the bible, as I simply take the words as we see them, we see that God created this world in six days and then He rested on the seventh.
If we simply read the bible as it is, we see an earth that is not billions of years old, but thousands.
Your original, first edition Scofield bibles did allow for a gap between the first and second verse in the bible to accommodate an unknown period of time, but that was removed from later editions and I think for good reason.
God has stitched into the fabric of the human mind his existence and power, so that they are instinctively recognized when one views the created world. Further, Paul is not exploring human consciousness so that people upon reading this text should attempt to detect when they rejected this knowledge of God in their personal history. The rejection of God is concurrent with the knowledge of him, with the result that it is impossible to excavate one’s past and find a point in which there was saving knowledge of the true God through natural revelation. Nonetheless, we can rightly conclude that all people possess knowledge of God, even though it has been repressed and is not saving (cf. D. Turner 1981: 53; Rosin 1961). [1]
(Schreiner, T. R. (1998). Vol. 6: Romans. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (86–87). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.)
And so we ask the simple question: what, then can we see and know about God from observation?
Existence. We see first that there is a Creator. He does exist, and what we now see was made. Nothing in this world comes into existence without someone making it. We know that. We live by that principle.
But somehow many people say that that time and random changes produced what we see around us. Confident scientists of our day make bold statements of fact based on what they say they see, but none of them were there back when, millions of years ago, these things took place.
Paul says that God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen by all, and yet most suppress that truth.
Eternal Power. The world also sees God’s eternal power.
… clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power …
This is proven by nature that we can observe. We see the wonders of creation, of the birds that fly, of the animals that walk the face of the earth, of the mountains and the valleys, the oceans and the rivers.
All of this cries out that a Creator put them there.
The opening chapter of the bible records the power of God in that He simply spoke and there was light. God’s power seen through His words are evidence all around us.
Another thing about God that we observe is the …
Godhead (θειότης). The NKJV and KJV has it this way. Others (ESV/NASB) have “divine nature.” In the Greek word you can see the word for God as part of the word.
This goes along with the word ‘eternal’ in the first point. When we think of the Godhead we think of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
This word (θειότης) is only used one time in the NT and it is here. It refers to the fact that there is a God and His nature is different than the created. We are the created. We are not the creator.
Paul is not referring here to the fact that mankind can detect the Trinity as Father, Son, and Spirit somehow by observing nature. What he is saying is that one can detect by observing the world around us that that there is a God and that He is powerful.
Children can easily see this. It is the maturing depraved mind that suppresses this known truth.
And so, what then is the result of God’s revelation?
5. No Excuse (1:20b)
so that they are without excuse,
No excuse. Mankind is without any excuse for its ways.
This implies that our sinful inclination IS to give excuses, to make up alternative reasons for what exists all around us.
It is little wonder that there have always been stories recorded in history about the origin of the universe. However it is only in God’s word that we see the specific details that provide the necessary footnotes to what our eyes behold.
No excuses. As we think of our lives and the courses we take in our lives, we often come to points in our lives where something goes wrong and we want to pass the blame to someone else or something else.
In Genesis 3, after Adam and Eve took of the fruit, we see the excuses begin.
An excuse is an alternate reason we give to explanation something. We were late to school, but we must provide an excuse, an alternative explanation for the problem.
If the parent can produce one that is legitimate, then that will cover. But if we produce an excuse that is false, then we are promoting a lie. Human nature deflects reality because we don’t want to admit we goofed or we sinned.
This verse speaks beyond the present to the day of judgment that is coming.
God’s wrath is being poured out now, day after day, but one day each person outside of God’s grace will give an account of his or her life. At that time, there will be no opportunity to give an excuse.
Humans are now without excuse, and will also then be without excuse.
In our next study, we will see how the mind of sinful man logically moves forward when it suppressed God in their thinking and replaces it with something else. The end result is the corruption of truth and disaster.
Application
1. As we witness for Christ, recognize that we are in a spiritual battle. Of course we use our intellect and make our arguments using scripture and our logical presentations, but in the end this is a spiritual issue rather than an intellectual one.
Those who are outside of Christ suppress the truth that God put within them from what they can clearly observe. Let us not be intimidated with those who are smarter than us, who seem to ask questions beyond your ability to answer. Our response ultimately will be to present the gospel and point them to Christ.
2. Remember that people are ignorant of the gospel unless they hear it. Creation does give them enough details to seek Him, but it is not sufficient to save someone.
Natural revelation – what we can observe from nature and from our minds – only takes us so far. Special revelation – the bible – is needed to give to us the details of the gospel and to explain what we cannot see in nature. This makes knowing the bible and making known the bible a critical part of our lives and our witnessing.
3. Do not be shy to teach creation as God’s Word presents it. This topic is often a litmus test to see where people are in their spiritual understanding. Sure, most of us are not scientists and we may feel like we don’t know much, but we do know plenty.
God made everything and He holds all things together. What every person already knows renders them without excuse, and so let us trust God for Him to work as we speak the truth in His name.
18Ἀποκαλύπτεται γὰρ ὀργὴ θεοῦ ἀπ̓ οὐρανοῦ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν ἀσέβειαν καὶ ἀδικίαν ἀνθρώπων τῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐν ἀδικίᾳ κατεχόντων, 19διότι τὸ γνωστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ φανερόν ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς· ὁ θεὸς γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἐφανέρωσεν. 20τὰ γὰρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασιν νοούμενα καθορᾶται, ἥ τε αἴ̈διος αὐτοῦ δύναμις καὶ θειότης, εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτοὺς ἀναπολογήτους,