-2-
The Gospel: One Size Fits All
Romans 1:16-18
The apostle Paul has just told the Roman Christians of his desire to visit them. His reason? To give them some instruction that will result in his seeing real Christian growth. We could call it 'fruit'. Paul calls it a harvest.
Now he says,
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
That about covers everyone. He is saying, “I am called to preach the gospel to smart people and stupid, to those who make the best choices in life and also for losers. … So one way or another, this means you”
15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
Preach the gospel to Christians in Rome. Do Christians need to hear the gospel? Do you need to hear the gospel? What if they, (and we) have heard the gospel over and over again ...isn't it time to move on?
16 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.
Salvation is the central part of the Gospel but according to Paul there is much more included in it.
17 For in it (the Gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
This is the reason I am not ashamed of the Gospel ... the powerful gospel. It is not only because it is so powerful. And it is not only because it is the one and only Gospel - not only for Jews and controlled by Jews, but now equally available to gentiles ... no, I am not ashamed of the Gospel because of what it is.
It is, in fact, the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.
What does that mean? Let's take apart this verse a phrase at a time:
'The righteousness of (or from) God' ... in this case refers to God's method of salvation. God has a method to make all people righteous. It has always been the same gospel, the same method. Note- be careful about listening to those who teach that old testament people were saved by keeping the ten commandments. Why do some teach that? Most likely it is a misunderstanding that comes from bible statements … saying that Israel was UNDER the law, and we in the new testament are UNDER grace. Paul will go into this more clearly later in Romans. We will see that Paul is emphatic that obeying the law never saved anyone. Even Abraham, Paul will say, was saved by FAITH.
is revealed ... has been revealed progessively
from faith – How righteousness was achieved in the Old Testament – faith, belief in a coming messiah.
to faith – The present gospel, putting faith in. believing in the finished work of Jesus, His coming, His sinless life, His vicarious sacrifice, His resurrection from the dead, His ascension to the right hand of God, His ministry as our mediator, and His coming again to receive us and rule and reign with us
As it is written ….
The fact that righteousness was achieved by faith in old testament days is seen in the reference from Hagai,
“The righteous shall live by faith” or put into simpler present day words:
“The ones you see who are 'just' or 'righteous', received their eternal life by believing and trusting God for a pardon from their sin.”
I have borrowed the following statement from Barnes Bible Commentary:
“The word to justify — δικαιοω — means, properly, to be just, to be innocent, to be righteous. It then means to declare or treat as righteous; as when a man is charged with an offence, and is acquitted. If the crime alleged is not proved against him, he is declared by the law to be innocent. It then means to treat as if innocent, to regard as innocent, … It does not mean that the man did not commit the offence.”
So, in the above sample of a court case, the defendant could have been innocent. Or he could have been guilty, but the prosecution could not prove it, so the judge had to drop all charges and the man is treated as innocent.
In our case … we definitely are guilty. Why are we declared innocent? Jesus stepped up and said that He was guilty. The judge has no choice except to let us go and for us to be treated as innocent. Our relationship with Jesus as we step out of courtroom and out onto the street is “You knew I was guilty … but you said You did it? You pardoned me! Thank you Jesus!”
So why did Jesus step up and claim to be guilty for my sin? Because I put my faith in Him to do it for me. Did I do that logically and clearly as I have just stated it? No. Not so clearly. I just said, “God … I am a sinner. I am guilty. Please forgive me.” And that is when Jesus stepped up and approached the bench, and God, because of the work of Jesus on the cross, did the rest.
How much do we have to know about this whole transaction … ahead of time? Not much. We need to know we are sinners and condemned and that God's mercy is our only hope. That's about it. Remember this scripture?
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other”. Lu 18:13,14
The righteousness of God is synonymous with 'salvation'.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
The word 'for' connects what he has said before, with what he about to now say:
There is a need for salvation for everyone, even for the Jews. Why? What is the need?
And here is the not so popular answer: The wrath of God … is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.
Too often we have imagined a distinction between the 'God of the Old Testament' and the 'God of the New Testament'. And this is in spite of our knowing the statement in Hebrews: Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
In the Old Testament we read:
Ge 6:3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
Why did God say this: Ge 6:5 … The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 ¶ And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Just about sixteen hundred years after creation God saw the wickedness in the had grown to such proportions that He makes the statement; “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth.” This is the wrath of God. This is also the sorrow of God.
Eze 33:11 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
God takes no pleasure over the death of wicked people. He takes no pleasure in casting unbelievers into hell … but He will do it. He hates sin … not the sinner. God so loved the world … sinners and all, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
So here we are, faced with a New Testament truth … God's wrath against sin results in His taking certain actions.
Specifically God's wrath is mentioned as being against:
Ro 1:19 ¶ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
First of all, what is ungodliness? How does it differ from unrighteousness?
Ungodliness is more or less leaving God out of our thinking and our planning. It can lead to atheism, polytheism and idolatry. But for us here in the western world, it is going through a typical day with no God consciousness. The Psalmist, David said “The fool has said in his heart that there is no God”. That is a bad thing. But sometimes we say things and do things as if there is no God. That is bad too. To make things worse, when we leave God out of our thinking and decision making, we often replace him with our own reasoning and will. In effect, we are on the throne of our own lives. We need to throw away old sayings, like 'Cleanliness is next to godliness.' I think that is leaving an impression that godliness equates to clean living. Godliness should mean to us … to be God-conscious and acting accordingly. This is what David said about being God-conscious.
Ps 139:7-8 ¶ Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! Was David God-conscious when he committed adultery with Bathsheba? Was he God-conscious when he premeditated the murder of her husband? Obviously not, and obviously we will not ALWAYS be God-conscious either, but that is our aim. And, like David, we need to be sorrowful and repentant when our lack of God-consciousness is brought to our attention.
Secondly unrighteousness is mentioned by Paul. This is talking about all kinds of sins and practices. And this list will be expanded on in the next few verses.
Suppressing truth
As I have indicated in the title of this section, the gospel is One Size Fits All. By that I mean to bring out Paul's emphasis of putting Jew and Gentile on the same level. This means that Paul is pointing out the wrath of God against ALL ungodliness, ALL unrighteousness, ALL those who suppress truth.
The Jews have always seen themselves as being very different from Gentiles. If you were to read the book of Leviticus (The third book in your bible) you would be amazed by the hundreds of rules that the Jews had to follow. Some of the rules, if broken, required the death penalty. Other rules, if broken, required specific sacrifices. Still other rules, hundreds of rules, if broken had the consequence of being deemed 'unclean'. In some cases the 'uncleaness' lasted only until the next day. But in other cases a person would be called unclean for a week or even two weeks. To be deemed as unclean meant no association with other people until the time period was up.
The Jews did not think they were earning their 'salvation' by keeping these laws. They counted themselves as 'God's people' because to two things: They were born a Jew and the males were circumcised on the eight day of their lives. They believed (assumed) that these two things made them a Jew, a child of God. Paul is going to point out how wrong that assumption was.
The Gentiles, the non-believers, had their own gods. In order for them to feel safe, or saved, they had to please their god. They had a variety of gods. Some were more strict than others. Some of the gods offered special 'perks'. So the natural (Pr 14:12) thinking of a gentile was , 'I will be OK if I live right.'. That is salvation by works.
The Jews believed in salvation by birth into the family of Israel.
The Gentiles believed in a salvation based on their personal effort.
And Paul says that they are both wrong. We will have more on this later.
God's wrath is equally against both Jew and Gentile. They are both guilty of suppressing truth.
Gentiles in bible times replaced (suppressed) the true God with false gods. Gentiles of today suppress the truth that there is a God. A creator. In its place they put their doctrine of evolution. And the ONLY way they can claim that this earth is billions of years old, is to totally deny the flood of Genesis. They will work hard to describe the earth-shaping power of glaciers during what they have called ice-ages.
To my knowledge, no non-Christian scientists have ever accepted a challenge to rethink evolution with the premise: 'What if there really was a global flood of water covering the entire planet for a whole year? And what if there actually was a huge blanket of water surrounding the planet right up to the time of the flood? What would climate conditions have been like? What would vegetation be like if oxygen levels would have been greater before the flood? What kind of 'earth-shaping' effect would flood waters, covering the planet, have assuming two high tides per day? And what if, as the bible states, tremendous mountains and valleys were formed during and after the flood?1 (Psalm 104:6-9)
Peter predicted a time like ours when godless teachers would suppress the truth of God by WILLFULLY suppressing any evidence of the flood.
2Pe 3:3-7 ¶ … In the last days scoffers will come, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But Jews also have been guilty of suppressing truth.
Ac 4:14-18 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.” And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Here is an extreme example of the Jews wanting to suppress truth.
Joh 12:9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also,
because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.
Jews of today still reject Jesus as the messiah. So they reject the entire New Testament. But in their old Testament, Isaiah 53, is a detailed account of the crucifixion that would happen a thousand years or so later. Many present day rabbis forbid the reading of Isaiah 53. They are suppressing truth.
What can we take home and personalize from this section of Romans?
Do we suppress truth? Paul said this to Timothy: 2 "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths". 2Ti 4:2-4
How often do we hear mention of eternal hell, or the lake of fire?
When sharing the gospel with people, do we mention judgment day? Paul did not suppress any truth when he shared the gospel. Ac 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
Do we suppress truth about the cost of discipleship? Lu 14:33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
The suppressing of truth, especially gospel related truth, invokes the wrath of God. What is the opposite of suppressing? advance, boost, encourage, forward, foster, nourish, nurture, promote. Doing this might just invoke, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
There is one gospel that leads to eternal life. We are not born into it, as the Jews think. We cannot achieve it by effort, as the world logically assumes. What is this 'one-size fits all' gospel? Paul will continue to expand on it, after he paints a vivid picture of the wickedness that permeates the hearts of the lost.
1 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth. Psalm 104-6-9
Now he says,
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
That about covers everyone. He is saying, “I am called to preach the gospel to smart people and stupid, to those who make the best choices in life and also for losers. … So one way or another, this means you”
15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
Preach the gospel to Christians in Rome. Do Christians need to hear the gospel? Do you need to hear the gospel? What if they, (and we) have heard the gospel over and over again ...isn't it time to move on?
16 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.
Salvation is the central part of the Gospel but according to Paul there is much more included in it.
17 For in it (the Gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
This is the reason I am not ashamed of the Gospel ... the powerful gospel. It is not only because it is so powerful. And it is not only because it is the one and only Gospel - not only for Jews and controlled by Jews, but now equally available to gentiles ... no, I am not ashamed of the Gospel because of what it is.
It is, in fact, the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.
What does that mean? Let's take apart this verse a phrase at a time:
'The righteousness of (or from) God' ... in this case refers to God's method of salvation. God has a method to make all people righteous. It has always been the same gospel, the same method. Note- be careful about listening to those who teach that old testament people were saved by keeping the ten commandments. Why do some teach that? Most likely it is a misunderstanding that comes from bible statements … saying that Israel was UNDER the law, and we in the new testament are UNDER grace. Paul will go into this more clearly later in Romans. We will see that Paul is emphatic that obeying the law never saved anyone. Even Abraham, Paul will say, was saved by FAITH.
is revealed ... has been revealed progessively
from faith – How righteousness was achieved in the Old Testament – faith, belief in a coming messiah.
to faith – The present gospel, putting faith in. believing in the finished work of Jesus, His coming, His sinless life, His vicarious sacrifice, His resurrection from the dead, His ascension to the right hand of God, His ministry as our mediator, and His coming again to receive us and rule and reign with us
As it is written ….
The fact that righteousness was achieved by faith in old testament days is seen in the reference from Hagai,
“The righteous shall live by faith” or put into simpler present day words:
“The ones you see who are 'just' or 'righteous', received their eternal life by believing and trusting God for a pardon from their sin.”
I have borrowed the following statement from Barnes Bible Commentary:
“The word to justify — δικαιοω — means, properly, to be just, to be innocent, to be righteous. It then means to declare or treat as righteous; as when a man is charged with an offence, and is acquitted. If the crime alleged is not proved against him, he is declared by the law to be innocent. It then means to treat as if innocent, to regard as innocent, … It does not mean that the man did not commit the offence.”
So, in the above sample of a court case, the defendant could have been innocent. Or he could have been guilty, but the prosecution could not prove it, so the judge had to drop all charges and the man is treated as innocent.
In our case … we definitely are guilty. Why are we declared innocent? Jesus stepped up and said that He was guilty. The judge has no choice except to let us go and for us to be treated as innocent. Our relationship with Jesus as we step out of courtroom and out onto the street is “You knew I was guilty … but you said You did it? You pardoned me! Thank you Jesus!”
So why did Jesus step up and claim to be guilty for my sin? Because I put my faith in Him to do it for me. Did I do that logically and clearly as I have just stated it? No. Not so clearly. I just said, “God … I am a sinner. I am guilty. Please forgive me.” And that is when Jesus stepped up and approached the bench, and God, because of the work of Jesus on the cross, did the rest.
How much do we have to know about this whole transaction … ahead of time? Not much. We need to know we are sinners and condemned and that God's mercy is our only hope. That's about it. Remember this scripture?
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other”. Lu 18:13,14
The righteousness of God is synonymous with 'salvation'.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
The word 'for' connects what he has said before, with what he about to now say:
There is a need for salvation for everyone, even for the Jews. Why? What is the need?
And here is the not so popular answer: The wrath of God … is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.
Too often we have imagined a distinction between the 'God of the Old Testament' and the 'God of the New Testament'. And this is in spite of our knowing the statement in Hebrews: Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
In the Old Testament we read:
Ge 6:3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
Why did God say this: Ge 6:5 … The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 ¶ And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Just about sixteen hundred years after creation God saw the wickedness in the had grown to such proportions that He makes the statement; “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth.” This is the wrath of God. This is also the sorrow of God.
Eze 33:11 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
God takes no pleasure over the death of wicked people. He takes no pleasure in casting unbelievers into hell … but He will do it. He hates sin … not the sinner. God so loved the world … sinners and all, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
So here we are, faced with a New Testament truth … God's wrath against sin results in His taking certain actions.
Specifically God's wrath is mentioned as being against:
- all ungodliness
- unrighteousness of men
- those who hold (suppress) the truth in unrighteousness.
Ro 1:19 ¶ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
First of all, what is ungodliness? How does it differ from unrighteousness?
Ungodliness is more or less leaving God out of our thinking and our planning. It can lead to atheism, polytheism and idolatry. But for us here in the western world, it is going through a typical day with no God consciousness. The Psalmist, David said “The fool has said in his heart that there is no God”. That is a bad thing. But sometimes we say things and do things as if there is no God. That is bad too. To make things worse, when we leave God out of our thinking and decision making, we often replace him with our own reasoning and will. In effect, we are on the throne of our own lives. We need to throw away old sayings, like 'Cleanliness is next to godliness.' I think that is leaving an impression that godliness equates to clean living. Godliness should mean to us … to be God-conscious and acting accordingly. This is what David said about being God-conscious.
Ps 139:7-8 ¶ Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! Was David God-conscious when he committed adultery with Bathsheba? Was he God-conscious when he premeditated the murder of her husband? Obviously not, and obviously we will not ALWAYS be God-conscious either, but that is our aim. And, like David, we need to be sorrowful and repentant when our lack of God-consciousness is brought to our attention.
Secondly unrighteousness is mentioned by Paul. This is talking about all kinds of sins and practices. And this list will be expanded on in the next few verses.
Suppressing truth
As I have indicated in the title of this section, the gospel is One Size Fits All. By that I mean to bring out Paul's emphasis of putting Jew and Gentile on the same level. This means that Paul is pointing out the wrath of God against ALL ungodliness, ALL unrighteousness, ALL those who suppress truth.
The Jews have always seen themselves as being very different from Gentiles. If you were to read the book of Leviticus (The third book in your bible) you would be amazed by the hundreds of rules that the Jews had to follow. Some of the rules, if broken, required the death penalty. Other rules, if broken, required specific sacrifices. Still other rules, hundreds of rules, if broken had the consequence of being deemed 'unclean'. In some cases the 'uncleaness' lasted only until the next day. But in other cases a person would be called unclean for a week or even two weeks. To be deemed as unclean meant no association with other people until the time period was up.
The Jews did not think they were earning their 'salvation' by keeping these laws. They counted themselves as 'God's people' because to two things: They were born a Jew and the males were circumcised on the eight day of their lives. They believed (assumed) that these two things made them a Jew, a child of God. Paul is going to point out how wrong that assumption was.
The Gentiles, the non-believers, had their own gods. In order for them to feel safe, or saved, they had to please their god. They had a variety of gods. Some were more strict than others. Some of the gods offered special 'perks'. So the natural (Pr 14:12) thinking of a gentile was , 'I will be OK if I live right.'. That is salvation by works.
The Jews believed in salvation by birth into the family of Israel.
The Gentiles believed in a salvation based on their personal effort.
And Paul says that they are both wrong. We will have more on this later.
God's wrath is equally against both Jew and Gentile. They are both guilty of suppressing truth.
Gentiles in bible times replaced (suppressed) the true God with false gods. Gentiles of today suppress the truth that there is a God. A creator. In its place they put their doctrine of evolution. And the ONLY way they can claim that this earth is billions of years old, is to totally deny the flood of Genesis. They will work hard to describe the earth-shaping power of glaciers during what they have called ice-ages.
To my knowledge, no non-Christian scientists have ever accepted a challenge to rethink evolution with the premise: 'What if there really was a global flood of water covering the entire planet for a whole year? And what if there actually was a huge blanket of water surrounding the planet right up to the time of the flood? What would climate conditions have been like? What would vegetation be like if oxygen levels would have been greater before the flood? What kind of 'earth-shaping' effect would flood waters, covering the planet, have assuming two high tides per day? And what if, as the bible states, tremendous mountains and valleys were formed during and after the flood?1 (Psalm 104:6-9)
Peter predicted a time like ours when godless teachers would suppress the truth of God by WILLFULLY suppressing any evidence of the flood.
2Pe 3:3-7 ¶ … In the last days scoffers will come, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But Jews also have been guilty of suppressing truth.
Ac 4:14-18 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.” And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Here is an extreme example of the Jews wanting to suppress truth.
Joh 12:9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also,
because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.
Jews of today still reject Jesus as the messiah. So they reject the entire New Testament. But in their old Testament, Isaiah 53, is a detailed account of the crucifixion that would happen a thousand years or so later. Many present day rabbis forbid the reading of Isaiah 53. They are suppressing truth.
What can we take home and personalize from this section of Romans?
Do we suppress truth? Paul said this to Timothy: 2 "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths". 2Ti 4:2-4
How often do we hear mention of eternal hell, or the lake of fire?
When sharing the gospel with people, do we mention judgment day? Paul did not suppress any truth when he shared the gospel. Ac 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
Do we suppress truth about the cost of discipleship? Lu 14:33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
The suppressing of truth, especially gospel related truth, invokes the wrath of God. What is the opposite of suppressing? advance, boost, encourage, forward, foster, nourish, nurture, promote. Doing this might just invoke, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
There is one gospel that leads to eternal life. We are not born into it, as the Jews think. We cannot achieve it by effort, as the world logically assumes. What is this 'one-size fits all' gospel? Paul will continue to expand on it, after he paints a vivid picture of the wickedness that permeates the hearts of the lost.
1 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth. Psalm 104-6-9