Tuesday, April 22, 2014

One True and Just God

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served something created rather than the Creator- Romans 1:25

God is one and God is just. The justice of God also brings into the picture the wrath of God (1:18 see below). In 1:18-32 Paul will discuss those who are "without excuse" and must face God for the wickedness of being less than human.

Humans were created for compassion and kindness, for justice and good, but mankind sought after their own desires rather than those they were created for. We were created to have a heart like God's ("in His image" see Genesis 1-3), to love the things he loves, to care for the things he cares for. We know we were not created for selfish pursuits and we do not need religion to tell us this, our conscious testifies against us. When we seek after our own human desires we are being less than human because we were created to seek after God and his desires.

God, being just handed us over to our sinful desires and choices. The wrath of God could be felt in the consequences of our sins (6:23). None of us can stand before God, not even one (3:10, more on this later). Even pagans sought to make God in their own image instead of recognizing that we are made in his. Our only hope is to surrender to God (12:1-2).

If God is just and we surrender to him then doesn't that mean that we will endure his wrath. We would if we were the ones standing before God. But it is Jesus Christ that stands before God in our stead (more on this later). This is why any religion that leads you to a god without the intercession of Christ (God in flesh, more later), leads you to either a god that is going to subject you to wrath, or one that is not just. Either way, if you are not standing before a just God being represented and covered by his Son, Jesus Christ then good luck!

You are going to need it! 

No comments:

Post a Comment

5 Marks of a Holy Church

Holiness is a strange word for us today. We get visions of being “holier than thou” or risk presenting ourselves as “per...