NOTE: The questions and devotional for this week’s study were written by Stan Schuermann.
- Take a moment to pray. Praise God for His Word and ask Him to teach you its truth, just as the psalmist prayed in Psalm 119:12-16, “Praise be to You, O Lord; teach me Your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from Your mouth. I rejoice in following Your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on Your precepts and consider Your ways. I delight in Your decrees; I will not neglect Your Word.”
- Read Romans 1:24-32
- Why would men and women exchange the truth about God for what is false?
- Paul says that as part of the judgment of God, God gave humanity over to unnatural lusts, even lusts which reversed the whole order of nature. In what way is the example of homosexuality in 1:26-27 a good example of this reversal?
- Do you see evidence of God’s wrath against godlessness today? Do you believe God is currently revealing His wrath upon mankind by giving men over to these sins?
- Paul sets forth the relation between sin and punishment in 1:28. Calvin writes, “As they chose not to continue in the knowledge of God, which alone guides our minds to true wisdom, the Lord gave them a perverted mind, which can choose nothing that is right… They preferred their own vanities to the true God.” Everywhere the Bible tells us that true wisdom comes from God alone. When men reject God’s wisdom and prefer their own, how will they come to know the wisdom from God?
- STUDY NOTE: In 1:29-31 Paul recites a catalogue of vices. While not all were murderers, or thieves, or adulterers, all have been polluted by one vice or another. This is why the gospel, which Paul will later explain, is such good news and brings hope for everyone. No one is beyond the saving power of the Gospel as he stated in verse 16. This point is graphically illustrated by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. In those verses Paul includes another list of sins and vices, follows that list by saying, “Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God.”
- What has the power to change not only our destiny, but also our identity and our habits?
To access the entire “Good News” Study, click here.
