Before Paul announces the good news of the gospel, he first tells us why we so desperately need it. In this episode, Krisan Marotta walks through Romans 1:18–32 to explain what Scripture means by the wrath of God, why it is already being revealed in human history, and how our culture’s “feel-good” spirituality—what researchers call Moralistic Therapeutic Deism—falls far short of the biblical picture of a holy God who takes our rebellion seriously.
In this week’s episode, we explore:
- How Moralistic Therapeutic Deism describes much of modern religion—and why its “good people go to heaven” mindset contradicts Romans 1
- Paul’s portrait of God’s wrath as real, personal, principled, and controlled—not a divine temper tantrum, but a just response to human rebellion
- What it means that God’s wrath is revealed “in human experience” as He gives people over to the consequences of their chosen idolatry
- How creation itself leaves us “without excuse,” because the world around us clearly testifies to God’s eternal power and divine nature
- The difference between the natural consequences of sin (death, decay, broken relationships) and the judicial penalty of God handing us over to sin and death as a prison
- Why Paul uses “exchange” language—trading the glory of the Creator for created things—to describe the heart of idolatry
- How homosexuality functions in this passage as a vivid, not worse but more obvious, example of rejecting God’s created order
- The sobering truth that left to ourselves, we cannot escape our idolatry or make ourselves righteous, because we are already in the custody of sin and death
- How this hard word is meant to humble us, strip away our self-righteousness, and push us toward mercy, not to make us despair of our culture or our neighbors
After listening, you’ll have a clearer, more sober understanding of what the Bible means by God’s wrath and why ignoring Him is not a small or harmless choice. You’ll also see how Romans 1:18–32 prepares us to hear the gospel as genuinely good news: not self-improvement for “basically good people,” but God’s rescue of prisoners of sin and death who have no hope apart from His grace.
If you asked the average person on the street whether God exists and who He is, what do you think you would learn?
Two researchers asked 3000 teenagers that question. In their book: Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton describe their findings as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” (MTD) which is characterized by following 5 beliefs:
- A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
- God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
- The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
- God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when god is needed to resolve a problem.
- Good people go to heaven when they die.
Does that sound familiar? Perhaps you’ve heard a version of this “creed” from your neighbor, child or coworker? While MTD certainly reflects the politically correct view of religion propagated by the media, the more scary question is what if it also reflects the comforting religion preached on Sunday mornings in our churches?
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is a far cry from the gospel the Apostle Paul articulates in Romans. In Romans 1:18-32, Paul contends that God is a personal God; that there is a right and wrong and ignoring what God says about right and wrong has serious eternal consequences.
Before Paul discusses the good news of the gospel, he spends 3 chapters on God’s wrath and refutes every tenant of MTD.
For more detail and explanation, please listen to the podcast.
Next: 03 Romans 2 God’s Wrath and the Religious
Previous: 01 Romans 1.1-17 The Power of the Gospel
Series: Romans: Justification by Faith
Study: Romans Resources
Season 2, Episode 2
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