How to use the Book of Romans
to refute presuppositions raised up
against the knowledge of God
Common presuppositions held by unbelievers:
There is a lack of proof that the God of the Bible exists.
The universe and everything in it is the result of blind natural forces.
It is a personal freedom to decide right and wrong for oneself.
There are many ways to God.
It is possible to be a good enough person to be accepted by God.
Living a sincere, self-directed life will not keep a person from heaven.
The Roman’s Road for the 21ˢᵗ
The Creator’s Creation 1
God formed us as His creatures and the entire creation for His glory, but mankind has turned away from God.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse (Rom 1:18-20). For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures (Rom 1:21-23).
The Creature’s Conscience 2
God created man’s conscience that we might know that God is just, and that He requires Righteousness.
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus (Rom 2:12-16).
The Creator’s Law (The Ten Commandments). 3
God gave us His moral Law. We owe absolute obedience to it. Our failure to keep the Law reveals our sinful state and our separation from God.
As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God” (Rom 3:10-11). For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:19-20).
God’s Law is not a source of salvation, the Law identifies our Sin. 4
God’s character is Holy and Just, therefore, He must judge all sin.
Therefore you have no excuse, every one of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? (Rom 2:1-3). Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds (Rom 2:4-6). I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet” (Rom 7:7b).
God is Holy, He demands we repent of sin and turn to Him. 5
God is Righteous and Just, He cannot excuse sin.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Rom 5:12). Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins (Jn 8:24). If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us (1 Jn 1:8). If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us (1 Jn 1:10).
Death and separation from God is the just penalty for our sin. 6
All sin is against God Himself, for sin opposes who He is.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Rom 5:12). Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins (Jn 8:24).
In His great love, God provides the gracious gift of Salvation from sin through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. 7
No one can be good enough to be accepted by God, Christ is the perfect Substitute who gives believing sinners ‘right standing’ with God.
But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account (Rom 4:5-8).
Salvation is through the death and resurrection of Christ alone. 8
God’s a God’s amazing love is made known in His gift of Christ who died and rose again on behalf of sinners.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (Jn 3:16).
Christ suffered as a sin offering on behalf of all who would believe. 9
No one can be good enough to gain right-standing with God. Christ was sent to be our perfect Substitute, to be both the believer’s sin-bearer and righteousness. Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:25-26). For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Rom 8:3-4).
Salvation through Christ is by grace alone, and not by works. 10
God commands that we repent of breaking His laws, and repent of trusting in our self-righteousness; we must trust in Christ alone for righteousness.
For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom 10:2-4). (See also Rom 3:27-28.)
We come to God by coming to Christ as guilty sinners, bowing before Him as Lord, and entrusting our souls to Him as merciful Redeemer. 11
There is a necessary response of faith and repentance in order to be united to Christ, the merciful Redeemer.
That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation (Rom 10:9-10). Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:24).
God sets apart the believer from sin unto Himself as His own beloved child and possession. The believer becomes an adopted son and a servant. 12
The gift of a new heart and of forgiveness through Christ puts believers on a path of obedience and freedom from sin’s rule.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:20-23).
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor 10:5).
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations (arguments) and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete” (2 Cor 10:3-6).
In 2 Corinthians 1-9 he addresses the repentant majority at Corinth, but in chapters 10-13 he is targeting the minority influenced by the false teachers.
Vv. 1-2 --Paul’s patience and gentleness in the face of mistreatment is an aspect of his love. But, his opponents in Corinth interpreted his meekness as weakness. Paul rebuffs their charge of cowardice (as if only brave and bold when absent with pen in hand). The apostle is quite capable of fearless confrontation (Gal 2:11), and he is pleading with the rebellious minority not to force him to display his boldness in confronting them. He will do so if necessary.
V. 3 – Paul’s opponents wrongly accused him of walking by fleshly impulses. But Paul’s response is brilliant—he affirms that he walks in a weak body of flesh, but he possesses the power and authority of an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though Paul is a mortal man, he does not fight the battle for men’s souls using human ingenuity, worldly wisdom, or clever methodologies (1 Cor 1:17-25; 2:1-4). Such impotent weapons are powerless to free souls from the forces of darkness. They cannot beat back and crush satanic assaults on the gospel.
V. 4 – ‘Carnal’ here means human strength alone—which is powerless against the evil one’s machinations. ‘Strongholds’ refers to formidable spiritual strongholds manned by the forces of hell. These can only be demolished by spiritual weapons wielded by godly believers. Our offensive weaponry—singularly the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (Eph 6:17). Only the truth of the Word of God can defeat Satan’s falsehoods (God’s truth upheld by God’s omnipotent immutable authority).
Vv. 5-6 – ‘Speculations, arguments’ refer to thoughts, ideas, philosophies, and false religions that are ideological ‘forts/fortresses’ in which unbelieving individual barricade themselves against God and His gospel (1 Cor 3:20). ‘Every thought captive’ the total demolition of these fortresses of human and satanic wisdom—and the rescuing of those inside from the damning lies that had enslaved them.
V. 6 – Paul did not stand idly by while enemies of the faith assaulted the church that was under his care. He was ready to purge out those enemies (as he did at Ephesus, 1 Timothy 1:19-20)—as soon as the Corinthian church was complete in its obedience. Then, lines would be clearly drawn between the repentant, obedient majority, and the stubborn, disobedient minority.
The nature of the original lie
We ought to know the nature of the serpent’s lie if we are to successfully deconstruct the lie. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate” (Gen 3:1-6).
The Edenic lie offered wisdom to mankind (through sinning), and the role of being the final arbiter of truth. ‘You will be like God, knowing good and evil’ (Gen 3:5). And, may I suggest that this offer inferred autonomous reason—that the intellect could determine truth apart from reception of, and submission to, divine revelation.
The serpent’s suggestion that man can be the final arbiter of truth conflates God’s absolute authority with our delegated authority—as if in terms of essence, we are on the same plane as God (ontologically the same). By blurring the Creator-creature distinction, the devil uses the lie to import his own self-deception into the human heart. It is not by millimeter increments that we submit to God’s authority communicated to us in His Word. Our first parents, in their rebellion, put their minds above the mind of God (a massive delusion). God’s Word sits in judgment upon us, we do not sit in judgment upon the Word of God (who is exegeting whom?).
The lie offered autonomy from God, an autonomy expressed in three areas: you will be as God (Gen 3:5) (by gaining knowledge that will enable you to transcend your creaturehood); you will be able to know good and evil, and choose right and wrong for yourselves (without the consequences of death and damnation) (3:4)—result: you will have found the reasons for, and fulfillment of, living self-directed lives (as independent beings, free from the invasive oppression of divine control). Notice that self-interest governs each aspect of this false offer. Each part of the false promise argues that liberty is based upon ultimate loyalty to the self. The lie was formalized by eating the forbidden fruit. At that moment, darkness flooded the soul. And, Eve thought she was accepting an offer that would allow her to acquire the ability to live by his own desires instead of by God’s truth (there is no fear of God before their eyes, Romans 3:18) (but darkness, shame, guilt, and fear followed immediately). Our creational identity is that of a creature made in God’s image that we might know God through His self-revelation, His infallible Word. Therefore, there is a logical, necessary, ontological link between God’s revelation received, and the ability to reason rationally. But, since the fall, that relationship of receptivity to God’s revelation is only possible by means of regeneration by God’s Spirit (1 Cor 2:12-16).
Scripture states that reasoning foolishly (suppressing God’s truth, vv. 18-23) precedes immoral behavior. The wicked first deny God’s attributes (the knowledge of God), then engage in rebellious behavior (see Rom 1:18-26ff.; Ps 10:11-13; Eph 4:17).
According to Romans chapter one, the lie produced an exchange of glory (God’s glory for that of creatures—giving some aspect of creation the credit and honor that belongs to God alone, v. 23), and an exchange of the truth (the truth of God for the lie, v. 25), and an exchange of function (the natural function of the body for that which is against nature, i.e., homosexuality, v. 26). The lie offered self as the ultimate authoritative reference point (note: the divinity of man is a part of Gentile cosmology). (Note the connection in the diagnosis of Paul’s culture and ours: wrong thinking vv. 18-21; wrong worshipping, vv. 22-23; wrong, unnatural acting, vv. 24-27.)
The darkness that took possession of man’s mind and heart is characterized by a preference, or affinity for the lie. In other words, the lie contains elements, each of which is intended to conceal the glory and knowledge of God. The evil one works tirelessly to block the perception and knowledge of God’s glory—and he does so by perpetuating the lie. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:3-4).
Thus, the lie finds endlessly fertile soil in the human heart due to the fact that fallen man is living with his back to God, on the run from God. Therefore, fallen man has a heart that loves darkness. Jesus tells us why: “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (Jn 3:19-21). This passage gives us insight into the effects of the fall on man’s intellect.
The original lie has birthed every imaginable false philosophy in the world.
And, in terms of the contrast between the saved and the lost; of being of the darkness or the light (of error, or of truth), there are only two possibilities: a captive of false philosophy, or a free man in Christ: “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ” (Col 2:8).
The original lie in Eden implied that God’s glory and man’s highest good are at odds. That God was withholding His best from our first parents, and that God was even threatened by their human potential. As such, the lie drove a wedge in the mind of man—a wedge that severed the perception of God’s glory and man’s good as operating together in a beautiful bond between Creator and creature. By introducing this wedge, the serpent fashioned a deception which supposedly gave Adam and Eve a substantive reason to throw off the divine yoke and pursue a self-directed life.
My friends, it is needless to say that autonomy (or independence) from our Creator, the God upon Whom we are utterly dependent is impossible. And yet billions of people on the planet are living as if that autonomy were possible. I hope that you are seeing that the lie that has cleaved apart the apprehension of divine glory and human good rules the darkened heart of every unsaved person. Let this give you insights into why they grasp their imagined autonomy so tightly!
In the mind and heart of man, the perception of the glory of God and our highest good operating together is only rejoined by the power of the gospel. The gospel of Christ believed evicts the lie and makes the redeemed sinner passionate for the glory of God. This eviction of the lie from the heart is described in 2 Corinthians 4:6: “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6). The infinite love of Christ in His humiliation and atoning work is the message that has the power to shine into the sinner’s heart and rejoin God’s glory and our good to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 1:6). God is for us (Rom 8:31). This recovery of the sight of God’s glory restores a person to their created purpose.
The human condition and ‘Gentile cosmology’ (hearts hard-wired to nature worship).
In Gentile cosmology, the world is either controlled by spirits, or it is a disenchanted universe with no visible handiwork of the Creator to admire. In other words, (according to the nature channel), no Creator was needed, everything happened all by itself. This latter view, also known as philosophic naturalism, dominates every educational/political center in the Western world. It depicts a cosmos that is self-originating, self-sustaining, and self-defining.
But that is hardly scientific to postulate that everything came from nothing. The rejection of the knowledge of God is not an error in judgment, it is open rebellion. Fallen man is still under the influence of the original lie in Eden. As a result of the fall, total depravity has skewed the intellect of man away from the truth. Thus, there is a normalizing of the abnormal—evil, death, suffering, injustice, and decay are regarded as normal, rather than what they really are: cruel intruders resulting from the effects of the entrance of sin (is this the only way species can originate?). The fallen mind also desacralizes what is sacred—all manner of sexual and gender anarchy are now not only accepted, but advocated. The fallen mind naturalizes the supernatural cause of creation—the source of the universe, and everything that is in the universe supposedly originated from blind, mindless forces within the universe itself.
Romans chapter one teaches us that God has filled the creation with testimonies about His divine nature (Psalm 19:2-4, describes ‘sermons without words’). “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom 1:18-20). God made it evident within them (conscience), and He has made it evident to them (in creation) (v. 19).
There has been much self-congratulation when scientists have engineered a robotic spider or a robotic dog that can move about at different speeds and climb over obstacles. But, what has actually been done? They copied some of the Creator’s thoughts on how this creature would possess locomotion. But, they did not write any portion of the remainder of the program in a creature such as a spider which utilizes: integrated organ systems of digestion, sight, metabolism, reproduction. And, by divine design has instincts such as mate-recognition, ability to hunt prey, avoidance of enemies, ability to dig burrows, etc. Conclusion, ‘we are pioneers in our ability to design robots after creatures that were not designed’—the contradiction is obvious.
Man’s studious suppression of God’s truth in creation and conscience is deplorable, it exposes man to the wrath of God (Rom 1:18). We could liken God’s countless ‘fingerprints’ in creation to a simple example—a turtle on top of a fence post. If a farm boy walking home from school saw a turtle on a fence post, he immediately would wonder who put it there. For, turtles do not have the anatomy to climb fence posts. But, in terms of God’s creation, He has filled it with evidences of His majesty, power, and goodness (God’s fingerprints are everywhere, ‘turtles on fence posts’ all over. The natural man is without excuse, without an apologetic, v. 20).
This begs the question, why don’t the majority of scientists seek to give God the glory for His power and wisdom made so evident in His creation? The answer is that the human heart has bought into the definition of freedom propounded by the Edenic lie. “We will not be restrained by the moral government of God.” The love of darkness governs the hearts of unsaved scientists as much as it does drug dealers and corrupt politicians.
When Psalm two speaks of this human revolt against God, the psalmist is actually targeting civic leaders (including educators) as those who help foment the rebellion: “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!” (Ps 2:2-3). Thus, Psalm two explains what that heart commitment actually is—"we will do anything to escape God’s moral government— including embrace absurdity.
This means that for an unregenerate scientist, no amount of ‘turtles on fence posts’ will convince him that an adequate cause (a divine cause) was necessary to put the turtle there in the first place. (I am speaking of intelligent design). Why? Because at the very core of one’s worldview is the heart commitment that governs it. He would rather believe that sterile dust can turn into people, as opposed to the true cause, an all-wise Creator placed people on our blue planet for His own purposes and glory.
We have seen that in his hostility toward God, man has developed a view of creation which we have designated, ‘Gentile cosmology’ after Paul’s descriptions in Romans 1, Acts 17, and Ephesians 4. The fall (original sin) produced a hostile mind that is at enmity with the knowledge of God. That is the human condition, and it means that man has a controversy with God—a contention with his Maker in which he is revolting against God’s claims upon him (and denying what he owes God).
The human condition as fallen and totally depraved means that sinful man has a controversy with God.
Unbelievers downplay and outright ignore their controversy with God. In other words, they deny what they owe God in the way of obedience and worship. God’s claims upon us as His creatures are absolute—as our Maker He owns us; He has the absolute right to tell us what to believe and how to live. As His very image and likeness, we are created to reflect His moral majesty in all of our relationships. But, that is only possible if we know God by means of faith in His truth, and are committed to Him in love, trust, and obedience.
But, the unregenerate person pushes his controversy with God ‘down the road’—the fact that he actively resists God’s rule is something that he minimizes and seeks to explain it away. As His creatures we owe God perfect obedience and loyalty. But, the natural man is in a spiritual state of lostness, in other words, he is alienated from God by his sin. He has no normal relationship with his Creator. Christ came to rectify this damnable predicament.
That despised ‘greasy’ little tax collector named, Zaccheus may not have looked like a candidate for salvation. But, you are going to see him in heaven. And, regarding salvation coming to his home, Jesus exclaims: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lu 19:10).
Can the sinner’s controversy with God be corrected with a little moral and religious effort? No, it is only settled when the sinner repents and turns to Christ for forgiveness and righteousness. Only the power of the gospel can break our conscience-bribing habit of self-justification and bring eternal reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18-21). The work of Christ on Calvary’s cross makes God known savingly to believing sinners. The work of Christ has the power to communicate the saving knowledge of God—that He is just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:25-26).
God wills to be known through the work of His Son
All idolatry is traceable to the forfeiture of God’s glory at the fall. The human condition is first and foremost a disastrous fall from God’s glory. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). There can be no salvation until the apprehension of God’s glory is restored as reflected in the face of Christ—through the cross-work of Christ. As long as the sinner is under the influence of the lie, he assumes the perfectibility of man. And, with that error, he presumes that God can be pacified, satisfied, placated, even obligated by human effort. The religion with which we were born assumes that what God requires man is able to supply—‘it is possible to be good enough to be accepted by God’. Only the gospel evicts the lie.
God wills to be known through the satisfaction of His unchanging standard of righteousness by means of the work of the perfect Substitute He has appointed. God can only be known in this way. That is the way of the cross of Christ, by which His righteousness is demonstrated and vindicated by the sacrifice of Christ. The massive guilt-exchange at Calvary was the cost of peace with God. The message of the Person and work of Christ in the gospel is the means by which God, by His sovereign power, shines the knowledge of His glory into dark hearts (2 Cor 4:6).
This is amazing, though the sinner has a bitter controversy with God concerning his Creator’s rightful rule, but, God is the party who puts aside His wrath in the work of reconciliation! “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18-19).
Looking again at how God wills to be known—it is by means of the revelation of His righteousness. Thus, we should not be surprised that the unbeliever has trouble finding God. For, the unbeliever has an impossible criterion for finding God. I often hear ridiculous things such as: “I might be inclined to believe if God appeared to me. Is it any wonder then that the atheist, the agnostic, and the skeptic can’t find God?” For the means by which God is made known is by the revelation of His righteousness. There are two great prongs of divine character; God’s justice and God’s mercy. These are only revealed and reconciled by the cross of Christ. Only those who know God are saved, and those who know God as Just and Justifier know God.
Listen to Romans 1:16-17: “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. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, but the righteous man shall live by faith” (Rom 1:16-17). In capturing the reality that the believing sinner finds right-standing in God’s righteousness freely given, the Williams Translation renders the verses as follows: “For I am not ashamed of the good news, for it is God’s power for the salvation of everyone who trusts, of the Jew first, and then of the Greek. For in the good news, God’s way of man’s right-standing with Him is uncovered, the way of faith that leads to greater faith, just as the Scripture says, ‘the upright man must live by faith’” (Rom 1:16-17).
The overarching purpose of God is an ‘arc’ scribed by His glory
How we view the world, man’s existence, and man’s place in the world is our worldview. The Scriptures reveal that we were created to have a love relationship with the God who formed and upholds the cosmos. We are to live to please the Creator of the cosmos. For, He loves us and gave us His Son to make us His own (Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 4:10). God does all things for His own glory—this is the great arc of divine purpose which He scribes in ordaining the meaning for the ages.
Paul says in Ephesians chapter three: “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose (the purpose of the ages) which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him” (Eph 3:8-12).
Is the aim of your life to see God glorified in your life, in and through all of your relationships? That is the true life direction of every genuine Christ-follower. They live to know Him, and to make Him known—confessing Christ as their Lord. If that does not describe you, then you must know that you are not in some safe, neutral zone. Scripture regards all of those who are not passionate for God’s glory to be God’s adversaries (whose portion is this life . . )
When it comes to God’s glory, apathetic hearts reside in the bosoms of those who reject God’s plan. We are to proclaim that God’s reconciling love and mercy received produces new creations, with totally new eternal values. One’s functional worldview is a revealer of one’s heart commitments, or affections. Who or what has first place there? Do you know why the cosmos exists? Why you exist? Our created purpose is to know the love, wonder, majesty, goodness, and holiness of our God. That is our created purpose. Christ came to restore sinners back to their created purpose. Those who belong to Christ are part of God’s forever family. A place of endless, love, delight, purpose, community, ad belonging. But, for those who reject the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, their eternity in everlasting hell will be one of unspeakable torment. For, there is no greater tragedy than rejecting one’s created purpose. The plot is about God, not about you. To get that wrong is misery.
1 Peter 3:15-16 and the evangelistic mission of Christ’s church
Our evangelistic efforts joined with solid Christian apologetics ought to be governed by what is enjoined in this passage: “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame” (1 Pet 3:15-16).
Our task as Christian evangelists is not to refute every objection raised by those engaged in futile thinking; for we will not be able to answer to their satisfaction. Rebellious sinners who oppose the knowledge of God will continue to scoff, right up until the Day of Judgment (2 Pet 3). Our calling as believers is to bear witness to the truth with meekness and with the reverential fear of Christ in our hearts.
We ought to be encouraged that the gospel is a small enough mesh ‘fishing
net’ that it will, by God’s power, catch every elect person (Jn 6:37-39). Those who are among Christ’s sheep will hear His voice in the Word, the gospel. And, apart from the regenerating work of God’s Spirit, you will not be able to make unbelievers understand. There is no knowledge of God, or wisdom concerning God apart from the fear of God (Prov 1:7).
Our Creator is also a just Judge who enforces moral cause and effect and will not leave the wicked unpunished. “The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them. Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. The righteousness of the blameless will smooth his way, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the treacherous will be caught by their own greed. When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, and the hope of strong men perishes” (Prov 11:3-7).