Denying God

Romans 1:21

We continue on in our study of Romans, coming now to verse twenty one. The last few verses have spoken about the unbeliever who has no excuse for not believing in God, and this verse will continue that thought.

In Romans 1:21, Paul says, “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Let’s dissect this verse.

The first word of this verse is “because” which indicates that we need to look back at the previous verse to see what Paul is referring to. We know from verse twenty that Paul says that unbelievers see the invisible attributes of God and are without excuse. The reason they are without excuse is answered in verse twenty one. This verse is ultimately what the unbelievers choose to do with this knowledge.

Paul says the unbelievers knew God (or we could say that today unbelievers know God). There is no question who God is and how He is the Creator. But the way they respond is by failing to glorify Him. They failed to acknowledge that He is the Creator or that He is God or that He is powerful or holy. They know it, but they refuse to admit it.

Their thoughts become futile. Their thoughts are vain and useless. Thoughts that do not seek to glorify God or that do not honor Him are pointless. We know from Matthew 12:36 that every idle word man will have to give account for. The same is true for our thoughts. Believers are commanded to be holy and to glorify God. We fail often but not always. Unbelievers always fail to glorify God with their thoughts. As we have seen, they choose to not glorify God because they refuse to acknowledge what they know is true.

All people begin life with foolish hearts. A believer’s heart becomes enlightened. An unbeliever’s heart becomes darkened. We know from this verse how a heart becomes darkened: denying God and refusing to acknowledge His power. The next few verses look deeper at what this means so we won’t dive into that in this article, but it is important to note how it happens. It is the denial of God that darkens the heart of man.

Man is inherently wicked. We are all born wicked and sinful. Therefore, we would be fools to judge unbelievers. In the same capacity, though, we must not just ignore the sinfulness of man. We must not act as though it is not a big deal. It is a fine line between not judging the unbeliever but also hating their sin. We should seek God’s wisdom in finding this God glorifying balance.

Follow Us on Social Media!