No Salvation Apart From Faith in Christ: the Wrath of God Revealed Against Ungodliness (Romans 1:18–20)

In the doctrinal part, holy Paul:

1) points out that apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ there is no salvation (Rom. 1:18–3:30);

2) persuades, attracts and inclines toward it (Rom. 3:31–5:21);

3) sets forth the chief obligation for believers in faith—to be holy (Rom. 6:1–7:6);

4) portrays its beneficence for our fallen nature and for all creation with comforting demonstration of how firm are the foundations of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 7:7–8:39);

5) and concludes with extensive clarification of the question of the unbelief of the Jews (Rom. 9:1–11:36).

1) Apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ there is no salvation (Rom. 1:18–3:30)

The Apostle explains this in the following propositions: a) judgment is appointed upon all who hold the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). But: b) in this are guilty: aa) both Gentiles (Rom. 1:19–2:16), and also: bb) Jews (Rom. 2:17–3:20). Therefore, there is no salvation for them both: judgment and condemnation justly fall upon the head of both. They would perish, but the loving God had compassion on them and arranged for them: c) a special wondrous way of salvation in His incarnate Son, who died on the cross and by His death washed away the sins of all (Rom. 3:21–30). Therefore, there is no other salvation but to lay hold of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

a) God’s judgment is inevitable upon all who hold the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18)

Rom. 1:18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

This proposition the holy Apostle does not prove but only sets before us. Everyone recognizes its truth by the testimony of conscience. Have you sinned? Expect the due recompense. Therefore he says: “it is revealed.” It is appointed immutably that judgment and recompense shall be, and soon the heavens shall be opened and the Judge of all shall appear. God’s wrath means judgment, condemnation and punishment. The Apostle called it wrath in human terms. Do not approach an angry man nor speak to him: he will not listen. So too God’s judgment is inexorable and unchanging: as it is determined in it, so it shall remain forever. Eternal torment is appointed to the sinner; he cannot escape it unless he satisfies God’s righteousness. Therefore, either hasten to seek reconciliation with God, or expect nothing but eternal torments. And the awfulness of God’s judgment is also expressed thus. The Lord Savior Himself depicted it as terrible, He who died to deliver all from this judgment. And it is terrible for the very reason that it is a judgment. What criminal does not tremble before judgment? In schools, examinations by authority, always benevolent, with what fear are they accompanied?! How not to have fear and awfulness at that judgment which decides eternal fate? The Apostle, instead of: the righteous judgment of God is revealed, said: “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.” Soon the heavens shall be opened and the Judge of all shall appear. “From heaven,” he says, to signify that in this Divine action there will be nothing earthly. On earth one may still somehow skew the scales of justice, but there, incorruptible righteousness shall penetrate all and decide all.

The Blessed Theodoret writes: “The Apostle threatens future punishment, which is called God’s wrath, not because God punishes in passion, but so that by this name he may frighten the disobedient; and he said that ‘the wrath is revealed from heaven,’ because from heaven shall appear God and our Savior. For the Lord Himself said this: ‘Then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory’ (Matt. 24:30)”.

Rom. 1:24-27: “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up to vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.” Isa. 1:19-20 1 Cor. 11:32

The Apostle traces the consequences of humanity’s rejection of God. Having abandoned true worship of God, humans are “given up” to impure desires and degraded passions. This giving up is not arbitrary punishment but the natural consequence of their choice: when humans turn from God, the result is moral and spiritual degradation. The “uncleanness” (spiritual and moral filth) and “dishonorable passions” (shameful lusts) are the fruit of idolatry.

“Changed the truth of God into a lie.” This summarizes the fundamental error: humanity has exchanged the truth about God (that He is the Creator, worthy of worship, the source of life and goodness) for a lie (that created things are worthy of worship, that human desires are the measure of truth and goodness, that matter and flesh are ultimate). This exchange has devastating consequences for human society and morality.

“Worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.” This is the essence of idolatry and godlessness: giving ultimate allegiance to what is not ultimate. When humans make creatures (including themselves) the center of worship and service instead of the Creator, all values become inverted. What should be means becomes the end; what should be servant becomes master.

As a consequence, God “gave them up to vile affections.” Here, Paul catalogs specific sins, using sexual immorality as the prime example of the degradation that results from rejecting God. The women “changed the natural use into that which is against nature,” and “the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another.” These are not arbitrary prohibitions but violations of the natural order that God established.

The unnatural passions and acts described here are presented as consequences—“receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.” The punishment is built into the sin itself. Those who reject the Creator find that their desires become disordered, their bodies become instruments of shame, and their relationships become corrupted. This is not vindictive punishment but the natural degradation that follows from rejecting truth and goodness.

It is important to understand Paul’s purpose here. He is not giving a scientific or anthropological account of pagan society for its own sake. Rather, he is demonstrating that humanity—without the saving work of Christ, without the grace of God—spirals into moral and spiritual degradation. The vivid catalog of sins serves to show the seriousness of sin and the impossibility of salvation through human effort alone.

The progression is instructive: knowledge of God → rejection of God → worship of idols → moral degradation → vile passions → shameful acts → spiritual death. At each stage, humanity has a choice, but also a consequence. The rejected knowledge leads to darkness; the false worship leads to distorted desires; the indulgence in false desires leads to enslavement. This is the trajectory of sin.

The mention of unnatural passions is particularly pointed in the context of the epistle. It shows that the moral degradation of pagan society was not limited to private vices but extended to the fundamental structures of human relationship and society. If even the most basic natural relationships become perverted, it shows the depth of the spiritual disease that grips humanity when it turns from God Rom. 1:19-23 α.

Yet all of this serves a purpose in Paul’s argument: to establish that all humanity—both Gentiles and Jews—stands under condemnation before God. The Gentiles, through their idolatry and immorality, have rejected the truth about God and deserve God’s wrath. But the Jews, as will become clear, also stand under condemnation, despite their possession of the Law and the prophets. None are righteous; all need salvation Rom. 1:24-31 β.

The passage does not describe the condition of all pagan society without exception. Not all pagans engaged in these extreme vices. Rather, Paul is describing the logical and actual trajectory of pagan religion divorced from the true God—the tendency and trend of societies that have rejected divine revelation. The vices he catalogs are real and prevalent in pagan society, showing the fruit of godlessness Rom. 2:1-16 γ.

The purpose of laying bare these sins is not to condemn pagans with self-righteous superiority but to show all humanity its need for grace. In describing pagan vice, Paul prepares the ground for his argument that the Jews, too, stand under condemnation despite their advantages. If the Gentiles, who lack the Law, are condemned for their sins, how much more are the Jews, who have the Law, condemned when they also commit sins? This will be his argument in the next chapters Rom.1:19.

Rom. 1:28-32: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

“They did not like to retain God in their knowledge.” This phrase shows the active, willful refusal to maintain the knowledge of God that was available to them. It is not a passive ignorance but an active rejection. Humans do not like to have God in their knowledge because God makes demands—demands for obedience, for worship, for moral purity. So they choose to reject this knowledge, to suppress it, to “not like” to keep it.

“God gave them over to a reprobate mind.” As judgment for their refusal to retain the knowledge of God, God allows them to follow the course of their own minds—minds that are reprobate, unfit for good, corrupted and unable to discern truth and good. This is a terrible judgment: to be left to one’s own devices, without the guidance and correction of God’s truth. The mind separated from God inevitably becomes corrupted and diseased.

The catalog of sins that follows (vv. 29-31) shows the result of this corrupted mind: all manner of unrighteousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, gossip, slander, hatred of God, insolence, pride, boastfulness, contrivance of evil, disobedience to parents, foolishness, faithlessness, lack of natural affection (even family bonds are broken), implacability, and mercilessness. This comprehensive list shows that when humans reject God, the result is not merely individual sin but a corruption of the entire moral and social fabric Rom.1:20.

“Inventors of evil things” is a striking phrase. Humanity, in its separation from God, becomes creative in devising new forms of wickedness. It is not content with the sins that natural human weakness might lead to, but actively imagines and invents new evils. This shows a kind of demonic ingenuity in sin Ps. 18:1.

“Disobedient to parents.” The breaking of the family bond is a symptom of the deep spiritual disease. In the Ten Commandments, honor to parents is the first commandment dealing with human relationships—it establishes the fundamental hierarchy and bond of family life. When this is broken, all social bonds become unstable.

“Without natural affection.” The Greek word here means literally “without family love.” In a society devoted to self-gratification and the pursuit of base desires, even the natural love that binds family members becomes attenuated. Parents may abandon children, husbands may betray wives, siblings may become enemies—all in pursuit of individual gratification.

“Implacable, unmerciful.” The final vices listed are particularly damning: the inability to be reconciled with others, the refusal to show mercy. A society in which people do not forgive one another, do not show compassion, becomes a society of conflict and vengeance, where past wrongs perpetually breed new wrongs Ps. 138:14 Job 38:7 Ps. 8:2, 4-5.

“Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” This final phrase is the climax of condemnation. These people know—either from conscience or from what remnant of knowledge of God remains—that such acts are worthy of death, that they violate divine law and incur divine judgment. Yet not only do they continue in these acts, but they “have pleasure” in them and in those who do them. This is not weakness or ignorance but active, deliberate rebellion.

The fact that they have “pleasure” in their sins shows that sin is not merely a mistake or a weakness but can become a positive embrace of evil. The sinner not only acts wrongly but comes to love the wrong, to take pleasure in it, and to affirm it. This is spiritual death—the will has become so corrupted that it chooses evil not despite its evil but because it is evil.

With this passage, Paul completes his description of human godlessness and its consequences. He has shown that humanity, having rejected the knowledge of God available through creation and conscience, has spiraled into moral degradation, impurity, and willful rebellion. The accumulated weight of human sin—both the sins of individuals and the sins of societies—stands as testimony to humanity’s need for redemption.

Thus everywhere are visible “the invisible things of God”, “that is, His creative work, His providence, His righteous judgment concerning each thing, and the dispensation of every kind. Therefore, those who have such strict teachers are without excuse and have drawn no benefit from so many lessons. For the Apostle also added this: ‘so that they are without excuse’. For the very works almost cry out that such people have no justification for deliverance from the evils threatening them” (the Blessed Theodoret).

The first chapter of Romans has served its purpose: to demonstrate the universal sinfulness of humanity, the revelation of God’s wrath against sin, and the condition that makes the Gospel necessary. The Gentile world, without the advantage of divine revelation through the Law and prophets, stands condemned through its idolatry and immorality. Now Paul will turn his attention to the Jews, showing that despite their advantages—the possession of the Law, the prophets, the covenants—they too stand under condemnation before God. The only hope for any person, Jew or Gentile, is the righteousness of God revealed through faith in Christ.