Creating Gods

Romans 1:18-23

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

¹⁹For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

²⁰For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

²¹For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.

²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

“On the sixth day God created man, and on the seventh day man returned the favor.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau (?)

I’ve heard this quote in various permutations many times over the years. It is quotable because it is true. Every day we attempt to define God by our own standards and measures. In the end, this god of our own making looks like us, acts like us, and thinks like us – because we want to be god. The True God’s response to this activity is wrath. And we deserve that wrath because God’s presence and power are made known to every single person on the planet. They need only take a look around at the world He created so see the truth of His existence. These verses come across as harsh words (and just wait until we do the rest of the chapter). We want to put our fingers in our ears and hum a tune in order to drown out the searing truth of Paul’s words here. But we are most certainly “without excuse.” For those who would deny God – they do so because that is what they want to do.

Lest those of us who are believers look down our noses at those who call themselves atheists or unbelievers we must always turn the Scripture’s light into our own hearts. We are perhaps even guiltier of making God into what we want Him to be for we have His Word and know what He says about Himself. Just as we tend to rail against those who want to define us or tell us how to live so too God is unwilling to become what we want Him to be. He is who He is and that is who we bow before on a daily basis. This is one of big reasons we read and study His Word for there we find out who He says that He is and discover His attributes and character. Anything I conjure up about God on my own is idolatry.

In my theology classes in college I was taught to always look for the Gospel in every passage. I have to say – it’s tough to find here. So I step outside of these few verses to remind us all that God’s wrath over our idolatry is dealt with in the cross of Christ. There He took the weight of my sin on Himself and that sin was buried in His bloody death. I beg God’s forgiveness for every single time I have attempted to create Him in my image. I throw myself on His mercy and beg that His wrath be satisfied in Jesus death and His Word promises me that this is exactly what happened. His wrath is subject to His mercy and I am His.