The Unadorned Gospel

Welcome to the last part of the longest Step! As we said earlier, a
solid foundation is indispensable. It takes a lot of time, but it's worth it. In
this section we begin to rely on divine revelation as the Apostle Paul
reveals the "twin sins". These two sins are basic to all men, and begin the
explanation of what has gone wrong with the world God created. But don't
put your mind aside! As we study Paul's revelation, see if it makes sense,
and if it coincides with the solid foundation we have established.

***********************************************************************************************

Introduction: Men Turn From God

In the first two parts of Step Five, we discovered the fact that men know
God. Next, we get to the second foundational pillar - men turn from God.
For men have an innate flaw. How they got that flaw is covered in Step Six.
That they have a flaw, and the consequences of that flaw, is the subject
now.

Summary Statement: Men know they ought to give thanks to God, upon
whom they depend for their very existence, and that they ought to honor
Him with praise, admiration, and worship. But they don't. The
consequences of this failure are enormous.

a. The Twin Sins

In Romans 1:21 Paul succinctly describes man's innate flaw in two points. 1) Men, although they know
God, do not glorify Him as God, (that is, they do not honor Him with praise, admiration, and worship).
2) Although they know they owe their existence to God, men do not give Him thanks.

Because of their importance, I have labeled these two points “the twin sins”. The twin sins mark the first
step downward for man. From our lofty height, created in the image of God, possessing knowledge of
His eternal power and divine nature, man plunges downward. (The plunge is called “the fall of man”.
Later, the twin sins will explain an important aspect of this fall.)

Let's look at three other ways of stating man's innate flaw. We'll look back to the Old Testament to do
this.

b. The Old Testament and the Innate Flaw

First, we'll go back to Psalm 53, which Paul quotes in Romans 3.

Man's innate flaw? Men, who know God's way, turn from Him and follow their own way.

In summary, this is the revealed truth of God, given by Jesus Christ to the Apostle Paul, and
confirmed by the Prophet Isaiah and the Psalmist/King David. The basic nature of all men, Paul
teaches, is to turn from God and turn to our own ways. Men, who owe their being to God, turn their
back on Him. “Although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God, nor gave thanks to Him...”

So this is it, the beginning of what has gone wrong with God's world. Men know God but, 1) do not
honor Him with praise, admiration, or worship, and 2) do not give Him thanks. The consequences of
these two sins are enormous.

c. The Consequences of the Twin Sins

Scripture References and Definition

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of
men, who suppress the truth by their wickedness..
Romans 1:18

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God, nor gave thanks to Him, but their
thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
Romans 1:21

Futile: to become ineffective or useless.

There are, of course, consequences to turning back on God. First, in turning from God, men suffer the
natural consequence of turning away from the Source of Light and Truth.

-With backs turned on Light, their hearts become dark, leaving them blind and lost.

-With backs turned on Truth, the minds of men flounder and descend into uselessness. It's not that man
cannot discover electricity or build an atomic bomb. But when it comes to seeking and establishing Truth,
their minds are hampered by a peculiar ineffectiveness. They are filled with endless speculation and
theory about God. But they can never arrive at the final answer, because their backs are turned away from
the Source of Truth. (This is why we need divine revelation. Our minds can never bring us to a definitive
answer.)

Secondly, in turning back on God, men devolve into godlessness and wickedness. God responds to this
wickedness with wrath. You may have noticed in Part One of Step Five, when we studied Romans 1:19-20,
that we left off the beginning and ending of the passage. We'll look at the ending in Step Six. We'll look at
the beginning right now.

Notice what Paul says here. The wrath of God is being revealed! God's wrath is not a popular subject
these days. Most people want to accent God's love and diminish His wrath. You don't see people in the
end zone at football games with signs that say – Romans 1:18!

But the hard truth is, because men know God yet turn their back on Him, God's wrath is being revealed
against men. Wrath is now the default position in the relationship between God and man. From God's
realm of Heaven, wrath flows constantly onto earth.

This explains lots of things. Our lives are a constant battle, filled with difficulty and strife; a continuous
upstream struggle against the current of God's wrath. Everywhere you look there is trouble, because, no
matter where you go, the wrath of God is against men.

The reality of wrath is a startling revelation. It is not something we expected. We had rather hoped peace
would be the natural state, not wrath.

But that’s the way it is. Wishful thinking cannot alter reality.

d. Summary

Men know they should give thanks to God, upon whom they depend for their very existence, and that they
should honor Him with praise, admiration, and worship. But they don’t. The consequence is darkened
hearts, an ineffective mind in matters related to Truth, and, most horribly, the wrath of God.

Please go on to Step Six, Part 1, where we examine the doctrine of original sin.