Sin and Pride

Romans 1:18-23

As men focus on self more and more, elevating self above all — above others, above principles, above customs — truth, at best becomes inconvenient, and often becomes an obstacle. Certainly the debate about absolute truth has been raging for over half a century. But this is nothing new. It happened in the first century and has been happening throughout history. Perhaps at the forefront of the debate is the truth about God. The apostle Paul writes in verse 18 about “the unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness.”

What is this truth that men suppress? The truth is there is a God with eternal power and divine nature. Though these attributes cannot be directly observed, they can be easily deduced from what is clearly visible – creation. God created this world and this universe which are clearly visible evidence, not only of the existence of a Creator, but also evidence of His attributes – eternal power and divine nature. The evidence is so unequivocal, men are without excuse. If one is sincerely seeking and listens, he/she can hear creation screaming the truth about God. There is Someone eternally powerful and divine behind the beauty and majesty of this word. David writes in Psalm 19,

The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky displays his handiwork.
Day after day it speaks out; night after night it reveals his greatness.

 In fact, Paul writes, based on the evidence of creation, these men who suppress the truth knew God. The knowledge of God they possess should have resulted in giving glory and giving thanks to God. This they did not do.

Instead their minds turned to useless and futile thoughts leading to a darkening of the heart, becoming senseless, with no direction and no moral sensitivity. Both mind and heart are negatively affected with no moorings to truth and to God. With vain imaginings and a darkened heart, such men are morally set afloat, blown about by the prevailing winds of society and culture. As Israel did in the book of Judges, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” In this darkened state they actually proclaim to be wise; they want to let the world know they’ve risen above the shackles to God and truth. God calls them fools.

The Ultimate Reality of the universe calls them fools. God is the standard as to what is real, what is true. For example, the standard unit for length in the metric system is the meter. The standard for a meter is distance that light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 second, or roughly 3.33 nanosecond. This standard holds whether on earth or on the moon. It holds if the temperature is -453˚ F or 1000˚ F. Likewise and to a greater degree, God is the standard for righteousness, truth, and reality. Every other definition of truth or reality must be judged against God. Therefore those who suppress the truth are fools in the absolute sense.

Instead of worshiping the exalted God, eternal in power and divine in nature, men choose to worship mortal earthly creatures and earthly things that are sure to pass away. Earthly creatures include man himself. Often people worship themselves. Because of pride we prefer to be top dog in the slum over being a servant in the king’s castle. Men (people) like control and like to think they’re in charge.

If men know God because His invisible attributes are clearly seen in His creations, why do men reject God and suppress the truth? Why not give glory and thanks to God? Man in his fallen nature has a will the rejects submission and accountability to the Creator. Man wants to be like His Creator, sovereign and autonomous, i.e. only subject to his own law, or be a law unto himself. Naturally, men do not want to be accountable or to submit to anyone. Satan fell because he wanted to be “like the Most High.” This is why some believe pride to be the chief sin.

Even as believers, if we look carefully, we see pride at work daily in our lives. We see our propensity to shun authority and we easily chafed at the slightest need to submit. Whether it’s our boss or spouse or civil authorities telling us to do something with which disagree or dislike, we can feel in our hearts the rebellion rising if ever so subtle. It is pride that leads to feel this way. It’s the same pride that leads to unbelief and the rejection of the truth. Pride is deceptive, can be subtle, and in the end, always deadly. Give pride an inch, and it will take a foot. The best way to deal with pride, to mortify the flesh is to worship and focus on God, to see Him exalted and glorified. There is no better way to deal a blow to the Adamic ego than to plunge oneself in the immensity of the Godhead and come out refreshed, restored to a right mind, heart, and spirit.