They know Romans 1:26-32
Men know the power of God (eternal power), the person of God (divine nature), the provision of God (give thanks) (20-21) and thoroughly know the principles (ordinances) of God (32) and the punishment from God for sin (32). Man, in knowing these things, are without excuse before their Creator God for their willful disobedience to him (20). Newell suggests the text confronts them with terrible realities: 1) They have a complete inner knowledge from God that their ways deserve and must have divine condemnation and judgement; 2) They persist in their practices despite the witness of conscience; 3) They are in a fellowship with evil and evil doers. (Newell).
Principles of God they know God's decree
Know - Gk epiginosko from epi and ginosko It means to become fully aware, to become thoroughly acquainted with, to know thoroughly, to know accurately, know well. It is a stronger word then ginosko used in v. 21 which means: to know, understand, perceive, have knowledge of. Those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness and exchange the truth for a lie are not ignorant of what God has deemed right and wrong, but rather they are well acquainted with it. They “know” emphatically that what they are doing is in disobedience to God. They know God’s righteous decree. They sin against knowledge; they are not ignorant of the demands of God’s righteous law (Sproul). Sinners are not excusably ignorant, but guilty and responsible. (Barrett)
Decree - Gk dikaioma that which has been deemed right so as to have force of law, what has been established, and ordained by law, an ordinance, a decree, It is a declaration of what is right and just; and is the declaration of God as to what is right and just. (Hodge) It is not just any decree or ordinance, but the decree of God (Luke 1:6) The rules of men are mutable, changing with time and cultural transitions, but the absolute decrees of God are unchangeable throughout time and societal changes. What was sin in antiquity is sin now. Verse 32 takes us back to vs 18-19 and teaches us that everyone not only knows God, but also knows some of the moral demands of God and what disobedience deserves. Paul is speaking here of people in general who do not have access to the Bible or any special revelation. This is an astonishing affirmation about human nature. Everybody has knowledge of God and the moral law of God, whether they have seen a Bible or not, or whether they live in America or in an undiscovered people group of Irian Jaya. (Piper) . Sinners do things which they know are displeasing to God. The gentiles do things which God has forbidden by the law of nature; the Jews those which are forbidden by the revelation of God given to them: both, therefore, do things which they know are displeasing to Him. And this is true of all men now. They know that God forbids them to love themselves and the world supremely; but they do both. God forbids them to disobey His commands; but they do disobey them. God forbids them to disbelieve and reject the gospel; but they do disbelieve and reject it. And they will persist in displeasing Him, notwithstanding death appears to be their certain doom. (Illustrator) The source of this knowledge he explains in the following chapter, Rom 1:14. It was a knowledge written on their hearts, or included in the constitution of their nature; it was implied in their being moral agents. As he had before shown that the impiety of the heathen was without excuse, inasmuch as they had a knowledge of the true God, so here he shows that their immorality was inexcusable, (Hodge).
Practice of sin those who practice such things
Practice -Gk prasso it means to commit, to practice, to be busy with, to carry on, or to do something. It is in a present active participle form which expresses continuous or repeated action. The word assumes an ethical connotation. It is used when expressing someone is doing something evil as opposed to Gk poieo which is used when someone is doing something good. (Zodhiates) . . . this knowledge means people are without excuse before God not only because of the way they treat God, but also because of the way they treat each other. Having knowledge of what you should do takes away excuses for not doing it. Now we see that this same principle applies not only to how people treat God, but how they treat each other. Verse 32: "Although they know the ordinance of God (= verse 21b), that those who practice such things are worthy of death (= they are without excuse, verse 20b), they not only do the same (= verse 21b), but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." You see the parallel. In verses 20-21 they are without excuse because they know God, but don't treat him the way they should. And in verse 32 they are without excuse because they know God's moral law, but don't treat people the way they should. (Piper). The heathen knows that God condemns such evil practices. (Robertson) Seneca, one of the purest moralists of Rome, who died in 65 a.d., says of his own time, “All is full of criminality and vice; indeed much more of these is committed than can be remedied by force. A monstrous contest of abandoned wickedness is carried on. The lust of sin increases daily; and shame is daily more and more extinguished. Discarding respect for all that is good and sacred, lust rushes on wherever it will. Vice no longer hides itself. It stalks forth before all eyes. So public has abandoned wickedness become, and so openly does it flame up in the minds of all, that innocence is no longer seldom, but has wholly ceased to exist.” Paul catalogs these horrific sins to help the reader understand the gravity of their own sinfulness and cast them upon the mercy of God. It is just when a man is nearest God for himself that he sees what, but for God, he would be (Is 6); taken apart from God, he is, potentially if not in act. And it is in just such a mood that, reading this paragraph of the great Epistle, he will smite upon his breast, and say, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ (Luke 18:13) (Moule)
Punishment of sin deserve to die
Deserve –Gk axios. weighing, having weight, having the weight of another thing of like value, worth as much. It means worthy of or deserving of something. . . there is in all human beings a knowledge of God. Verse 18 says we are guilty for suppressing it and that the wrath of God is being revealed on us because we do. . . . in verse 32 we learn that this knowledge of God includes a knowledge of his moral law: We are morally responsible for our sins (that is, without excuse) . . . many people who would say that they don't believe in moral standards set by God, especially if they say they don't believe in God. But verse 32 says, "They know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death." Note the phrase, "ordinance of God." Paul teaches us that, even if people don't think they know ordinances of God, they, in fact, do know at least one, namely, that doing the things listed in verses 29-31 deserves death. This must mean then that there is a knowledge deeper than consciousness. (Piper) If man had been ignorant and had not known God it would have been different. However, man not only knew God but He also knew the judgment (ordinances) of God. He who knew not his master's will and did it not was beaten with few stripes. While he who knew his master's will and did it not was beaten with many stripes. (Luke 12:41-48). In the Day of Judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for Chorazin and Bethsaida for, "if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." (Luke 10:9-15). In the Day of Judgment it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for Capernaum. Sodom was morally more vile, but Capernaum had been exalted unto Heaven by the presence, the words, and the miracle working of the Son of God, which Sodom had never known. Christ said to Capernaum, "If the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been in Sodom, it would have remained until this day." (Matt 11:20-24) Sinners who live in this day of grace with the blazing light of the glory of God's grace bursting full around them should beware lest they by their refusal are treasuring up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath. (Robert Neighbor) In Rom 2:15, They have a conscience and they know the judgment of God. They may not admit it but they know it. It's even inherent in the law that man makes. Even in our society most of these things are against the law basically. Sexual sin, rape, perversion is always recognized as something unlawful, wickedness and murder and deceiving people. We even have laws against slander. We even have laws in juvenile delinquency, disobedient children. Man has even made laws that show he knows these things are wrong. And where there is not a law in relation to these, there's at least a social conscience about some things, like it's right to tell the truth. This shows all the law of God written in the conscience. They know God. They know God from creation and they know His laws from conscience and they know that the people who do these things are worthy of death. (Mac Arthur) The text catalogs sin to show us the magnitude of our sin and the magnificence of his grace.
Proclamation of salvation: they know verse 32, together with verses 18-21, teaches us is that every person we know, and every person we will ever talk to, already knows God, deep down, and knows God's law. That is an astonishing truth for everyone who wants to communicate the gospel. everyone knows not only that God exists and is eternal and powerful and glorious and beneficent, but also that God has a "righteous ordinance," that the sins of verses 29-31 deserve the punishment of death. Paul says, it is made known in nature and is buried somewhere in the subconscious of every person - in some deep, and in some just beneath the surface. We may suppress it, but we know it. It is there, and it has effects on our lives. . . . . you come to them with the tremendous (Biblical) confidence that you are not starting from scratch in establishing the truth in their soul. They are not blank tablets. They may have buried it, distorted it, hidden it, drugged it, run from it by overwork or excessive play and entertainment; but you know it is there. , you speak the truth with the confidence that this reality you are describing is not utterly foreign to them. You speak with the confidence that what you are saying can ring true with something deep inside of them. (Piper) "The most reprobate sinner carries about with him a knowledge of his just exposure to the wrath of God" (Hodge) God has never left himself without a witness among his rational creatures. Both in reference to his own nature and to the rule of duty, he has, in his works and in the human heart, given sufficient light to render the impiety and immorality of men inexcusable, Rom 1:19, 1:20, 1:32. The most reprobate sinner carries about with him a knowledge of his just exposure to the wrath of God. Conscience can never be entirely extirpated, Rom 1:32. If the sins of the heathen, committed under the feeble light of nature, be inexcusable, how great must be the aggravation of those committed under the light of the Scriptures, Romans 1:20. As the light of nature is insufficient to lead the heathen to God and holiness, it is one of the most obvious and urgent of our duties to send them the light of the Bible, Rom 1:20-23. (Hodge).
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