If I had never read Romans before and someone had just told me, "you wanna understand Romans? Pay attention to the word 'righteousness'" and "Romans is all about 'the righteousness of God'," this next verse might perplex me:
Romans 1:18 NIV
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness....
And I might stay confused for the rest of chapter one, all of chapter two, and the first twenty verses of chapter three. Maybe. Then again...
It might begin to occur to me that wrathful anger is an appropriate response of the righteous in the face of evil. That suppression of truth invokes sharp emotion in those who stand for truth and recognize the inherent danger of suppression. That God would not truly be righteous if He found unrighteousness in all its ugly consequence tolerable. That His wrath is in very expression of His righteousness.
Righteous Father: thank you for your holiness; thank you that it stands in stark contrast to godlessness, wickedness, suppression. In Jesus. Amen.
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