Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 04:3 (Nov 1961)
Article: Toward A Biblical Apologetic
Author: Charles M. Horne

BETS 4:3 (Nov 1961) p. 89

Toward A Biblical Apologetic

Charles M. Horne

The Pauline apologetic is exhibited chiefly in five passages: Romans 1:18ff., 2:14-15; I Corinthians 2:14; Acts 14:15ff.; and Acts 17:22ff. The first three texts present this apologetic in its formal statement; the latter two in its practical outworking. In the present article we shall consider only the first of these passages—Romans 1:18ff. Two primary questions have been before the writer in his exegetical study of this Scripture portion: (1) What is the purpose of general (or natural) revelation in a Christian apologetic? (2) What does the natural man know of God?

Romans 1:18ff.

Even as the righteousness of God is being revealed toward those who are of faith (v. 17), so likewise the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all sinners (v. 18). Let us note then:

1. The Nature of the Wrath. Orge is from orgao, meaning to teem, to swell. This wrath is not a sudden explosive and uncontrolled emotion of God. It is a rather a fixed, controlled passionate anger against sin. “Wrath is the holy revulsion of God’s being against that which is the contradiction of his holiness.”1 (Orge should be contrasted with thumos, for the latter term denotes sudden outbursts of anger.) God’s wrath is His “No!” to man in sin; God’s righteousness is His “Yes!” to man in Christ. Divine wrath is the reverse side of divine love. God could not love the good if He were not angry with the evil. “While the Gospel reveals Him as infinitely merciful, His mercy is not characterized by leniency toward sin. The Scriptures never reveal one attribute of God at the expense of another. The revelation of His wrath is essential to a right understanding of His ways in grace.”2

It should further be observed that this wrath is presently being revealed. It is not only an eschatological event but also a present reality. Verses 24ff. delineate how it is now being disclosed; namely, in the giving up of sinners to their sins with the accompanying effects. (The present tense controls this entire passage referring to the ever continuous knowledge of God which men through natural revelation have, together with their constant disregard of that knowledg...