haters of God
One word in Gk. adj. noun qeotughs theotuges compound: theos God + stugeo to hate, abhor, detest
This word can be taken passively or actively:
Passively: hated by God
Actively: hating God
Context of Rom. 1: actively: hating God
It is one thing to believe that there is a God,
Or to just think maybe there is a God, maybe not, I am not sure & it really does not affect me
But it is another to hate, detest God!
Your thinking of God effects every area of your life!
The ancient Greeks used to call theostuges someone who turned against God.
This often characterizes a person, to whom when bad things happen, they blame God, & become angry toward God, to hatred of God!
21 knew God but did not honor Him,
darkened soul
23 exchanged glory of incorruptible God
for image –idolatry
25 exchanged truth of God for a the lie
28 did not see it to acknowledge God any
longer no surprise then
30 haters of God
They know God exist, they have tried everything to deny Him, & get away from Him, but all their efforts only made His existence more real…&
this made them deeply angry, to the point of hating Him, hating the fact that He existed!
Hating God comes from a deep desire
To be in CONTROL
We hate those who are in the way of our being in control.
This is true individually or corporately
Authority rejected is authority hated
The more your resent, hate authority, the more you resent and hate God!
and
You must get rid of God
And get rid of those who insist on believing and worshipping Him
Knowing that God exist, and hating Him, has always been in existence:
Ex. 20:5 "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third & the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Psa. 68:1 (For the choir director. A Psalm of David. A Song.) Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; & let those who hate Him flee before Him.
Matt. 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Quickly note: one of these get in the way of the other!
Therefore you hate the one who gets in the way of serving & enjoying the other!
What do you do when God gets in your way?
That is when what you want is not what is happening in your life?
When you are not in control?
You have a choice:
You can get back into Spirit Filled Life by faith.
Or you go on with your plans to the point that:
you hate Him
1. Once you acknowledge the existence of God, you have to make decisions concerning God.
2. You believe in the being of God, & seek to know Him, or reject any relationship with Him.
3. This rejection leads to a hatred of God!
4. Hate Him for all that is happening in your life or in /world
5. Hate Him for the fact you are not in control.
6. There is nothing else you can do, to express the turmoil going on in your soul to your knowing that God exist, & yet you refuse to come to Him, to respond to Him by faith in His Son.
7. This hatred originated with Satan, after the fall! He hated God, & sought to be like Him. And has throughout all history seen to fight against God. Satan desires so deeply to be in control.
Insolent
What is insolence?
We know what malice is—intent to cause pain
But what about insolence?
KJ despiteful
The Greek means to act with insolence
This is close to malice; this word means injury, insult, reproach, to act with violence, wicked violence, to treat injuriously, to treat shamefully, & therefore to injure or to abuse.
At the foundation of this word is arrogance!
A person, who, out of his arrogance—seeks to put everyone else down, to be in control, to be rude,
All the way from rudely insulting to being violent.
This word has the idea of severity & harshness.
And it carries the idea of inflicting pain for the sole pleasure of the arrogant, insolent one who inflicts the suffering.
1 Tim. 1:13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor namely of Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah & a violent aggressor. This is our word: insolent
KJ injurious
Either of these gives you an idea of what is behind this word.
Insolent, injurious, violent aggressor
It follows haters of God
Once you reject God, deny God, as creator as Sovereign, you hate God!
It does not take long before you exult yourself, &
then not long before you have no regards for others, for the rights of others.
You desire to be in control!
being a God hater & insolent & now
Arrogant
Greek word is a compound meaning to shine over or to shine above
Arrogance, pride,
Again it is occupation with self!
When you deny God, or resent the existence of God, your life is now all about you!
You are /center of everything that happens.
You certainly do not care about God or Will of God. You desire to be in complete control
Fundamentally, you do not care about others, except as what will further your own desires.
Luke 1:51 He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
Note here that self is the center of their thoughts –
2 Tim. 3:2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, this often starts in youth ungrateful, these people think they deserve everything, from their parents, from society unholy, total dismissal of God; note this list begins with lover of self
James 4:6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble”
What does this mean?
God is opposed to the proud?
Lets face it – if God wants to stop the proud, their stopped! So what is does this mean?
Simply stated: God is opposed to any & all arrogance that sets one free of the existence of God, Himself.
Gives grace to the humble
Who are the humble?
Humility is one who depends on God by faith
You have to be humble to totally depend on the one God sent by faith alone….
in His Son…
in His Spirit
boastful
only this Greek is very important here in context it means more than simply being boastful –
(as if that were not enough)
This boasting is delusional
“This is boasting about what one is not or does not possess.”
“someone going about with the empty & boastful professions of cures & other feats. An alazon shows off that which he thinks or pretends he possesses. An ostentatious quack.
It is one thing to boast about what one has or has accomplished but it is another thing to boast of what one is not or does not possess
This word means to make more of your self than reality justifies;
He ascribes to himself more & better things than he actually has
He promises what he cannot perform or deliver, & the more he boast of all he is & will do, the louder he is, the more people will listen & believe him…
he arouses expectations & anticipations by what he says for what he cannot deliver.
18—who suppress the truth so first thing this person does is suppress the truth about God, therefore they lie about self
21 they know the truth about God but they deny
they became futile in their speculations – so here their delusion begins…
their heart was darkened which of course means their thinking is darkened…
22 claiming to be wise –they became fools
25 they exchanged the truth concerning God, for The Lie
If they lie about the being of God, it is no surprise that they lie about their own existence…
they brag, boast of their knowledge, of how they have it all figured out, they possess knowledge about non-existence of God,
& how man exist without God.
They are the center of the universe
They boast of what they do not possess!
They boast of what they do not understand!
This is what is going on in America this very hour!
This is the very opposite of what happens to us when we are humble & walk in power of Holy Spirit
& He pours in Spiritual Love:
Spiritual Love does not boast !