For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
For the wrath of God, х orgee (G3709) Theou (G2316)] - His holy displeasure and rectoral vengeance against sin. However distasteful such language may be to some ears, it is among the household words of the New Testament as well as of the Old (for example, Matthew 3:7; John 3:36; Romans 2:5; Romans 2:8; Romans 5:1; Romans 9:22; Ephesians 2:3; Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 3:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:16; Hebrews 3:11; Hebrews 4:3; Revelation 6:16; Revelation 14:10; Revelation 19:10).
Is revealed from heaven. But where revealed? and how? 'In the Gospel message itself,' say some (as Beza, Grotius, Estius, Stuart, Wordsworth). But besides that this sounds harsh, why, it has been well asked, did not the apostle in that case say, as in the previous verse, "For therein х en (G1722) autoo (G846)] is the wrath of God revealed"? Others understand here, not any existing manifestations of divine wrath against sin, but what is to burst forth at the day of judgment - "the wrath to come." (So Chrysostom, Jowett, etc.) But this surely is against the natural sense of the words. What the apostle refers to is, in our judgment, 'the whole visible procedure of God in the moral government of the world,' by which He 'reveals,' or palpably displays, His holy displeasure against sin (as Olshausen), and particularly His making sin its own punishment, as described so awfully in the sequel of this chapter (so Fritzsche, and some of the best interpreters). This wrath of God is said to be "revealed from heaven," to signify the lofty jealousy of that Eye, as a flame of fire, that looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth, and the might of that unseen Hand that is upon every form of iniquity under the whole heaven, to take vengeance on it.
Against all ungodliness, х asebeian (G763)] - or, 'impiety;' meaning all the irreligiousness of men, or their living (no matter how virtuously, yet) without any conscious reference to God, and without any proper feelings toward Him.
And unrighteousness of men, х adikian (G93)] - that is, men's whole deviations from moral rectitude, whether in heart, speech, or behaviour. Either of these terms, standing alone, may and usually does carry the sense of the other; but when both are used together, they must be distinguished, and the distinction can only be what we have given. Now, as no human being can plead guiltless of "all ungodliness" and "all unrighteousness," it follows that every child of Adam in his sins is the object of Heaven's deserved and impending wrath. Thus all-comprehensive is the apostle's statement, embracing Jew and Gentile alike in its dread sweep. But as this was too general to suit his purpose, of shutting up all alike to gratuitous justification in the Lord Jesus, he now proceeds to details, bringing the charge of guilt first against the pagan world, and next against the chosen people. And first, The progressive degeneracy (Romans 1:18-23), the retributive punishment (Romans 1:24-27), and the consummated penal debasement (Romans 1:28-32) of the whole pagan world. The value of the following picture is immensely enhanced by its containing a historical sketch, rather than a mere description, of pagan degeneracy, traced down from its earliest stage after the fall.
The progressive degeneracy of the pagan world (Romans 1:18-23)
Who hold the truth in unrighteousness, х teen (G3588) aleetheian (G225) en (G1722) adikia (G93) katechontoon (G2722)] - literally, 'who hold down' or 'stifle the truth in (or 'by') unrighteousness.' (Compare the use of the same word in Luke 4:40 - "stayed him," or 'held him back'-also in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7, "what withholdeth;" "he who now letteth," or 'hindereth.') So all critics understand the word here, and so all the ancient and nearly all modern versions but our own render it-`detain' the truth-or, as Calvin explains it, 'suppress' or 'obscure' it. But when he and Beza and Reiche render the words "in unrighteousness" by 'unjustly,' with a view (as he says) to perspicuity, they miss an important truth which nearly every other critic justly dwells on-namely, that the "unrighteousness" of the pagan world, or their depraved passions and practices, were the very element in which, and by means of which, the truth which they possessed was stifled-the light they enjoyed darkened. Thus are the pagan represented as having light, or possessing truth, even when left to themselves, without that revelation which the chosen people enjoyed; and yet as holding it down, suppressing or stiffing it, by and in their unrighteousness. Compare Matthew 6:22-23, "The light of the body is the eye: if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" And the action of this principle on the pagan mind is expressed in Ephesians 4:17-18, "That ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness ('hardness') of their heart."