Romans1vs19thru32.pdf

The first section of the “2nd half” of the main body of Romans, 1:19-3:20, extends naturally and directly from 1:18,  “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”  The reader may remember that the  “1st half” of the main body is the short check list in 1:8-18 (c.f., entry for June 30, 2008).  In fact, v 18 and 19-32 function as a unit, except the two are semantically distinguished by the conjunction dioti (“because”), which is used twice in this section to show two reasons God’s wrath is revealed from heaven.  The first reason (v 19-20) is because the truth about God is clear.  The second, larger, reason, (v 21-32) is because humanity has suppressed the truth by their wickedness (utilizing the theme from v 18b).  Each dioti section has its own chiastic structure.  The organization of both is apparent from the outline given above.  The reader should note that the reference to “Homo” several times in the outline is simply an abbreviation for “homosexual” because of space limitations (and so it is not used in a crude or pejorative sense).