Twisted Thinking and a Darkened Heart
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:21
Humanity was made to know, love, worship and serve its creator God. That always was and always will be the way to healthy and fruitful human living. But this demands humility, a willingness to let God be God, to honour Him as such and acknowledge His power in and over the world. Paul says humanity has not lost this sense of God’s power and deity but has chosen to suppress this truth instead of honouring Him and giving Him thanks. This observation will be at the back of Paul’s thinking when in chapter 4 he describes how the faith of Abraham (and of Christians) does in fact give God this honour and gratitude, and by doing so, reveals itself as the sign of the renewal of humanity.
‘For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened’ (1:21). When Paul writes ‘although they knew God’ he is not for a moment thinking the ‘natural’ world has brought a full and personal knowledge of God to anyone. He notes in his letters that God can only be known fully through Christ (Galatians 4:8; 1 Thessalonians 4:5; 2 Thessalonians 1:8). He is thinking of the limited knowledge of God available to everyone through the general revelation of the ‘natural’ world.
What begins as humans suppressing the truth about God continues, not as we might expect, with evil behaviour, (that will soon follow), but with distorted thinking and a darkened heart (‘their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened’ [1:21]) There are healthy ways of thinking and unhealthy ways. The ability to think doesn’t guarantee right answers or a right lifestyle.
‘For … their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened’ (1:21). Along with twisted thinking is a darkened heart. The human heart was seen by many ancient thinkers as the seat of motivation. It should be a source of light but when humans rebel against God, it becomes darkened. We can’t see that our own heart is darkened (‘although they claimed to be wise, they became fools’ [1:22]) The underlying point (repeated in v.32) is that people can do something, thinking it is wise and good, and be completely wrong. This doesn’t mean moral standards are relative, but it does mean we can be deceived, especially when our own interests and desires are involved.
Suppressing the truth about God leads to distorted thinking which, left to itself, leads to a darkened heart. In the New Testament, the ‘heart’ is given a broad meaning. It embraces the thinking, feeling and willing of a human being, especially in regard to our responsibility to God. Paul can write of the heart being ‘without understanding’ (1:31), dark at its very centre with a darkness that only the light of the gospel can penetrate.