I was pondering Romans 1 and 2, and how people know what is wrong and choose to do it anyway, that they know God is real but refuse to acknowledge Him. I'll share some of the context of this passage here:
Romans 1:18-32 (ESV) - The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.
For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. Likewise, the men abandoned natural relations with women and burned with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful. They invent new forms of evil; they disobey their parents. They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.
I've heard it asked before, how could they know? How could someone know what's right or wrong if nobody tells them? Well, Genesis 2 and 3 make that pretty clear. The first sin was to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:16-17 - And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
Genesis 3:4-7 “You will not surely die,” the serpent told the woman. “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.
This first sin then opened people's eyes to see and know what is good and what is evil. That's been passed down ever since throughout all of humanity. People can see God's character and movement in the world, see the world He made, and still choose futility and darkness (or as king Solomon said, vanity). Since they refuse God, He allows them to fall deeper and deeper into evil and encourage others to do the same. It always saddens me to hear somebody say, without regret, that they know they're going to hell, but they refuse to change from evil towards righteousness despite knowing and acknowledging the truth.
This is why, at least part of how I see it, God is righteous in His judgment and condemnation. Even if a person has never been told what sin is, they have an innate understanding of what's good and what's evil, and some choose the lies and evil. Romans 2 even comforts that those who haven't heard God's law, but still seek to live in righteousness and listen to conscience even without ever being told something is a sin, God will take that into account when He judges people's hearts and actions in the end times. He knows whether someone's heart is self-centered and will judge unrighteousness, and He knows who lives in integrity and righteousness, even when no one else sees it. Here's a passage from Romans 2 for context (sidenote: the terms Gentiles and Greeks are referring to non-Jewish people, since God made specific promises to the Jews, like that Jesus would come through their lineage).
Romans 2:6-16 - God “will repay each one according to his deeds.” To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Greek. For God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous. Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. So they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or defending them on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Christ Jesus, as proclaimed by my gospel.
This whole concept reminds me of Job. Job's story is from before God gave His commandments to the Jews, yet he was deemed righteous. How could Job be considered righteous? Well, he knew what was good and righteous vs. what is evil, and he chose the former to honor God. That knowledge applies to everyone in Noah's time, when the world was so filled with evil that Noah was considered the only righteous man, hence God wiped everyone out and saved Noah and his family alone. It applies to the times when the Jews had lost the books of the law and did whatever they saw fit. So why wouldn't it be true today as well? People still know what's good and what's evil, but they choose how to live based on their personal decisions and convictions, deciding to either listen to their consciences or reject the truth. God sees all of that. Nobody is out of the scope of who God can tell whether their heart is for Him or not, and nobody can truly deceive God into thinking they're a "good person" while living in unrighteousness, even if they can fool everybody else around them. God is just in deciding to pour judgment on the wicked who may never have been told He's real, but who have the capacity to see God's invisible qualities, who can acknowledge what is right and wrong based on moral conviction or acknowledgement that causing harm to others is wrong, which many nonbelievers would even agree with whether they live by those truths or not.
The other piece I see to this is that God knows who perseveres in doing good and who doesn't. Many people might say they're a "good person", but still do things that they know are ungodly and justify them, such as exchanging the glory of God for images of this world—how often do we do the same by seeking answers from the internet or AI, or pursuing social media or tv shows for comfort, instead of seeking and pursuing God? And that's without even getting into porn or the sexual sins Romans 1 talks about—or continuing to live in lies and gossip, or really just seeking selfish pursuits instead of seeking God. He knows that the "good person" is really not all that good if they're not pursuing and living by the truth. But to the one who truly seeks? They'll find God. Even sometimes when people aren't actively seeking, they find God.
Proverbs 8:17 - I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
Isaiah 65:1-2 - I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, "Here I am, here I am," to a nation that was not called by my name. I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices,
God constantly pursues people and wants them to seek Him back, and He knows those who truly seek and find Him vs. those who claim to seek God and still choose the world's ways over Him. He wants everyone to accept Him, and that's why He is so gracious towards people who repent from and reject sin, who pursue God, and who honor Him with their lives. He's eagerly knocking on the doors of people's hearts and hoping people will both answer His knocking and pursue Him back.
Revelation 3:20-21 - Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
God is not only trying to get our attention, but if we hear Him and listen to what He's telling us, then regardless of whether we've ever been told the truth by another person, we can still know what God wants and choose to join Him in the ever-abundant blessings that He has in store, waiting to give freely to whoever accepts and glorifies Him. Praise God for His graciousness in that!
All this to say, people inherently know what's right and wrong, and it's up to each person to decide if they'll truly live in righteousness and seek God, so they can find Him and live for His glory, or if they'll choose sin and evil despite knowing it's wrong, possibly even justifying their behaviors to seem good in spite of the truth. Which brings me to my last pondering on this matter: what do you choose? Do you choose to pursue what you know is right and seek God, or choose evil and ignore God's efforts to get your attention?
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