Romans 1:18 KJV, does "who hold the truth in unrighteousness" refer to those who attend churches but do not believe in Jesus as Christ?

Question

"who hold the truth in unrighteousness" from KJV, to me, has totoally different context than "who suppress the truth by their wickedness" from NIV and many other translations.

Those who are against the truth, BY vs. IN unrighteousness, to me is the difference between those un-born Christians who does feel pain with their sins vs. all sinners in general.

If I understand the verse as the former case (Romans 1:18 refers to un-born again Christians still in sins, or no effort to move away from them), the the following verses all makes much more sense to me.

Wondering if this is because I am not an English native speaker who understands the "in" and "by", or there could be a profound differentiation. Can anyone share your thoughts on this?

Just listed some verses that make much more sense with the former perspective:

1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; 

1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator

2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

2:13 For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

2:21-23 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

3:5 But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)

3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

To me, all these verses (just some) above ask for our repentance, who are within churches but do not follow Jesus with full heart.

Answer 1

The operative verb in Rom 1:18 is κατέχω (katechó) = "hold fast". BDAG lists 8 separate meanings for this verb:

1. to prevent the doing of something, or cause to be ineffective, prevent, hinder restrain:

• (a) to hold someone back from going away, hold back, hinder, prevent, eg, Philm 13, Luke 4:42
• (b) hold down, suppress something, eg, Rom 1:18
• (c) to prevent someone from exercising power, restrain, eg, 2 Thess 2:6

2. to adhere firmly to traditions, convictions, or beliefs, hold to, hold fast:

• (a) keep in one's memory, 1 Cor 15:2
• (b) hold fast, retain faithfully, Luke 8:15, 1 Cor 11;2, 1 Thess 5:21

3. to keep in one's possession, possess, eg, Matt 21:38, 2 Cor 6:10, 1 Cor 7:30
4. to keep withing limits in a confining manner, confine:

• (a) in prison,
• (b) by law, Rom 7:6
• (c) by disease, Luke 4:38, John 5:4

5. to have a place as one's own, take into one's possession, occupy, Luke 14:9
6. lay claim to, as a legal technical term in Rom 1:18; the point is that a claim is made for truth which is denied in practice
7. hold course, Acts 27:40
8. perhaps, determine ...

Thus, according to BDAG, we may translate Rom 1:18 as either:

• For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, suppressing the truth by unrighteousness,
• For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, laying claim to the truth by unrighteousness [but denied in practice]

It is obvious that most versions have chosen the first option as the second option is unlikely, even according to BDAG.

Answer 2

That refers to mankind in general.

Romans 1:18-23 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

The context is key.

This refers to the unsaved, lost world in general, not only people who attend churches but refuse to believe on Christ.

Most churches do not even preach the correct Gospel; most preach works salvation, universalism, annihilationism, and other lies of the Devil. If you believe such things, how can you call yourself an actual church? You are no different than a Hindu temple, a Muslim mosque, and other false religions.

The point of Romans 1:18-23 is that God has already revealed Himself in nature with creation and everything. The large, complex world gives clear evidence to the existence of God; atheists and skeptics often argue that one cannot prove that God exists.

"Hold the truth in unrighteousness" simply means that mankind already has an understanding of the truth. Man, even in his fallen state, has an understanding of the truth that a righteous, Holy God exists and that He created the world.

However, fallen man has a tendency to hide from and deny this truth, similar to how Adam and Eve hid from God after they sinned.

Genesis 3:8-10 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

After Adam sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, he hid himself from God. Man does the same thing; he tries his best to ignore the plain evidence that is before his own eyes of a Holy God.

Instead, he creates his own gods, most of them patterned after animals, nature, and creation in general. Hinduism, for example, views cows as sacred and holy, and killing/consuming them is forbidden. The Ancient Egyptians worshipped the Sun, for instance.

Even pop culture worships nature, with phrases such as, "When you wish upon a star". This is nonsensical; a star cannot help you.

When man creates his own gods, he always creates a god that he can satisfy by himself, by his own works, in the form of keeping the commandments. Manmade gods never require 100% perfection to attain Heaven; they only require one to be "mostly good".

In summary, Romans 1 refers to fallen man who POSSESSES a knowledge of the truth but does his best to run from it. Similar to how Adam ran away from the Lord, fallen man does the same thing. He hides from his Creator and makes all sorts of excuses to pretend that the Creator does not exist. He does not want to face his own sin and the fact that he sinned against his Creator, because this brings shame.

"Hold the truth in unrighteousness" means that you have a knowledge of God's existence through creation. A complex world could not have evolved or come into existence with an explosion. The only reason why you could believe such nonsense is because you are hiding from God.

Answer 3

Literal translations of the Bible stick as closely as possible to the original language text, whereas modern translations like the NIV like to give an "up-to-date' modern meaning with some words and phrases, which they consider will help modern readers to get a better sense of the text. It would be helpful here to quote the text from an 1898 literal translation, but the whole sentence needs to be given, which starts in verse 17:

"For the righteousness of God in it [the good news of the Christ v.16] is revealed from faith to faith, according as it has been written, 'And the righteous one by faith shall live', for revealed is the wrath of God from heaven upon all impiety and unrighteousness of men, holding down the truth in unrighteousness." Young's Literal Translation Romans 1:17-18

This shows that it is all men being addressed, and while that would include all people claiming to be Christian, the scope of the text is far broader than just church-goers. 'They who...' incorporates all who effectively view themselves as having some form of righteousness, and who deny God's truth that "there is no-one righteous, no not even one." which the early chapters of Romans expounds.

I am not here to expound the meaning of Paul's lengthy exposition of God's righteousness (which those ones deny by clinging on to their own ideas of their own supposed righteousness), but two points might be worth mentioning.

First, the phrase "un-born again Christians" is a contradiction on terms. All Christians are born again (from above, by the Holy Spirit) irrespective of any misunderstandings or dislike of that phrase they may suffer from).

Second, the Bible speaks of the one Church that Christ builds up, which not even the gates of Hades can overcome. There is only that one Church.

But this question is significant, with massive implications going beyond the scope of the one verse in question. However, once it is seen that the text deals with all humanity, that should help clarify the overall meaning.

Answer 4

Look at the context. Paul matches the style of the Old Testament prophets in Romans 1:18-32 by starting with the condemnation of the Gentiles (Amos, Zephaniah, Zechariah 9). Thus, Paul started with the pagan Roman Empire in 1:18-32 and moves toward the Jews in chapter 3 to make the point that all are without excuse (1:20; 2:1) and the conclusion that:

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Rom. 3:23, ESV)

Note in 1:18 the contrast of "revealed" (Ἀποκαλύπτεται) and "suppress" (κατεχόντων). Perhaps even the psychology term repress would be good here. Paul's point is everyone knows about God:

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Rom. 1:19–20, ESV)

Paul also argued that everyone has a sense of morality:

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.  They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them... (Rom. 2:14–15, ESV)

Thus, Paul argued that the person who denies God's revelation is suppressing/repressing what he knows about God.

Answer 5

Thanks for those who read my question between lines, and especially Dottard to provide the BDAG explanations.

It seems many say that "who hold the truth in unrighteousness" includes both church-goers AND natural persons outside of churches.

This might be safe interpretation, however Pharisee or whoever staying within temple in the past, who were thinking they believe/worship God but NOT recognizing "God with us" (by crucifying Jesus on the cross) at all, could be the same group to, who go to church and believe God but not believe Jesus is the only way, truth and life to God.

I think we might not be able to find the correct conclusion using the limited number of Roman verses that we see today, but personally I had abundant holy sprit touches with my interpretation that the verse I mentioned refers to those dying within churches simply not repenting but still doing those things mentioned 1:18-1:32.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
since 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 what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
 
    
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.
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.
 
    
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over 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 ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;
 
    
they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Especially the last line at verse 32, "Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

I am not sure if we can say natural persons outside of church really know God's righteous decree (simply through nature or spaces or etc).