Introduction

The thesis statement of this essay, laconically stated in the title, is derived from Romans 1:18-21.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 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. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

It’s easy to look around and see the many ways truth is suppressed in modern America. Corporations, governments, universities, media, and publishers actively censor the truth. But to apprehend the faculties and impulses of truth suppression, we must account for the propensity of the human soul to suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). This propensity, combined with God’s natural revelation, produces a paradoxical something—that man acts antithetical to the God of creation.

Framed theologically, the paradox is because (A) Man is made in God’s image (i.e. imago dei), and (B) Man inherits Adam’s sinful nature. Original sin doesn’t undo the imago dei, but it does mean that man exercises an overwhelming tendency to rebel against God. There is combativeness inside the human heart. Persons see the truth of a created world and suppress that truth. The imp of suppression is atomized in a thousand ways. For example, when a person desires wellness but then makes daily choices antagonistic to wellness, anosognosia sets in—the belief that one is well when one is ill.

Truth Suppression

Man perceives the sky and space; the stars, the cuckoo flower, the children, and all the people. In this, he learns about God’s invisible attributes. Man’s dreams include not a mere world, but God’s world. When creation confronts him with the divine nature of God (Rom. 1:20) a wonderful feeling springs up—forgetfulness of self. The person who lives in God’s world is capable of comprehending God. Paul says, “They knew God” (Rom. 1:21). When his soul is open he contemplates the numberless enjoyments that creation offers and becomes a millionaire of intelligence. But it is man’s sinful nature to suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18).

What does it mean that people suppress the truth in unrighteousness? It starts with the fact that truth exists. People are made in God’s image and have certain embedded knowledge in their hearts, profound knowledge about the world and the God who made it. It is the knowledge that is “plain to them” (Rom. 1:19). In nature, there is revealed knowledge. To manifest the image of God is to manifest a certain knowledge of God, including the natural principles of morality (Rom. 2:12-16), which begin with the existence of God, the Creator of the world.

There is a law of God that is revealed in nature that reveals God’s power and divinity (Rom. 1:19f). When people refuse to worship God, they have broken the law in such a way that they are “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). Who gave this natural revelation? God, the lawgiver. Philip Melanchton defines the law of nature as “the knowledge of the divine law implanted in the nature of man.”[1] Yet, that which is evident within them is suppressed. The unrighteousness of man causes him to not employ his moral instrumentalities nor elicit moral ideas. Suppression is excused on fiendish grounds. God is dead! Truth is relative! Religion is disputed! Love is love!

Because of original sin, people are untethered from God. This doesn’t mean that sin prevents man from worshipping—man is incapable of not worshipping. It means that sin distorts the human heart from desiring to worship God.[2] Sin makes the mind futile, the understanding darkened, and the life alienated from God (Eph. 4:17f). This ignorance can’t be remedied by mere education or information increase. Willed ignorance desensitizes the moral sense. It produces a hardened state of heart. So it’s not just that people make bad decisions. They do wrong and know better. They decide to live for themselves while suppressing the truth of what is good for them.

People accommodate lies because of congeniality to foolishness (Rom. 1:21f). For example, a man seduced by hook-up culture foolishly sacrifices his spiritual and moral fitness. He justifies foolishness, saying, “It is fun to collect more and more sexual conquests.” He is living according to the trappings of animal appetites, with no roots in the order of meaning, no sense of responsibility to moral integrity, and no clue as to what makes for happiness. The woman who is the conquest—not realizing she is being used by the fool—suppresses the truth too. Look what rampant sexual immorality produces. Here she is, living on the verge of madness with her college education, full-time job, and numerous sexual partners. She is dashing to the druggist, then collapsing on the doorstep of the psychologist and all the time congratulating herself that she is superior to the oppressed women of olden times.[3] Both sides of hook-up culture accommodate the lie, which is why both sides are not just “foolish” (Rom. 1:21), but demoralized.

Why does truth suppression continue even though it leads to unhappiness? One reason is because of rampant ideology. Ideology collectivizes utilitarian individualism. The goal of ideology is to bring people into the corporate participation of suppression. This is the most efficient way for the Arch-fiend to dehumanize the populace. The ideologue trumpet-tongues about identity, diversity, and inclusion. It is suppression hidden behind slogans.

Conclusion

The wholeness of the Kingdom of God breaks preconceived boundaries of suppression. God’s Spirit blows where he will, dispenses grace how he will, and uses Natural Revelation as he will,  namely, as preparatory for salvation. If you can’t grasp that you live in a created world, how can you have a relation to the Creator? To the degree that nature reveals the Creator, it turns the human will toward aspiration. Mechanistic impersonality strips the soul bare and makes it hideous. God’s world, though, produces inexpressible yearnings toward the Creator. Nature is vast. It is full of vast forms full of illuminations, counsels, perspectives, and horizons. The human being that observes the vast forms as he ought—as God’s creation—is a resolute person, good-natured yet firm, a builder of futures with a heart full of plans, projects, prides, and ideas. Why is he this way? Because he “clearly perceives” the Creator (Rom. 1:20). And to “clearly perceive” the Creator is to receive the patrimony of purpose.

God’s world reveals the eternal character and attributes of the Triune God. Through Scripture, God’s image bearers learn more about God than just his invisible attributes. They learn that Christ died and was resurrected. And they learn that by faith in Christ, they can be resurrected. Christ learned to live in the truth while government officials entrapped and killed him (Heb. 5:8). He learned that living by the truth meant dying on a cross. The Sanhedrin learned that living by lies meant nailing God to the cross. In Adam, we suppress the truth in unrighteousness. In Christ, we suppress falsehood in righteousness.

One way to think about the gospel is as Christ’s transformative act of un-suppressing his people. God’s people are freed by the discovery of wholeness in Christ. It’s the resurrection principle of entelechy that new eyes see old truths: The real presence of universal meaning, the order and constitution of nature, a prima mobilia reality, a supererogating design, a miraculous incarnation, a mysterious marriage, an unimpeachable union, a reconciled propensity, and a knowledge once suffocated is now consummated.

[1] Philip Melanchton, Loci (3), CR 21, 712.

[2] Brian Fikkert & Kelly M. Kapic, Becoming Whole: Why the Opposite of Poverty Isn’t the Amerian Dream (Moody, 2019), 172.

[3] G.K. Chesterton, In Defense of Sanity (Ignatius, 2011), 196-199.