Notes from N.T. Wright’s work, The Day the Revolution Began.

In Romans, Wright draws attention to what we’ve done with Paul in this letter, and what Paul might actually be saying in this letter. 

Rom. 1:18 — The problem is not “sin,” but ungodliness. It is a failure not of behavior, but of worship. We end up worshiping the wrong divinity and we cease to reflect God’s wise order in the world. We will reflect the distortion.

We end up swapping the truth for a lie (Rom. 1:18-26).

“Sin” is not just “doing things God has forbidden.” It is, as we saw, the failure to be fully functioning. God-reflecting human beings. That is what Paul sums up in 3:23: all sinned and fell short of God’s glory. He is referring to the glory that, as true humans, they should have possessed.

We have missed our vocation. We have fallen short of God’s glory. We have become our own gods. Our worship is distorted.