<p>1:18&nbsp;<i>For the anger of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men</i>- it will be revealed from Heaven at the Lord&rsquo;s return, and yet in a sense, judgment is now, God&rsquo;s feelings about sin aren&rsquo;t restrained or passive until judgment day, they are revealed even now.</p><p><i>Who hinder the truth in unrighteousness</i>- Or, &quot;hold&quot;. The point has been made that the Greek word for &ldquo;hold&rdquo; can mean &lsquo;to hold down&rsquo; in the sense of repressing the Truth. But apart from the fact that Truth can ultimately never be held down, the word does carry the possible meaning of holding fast, possessing, retaining, and is translated like this in places. It could be that there were some in the Roman ecclesia who did indeed possess the Truth, but did so in unrighteousness- and thus God&rsquo;s wrath was especially against such people. This would fit in with the impression we have from the other NT letters, including those of the Lord Jesus to the churches in Revelation, that there was serious, gross misbehaviour going on in the early churches- and Rome would be no exception. This group of people were those to whom God had shown the truth about Himself (1:19). The following verses go on to allude to Israel&rsquo;s perversions in the wilderness- and they were a people who knew God rather than ignorant Gentiles. This group know God but don&rsquo;t glorify Him (1:21).</p><p>If we insist on understanding &lsquo;hold&rsquo; as meaning &lsquo;hold down the conscience of the truth&rsquo; on account of their unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18 Gk.), we can connect this with the statement that when this group come to know God, they darken their foolish hearts (1:21). And so it was with the preaching of the Gospel in Acts. Those who heard it were pricked in their conscience: some responded by wanting to kill the preachers (Acts 5:33; 7:54); others followed their conscience and accepted baptism (Acts 2:37). We too have our hearts pricked by the Gospel- and we either effectively shut up the preaching, or respond.</p>