“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18 ESV).
The next characteristic that elicits the wrath of God is unrighteousness. “Unrighteousness” is a wide-ranging term that encompasses various forms of injustice, inappropriate conduct, or violations of the law. (1) Synonymous terms for unrighteousness include words such as iniquity, falsehood, deceitfulness, wickedness and/or wrongdoing. (2) With these things in mind, we can say that “unrighteousness” is associated with an array of inappropriate attitudes and behaviors.
On a personal level, unrighteousness refers to what you are, while ungodliness refers to who you are. To put it another way, ungodliness is primarily internal, while unrighteousness is primarily external. This order makes logical sense, for an ungodly person is sure to express that characteristic through his or her unrighteous interactions with others.
Unrighteousness is certain to follow ungodliness for another good reason. Once our vertical relationship with God is damaged or marred, it will surely impact our horizontal relationship with others. One commentator discusses that dynamic in greater detail…
“Scholars with keen insight tell us this relates to the fact that the Ten Commandments were given on two tablets. The first tablet listed four commandments that governed man’s relationship with God. There were six commandments on the second tablet that governed man’s relationship with his fellow man… when Paul references the ‘ungodliness of men,’ he is referring to the violation of the first four commandments. In other words, when man violates the first four commandments he is guilty of ungodliness…
Since the six commandments on the second tablet govern the relationships of God’s people, when Paul references ‘unrighteousness,’ he is addressing the violation of the six commandments that are on the second tablet. When the people of God fail to do what is right in their relationships, they are guilty of unrighteousness.” (3)
Finally, ungodliness and unrighteousness lead us to violate what Jesus identified as the two greatest commandments…
“And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test him: ‘Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands'” (Matthew 22:35-40 CSB).
So, ungodliness is related to one’s failure to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Unrighteousness is related to one’s failure to “love your neighbor as yourself .” These characteristics also lead to an additional response that we’ll examine next.
(1) See G93 – adikia – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (kjv). (n.d.). Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g93/kjv/mgnt/0-1/
(2) adikia. (n.d.). billmounce.com. https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/adikia
(2) Dick Woodward, Mini Bible College Booklet Twenty-Nine The Book Of Romans Verse By Verse (part one) [pg.17-18] https://mbc.icm.org/