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[Bob Ross]

What does it mean to "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom 1:18)?

I know there's a common reading of Romans 1:18-20 that says that everyone, even non-believers, know that God exists because of what has been revealed. I have some general ideas, but I would like to know what insight scholars have on the idea of who the "people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (to use the NASB) are. Was this referring to persecutors of the early church, or other opponents of Paul and his gospel?

[jimwalton]

It refers to all humans in general.

A.T. Robertson says it's "wicked men" in general. (Word Pictures in the NT, Vol. 4 p. 328). Regarding the "them" in v. 19, he writes, "God has made himself known in their hearts and consciences." Again, general reference of all people.

Johan Bavinck generalizes it also: "We should translate it repress: the process by which unacceptable desires or impulses are excluded from consciousness and thus being denied direct satisfaction are left to operate in the unconscious. Anything that goes contrary to the accepted patterns of life or to the predominant popular ideas may be repressed."

Francis Schaeffer (Death in the City p. 102) generalizes it: "Paul is saying that men—because they hold their presuppositions as an implicit faith—hold some of the truth about themselves and about the universe, but they do not carry these things to their logical conclusions because they contradict their presuppositions. Therefore, they hold a portion of the truth, but they hold it in unrighteousness. They must hold some of the truth about themselves and the universe, for they must live in the universe as God made it, but they refuse to carry these truths to their reasonable conclusions because, whether they live in the ancient or the modern world, they adhere to their false presuppositions."

Daniel Strange (“For their Rock is not Our Rock…” JETS 56/2 (June 2013), p. 381-382) generalizes it to people in general: "God’s general revelation impinges on us, compelling us to listen, but it is at the same time pushed down and repressed."

R.C. Sproul speaks of it as universal human guilt before God.

St. Augustine implies it speaks of all humans: "How does Paul mean they are without excuse except by reference to a kind of excuse that usually prompts human pride to voice such protestations as: 'But if only I had known'?" (“Grace and Free Will,” 59.252)

Ambrosiaster also (CSEL 81.41): The very structure of the cosmos indicts and calls all beholders to repentance. "Although the power and majesty of God cannot by themselves be tangibly seen by the eyes of the creature, they may be known by the working of the structure of the world. In this way God indicts those who lived against the law, whether natural or Mosaic. For by the habit of sinning they treaded upon the law of nature, wiping out any memory of Him. They did not want to accept the law, which had been given for their reformation, and thus were doubly condemned. His power and deity are eternally revealed, so they are without excuse."

Origen (Commentarii) also generalizes it to all humans: "Humans know this truth by the natural and God-given powers of the mind. Enough wisdom is given to them so that they might know what may be known of God by apprehending the invisible things from those things which can be seen by using the powers of human thought. For this reason God’s judgment is just on those who, before the coming of Christ, could have known God, but instead turned away from Him and fell into worshiping images of men and animals."