“Is our grace age, which Paul calls ‘this present evil world [age]’ (Gal. 1:4), worse than the time of Nimrod or what is seen in Romans 1:18-32?”

This age is evil. Every dispensation or age in man’s history has been evil. Every age has demonstrated that the heart of mankind “is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9), that people are sinners in need of the Lord. I don’t think our age is worse than the time of Nimrod or what is seen in Romans 1:18-32, but rather very similar. Romans 1:18-32 sounds like a commentary on our times! Mankind doesn’t change. Mankind has been evil, is evil, and will be evil.

News of mankind’s wickedness shouldn’t completely shock the believer. Rather, it should immediately remind us of people’s need for Christ and His salvation, and our need to be “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16). Faith in Christ brings new life and can bring transformation to people’s lives, so that they might live “in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Eph. 5:9).

Paul calls it “this present evil world” to impress upon us the glory of our deliverance from it by Christ and His Cross. Galatians 1:4 shows us “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world.” Knowledge of this hope is to cause us to react with thanksgiving and praise to our Savior, “To Whom be glory for ever and ever” (Gal. 1:5), and “that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:15).

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

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