^ Here's a quote by William Kelly on the matter of
verse 18 (Rom1:
18):
[quoting Wm Kelly]
"Again, this verse [
v.18] is not, as some suppose, limited as a preface to the proof of Gentile depravity;
it is rather the thesis in brief, which is opened out in the rest of Romans 1, 2, 3, down to verse 21, which resumes the treatment of God's righteousness, and begins the details of that which we had in
Romans 1:17.
I understand, therefore, that verse 18 gives first the general description of human ungodliness in every phase, and then the unrighteousness which was at that time most conspicuous in the Jews who combined with practical injustice a tenacious hold or possession of the truth: the former demonstrated to the end of Romans 1;
the latter (after the transition of
Romans 2:1-16.) pursued from
Romans 2:17 to
Romans 3:20.
Had this two-fold aspect been apprehended in the verse before us, the rendering of the Authorized Version would not have been deserted for "restraining the truth by unrighteousness," which is a sense framed to meet the condition
of the heathen who were supposed here to be alone in the apostle's view. The same misconception wrought mischief in lowering the character both of the revelation of God's wrath from heaven, and of the truth in order to meet paganism. Admit the universal scope of the moral description
with a specific reference to those who held the truth in unrighteousness, and the sense which results is as easy as it is all-important,
the fitting introduction to the entire episode that follows till the apostle takes up his proper theme, God's righteousness revealed in the gospel.
"The apostle next proceeds to set forth the proofs of the guilt of men, because of which the wrath of God awaits them.
And first he takes up impiety, or the evil which characterized the vast majority of the world, as later on he addresses himself to that subtler iniquity which consisted in holding the truth along with practical unrighteousness, then found among Jews as now in Christendom. This division of the subject, it will be seen, is not only
closer to the language of the context but it preserves us from the mistake of such as attribute
a knowledge of "the truth" to the heathen as such.
In fact verse 19 begins with the earlier of the two classes of evil we have seen distinguished in verse 18, and the subject is pursued to the end of the chapter.
It is distinctively the Gentile portion, and presents the moral ground which necessitated and justified the unsparing judgment of God."
--William Kelly -
Romans 1 William Kelly Major Works Commentary (biblehub.com)
[end quoting; bold and underline mine]