So, we ended part one with the indictment from Rom. 3:1 that both Jews and Greeks are "all under sin..." This would have had a devastating effect upon Paul's Jewish readers. Their sense of national identity was powerfully tied into the fact that they had been called out from all the peoples of the world. The Gospel of John shows this over and over. God had chosen them to receive the Law, to remain set apart and He purposed through them to bring the Messiah into the world. God's choosing was just that; His choosing. It had nothing to do with their personal worthiness. Where they erred was in believing that God's sovereign choice of them meant they were, in fact, more holy than other nations, more acceptable to God based upon their adherence to the Mosaic covenant and their physical ancestry which led back to Abraham. The Gentiles were all considered to be sinners by the Jews. If we read on in Romans, we see that though the Jews rejected their true Messiah, mistakenly thinking that His kingdom was an earthly one, God is not finished with the Jewish people. He made a covenant with them, and unlike all of us, God never breaks His promises.
Paul continues in Romans 3, having made a clear statement that all the world is guilty before God and are under sin, showing us the mastery that sin has over the un-redeemed. Paul quotes King David from Psalm 14, "There is none righteous, not even one, there is none who understand; there is none who seeks for God, all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one..." And Psalm 5, "Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving..." And the reason for this is given in vs. 18. "There is no fear of God before their eyes." Then Rom. 3:23 "...for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God." I don't think that needs to be exposited. It is very clear, as is all of Scripture. All have sinned. Instead of feeling secure in their self-earned, self-focused righteousness, God's chosen people ought to have been the most aware of their fallen state, which was that of every other people and nation. Rom. 3:20b "...for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." Paul is revealing that it is the established Law of God, given in statutes and precepts, which gives definition to the sin we commit. The human nature is to rebel and to seek its own pleasure, to worship the self rather than God. When a law is given, then we understand that the thing we do naturally is a 'sin', is literally 'missing the mark', set by God Himself. Here is the indication that sin has a grip on the human soul that only Christ can break. Romans 7:5 "For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death." And vs. 7b,8. "...for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, 'you shall not covet.' But sin, taking every opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind." So, sin, by its very nature, is rebellion against the Law of God. The assertion of God's Law actually incites the sin nature to rebel. THIS is why salvation is necessary. This is why Jesus is the ONLY way to God. This is why the Tower of Babel didn't get to God, and the system of religious achievements, and the monastic way of life, and all the kind acts in the world, and attending church everyday, and so on and so forth. WE MUST BE REDEEMED OUT OF SLAVERY TO SIN. Romans 6:17,18 "But thanks be to God that though you were SLAVES OF SIN, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been FREED from sin, you became SLAVES of righteousness." This freeing of the believer from sin actually occurs through the death of the nature which is 'sin-enslaved'. Romans 7:4 "Therefore, my brethren (speaking to believers/Christians), you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God." Oh my goodness, what beautiful clarity and economy of words! It's through the body of Christ that we die to the system that revealed our sin to us but was unable to justify us, to satisfy the just and perfect anger of God directed against all unrighteousness. Romans 8:2 "For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did; sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh..." My pastor from a few years back symbolized this dying, burial, and resurrection when he baptized Christians by having the congregation repeat "Died with Christ, buried with Christ, raised with Christ!" as the one being baptized was immersed and then brought up. READ Romans 6:1-14 Well, here end Part II. Part III will delve into the account of the Fall in Genesis 3:1-7, so read it, and then check back in a couple days. Thanks!
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