Romans 3:1-20
Verse 1: Here Paul is bringing up the questions that many Jews need to come face to face with. They need to realize that because of Christ and what He did, we as humans no longer have to live by the law of the world, but by the law of God. And in this verse Paul asks the Jews “what the value of being a Jew is and what the value of circumcision is?” the point that Paul is trying to make with these two questions is that beyond the boundaries of the society during that time, what profit or gain did the Jewish people get from being a ethical Jew or being physically circumcised? The point that Paul wants to make with an answer is that NO neither of those things have any eternal matter or value. The only value they have is the place you fit into in your own society. The same thing goes for us today, man’s law does not save us. Only God does, through Christ because of the unconditional love He has for us and showed to us through Christ.
Verse 2: here Paul does acknowledge the value of being a Jew. But he does not make it sound like it is something that will pay off or have value in Eternity. All he says is that yes, it does have value because they are God’s chosen people and were able to see many things from God Himself and the lineage of Jesus was passed down through Jewish people. The only value that the Jews had for simply being Jews is that they were able to receive God’s special revelation in the OT.
Verses 3-4: These two verses show how God is so faithful to us. The Jews, I believe, were one of the most stubborn and hard-headed people group ever created. They would never listen to God whether it be through His word or His servants. The Jews were notorious for going and doing their own thing without a care in the world for what it would cost them. But, even though they were unfaithful to God more times than they were faithful, God remained faithful to them, His love for them never changed. It remained the same. In v. 4 Paul quotes Psalm 51:4. According to my ESV Study Bible, the psalmist is acknowledging his guilt before God “so that” God’s justice in all he does will be clear. The point that Paul is trying to make here is that yes, we will be judge by God, but He is going to be just about it. He is going to judge us based on what we were raised with knowing about His law.
Verses 5-6: Paul is using these two verses to make an argument or to prove one. He wants it to be made clear that God is JUST and God is the ONLY one who has the right to judge; And that because we are all sinful people, God’s holiness is able to be seen more because it is like a bright light shining into a dark room. That is what Paul means when he says that God’s righteousness will be made clearer.
Verses 7-8: Here Paul is beginning to battle the argument about whether or not our sin brings glory to God. The answer is no, our sin is NOT glorifying to the Father. It is very distasteful to Him. But what causes Paul to have to deal with this is the fact that other religious figures think that since God is all about forgiving us then the more we sin the more He has to forgive which leads to more glory to Him. But that is not necessarily true. What is true is that God will forgive us but we don’t need to sin in order to bring God glory because it simply does not. It is very important for us as believers to realize that we do not need to take the grace of God and His mercy for granted. I feel that more often than not, especially in American churches that God and His attributes are taken for granted at least 75% of the time, probably more. It is a problem. And American Christians need to wake up and realize it because if we don’t then we’re gonna be in trouble. This makes me think of the Casting Crowns song “While You Were Sleeping” in the song the artist talks about how people in Bethlehem were fast asleep when Jesus was born and then in Jerusalem when He was crucified and then ends in America when Jesus raptures the church.
Verse 9: Here, Paul is beginning to introduce how everyone is a sinner; no one is better than the other or more righteous than the other. One thing that we need to remember with the Jewish population is that even though God has promised to fulfill his saving promises to the Jewish people, they do not posses any inherent advantages, for they too are under the power of sin. It is very important for us to remember that we need to completely understand that we are sinful and that there is no way out of our sinfulness except through Christ. He is our only hope.
Verses 10-12: Here Paul is actually quotes from 14:1-3 that everyone is a sinner and NO ONE is holy or righteous. Paul says in v. 11 that no one understands. What he means by that, in my opinion is that no one can understand just how holy God is and how pure and perfect He is. But on the flipside, I don’t know if anyone can truly understand just how sinful they are. Many people define sin based on the 10 Commandments. However, they never consider how Christ explains just how deep the 10 Commandments go. For example, one of the 10 Commandments is that murder is wrong. But Christ points out that even if you have just felt hatred towards someone in your heart that you have committed murder. Basically He is saying that feeling the emotion of hate towards someone is just as bad as pulling the trigger on that person. One of the biggest things that Jesus talks about that I think we need to understand is when He talks about the deeper parts of murder and adultery. It is vital that we as believers understand that there is a lot of sanctification that needs to happen in the inside of us; in our hearts and minds in order for us to become more and more like Christ. Paul then says that no one seeks God. And that is so true! With Christianity it is God who is reaching down to the people, not people reaching up to God. God pursues us to come into a relationship with His Son Jesus so that communion with Him may be restored. God does this because He loves us. Even when we as people don’t want to have anything to do with God He still continues to pursue us. It’s kind of like a boy that grows up a die-hard Carolina fan, but Duke is doing hard-core recruiting for a sport for the athlete. The athlete may not want to go to Duke but Duke may have the better offer to get his education paid for and be able to continue perfecting his skill at athletics. It’s the exact same with God, He is what is best for us, even though at times we may not agree with that statement, it’s true and unchanging. Paul continues on into v.12 saying that “all have turned aside; together they have become worthless;” here, he is again talking about the human race and how we have each turned our backs on God and have become filled with sin. And through being unholy we are in no shape to do anything for God and His glory until we die to ourselves and give our all to Him. Paul ends v. 12 saying that “no one does good, not even one.” It just compliments what he says right before that. Sinful human beings cannot do anything good because it is not in their nature to do so.
Verses 13-14: Here Paul hits it hard with just how much sin can come from our mouths. I know from experience just how much damage can be done when someone lets their “alligator mouth run all over their tadpole butt” that’s a saying my mom taught me. It’s something that I try to remember. I generally do my best to think about what I say before I say it. Every now and then I will slip up and make a mistake. But Paul totally tells it like it is in these two verses about our mouths. Definitely two verses that I want to remember.
Verses 15-18: Here Paul is discussing other ways that sin and evil can be committed. He is considering the impact of evil in terms of actions and in society. Human history is marked with murdered and war fare. Sinners leave in their wake devastation, run and misery. Instead of knowing peace they have sown disorder and confusion in the world. Unless we are constantly pursuing Christ it can be very easy to fall into the traps of misery and ruin due to our own inward and even outward shame. But if we are pursuing Christ then He is constantly refining us to be more like Him and conforming us to His image, which is our number one calling as believers. Paul ends with that we as a sinful population do not fear God. This is what causes us to sin. We do not recognize God for who He really is and therefore we do not respect Him or as Paul says, “fear” Him so we continue to sin. This is an issue. This is why God allows things to happen to show that He is the one in ultimate control and the one who judges and makes all things new. This is why we must learn to fear God.
Verse 19: Here Paul is letting us know that when judgment day comes around there will be no time for us to explain why we did what we did. We will just sand before God and He will lay it all out for us and show us what we did wrong based on the law that He did provide for us in His word and guidance that He provided through His Holy Spirit for believers.
Verse 20: The law that this verse is talking about is the law given by God to the people. When we do not follow God’s law we fall short and fall into sin. And through learning more and more about the law and what it all means we become more conscious of the sin in our lives and the need for repentance and dependence on God. This is why it is important to constantly be diving into Scripture and conforming to the image of Christ so that we will become conscious of our sin so that we won’t commit it again. And become more sanctified through the work of Christ in our lives.
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