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Romans Chapter 4 The Universal Sin Problem

Romans Chapter 4 The Universal Sin Problem In our last two studies, we examined the sin problem as it was expounded by the apostle Paul in Romans 1:18 to Romans 3:8 in which he clearly showed us that both the Gentiles and the Jews are sinners. Now, we come to the conclusion of this study in Romans 3:9 to 20 where Paul finalizes his argument on the sin problem as a prerequisite to the introduction to the gospel. This passage has some very important lessons for us. Paul, remember, began in Romans 1:18 by telling us that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. Then he proves that man by very nature is anti God. He does not want to retain God in his mind. Even though he knows about God he turns his back to Him and tries to live without Him. The result, of course, is that man's life becomes one of sin. As Paul expounded this first section on the sin problem, as he evaluated the Gentile world under sin, he could imagine the Jews in the congregation nodding their heads in agreement. In Romans 2, Paul turns his attention to the Jews, to his own fellow men, and tells them that they are no better than the Gentiles even though the Jews had an advantage. He told them, “Yes, you have the oracles of God but the fact that you have the knowledge of the law has not made you any better than the Gentiles.” Now, having painted this dark, dismal, hopeless picture of Jews and Gentiles, he brings this whole matter to a conclusion in Romans 3:9 to 20. Paul, in these last few verses regarding the sin problem, is describing something which is not only ancient history but a truth that applies to us today living in our modern age. A survey was made in three major cities in America. The first was Pittsburgh, the second Des Moines and third Seattle. The three cities had similar reports. The report brought out that one third of the population are currently affiliated with a church. This means two thirds of the residents of Seattle feel that they do not need a God. In fact, in this survey, most people believe that human beings can live good and proper lives without a formal religious structure. Oh! how they need to read and understand what Paul is saying in Romans 1:18 to Romans 3:1 to 20. What was true of Seattle was basically true of the other two cities. These participants felt that through proper human interactions, through proper education, people can live full and morally upright lives. In other words, they could live a good life without God. This is our modern, sophisticated world in which we live. If what these people said is true, the question we must ask them is “Why is crime rampant in our country? Why is crime on the increase?” Let us see what the Bible has to say in this section of Romans 3:9 to 20. We will begin by looking at this passage in a general way first and then in detail because we must understand what Paul says with regard to our universal sin problem. It is no use coming to God as we are unless we learn what Paul is saying about man's total depravity. From head to foot there is nothing good in us. Salvation is entirely a gift from our Lord Jesus Christ and that gift is acceptable only when man recognizes his total sinfulness. Paul now gives his conclusion of the subject he has been discussing in Romans 1:18 “What then are we better than they?” The “we” refers to the Jews; the “they” refers to the Gentiles. Paul is asking whether the Jews, discussed in chapter two of Romans, are better than the Gentiles, discussed in chapter one, verse eighteen to thirty two. Paul's answer, in Romans 3:9, is: “For we have previously proved or charged both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin.” Then to defend his conclusion, he puts together a stream of quotations from the Old Testament, mainly from Psalms but including Ecclesiastes, Proverbs and Isaiah. All these quotations from the Old Testament are basically the same. Romans 3:10 and 12 says that there is none righteous, not even one. There is none that doeth good, not even one. Man, in and of himself, is a slave to sin. This is what the phrase “under sin” means. Then, once Paul has proven this point, he now concludes, in verse 19 and 20, “Now we know that whatsoever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore (in view of these facts) by the deeds of the law (by the works of the law) no flesh (no human being) will be justified in his sight.” In other words, no human being will ever be able to make it to heaven on their own, whether a Jew or a Gentile. Every human being will be in heaven only because of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in God's sight. All the law can do, says Paul in Romans 3:20, is give us the knowledge of sin or convince us that we are sinners. Let us look at this passage in detail to see what Paul is telling us in concluding the subject of the sin problem. We will start at verse nine. “What then, are we Jews better than they (the Gentiles)?” Why does Paul make a distinction between Jews and Gentiles? Let us study what the difference is. Paul has told us that the Gentiles have a knowledge of the law but this knowledge of the law is not an explicit knowledge. It is only an implicit knowledge found in their consciences. They know in their consciences or by nature, what is right and what is wrong. But the Jews, over and above this natural knowledge, had the specific knowledge of the law given to them through Moses. But, this extra special knowledge did not make the Jews any better. Instead of the law convincing the Jews that they are sinners in need of a Savior, it did the very opposite. It made them a proud, self-righteous people. So they lost the blessings of the function of the law which was to lead them to Jesus Christ. Are we today any better than the Jews of Paul's day? Have we become a proud, self-righteous people? There are many Christians who look down upon unbelievers as lost sinners. Remember that all of us, believers or unbelievers, Jews or Gentiles, are sinners and our only hope is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is saying that, ultimately, there is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles even though one had a better advantage over the other. Both Jews and Gentiles are under sin. This brings us to the next point of Paul's meaning of the term “under sin.” It is a phrase that we do not use in modern English language. It was common in the slave society in which Paul lived. The word “under” was a term used for a slave who was under his master. The word “under” means to be ruled or dominated by. Therefore, Paul has proven that mankind, whether Jew or Gentile, is dominated or ruled by sin. Paul says in Romans 7:14: “The law is spiritual; but I (the “I” here is generic) am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.” We are by nature slaves to sin. Paul has proven this without a shadow of a doubt. He is pointing out that this is what God has clearly revealed in the Old Testament. The Jews had a knowledge of God but they were doing precisely the same things that the Gentiles were doing. If we look at the history of the Jews as recorded in the Old Testament, we will find that, even though God revealed Himself to them in a most wonderful way, their history is one of turning their backs to God. They worshipped false gods and idols. God corrected them as in the Babylonian captivity. Whether we are Jews or Gentiles, in our fallen sinful condition, we have a tendency to turn away from God. As Romans 3:12 says, “They have all gone out of the way.” Man, as in Paul's day, is also today trying to live independent of God. They have altogether become unprofitable, Paul says. There is none who does good, not even one. There is none who understands their actual condition so God has to open their eyes. Then, in Romans 3:19, having given this list of quotations from the Old Testament, Paul says, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.” The question is, “Has the law stopped our mouths? Have you come to the knowledge of your total sinfulness?” Paul is saying that the whole world is under the law but the fact is that the whole world is also under sin. When these are put together, human beings discover that they are under sin and under the law, both Jews and Gentiles. The result is that the whole world stands guilty before God. So we ask the question once again, “Has the law silenced our mouths?” This is the main function of the law. It is not the only function because the law was given by God as a standard of Christian living. Therefore, we must never read the law without reading the preamble to the law. In Exodus 20, God said to the Jews of the Exodus, “I am the Lord that delivered you from the house of bondage, therefore, this is how I want you to live.” Unless we are delivered from the bondage of sin, we cannot live a life that is in harmony with God's law because we are by nature slaves to sin. So the question is have we been silenced because we cannot go to Romans 3:21 where Paul introduces the wonderful message of the gospel unless first of all, the law has silenced our mouths. Paul clearly says, the gospel is not for good people. The gospel is not for people who are half good or three quarters good or who are doing their best. The gospel is for men and women who realize their total sinfulness, their total depravity. Has the law silenced our mouths or are we still talking or boasting of how good we are. This is the question we must ask ourselves. If it hasn't silenced our mouths, if we have not become undone by the law, then it is no use going to the good news of salvation because it will become a stumbling block to us. Paul is very forthright. The law must silence our mouths. The Jew who stood up and said, “I thank God I am not like that publican,” will never accept the gospel. It is a stumbling block to him. The gospel is a stumbling stone to any who thinks he is good or who says, “I thank God I am a good man. I pay my tithe. I go to church. I give alms to the poor. I help the needy. I am an honest Christian.” No, all those good things are profitable only if we are standing in a right relationship to God. Paul says that nobody has ever been able to keep the law. By this he means the spirit of the law. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no human being will ever make it to heaven. We need to pause here to ask the question, “Why did God give the Jews the law over their conscience convicting them of good and evil?” “Why did God sidetrack them from their journey to Canaan and go in a direction that was almost opposite to the Sinai Peninsula? And why did He, through Moses, give them the law? It was not an added requirement for salvation.” The law was given that they might recognize that they are sinners in need of grace. God never gave the law as a means of salvation. This was a perversion made by the Jews of the Exodus. Nowhere will you find in Scripture that God ever gave the law as a means of salvation. He gave the law that we human beings, Jews and Gentiles, may have the knowledge of sin. Using the law as a means of salvation is a false teaching. There are some Christians who believe that, from Moses to Christ, God gave the law as a method of salvation. They say that, because this failed, God did away with that system and introduced salvation by grace through Jesus Christ. No, there is not one or two or three ways that God has for saving man. There is only one way that genuinely saves man. It is through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The law was never given to save man. A good text to look at is Galatians 2:16 where Paul reminds Peter, “By the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in God's sight.” (see also Romans 3:20) God never gave the law as a means of salvation. We are emphasizing this because there are too many today who think that salvation is by faith plus works. Yes, genuine justification by faith does produce works but our works do not contribute one iota towards our salvation. Secondly, God never gave the law to retain our salvation in Christ. There are some Christians who believe that they are justified by faith but if they are to maintain that salvation, if they are to maintain that justification, then they must obey the law. In other words, they believe God saved them, forgave them, gave them the Holy Spirit but now God says to them, “I want you to be good otherwise I will punish you.” No, from beginning to end, man is saved by faith alone. In Galatians 3:17 to 25, Paul is asking the Galatian Christians who had accepted a perverted gospel, that is, salvation by faith plus works, “Why did God give the law 430 years after He promised salvation as a gift to Abraham and to his seed?” The law was given that we may have the knowledge of sin and convince us that we are transgressors. Jeremiah 17:9 says, our hearts are deceitful, so God has to expose our sins. He has to expose that we have the nature of sin and He does this by opening up the lid of our respectability as mentioned in our last study and showing us what we are inside. Paul knows this through his own experience. Paul was a Jew himself. He was raised with the idea that he could save himself through the law. He brings this out in Romans 7:7 to 13. He had not fully understood the true function of the law as a Pharisee but in Romans 7:9, Paul says, “When the commandment came, (when I understood the true purpose of the law), sin revived and I died.” He was taught in Judaism, that the law was to be the means of salvation but after he discovered the true meaning of the law, it resulted in the means of his death. The law was not responsible for his death but sin which the law condemns, was responsible. When we talk to people who have never known the law, they will define sin only as an act. But the law brings out, which the Jews did not discover, that sin is not only an act, it is a cherished desire. Paul says in Romans 7:7: “For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet,” (NKJV) Coveting has nothing to do with an act. It is a cherished desire. When Paul realized that sin begins in the mind, as a conception in the mind, then he realized there was no way he could save himself. Jesus clearly taught this in Matthew 5 in the Sermon on the Mount. The Pharisee would stand up and say, “I never committed murder. I have never committed adultery.” But Jesus said, “If you look at a woman to lust, even though you may not commit the act, you have already sinned against the law of adultery.” In Romans 5:20, Paul asks, “Why did the law enter the promise? It entered that sin may abound.” God gave the law to open the eyes of the human race that we, the children of Adam, are sinners. This is the third reason why God gave the law. It was to show us that sin is more than an act. It is a cherished desire. Paul tells us in Romans 3:17 that every one of us, without exception, belongs to death row. This is where we belong by nature. The only way we can escape from that prison cell is through Jesus Christ. In Romans 7:13 to 14, we come to the fourth purpose of the law. God gave the law to remove sin from its hiding place. Sin is a deceiver and is a liar and the law opens our eyes to the fact that we are sinners when before we thought we were all right. The law exposed the fact, in our lives, that we are exceedingly sinful. If it hasn't, then we are still talking. Our mouths are still not silenced. We will be saying, “I am bad, but not that bad.” No, we are not just bad. We are totally sinful. Our only hope is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. In concluding this study of Romans 3:9 to 20, according to verse 19, we are all under law. Verse 9, tells us we are all under sin. Therefore, man is incapable of saving himself. Before Paul introduces the wonderful gospel, he convinces us that we need a Savior. We have discovered that we, in and of ourselves, cannot save ourselves. We need to come to the point where we have said, “I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips.” Isaiah 6:5. Isaiah said this when he saw God high and lifted up in His glory. With the acceptance of these truths every mouth will have been stopped. We have come to the conclusion that we are sinners in need of a Savior. Now we can turn in our next study to the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ and find in there the solution to our sin problem. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” As we study the gospel in the next chapter, let us search with open minds because we recognize we are sinners saved only by grace.

By: David Kayumba
Category: My Blog

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Rev Romans Chapter 3 The Sin of Self Righteousness

Rev Romans Chapter 3 The Sin of Self Righteousness Imagine that you are sitting in the church of Rome in Paul's day when the epistle to the Romans is first read. The elder or the scribe or maybe even the messenger who brought this letter is reading Romans 1:18-32, the passage we covered in our last study. Notice that, while this chapter is being read where Paul describes the wrath of God revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men and the terrible things that men are doing because they have turned their backs to God, a group of Christians are sitting on one side. These are Jewish Christians. Many of the Jews at this time were living in Rome and many had accepted Jesus as their Savior. These Jewish Christians formed a large section of the church at Rome and as they are listening to this passage that Paul has written in Romans 1:18-22, they are nodding their heads and whispering to one another. “This Paul has certainly said it correctly,” they say. “We have always known that these Gentiles are a lot of rebellious sinners.” But, suddenly, the reader turns to Romans 2 and these Jewish Christians hear these words in verses 1-4: “Therefore you are inexcusable, oh man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think.... that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” The Jews begin to say to themselves, “Surely he is not talking about us. We are Jews! How could he talk about us like this? Surely he must mean somebody else.” But the scribe keeps on reading and he comes to verse 17 and these Jewish Christians hear these words: “Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God.” In the first section of his dealing with the sin problem, in Romans 1:18-32, Paul has been describing the Gentile world and he has given us there a terrible picture. They are ungodly. They have deliberately suppressed the truth about God. They have made their own gods. They are worshipping themselves and their ideas. They are living in sin and now suddenly, Paul changes from the Gentiles to the Jews. Why does he make this distinction? It is because the Jews were in a very special position. The Gentiles had a knowledge of God but it was an implicit knowledge revealed to them through nature and through their inner convictions. But the Jews, over and above this, had the direct revelation of God. Paul mentions in Romans 3:2 that, to them, the Jews, God had given His oracles. God had revealed Himself to them through His law, through Moses and through the other prophets. He had revealed Himself to them in a very special way, in a very explicit way. But the tragedy was that the Jews were relying on their knowledge of the law and the special position God had given them for their salvation. They looked upon themselves as God's covenant people. They looked upon the Gentiles as sinners. They felt that because God had given them this special position, they were a special people. They felt that because they had the law in this explicit form, they were better than the Gentiles. They felt that these things in and of themselves, made them acceptable to God but they were ignorant of the fact that these things did not make them special people before God. Now, what was the problem of the Jews? Where did they go wrong? Their history has been recorded for our benefit and we ask, “Can we learn lessons from their mistakes?” The answer is, “Yes.” We read in 1 Corinthians 10:11 that Paul says that whatsoever happened to them was recorded in Scripture for our benefit upon whom the ends of the world are come. We believe we are living in the last days. All around us there is evidence that this world cannot last much longer. Now, what was their problem? What were they ignorant about? There are three areas: 1. First, the Jews were ignorant about the fact that the mere possession of the law, the truth, and the mere knowledge of God's revealed will, did not in and of itself make them righteous and acceptable towards God. The fact that we know the law of God does not improve our situation. If we break the law of a country, are brought before the judge and we say to him, “Why are you accusing me? I know the law,” the judge will say, “The fact that you know the law puts you in a worse position because you knew better than the person who did not have the knowledge of the law.” The Jews' knowledge of the law did not make them better than the Gentiles. Notice where Paul touches the heart of the problem in Romans 2:13. “For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified.” The law does not save men by their knowledge of it, nor even by faith in the law. The law says, “Only when you obey perfectly and continuously can you be saved.” If we want to be saved by the law, it is not enough to say, “I know the law,” or to say that we have the explicit knowledge of the law. We have to perform the law in every detail. Paul repeats the same thing when he discusses the Jewish problem in Romans 10:5. Moses described the righteousness of the law by writing that they who do these things shall live by it. The law comes to us and says, “If you want to live, you must obey me perfectly.” A knowledge of the truth of the law does not save anyone. Unfortunately, this was a tragedy for the Jews, because they thought possessing the law made them better than the Gentiles. They would look at the Gentiles and say, “Oh, these Gentiles. Poor people! They do not know the law of God. They don't even know the true God. We have the truth and they are outside the covenant of God. They are hopelessly lost.” This is how they boasted in Paul's day. Now, let us read Romans 2:17-20. Listen to what Paul has to say to his own fellow men, the Jews. “Indeed, you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, (that is, in the knowledge of the law) and make your boast in God, and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law.” Then, having said that, Paul tells the Jews in verse 21: “You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? Referring to Israel's apostasy in Ezekiel 16:24 and onwards, Paul says in Romans 2:24, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” It is not enough to say that we know the truth or even to say that we know the gospel. The question is, “Has the truth set us free?” It is no use boasting about our knowledge of the law of God because Paul is saying that, while we are boasting, we are doing the same thing as the Gentiles. The law cannot produce righteousness in sinners. The law only demands righteousness. The knowledge of the law will not make us righteous. We human beings are legalists by nature and even these Jews, though they were not openly doing those terrible things that Paul mentions in Romans 1:18-32, they were secretly, in their minds, also enjoying these things. We read in Matthew 23:5 that all the things they did were to show other people how good they were, especially the Pharisees and the scribes. But, inside they were full of rotten bones. They were whitewashed sepulchers. Outwardly, they looked like holy men. The Pharisees of Paul's day had little boxes tied on their foreheads containing Scripture texts. They paraded themselves with those boxes dangling in front of their heads. They looked like unicorns. They were trying to show the people how holy they were. They prayed publicly and gave alms publicly. Paul is saying that it is not enough to simply know the truth. It is not enough to outwardly observe the law. They needed an inward solution to their problem. 2. The second problem was that the Jews felt that keeping the law to the best of their ability or keeping the majority of the law, was sufficient. They failed to heed what James 2:10 says: If we have broken one of these commandments, we have broken them all because the law is a unit. If we fail in one point only, we have come under the condemnation of the whole law. A church elder in Africa once said, “Pastor, I have given up and I have overcome by the grace of God most of my sins and I am living a good life. But there are one or two sins I still cling to. But surely God cannot bring His wrath against me just for one of those sins compared to how much I have overcome and given up.” The response to him is, “Brother, if you are depending on the law for your salvation, if you are depending on your performance, on your good deeds and what you have given up for your salvation and break the law only on one small point, you have failed.” There is an illustration in Matthew 19 where a young man comes to Jesus saying to him, “Good Master (notice he did not say Messiah, but Teacher), what good things must I do to earn eternal life?” Jesus told him that, if he wanted to go to heaven by his good deeds, he had to observe the law. He defined the law in terms of the last six commandments of the moral law which deals with our relationship with our fellow man. Jesus summarized the law, “Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself.” The young man told Jesus that ever since he was a child he had been keeping this law. What did he lack? This young man was hoping that Jesus would pat him on the back and say, “Keep up the good works.” But Jesus did not do this. Instead He said to the young man, “Can I really test you to see if you are really obeying the law?” Jesus then asked the young man to give his wealth to the poor. In exchange he would receive the wealth of Christ. What an exchange! But this young man went home sorrowfully. The evidence was that he really was not keeping the law. If we break the law on one point, we are lost when we are depending on the law for our salvation because the law is rigid and demands perfect obedience on every point. Now, we need to be careful that we do not misunderstand. Paul is discussing here the law as a method of salvation. When we study Romans 13, we discovered that Paul discusses the law as a standard of Christian living. The fruits of justification by faith is holy living and this holy living is in harmony with the law. But here in Romans 2, Paul is discussing the law as a means of salvation and Paul in other places such as Galatians 3:10 says, “Cursed is the one who does not keep the law to do all the things that the law requires.” The moment we use the law as a method of salvation, the law demands from us perfect obedience. Otherwise we fail. The Jews went wrong because they were ignorant of the fact that they had to keep the law in every detail continuously if they were to be saved by the keeping of the law. 3. This brings us to the third point which is a very important one for us to consider. The Jews were correct; they were experts but only in the letter of the law. They had failed to see what the law demands in terms of the inward man, that is, the spirit of man. Unlike human laws, the law of God does not only require perfect performance, it requires perfect motives. Any act that is done by a man, a good act, motivated by egocentric concerns, is condemned by the law. This is the sin of self righteousness. The Pharisees would stand up and say to the apostles or the people or those they were talking to that they had never murdered anyone. But Jesus said, in Matthew 5:21-24: “You may not have committed the act of murder but if you hate somebody in your heart without a cause, you have murdered that person in the eyes of the law.” Remember at this time when Jesus made this statement, the Jews were planning to get rid of Jesus Christ. So it is not a question of regarding simply the outward performance, the letter of the law. Paul, himself, was a victim of Judaism before his conversion. In Romans 7:7, Paul says, “I had not known sin, but by the law: THOU SHALL NOT COVET. (KJV) Paul was raised as a Pharisee. He was raised with the idea that he had to obey the rules his church had laid down in terms of the law. But now, he discovers, when his eyes were opened that the law demands more than perfect performance. Notice, the commandment Paul quotes in Romans 7:7. The law commanded man, “Thou shalt not covet.” Coveting had nothing to do with an act. God does not only look at the act; He looks at our motives. If we covet someone else's property or wife, even though we may not commit any sin in terms of the act, in the eyes of the law, we have sinned. Anyone who plans to do something good that he may have a star in his crown or that he may show others how good he is, if his motive is wrong, selfish or egocentric, no matter how wonderful the act is, in God's eyes, it is sin. The prophet, in Isaiah 64:6, says, that all our righteousness is filthy rags. God gave the Jews the law which is, in principle, a revelation of His character. Therefore, in order to produce the character of God, they had to have a nature that was in the image of God. But they did not have that because of the Fall. The moment we try to keep the law of God in our own strength, we have to do what the Jews did. We have to take the law of God which is as high as God Himself and reduce it to rules to “do” and “don't” that man can keep. Then they fooled themselves that they were keeping the law. We, as Christians, often do the same thing. The only difference is that, in each country, we have different rules. But any act that is done outwardly with the wrong motive, no matter how good it is, is sin. If we sit in church thinking of how we will transact business for ourselves, we may be physically in the church but our minds, are on business. We are far away from God. This is why the key text for this study is Romans 2:28 and 29: “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart, (a spiritual and not a literal matter) in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.” (NKJV) The Jews were doing many good things so that they would be praised by men but the true Christian is one whose praise is not of men but of God. God reads the mind more than the act. He is the one who is truly keeping the law who, inwardly, is loving his neighbor as himself. This, in and of ourselves, is impossible. We need the gift of God's love, and the Holy Spirit, for this to be a reality. This gift comes to only those who are standing on the platform of justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ. Read what Paul says in Romans 7:6: “But now we (the believers) have been delivered from the law(legalism).” We have been delivered from that system by which we cannot save ourselves under the law. “Having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” The gospel does produce fruits but legalism is self-righteousness. It is an outward religion and Paul demolishes the platform on which the Jews were standing because they were depending on their law keeping to go to heaven. The Jews were also depending on circumcision. Paul says in Romans 2:25: “For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” In other words, if we have been circumcised and have failed to keep the law, that circumcision does not help us. If we have made circumcision a way to heaven and want to be accepted by God but we are failing to keep the whole law, which is what “under law” means, then our circumcision is of no value. Today, Paul would demolish the same thing if we were depending on certain things we had done or were doing. For example, the act of baptism by water does not save us. Belonging to a church does not save us. Giving clothes to the poor and food to the hungry in itself does not save us. These things are good if we have a right relationship with Christ. But without this, they are useless. Do not think that because our names are in the books of the Christian church that we are qualified for heaven. Do not think that because our parents are Christians, we qualify for heaven. Neither will our grandparents, being pillars of the church or pioneers of some missionary movement, help us. The Bible makes it very clear that God has no grandchildren. Every believer must accept Jesus Christ personally. It matters not where we have come from or who we are. God is no respector of persons (Acts 10:34). Paul explains to the Jews in Romans 2:14, saying, these Gentiles who do not know the law, by nature do the things contained in the law, have the law in themselves. In other words, there were Gentiles who were closer to God than the Jews. This was devastating to the Jews. If Paul had been there at the time Romans 2:14 to 16 was being read to the Jews, they would have killed him. We read this is what they tried to do. They laid their hands on him and said, “This is the man who is against our people.” Paul is destroying every confidence that men have in themselves, Jew or Gentile because he cannot give the gospel unless he has destroyed this confidence. So, in this section, Paul says we are condemned whether we are Christians or unbelievers, it does not matter. Whether we are doing good works, or are moralists or doing fine Christian works, if we are depending on these for salvation, we have no hope. In our next study, Paul summarizes and concludes the study of the universal sin problem. What we have been covering is a dark, dismal, hopeless picture, both for the Jews and the Gentiles, but Paul is simply preparing us for the good news. May God help us to realize our total depravity so that we may turn to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. May we see as Paul saw that man's hope is only in Jesus Christ.

By: David Kayumba
Category: My Blog

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Romans Chapter 2 The Wrath of God

Romans Chapter 2 The Wrath of God In our last study, the first in this series of our studies on this tremendous epistle of Paul to the Romans, we considered the theme of this great epistle. Luther described Romans as the clearest gospel of all and in Romans 1:15-17 which was the main topic of our last study, Paul tells his readers that he is now ready to preach this gospel to the Romans in the city that was the metropolis, the center of the then civilized world. Paul added, “I am not ashamed of this gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation.” Having introduced this great theme of the gospel of Jesus Christ to his readers, Paul immediately goes directly into the sin problem. In fact, he deals with the universal and the total sin problem of mankind beginning with Romans 1:18 right up to chapter 3, verse 20. Why such a lengthy passage on the sin problem? The question we must ask is “Why does Paul begin with the sin problem?” The gospel is good news, not for good people but for sinners, not for eighty or ninety or even ninety-nine point nine percent sinners. The gospel is for one hundred percent sinners. Jesus Christ came to save man from sin. He did not come for the righteous. So He first has to convince us that in and of ourselves there is nothing good. Yes, man may be capable of doing many good things but nothing that can save him. God has to convince us that we, in ourselves are helpless, incapable of saving ourselves. He has to destroy in us every confidence in the flesh, (our sinful human nature) because man's only hope is the gospel. But it is hope only for those who recognize that they need a Saviour. It will take us three studies to deal with this issue. But, be warned, that before we deal with this subject, that Paul does paint a dark, dismal picture of the human race to which we belong. It can be discouraging but Paul has some wonderful good news for us beginning with Romans 3:21. He begins his introduction to the gospel with two wonderful words, “But now.” After he has painted this dark, dismal, hopeless picture of mankind, he says, “But now. Do not give up hope. I have good news for you.” The stars shine the brightest on a night that is pitch dark and it is only in the light of our total sinfulness, our total depravity, that the gospel shines gloriously. So please remember, our next two studies, plus this one, are not pleasant ones, but something that we need to understand before we go into the study of the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The key statement of this section that we will study, Romans 1:18-32, is verse 18. The rest of the passage, verses 19-32, is simply expounding what Paul has told us in verse 18. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”(KJV) Paul begins discussing our sin problem with the phrase, “the wrath of God.” Whenever we read in the Bible about the wrath of God, it sometimes makes us fearful. But this is because we have a tendency to project human wrath on to God. But when the Bible talks of God's wrath, we must never equate it with human wrath. In fact, James tells us that the wrath of God is unlike any human wrath. Many people today, reading the Old Testament, think of God as a God of vengeance, a God of wrath, waiting to bring fire down upon us because of our sins and because of our enmity with Him. When Paul uses the words “wrath of God,” he is talking about something that is very different from human wrath. He is not talking about such emotional anger or loss of self-control where He lashes out against his enemies. No, in fact, this passage we will study, Romans 1:18-32, is one of the best explanations in all of Scripture concerning this wrath of God. What, then, is God's wrath? In a nutshell, it is His hatred for sin. God hates sin. He hates sin because He loves us. God cannot love us sinners and love sin at the same time because it is sin that kills us. As Paul mentions in Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death. In 1 Corinthians 15:56, the apostle Paul defines sin as “the sting of death is sin.” Sin is a killer. It kills us. God hates sin because He loves us. John 3:16 says He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son because whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now, there is a problem that we human beings face. We do not know how to separate sin from the sinner. When somebody does something wrong or commits a crime, we shut him up in prison. We ostracize him from society. We condemn him as well as the sin that he has committed. God, on the other hand, makes a distinction between sin and the sinner. It is true that when the sinner refuses to separate himself from his sin, then he suffers the wages of sin. But God loves the sinner and hates the sin that kills us. There is, however, one sin that God cannot forgive. This is the sin of unbelief. If we reject the gift of God, which He gave us at infinite cost to Him, then we are in a position where God cannot save us. Paul tells us that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. There are two important facts regarding this statement. 1. First, we need to emphasize the order in which Paul points his finger at man's problem. Notice that God puts ungodliness first and then in his thinking, unrighteousness follows. To God the important thing is ungodliness and it is this we need to understand, especially in our modern society. The modern approach is that man's real problem is unrighteousness. We read about the terrible things taking place in our cities, in our countries, and we say that man's problem is his unrighteousness. Ungodliness is hardly mentioned. But unrighteousness is the consequences or the fruits of ungodliness. The problem with man is not unrighteousness; it is ungodliness. When man turns his back to God, the result is unrighteousness or sin or crime or whatever term we would like to call it. We need to be aware of this because unfortunately, in the last few decades, nations have gradually begun to turn there backs to God. Ever since the entrance of secular humanism into our society, we have been turning our backs to God. Today we are seeing the results of that. We must realize that it is not possible to solve man's problem of unrighteousness by human effort. The reason is that we are slaves to sin. Today many modern liberal theologians are saying that what we need is dialogue. The world, they say, is torn and divided into all kinds of factions, political, racial. Sin today is regarded by many as a sickness, a disease which needs to be cured by man. Sin, in fact, is sometimes looked upon as the remnant of our animal nature and it is only a question of time as we develop and progress in life that we will get rid of this problem. But all the time, it is man speaking in terms of man, man in relationship to man. But the problem is not here. The problem is man's relationship to God. Paul is saying that God hates, He detests, sin. His wrath from heaven is revealed against all ungodliness and its fruits, unrighteousness of man. Then, having made that statement, notice the second point. 2. Man, because of his sinful state, deliberately wants to suppress the truth of God and His saving activity in Jesus Christ. Romans 1:28 says that man does not like to retain the knowledge of God because he detests God. We will see that the reason man does not like to retain the knowledge of God is because man, in his sinful state, is born egocentric or self-centered. He does not want to accept the fact that, without God, he can do nothing. Man, in other words, does not like to be a beggar. He hates to be given a gift when he cannot repay it. We only have to live in the Third World to be amazed to see how many, while they accept foreign aid from the developed countries of the world, hate the ones who give them that aid. Many Americans who travel overseas wonder why these people, whom their country has helped, hate them. It is because we are revealing to them that they are beggars, incapable of returning our favor to them. Now we will see how Paul explains this situation. How is the ungodliness of man revealed from heaven? In Romans 1:21 onwards, Paul says it was revealed through the history of the Old Testament. We will notice that, ever since the Fall of man, it has been man's tendency to run away from God. Before Adam and Eve sinned, they were happy and welcomed God's presence. But the moment they sinned, the first time God came to see them after their Fall, they hid from God. Paul tells us in Romans 1:19 “because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God had shewed it unto them.”(KJV) If man doesn't have a knowledge of God, it is not because of his ignorance. It is because he has deliberately pushed God out of the picture. Man, Paul says, began with a knowledge of God. If they have failed to know God, it is not because God did not reveal Himself to them. In Romans 1:20, we read, “For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they (the human race) are without excuse.”(NKJV) God has revealed Himself in man and in nature. When Adam and Eve sinned, God's image was not completely obliterated. There was still left in Adam and Eve, in their consciences, a knowledge, a desire to seek after God. But, Paul says, even though He has revealed Himself through nature and through the conscience, man does not want to retain this knowledge in his heart. So, we have many explanations about God and about creation. How can we imagine that this complex, highly refined, highly planned, highly organized world of ours could come about just by chance, by the mixture of gases that suddenly produce light and with the evolutionary urge greatly developed and improved until we became what we are today? If we took some scrap metal, put it in a bag and shake it for a million years or let us say for fifty million years, will that produce a Cadillac? We know very well that all it will do is produce some polished metal that is worthless. The creation of the world is highly organized. We boast of our technology but we can be sure that as the angels look down upon us from heaven, they say, “Wait until they get to heaven and realize what more they still had to learn.” Our knowledge with all our present accomplishments is nothing to what we will learn when we get to heaven. But what does man do when he turns his back to God? The answer is found in Romans 1:21: “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful.” Here is a God who is the Giver of all good things and man becomes unthankful. Not only does he refuse to acknowledge God but he becomes ungrateful for what God has accomplished for him. The moment Adam sinned, he had no right to live. The moment Adam sinned, he should have died but God kept him alive because He had a plan of salvation which he had planned before the foundation of the world, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. He kept Adam and Eve alive for only one reason. It was that they may turn back to Him and accept the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. But does man do that? No. Man is unthankful. He is not only ungodly but he is unthankful. Paul continues, in verse 21, that men become futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts are darkened. When man turns his back to God, all that is left is darkness. The year after a missionary family arrived in Ethiopia, that country experienced the Marxist revolution. What disturbed them was to see how many educated Christians fell for the Marxist philosophy. Yes, they did not like the practice of Communism but they fell for the ideology. They said to themselves, “There must be something attractive about Marxist philosophy.” So they began reading the Communist Manifesto authored by Karl Marx and Frederick Endross. They read Karl Marx's book and began discovering that the essence of Marxism is ungodliness. It is an atheistic philosophy. Karl Marx says that the problem with man is selfishness. He recognized man's selfishness but he called it self alienation. His argument was that the reason man is selfish is not because of his nature but because of his environment. Of course, by environment he meant capitalism. So his gospel was, “Let us change the political and economic environment. Let us force our people to share until it becomes natural.” He suggested that socialism was to confiscate private ownership, the banks, the businesses, then make equal distribution of this wealth. The people in Russia said, “Wonderful!” The people in Ethiopia said, “Wonderful!” Then Karl Marx went on to say that once people had been taught how to share, then it would become spontaneous and natural and man would be redeemed from selfishness. Russia has tried this method. For seventy-five years, they have been forcing their people to share until today they have nothing to share. The problem with man is not his environment but it is that his very nature is sinful so he needs a Redeemer. In Romans 1:22 and 23, Paul says: “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four footed beasts and creeping things.” Some say that this does not apply to us today, that we are living in a sophisticated world. That may be true but something is creeping into even the Christian churches. It has already crept into many of the churches in Europe. This is liberal theology, the critical, historical method of interpreting Scripture. This is a big term but it simply means that the human mind becomes the ultimate measuring stick of truth. Man must interpret Scripture on the basis of his rationale, on the basis of the scientific method. But, we cannot use the scientific method to interpret the Word of God because this is an inspired word and the Bible is revealing a supernatural God who cannot be measured by the scientific method. It is the Holy Spirit who must enlighten us. But man thinks he has the solution to all his problems. He does not want to retain God in his mind. How does God react to such stubbornness, such infidelity? How is God's wrath revealed from heaven against man's ungodliness? Romans 1:24, 26 and 28 gives us the answer. Verse 24: “Therefore (that is, because man insists on living without Him), God also gave them up.” Verse 26: “For this reason (because man refuses the blessings of God), God gave them up to vile passions.” Verse 28: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge (notice man's problem-he does not want to retain God in his knowledge), God gave them over to a debased mind.” God says to mankind, “All right, you think you can live without Me. Try it and see what happens.” The moment we turn our backs to God, the result is unrighteousness. America, which was established on the principle of “In God we trust” which is imprinted on coins, today, is turning its back to God. First, it has stopped young children from praying in schools. Now, there is talk about doing away with the inscription, “In God We Trust.” The result is what we see today, crime and sin rampant in every city and even in the country. A father with a three year old son, was about to go to church when his wife said to him, “Could you please tie his shoelaces?” He went to him but his son would not let him do it. He said, “I can do it,” so he allowed him to do it. The father did not use his authority. He gave him that freedom and after trying and trying, he finally looked up at his father sheepishly and said, “Daddy, you do it.” We are God's children and we cannot live without Him but when man thinks that he can live without God, what does God do? He does not bring fire down upon mankind. He says, “All right. Try to live without Me and see what happens.” America is heading in the direction of living without God. It is about to reach the end of its resources and God patiently allows this wonderful country to go the way it wants to go. Paul was like that himself. He was a Pharisee. He had become quite successful in life. Read about this in Philippians 3:4-6. He was a pure blooded Jew. He was circumcised the eighth day. He was zealous for God. He was blameless regarding the righteousness of the law until God opened his eyes and revealed his sin problem. The question is, “Have we lost confidence in ourselves?” This is why God allows man to live independent of Himself. God allows man to reach the end of his resources. The question is, “Have we reached the end of our resources? Have we realized that our only hope is Jesus Christ and His righteousness?” This is Paul's purpose in describing the sin problem. We do not have to learn it the hard way. The Word of God makes it very clear, “Without Me,” says Jesus, “you can do nothing.” We do not have to go through the process of learning it all over again as Paul's world did. Therefore, may each one of us realize that God's wrath is against all ungodliness of which the fruit is unrighteousness. He wants us to turn back to Him. He wants us to accept Him as the only source of the hope of salvation and of righteousness. Whether it be in terms of our standing before God or whether it be in terms of Christian living, the formula is always the same, “Not I, but Christ.” The “Not I” is the hardest part. This is why Paul spends so much time discussing the sin problem before he introduces us to the gospel. He wants us to be established in the gospel. But before he can do that, we must learn the lesson that, without Christ, we are hopelessly lost. The gospel of Jesus Christ will become, to us, unconditional good news because we have realized that we are total sinners in need of a Redeemer.

By: David Kayumba
Category: My Blog

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