Romans - The Human Condition
Having concluded the series on prayer, in this next series
we'll walk through Paul's epistle to the Christians in Rome.
And though he addresses his letter to those beloved of God and
called to be saints, as also I generally reckon you all, he
starts off with a presentation of the gospel for the first 5
chapters.
He says in Rom 1:15-17a "I am so
eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. I am
not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God
for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the
Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness
from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith "
Today I'll be focussing up to Romans 3 verse 20 in which he
speaks on the human condtion. And much as the gospel is good
news, which is actually the meaning of the word gospel, it is
only good news in light of the bad news. So today we'll be
considering the bad news. The bad news is first of all the all
have sinned and as such are subject to condemnation in view of
God's judicial nature.
First from Romans 1:18 to the end of the chapter he
speaks of people whom good people would categorize as wicked,
sinful people. Read Romans 1:18-32
The wrath of God is being revealed from
heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who
suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be
known about God is plain to them, because God has made it
plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s
invisible qualities— his eternal power and divine nature—
have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been
made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew
God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to
him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish
hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they
became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for
images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals
and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their
hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies
with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie,
and worshiped and served created things rather than the
Creator— who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God
gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged
natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the
men also abandoned natural relations with women and were
inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent
acts with other men, and received in themselves the due
penalty for their perversion.
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to
retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved
mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become
filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and
depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and
malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent,
arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they
disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless,
heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous
decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not
only continue to do these very things but also approve of
those who practice them.
Notice the progress. He speaks of people having no exuse.
Everyone has sufficient information to infer that God exists.
And if we are created beings that implies that our purpose is
not define by ourselves but by our Creator. And the fact our
Creator has given us a conscience which convicts us of sin
would indicate there's some accountability demanding of us by
our Creator, and consequently some judgement to come.
But much of history has shown us that the human condition is
such that people will naturally gravitate towards attitudes
and lifestyle which are contrary to God's intended purpose.
Rejecting the knowledge of God people naturally become
corrupted in their thinking and in their desires. And as they
reject God, God allows to them to be given over to such
corruption, which is the wage of sin in this life. In their
thinking they end up replacing God with something else. And
their desires become corrupted, out of control. And even those
who know of what God has said concerning such behavior as
being evil, they not only openly practice their sin, but
encourage others to do so as well. That Romans chapter 1.
Now chapter 2 and part of chapter 3 Paul considers those who
reckon themselves to be good people. In Jesus' parable of the
Pharisee and the Tax Collector, as you might know, the
Pharisee characteristized himself in this manner, "God, I thank you that I am not like other
men— robbers, evildoers, adulterers— or even like this tax
collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I
get." Lk 18:11,12 Likewise when many
allegedly good people hear that first section in Romans they
thank God that they are now like such people. But Paul goes in
Romans chapter 2 and chapter 3 to say that allegedly good
people characteristically do the same kinds of things as those
whom they view as wicked, though perhaps in a more private or
in a less obvious way. Or in a way which is socially
acceptable.
In fact do you know who Jesus' greatest enemies were? They
were the religious elite of his day. "He began to teach them that the Son of Man
must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and
chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three
days rise again." Mr 8:31 For the whole of
Matthew chapter 23, Jesus criticizes the religious elite for
their hypocrisy.
To summarize chapter 2 of Romans, people, though they think
themselves good and look down on others, don't actually do
what they know is right. And as such they are no better off,
apart from Christ, then those they categorize as wicked. And
thus he concludes in Rom 3:22b-23 that "There is no difference. For all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Also in
in Romans 3 he says that we "alike are
all under sin. As it is written: There is no one righteous,
not even one" Rom 3:9b-10
This is what Paul said of the Ephesian Christians concerning
their state prior to being saved.
Eph 2:1-3 "As for you,
you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you
used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of
the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now
at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived
among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our
sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like
the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."
God introduced the Law, like the 10 commandments not to
make people better, nor to justify people. Rather Paul says in
Rom 3:20 "no one will be
declared righteous in his sight by observing the law;
rather, through the law we become conscious of sin."
By introducing regulations, God helped allegedly "good" people
realize how depraved they actually were. God wants us to
realize that we need a savior, we need a savior to save us
from our own nature, which is depraved, and a savior to save
us from the wrath of God. So he says in Gal 3:24 "the law was put in charge to lead us to
Christ that we might be justified by faith." But not
that the law was an end in itself in so much as he goes on to
say in the verse that follows, "Now
that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision
of the law."
Paul own expereience in this regard sets a precedent. For he
says, "Here
is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners— of whom I
am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so
that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display
his unlimited patience as an example for those who would
believe on him and receive eternal life." 1Tim
1:15,16