Romans Chapter 3 cont'd
So are we Jews superior to the Gentiles? Again I say, "No way!" I have just made it clear that Jews and Gentiles are both “in the same boat"--in bondage to sin and in need of salvation. The scripture confirms this in the Psalms, "No one is righteous in himself, absolutely no one. No one possesses intrinsic spiritual understanding or intrinsic desire and power to seek after God. Everyone has gone his own way, and embraced vanity. No one is innately good; absolutely no one! Death and decay are within them; their words are manipulative and deceitful, like the poisonous venom of serpents. Their speech is full of cursing and bitterness. They are 'quick to the kill'. They leave destruction and misery in their wake and they are ignorant about healthy relationships. Nothing is sacred to them and they don't know the proper fear of God."
Now this wasn't just written about all those Gentile folks out there. It was specifically written about Jews, for it was written in the Jewish scriptures! So every person on the earth, Jew or Gentile, needs to just shut their mouths and acknowledge their guilt before God. Therefore, no one is made righteous in God's sight on the basis of trying to obey the Mosaic law, for it was primarily given to expose sin.
Comments:
These are Paul's final paragraphs that wrap up the point that he began to make in the second part of chapter 1. Righteousness is not intrinsic to human nature as we are born into this world. The fall of our first parents has affected our basic nature. Gentile "flesh" and Jewish "flesh" are still human "flesh" and it all falls greatly short of the holiness of God. We have all sinned, not only against God's standard of perfection, but, at times, against our own better judgment. Some of us display more sinful attitudes and actions than others of us and some of us display more of what is "good" in humanity than others...but still...we have all "missed the mark" in plenty of ways. And...we all know it is true when we are honest with ourselves. Our God-given conscience informs us so.
Because our sinful nature and tendencies are so common, we often try to find ways to explain them away, suppress them, whitewash them with religion, minimize them, redefine them or mask them. We imagine, "If everyone is imperfect...it mustn't be a big deal to God anyway. He ought to be used to it by now!" But then the great gospel of Jesus come along and challenges us to face the reality of our fallen-ness. And...the Holy Spirit gently and firmly puts his finger on our own personal sinfulness and allows the guilt and shame to surface so that our true condition can be squarely faced and not denied. I need forgiveness for my many failures. I need a Savior...for I cannot save myself or change my own nature.
Then the Holy Spirit goes on to convince me that a Savior is there for me...if I will only have the courage and gut-level honesty to turn and face him. Who is it? Yes, it's Jesus Christ after all. Of course it's him. I suspected that he was the real deal the first time I heard of him. The One whose name is on the lips of so many...even if it is used as a cuss word. (Even the naughty cannot keep him off of their minds!) He died for us, he is risen, he is Lord of all, his influence is all around us and even moving upon our souls. But will I melt...or carry on in my hardness...suppressing what I know must be true? Oh God...help me to melt over and over again.
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