By Pastor Greg
As we have been looking at the book of Romans, let me just remind you that Paul is taking his readers from conviction to salvation. Remember how this whole conversation began? Paul introduced this process when he said, “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life” (Romans 1:16-17).
After introducing his readers to the idea of salvation, Paul anticipates their reaction by addressing several arguments; arguments that some may make even today. He speaks to those who would say “But I didn’t know about God and His standard” (compare Romans 1:18-25). He corrects those who are tempted to say, “But I’m a good person and I’m not that bad” (compare Romans 1:26-32), or those who might say “At least I’m better than those Gentiles” (compare Romans 2:1-16), and those who would argue “But I’m Jewish” (compare Romans 2:17-29). This is what Paul has addressed up to this point; refuting the arguments that he had either heard or had anticipated hearing.
Paul has been addressing the Gentiles, but also the Jews; Gentiles who might be tempted to dismiss themselves from accountability because they had never known, and Jews who might be tempted to dismiss themselves from accountability because they had always known. No one can make an excuse before God. We are all accountable, both the Jew and the Gentile. But as we come to the end of this section in Romans, there is, however, one last excuse Paul addresses; that is the excuse of the pointing finger. Turn to Romans 3:1-8 and look what Paul says to those who say “yea but they sinned and got away with it, why can’t I”.
To fully understand what Paul is saying in this section we need to remember that the early church consisted of Christians from very diverse backgrounds. There were Christians who were raised Jewish and Christians who were raised as pagans. Paul had been speaking to the Jews who said, “Yea, but we are Jewish”. Paul then turns his attention to the Gentiles who want to point out “Yea but they sinned and got away with it”. There is no “yea but” with God. Just because their Jewish neighbors sinned did not mean the Gentile Christian could also sin. A Christian dare not compare themselves with other people. They must be looking to God’s standard of faithfulness.
As I stated earlier, Paul was arguing that being Jewish did not exclude someone from God’s judgment, and that obedience to God’s Law did not make a person right with God. Yet in spite of this he reminds his readers that the Jewish people had been entrusted with the Revelation God. It was to the Jews that God revealed Himself. And He desired to reveal Himself to the other nations of the world through the Jewish people. But just because some of these Jews were unfaithful in that responsibility does not mean God is unfaithful. In other words, a Gentile Christian dare not measure themselves against an unfaithful Jew, but against the righteousness of God. To strive for a faithfulness measured against an unfaithful Jew was simply wrong.
You would think this statement in itself would be enough to end the arguments that Paul had apparently heard. But, unfortunately it caused a few more. Again, either Paul had heard these arguments or had anticipated them being made. Either way, the next one to come along is the fact that if God’s righteousness is glorified by a person’s unrighteousness (creating some sort of contrast between the two), then why does God judge them for being unrighteous. Paul calls this kind of thinking stupid. It makes no sense at all. In other words, picture the person who might say that the grace of God is clearly displayed to the person who has the greatest sin. So in order for the world to see the grace of God, that person continues to sin. This argument is so silly that Paul does not even dignify it by giving an answer. It’s just another in a long list of arguments made by someone trying to remove themselves from being accountable before God.
The lesson for us in this final argument is easy to see. As a Christian we cannot live according to the crowd. We cannot allow our righteousness (our godly conduct) to be determined by the people around us. We have been called to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Granted, there are Christian’s around us who can become role-models for us, but they merely radiate Christ. It is Jesus we see through them, not the person. And if you talk to these people they will tell you this. The reason they are a godly influence is because of God. They will redirect a person’s praise heavenward. So even then we are called to look to Christ, not to others.
“No one is righteous - not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God” says Paul as he summarizes this first section of Romans. Everyone is without excuse, yet it seems that many will argue. “I didn’t know; I’m not that bad; At least I’m better than those Gentiles; But I’m Jewish”; “Yea but they sin”; and finally, “God is glorified by my sin”. All of these excuses are given by a person attempting to remove themselves from being accountable before God. But they don’t work. Neither birth, nor culture, nor education, or environment removes us from being held accountable to God. We will all stand before Him one day. Whether we stand before Him alone is discussed in the next section. We’ll talk about that next week.
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