Romans: Chapter 3

All of Mankind are Sinners!

Socrates wrote: “It may be that Deity can forgive sins, but I don’t see how”

So the question is: How can a Holy God, who cannot be in the presence of sin, then forgive sin?

Romans provides us with the answer!

3:1-4

Paul continues on to identify those who consider themselves “religious” and he uses, as his example, the most religious, pious people of his day, the Jews and the Jewish leaders. If we consider ourselves religious, we need to apply these next verses to ourselves. God had entrusted His teaching to the Jews, making them His special chosen people, just as He has entrusted His Word to us! If we are not faithful to obey God, will that make His Truth and faithfulness null and void? Of course not! Even though we disobey and are, therefore ‘faithless’ God will Never be unfaithful to His Word.

3:5-6

When we do and commit, evil, it shows even more clearly how good God is! All this does is point out to everyone how God must judge sin. Our sins can’t be justified, even though they are used to point out God’s goodness. This is an example of illogical, irrational thinking! God absolutely must Judge all sin, even those sins committed by Believers; otherwise, He could not rightly Judge the entire World.

3:7-8

Critics say that we condone evil, claiming it shows God’s goodness and Truth. So if our lies show God’s Truth, why should we be punished? Sin is contrary to God’s very nature; it denies, despises and dishonors God. An unholy act does not glorify a Holy God; thus it must be judged. True Christians never teach that God will forgive sin with no criteria. God ONLY forgives my sin when I confess my sin, admitting my failure to obey God, repent of my sin, turning completely away from even the thought of ever committing that sin again, and ask God to forgive me, based on the shedding of Jesus’ blood on the cross for my sin! All of these actions are REQUIRED BEFORE we can be forgiven! I take responsibility for the death of Jesus on the cross, it was my sin that caused His horrible suffering and death! It’s my own selfishness and disobedience that caused Jesus to suffer for me.

3:9

So then, are Jews and religious people more superior than others? Absolutely not! We have already clearly shown ourselves to be guilty of being sinners, worthy of God’s judgment and wrath!

3:10-18

God’s Word, the scriptures, clearly identify us: (verses 10-18 are quoted from Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and Isaiah) No one, not even one person on earth, is righteous, just, truthful, upright and conscientious. Not one single one! No one understands, discerns or comprehends to truly seek God. Notice that we cannot, on our own, honestly seek God. Every single one of us has turned away from God. Every one of us has become useless, doing no good; becoming worthless. Our very words condemn us; we are liars and deceivers, our words are poison and death. Out of our mouths come cursing, bitterness and hatred. Foul language reflects our heart attitude. We bring destruction, shedding of blood and death. Sin makes us worse and worse. Everywhere we go we bring misery, ruin, and horrible suffering. Our lives spiral downward. We are so evil we don’t even know how to live in peace, or what peace even is! We don’t even recognize true peace and goodness. Lastly, these people, those who deny Jesus as Lord and Savior, have no fear of God in their lives. We, and they, actually deny Him by our words and our lives. Keep in mind that We were once all in this category! We thank and praise God for freeing us from this miserable state!

3:19-20

We know that those who claim to know the law, are subject to it, yet we are also guilty of disobeying the law. Ignorance of the law is no excuse! If we do not know the law and break it, we are still guilty. Therefore, the entire world is guilty before God. No one on earth can be made righteous or judged acceptable by God, by following the law. The law only shows us the reality of our sins. The real function of the law is to make us recognize and be fully aware and conscious of our sin. We should so clearly see the ugliness of our sin that we are sickened and horrified by it! True recognition of the disgusting rottenness of sin should lead us toward sorrow, repentance and seeing our desperate need for God’s Mercy, Grace and forgiveness.

3:21-22

But now the righteousness of God has been revealed to us ~ independently separate from the law! The prophets and the law have shown us this Way: And what is The Way? Faith and complete and total trust and reliance on Jesus Christ as our Messiah ~ Savior and Lord. Notice that He cannot be our Savior if we refuse to make Him our Lord. If Jesus truly is our Lord, we will obey Him, Honor Him, Love and serve Him, and be completely and totally subject to Him. Let’s be honest here ~ are you ALWAYS obedient, loving, honoring and serving Him? When you are NOT obedient to God, you are not being subject to Him as your LORD! Think this through very carefully, it should make a profound change of heart attitude within you.

3:23-25

All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s Glory and Honor; we all desperately need God’s gift of Mercy and Grace. Remember, we did NOT seek God on our own; the Holy Spirit, through God’s Grace, has enabled us to seek God. We can only be made free from the horrible clutches of sin through the Mercy and Grace of Jesus Christ. That Grace is free to us, yet it cost the Creator of the Universe more than we can ever know, understand, comprehend or even imagine. God freely gave, and sacrificed, for us, His beloved Son as the ONLY way to forgive our wretched sin, through Faith in the blood of Jesus ~ Jesus’ blood is the propitiation ~ cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, suffering and punishment taken by Jesus on our behalf ~ so we might be seen as righteous before our Holy and Perfect Creator. God is always just and fair, exercising divine patience in not punishing sin. God showed His mercy. Mercy is Not getting what I deserve. Grace is Getting what I do Not deserve. Are you beginning to see and understand the enormity of sin, what it cost our Creator God? His beloved and precious Son!

3:26

All sins must be paid for by death; sin brings a death penalty to each person guilty of sin ~ Jesus chose to pay our death penalty, by taking all the sins of the world upon Himself and paying the horrible price of agonizing suffering physically, and even worse, spiritually, by being separated from His Father. Remember, never in history had the Triune God ever been separated. Jesus HAD to die for us ~ there was no other solution ~ Jesus willingly accepted our judgment and punishment of death. Our sin guilt was transferred to Jesus by His willingness to accept the horrors of sin upon Himself. If He had not died for us, we would be eternally separated from God, damned to the lake of fire, suffering for all eternity.

3:27

So do we finally ‘get it’? So, now who can brag? Who can be prideful? The Truth of Salvation through Jesus alone stops any and all pride and bragging. We have done nothing, absolutely nothing, to earn salvation, nothing to atone for our sins, nothing to merit the Grace of God; nothing, nothing, nothing! Those who would dare brag or be prideful, ignore the Truth of Salvation! Even our good deeds are the RESULT of God’s unmerited, unearned, gift of Grace!

3:28

We now recognize as Truth that a sinner is made righteous only through Faith in Jesus Christ, and absolutely nothing else! The obeying of the law, doing good works, all have absolutely nothing to do with justification. Jesus did it all.

3:29-31

God, our Creator and Redeemer, is God of both Jews and Gentiles. God is the God of all people. There is one, and only one, True God. Sinners are made right only by faithfully trusting and believing in, and relying only on, Jesus as their Savior and Lord. We stand before God, our Father, with a perfection that is given ONLY because our guilt was transferred to Jesus on the cross. There is no other way to God, only through Jesus Christ, His one and only Son. So then, does our Faith in Jesus Christ then make the law null and void? Is the law now destroyed? Absolutely Not! True Faith causes us to be what the law truly intended; we confirm and uphold the law in our obedience to our Savior. Jesus fulfills the law. The terrible LIE that Jesus died on the cross to forgive EVERYONE; no matter how they live and respond to God’s Grace, is a LIE from the pit of hell. Churches and preachers who teach this LIE will bring God’s wrath upon themselves because they are leading people to HELL!

This is a powerful chapter of Romans: We must ALL admit in our hearts, minds and souls that we are all sinners; ALL deserving eternal death and suffering. Yet, because of the Mercy and Grace of God, we are given forgiveness by our Creator; we are justified by Jesus’ shed blood; His death and resurrection, through faith; allowing God to forgive and pardon ALL who truly turn to Jesus, as LORD, GOD and SAVIOR. We absolutely CANNOT claim Him as SAVIOR, without making Him our LORD and GOD. Those who claim they are ‘saved’ yet have not made Jesus their LORD and GOD, are LYING to themselves and others. Search your heart and soul, is Jesus REALLY your LORD, GOD and SAVIOR? How do you know? Look deep into your heart and soul, do you obey His commands? ALL of them? Do you pattern your life to Glorify and Honor Him? Does your speech ALWAYS Glorify and Honor God? Do your actions ALWAYS show you are following Jesus? Is there eternal fruit in your life to show and prove you are His Child? Is there eternal fruit in your life to prove that you are truly a Believer? If not, begin RIGHT NOW to commit yourself FULLY to Jesus as your LORD, GOD and SAVIOR.