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LESSON 3
Romans 1:18—3:20
The Sinful Course of
Human Nature
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The Human
Predicament
We will
not understand how great the good news of the gospel is until we note how
serious is our predicament, and how much we are under the power of sin!
One may
ask why the message about God’s faithfulness is such good news?
Part of
the answer is implied in 1:18—3:20 where Paul charts the sinful course of
human history.
In light
of humanity’s treacherous betrayal of God and our crass abuse of the
dominion he gave to us (Genesis 1:26-27 with Genesis 3) it might be thought
that God would obliterate us.
But the
Psalmist tells us, “The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever”! (Ps
136)
And in
some ways the biblical record could be seen as proof that God had abandoned
humanity.
The
expulsion of Adam, Eve and Cain from God’s presence, Noah’s flood and the
destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah could be used as proof that God had turned
from humanity and was bent only on destroying them in outbursts of his
anger.
If such
expressions of his anger were typical of his full feelings toward the
human race our situation would be hopeless and lead to utter despair.
But
Paul’s good news is that God is faithful even in the face of our
faithlessness.
This means that however we understand the wrath of God it is to be seen
as part of his faithfulness toward us.
But far
from implying that God is not angry about our sin, Paul insists that the
anger of God is already being revealed against all unrighteousness (1:18).
We need
to note the present tense of the verb and follow the major versions of our
Bibles, and note that when God’s wrath is being revealed it is against “all”
unrighteousness.
It’s
clear not only from the biblical record but from looking around us that not
every evil person is suffering from God’s anger in the present time.
Oppressors and cheats, drug barons and porn kings, warlords and corrupt
financiers are living in luxury while feeding off the helpless.
Is the
wrath of God being revealed against all that?
Paul
would answer, yes.
Every
time one oppressor is exposed and dealt with every oppressor is
judged. When a society imprisons a ruthless criminal it speaks its mind
against all ruthless criminals.
Society
can’t catch up with them all but God can!
The
justice he brings down on criminals at a national or individual level is a
demonstration of how he feels toward all oppression and impenitence.
Specific
judgements are a promise and a prophecy that all crimes are noted and will
be dealt with.
No one
“gets away with” anything with God!
As God works to bring his eternal
purpose to a glorious conclusion in a final judgement and revelation he
shows his local and individual judgements to remind us that a final
judgement is up ahead!
[The
psalmists and prophets indicate this when they speak of judgements on
various nations. They often describe the judgements in cosmic terms. Stars
fall, skies are rolled up, the earth is bludgeoned and the like. This links
the crime of the particular nation in view with a humanity wide rebellion
and a universal judgement. See Isaiah 13, 34 and Jeremiah 4 as illustrations
of this.]
Paul and The
Degeneration of All Humanity (Rom 1:18-32)
It’s
worth noting that Paul begins this section of Romans with God as our Father
creator and man’s rejection of God and departure from him (1:18ff).
Paul’s
stark description of the development and situation of moral degradation
narrates in clear terms the depth of mankind’s fall away from God and into
sin.
All the
corruption and moral degeneration he lists in this section begin with man’s
turning away from the creator God and to a creature god of personal
freedom!
If we’re
out of tune with God we’re out of tune with creation and our fellow-human
beings which results in all kinds of sexual immorality and general sinful
passion.
Paul
views our sin not simply as the breaking of some universal laws—it is a
violation of a personal relationship with God.
Our
denial of God, our refusal to acknowledge him for who he is and give to him
our grateful thanks and honour blinds us to our sinful condition.
Professing to be wise (Genesis 3 and the forbidden fruit is in view) we
became fools (Romans 1:21).
Sin
disables our minds and rational capacity until we are no longer able to
think clearly.
It isn’t
that now we have rebelled against God that we think 2+2=5!
It’s
more subtle and much more sinister than that.
Thinking
we are very wise (thinking we are gods) we refuse to be listen and be
taught.
Our
intellectual gifts are used to serve our own selfish ends.
Our
sinful nature becomes a vehicle for “explaining” why we should deprive one
another of personal dignity, or why it’s okay to jettison the honour of
other human beings.
We show
why it’s all right to bury others under mountains of debt in order to please
stockholders and to demand our rights at every single point to the
destruction of community relationships.
Thinking
we are very wise not only do we oppose gender-discrimination, we completely
deny the differences in gender which is part of our being in the image of
God (see Genesis 1:26-27 and Romans 1:26-27).
We deny
marriage in favour of “personal freedom”, and the commitment of the bond of
marriage for “respecting the dignity of others”.
We deny
the God given decree that in marriage we “both become one flesh” (Matt 19:5;
Gen 2:24) for the human view that our bodies belong to us and to no-one
else!
We
substitute personal gender preferences and alternative life styles for God’s
decree that it is in the marriage bed (Heb 13:4) that sexual gratification
should take place.
Thinking
it to be wise and in keeping with the “maturation” of human sexuality we do
everything to explain away simple decrees and terms such as homosexual sin
for “human freedom” and “personal preference” (Note Rom 1:26-27; Lev 18:22;
20:13; 1 Cor 6:9 “sexual perverts” [The Greek word is
arsenokotoi =
male prostitutes or male sexual partners]; and 1 Tim 1:10 “sodomites”, again
the Greek word arsenokotoi) for the right to practice personal sexual
preferences in the privacy of individual rights and freedoms!
Recently
(2003), during the national discussion of the Episcopalian ordination of an
homosexual priest, an Episcopalian priest explained that the Episcopalian
church has grown and matured in their understanding of human sexuality to
where Scriptures that are out of date with 21st century
understanding of sexuality must be reinterpreted to maintain the dignity of
human preferences in sexuality!
We
substitute “citizenship” for relationships (like father, mother, children,
husband, wife) and wonder why we experience the absence of “natural
affection” (love for family members).
Not only
do we promote the practice of free sexual passion, but we make excuse for
those who do (Rom 1:28-32).
As
history developed and our excuse of our evil grew, Paul says
God gave us
up to perversity and moral derangement (Romans 1:24,25,28).
It’s one
face of God’s wrath (though it’s not the whole picture) that he chose to
give us over to our sin.
Our
deepening wickedness is the result of God hardening us.
It
isn’t that God simply stepped back and “allowed” us to sin more—the
passages speak of a direct act of God that results in our choosing to sin
even more.
God
doesn’t choose sin for us—we do that ourselves but God works with us (as he
did with Pharaoh and Israel—see Romans 9:17-18 & 11:7-10) to drive us
further into desperate need, and an awareness of our depravity without him
Paul’s
good news, however, is that God didn’t drive us under sin so that he might
be rid of us!
He
placed us all under the condemnation of sin “that he might have mercy on us
all” (Romans 11:32).
His
giving us up to our wickedness was an act of mercy!
We’re
tempted to think that a worsening world is proof that God will or has
abandoned us, but Paul sees it as the merciful wrath of God driving us to a
desperate need for mercy which God is eager to provide.
Our
“wisdom” is our arrogance and our arrogance by God’s grace leads us into
abysmal trouble out of which we cry for help.
Paul and the
Jewish Predicament (Rom 2:1-11)
As it is
easy for Christians to agree with Paul and his description of human
degradation, and to agree with his condemnation of such, so it was with the
Jews.
We can
almost hear the Jews saying “Amen!” to Paul. Or “Go get them, Paul!”
The
apostle now takes up the Jewish story!
The Jew
felt superior to the Gentile world Paul had just sketched, but their own
scriptures made it clear that though they possessed the Torah (Law)
they had not internalised it!
They had
not taken it into their hearts.
They had
the marks of God’s special favour (like circumcision, the covenants and the
Torah) but they didn’t have the heart or lifestyle that these called for or
bore witness to.
So while
they called themselves Jews and took pride in the name they weren’t true
to the term Jews (which signified a people called by God and belonging to
God) because a true Jew had in addition to the physical descent of Abraham
also the faith of Abraham.
A true
Jew had a circumcised heart as well as circumcised body!
The true
Jew not only possessed the Torah, he lived it (Romans 2:28-29; 9:6).
Making
excuse for sin, the Jew took advantage of his relationship with God,
expecting that being a Jew by nationality gave them grace (Rom 2:4).
They
“supposed” or thought that because they were Jews by nationality they would
escape the judgment of God (Rom 2:3).
But to
their surprise, Paul adds that God shows no partiality, and will judge both
Jew and Gentile under the same principle (Rom 2:11).
Paul on the
Jews and Gentiles: Both Are Guilty Before God (Rom 2:12-3:8)
Paul
lumps humanity together and makes the claim that Gentiles who had in their
hearts what the Torah (God’s instruction) called for (Romans 2:14-15) would
receive eternal life based on faith as surely as the Jew who had lived in
honour and faithfulness before God (Romans 2:6-16).
Does
this mean that the Gentile who did not have the law would be excused of
their sin? No!
The
Gentile would be judged by God on the basis of their faith in God, not by
the law (Torah) even though they kept the Torah!
Gentiles
are under the same principle of faith as the Jew, but not under the same
principle of Torah as the Jew, even though they might have honoured the
Torah and kept the instruction of God.
Did this
mean the Jews had never been peculiarly blessed by God (Romans 3:1-2)? No,
of course they had been blessed by God!
There
was a great blessing in being a Jew
(Rom 3:1;
9:4-5), if one lived by faith!
Paul
insists that although the Jews had enjoyed special privileges as God’s
chosen people, they had been faithless just as the Gentiles had been and so,
in practice, Jews were no better off than any other nation!
The Whole
World is Guilty Before God and Under the Power of Sin (Rom 3:9-20)
A
collection of texts from the Jewish scriptures (especially the Psalms, which
Paul calls the law [Torah]) showed that the Jews, like the Gentiles, had not
given to God what was his due (Romans 3:9-19).
These
citations from the Psalms are not proclamations of the doctrine of
hereditary sin, but merely observations by the Psalmists of the sinful
nature of mankind!
Paul
concludes this section by saying that the whole world is brought under the
power of sin and the judgement before God.
On the
whole the Gentiles bore the marks of rebellion against God and the sign of
his wrath on them.
On the
whole the Jews had the witness of the Torah against them.
Notice
the striking statement by Paul (Rom 3:9) that “the whole world is under the
power of sin” (the RSV correctly translates this as
power of
sin, indicating that sin is not merely a mistake [a Greek concept] but that
sin is a living power that dominates and takes over our lives).
It’s
possible for humans with their darkened hearts and sensitivity to pain to
think that God’s reaction to sin is something of “over-kill”.
We might
claim it is too great a reaction to the crimes of humanity but this is part
of the reason it was necessary for Jesus Christ our redeemer coming to die
for sin!
Without
our understanding clearly the real nature of sin we will not be able to
understand the nature and extent of God’s loving grace!
Grace
without judgment is no grace at all!
The
cross marks us out, and clearly defines us—Jew and Gentile together—as
rebels against God, for when God came into our lives as Jesus Christ we and
our sin slew him on the cross!
Explain
as we will, protest as fiercely as we might, we showed that as a race we
were enemies of God when we laid hands on him and sought his extermination.
Paul
concludes this discussion on the desperate human situation by arguing that
no human being can be justified in God’s sight by law keeping, neither Jew
nor Gentile!
The
reason is that the law [Torah] was never given to save or forgive us, only
to clarify the nature of sin and to indict us for sin (Rom 3:20; Gal
3:19-22; Rom 7:7)!
Summary of Rom
1:18-3:20
Neither
Jew not Gentile (that is all of humanity) will understand the full extent
and power of God’s grace, and the necessity for the cross, without a clear
understanding of the desperate situation of fallen mankind!
In these
chapters Paul traces the decline of humans into a hopeless situation of
sinfulness and degradation.
The Jews
should not point to the Gentiles, calling for condemnation, for the Jews
were as guilty of sin and without excuse as were the Gentiles.
The
situation of both Jews and Gentiles is exactly the same, for the whole human
race is lost and under the power of sin.
This
should be a driving principle behind our seeking for God and our willingness
to take the message of the cross to the whole world!
We
should not make excuses for the “person on the desert island”, or for
ourselves because we consider ourselves as Christians to be God’s chosen
people (the fault of the Jews), for we are all under the power of sin and
desperately need the cross and God’s grace.
The
point that Paul will discuss in the following chapters is how we all can
benefit from God’s grace and redemption.
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