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LESSON 3
TEACHERS OUTLINE
ROM 1:18-3:20
The
Sinful Course of Human Nature
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The Human
Predicament
The main
point Paul makes in this section is that the whole human race, both Jew and
Gentile, are under the power of sin, and consequently, lost!
Paul and the
Degeneration (Fall) of all Humanity (Rom 1:18-31)
Paul
argues that as mankind has turned away from God and substituted false
creature gods in the place of the one true God, mankind has fallen into the
worst kind of sinful behaviour (Rom 1:18-31)
Since
mankind gave God up, God has given mankind up to his sinful ways.
The
sexual sinful decline of mankind has encompassed homosexual sin (Rom
1:26-27). Modern attempts to redefine this ignore the clear statement of
Scripture against this form of sexual gratification (see Lev 18:22; 20:13; 1
Cor 6:9). The Greek word “sexual perverts” actually means male prostitutes,
and is sometimes translated “sodomites” (1 Tim 1:10).
We must
be careful to distinguish between sexual persuasion and sexual behaviour!
Paul
argues that to excuse such sin is as bad as engaging in it!
Paul and the
Jewish Predicament (Rom 2:1-11)
Paul
charges that the Jews who would judge the Gentiles for sin should beware
since in doing so they condemn themselves!
The Jews
by breaking their own law (Torah) are also guilty of sin.
Jews
(and Christians) should beware of making excuses for their sin by “presuming
upon” the riches of God’s grace (RSV), “despisest” (KJV), “think lightly”
(ASV) “show contempt” (NIV), “despise” (NRSV), or
simply hide behind, or take lightly in the sense of
abuse the grace
of God (Rom 2:4).
The Jews
tended to argue that they were righteous because they were in a covenant
relationship with God through the Torah!
Christians tend to argue that they are righteous because they are in a
covenant relationship with God because they are baptized!
Paul
will argue that all are in a covenant relationship (righteous) with God only
by the grace of God and faith (trusting) in Jesus Christ (Rom 3:21-25).
Paul on the
Jews and Gentiles: Both are guilty before God (Rom 2:12-3:8)
This is
an important passage and concept because it leads up to R0m 3:9 in which
Paul will argue that the whole human race is under the power of sin!
Although
the Gentiles were not under the law of Moses (Torah) they would nevertheless
be judged by God for sin, but not be the standards of the Torah, but by the
standards they knew and that God held for sin. It made no difference
whether they kept the Torah because they liked the Torah, they (not being
Jews) would not be judged by the Torah. Rom 2:12-16).
The Jew,
however, who had the law and the prophets did not keep the law, thus they
were also guilty of sin and under the power of sin (Rom 2:17-3:8).
The Jew
had tremendous advantages (Rom 3:1, 2), but they despised those advantages
and did not keep the Torah!
The Whole
World is under the Power of Sin (Rom 3:9-20)
This,
too, is a major concept for the Gospel and Paul’s letter to the Romans.
It
should also be a guiding principle for all Christians; the whole world is
under the power of sin, even the Christian!
It is
because of the power of sin that we need God’s grace and forgiveness that
can only be found in Jesus Christ.
The
expression “power of sin” in Greek is merely the Greek word for sin (harmatia).
However,
we should not interpret sin as a mistake as n the Greek world view, but
should interpret as a Jew would understand sin and how sin is defined in
Scripture.
In the
Greek concept, and unfortunately often in our modern Christian
understanding, when you stop making the mistake, all is gone!
In the
Biblical understanding sin takes over one’s life and the only way it can be
removed is by the death of Jesus (his blood) and faith in God’s grace and
forgiveness which can only be accessed through or in Jesus Christ (John
14:6, Acts 4:12).
It
is only when we understand the power of sin, its control of our lives, and
the consequences of sin, that we are able to understand and appreciate fully
the grace of God!
It is
for this reason, understanding the grace of God, that Paul has laboured in
such detail in the first 3 chapters of Romans to describe the power of sin.
Paul
concludes this section (Rom 1:18-3:20) with significant statement that no
human being can be justified in God’s sight by law or Torah keeping, for the
law of Moses is not intended to justify but to clarify sin and its
consequences. (Rom 3:19, 20).
Everyone, Jew and Gentile (and Christian!), stands before God guilty of sin
and in need of forgiveness. This forgiveness can be found only in God’s
grace and the atoning death of Jesus, and this can be accessed only through
faith (trusting) in Jesus Christ.
We
should mention now in brief that faith for Paul is a synonym for trusting,
and that it stands in a continuum with obedience and baptism. In Paul’s
understanding you cannot have faith, the one end of the continuum, without
obedience and baptism, the other end of the continuum. You cannot in Paul’s
mind have faith and not be obedient, nor can you have obedience without
faith! We will say more of this in regard to Romans 6 and texts such as Gal
3:26, 27 and Col 2:11, 12.
The point that Paul will
discuss in the following chapters is how we all can benefit from God’s
grace and redemption.
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.
Lessons from Rom 1:18-3:20
The whole world is under
the power of sin, Jew, Gentile, and Christian!
The whole world, Jew and
Gentile (and Christian) desperately needs the grace and forgiveness of God.
There is no distinction in
how God treats both Jew and Gentile, for he is a righteous God who treats
all men without partiality.
No human being will ever be
declared righteous in God’s sight by law keeping, for the law was never
intended to save, and in fact because of human weakness, cannot save.
The purpose of the law was
to clarify sin and its consequences, and to hold the Jew, along with the
Gentile, accountable to God.
Notes:
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