Romans 3:21 - The righteousness of God

At last! Now we enter into how salvation works. However, the previous two chapters depicting the nature and all pervasiveness of sin are essential. No one can come to Christ unless he acknowledges his own sin, no one can appreciate the work of Christ unless he acknowledges his own sin. The work of Christ only makes sense in the light (or the darkness) of our own sin.

The five verses in 3:21-26 have been described as the most important paragraph ever written.

The “but now” can point to a logical and a temporal sequence. In time the appearance of Jesus showed how this new righteousness works. Logically it follows on from the Law.

The Jews sought to be righteous by obeying the law, but now a different righteousness has been made known. “the law” in the first phrase does not have a definite article in the Greek and is referring to law in general, though obviously with Law uppermost in Paul’s mind, but the we will not find righteousness on the principle of law. Have you noticed that when something serious goes wrong anywhere, whether in society as a whole or in the organisation you work for, what happens is this. There is an inquiry, the inquiry makes a multitude of recommendations, then new procedures, rules or laws are introduced. And nothing really changes, a few months or years later another disaster will occur. Law cannot bring righteousness.

Now while this righteousness is not by the Law, it is entirely consistent with the Law. It is what the Law and the Prophets were all pointing towards. The Old Testament can be summed up as saying sin is the problem, you are incapable of living Godly lives, but there is a solution coming. In Christ that solution has been revealed.

Romans 3:20 - Conscious of sin

So the Jew was badly mistaken if he believed that because he had the Law he was saved. The truth is that he is even more under judgement than the Gentile. Paul now comes to the purpose of the Law. No one will be declared righteous by observing the Law, or by works of the Law. There is some debate over whether this refers specifically to circumcision, or to the Law as a whole. It probably refers to both. Thus far Paul has made limited mention of circumcision but has been talking about life in general and all sorts of aspects of sin. However, things like circumcision would highlight the distinctiveness of Judaism, so they could be in mind as well. However, given the next phrase talking about sin in general I think Paul is referring to the Law as a whole. Whatever the case it is not going to make you righteous. God is not going to declare you righteous on the basis of the Law. Being circumcised will get you nowhere for God will look at the condition of your heart, and as the rest of these first three chapters make clear that is not a pretty sight. “Rather” (NIV) is better translated “for” or “since”. Ie the Law makes us aware of our sin, it highlights a sinfulness, so how can you be declared righteous by the Law when the Law deems you an utter failure?

Romans 3:15-19 - Every mouth silenced

3:15-17

These verse come from Isaiah 59:7,8. Isaiah 59 is directed at Israel and begins with God declaring that the problem is not that He is unable to save, but that their sins have separated them from God. The result is that evil and violence characterise their ways.

3:18

The final quote comes from Psalm 36:1, “There is no fear of God before their eyes”. The Jews, despite having the Law, despite all God’s dealings with them over the years, did not fear God. They were not actually looking to God, no matter how religious they might have seemed.

3:19

We now coming to the end of Paul’s graphic and extensive depiction of man’s fallen condition, salvation is near! But there are a couple of verses to go. Paul is using the “Law” here in its widest sense, ie it refers to the whole of our Old Testament, not just the Pentateuch, the first five books. None of his quotes were from the first five books. The Jew would have to admit that the Law was written to God’s people. Even a most cursory reading of the Old Testament would show someone that Israel frequently and persistently sinned against God and experienced judgement because of that. Yet the Jews had become convinced that because they had the Law they were in some sort of privileged position. The Law declared that Israel was a nation of sinners, they needed to be silent before God and listen to Him.

“and the whole world is accountable to God”. The Law also has universal consequences. The whole world is answerable to God, whether they believe it or not, whether they like it or not.   The world likes to say “well that’s OK for you Christians, but don’t tell us what to do”. We are all answerable to God. Why? Because we were all created by Him. You did not create yourself, you did not choose to come into existence.

Romans 3:11-14 - The poison of vipers

3:10(b)-12

This quote is from Psalm 14:1-3, or Psalm 53:1-3 which is almost identical at this point. It was quite common for Jewish Midrash (rabbinic teaching) to link Biblical texts together. If you look at the Old Testament you will see that the quotes are not exact. There are various reasons for this. One is that quotations were not always meant to be exact, but just to give the general sense. Another is that the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, was most often quoted. Our Bibles are usually based on the Hebrew text.

This first quote seems to back up the stuff in Chapter 1, and shows that the indictment there of the Gentile world is just as applicable to the Jewish world. And these words come from God Himself, and words that the Jew would acknowledge as true. No one, and so not even the Jew, understands God or truly seeks Him. All of them have turned away and become worthless (cf Rom 1:21-23). The whole of the human race is lost.

3:13,14

Verse 13 comes from Psalm 5:9, and the second part from Psalm 140:3. Throat, tongues and lips clearly link the three phrases and Paul is emphasising the corruption of the tongue. Jesus called Satan the father of lies. When men desert God lying and falsehood will quickly dominate. Just see how pervasive it is in society. Indeed it is sometimes considered foolish not to lie. Verse 14 comes from the Septuagint version of Psalm 10:7.

Romans 3:9,10 - As it is written

3:9

“Do we have any advantage?” Not at all!.  Now back in verse 2 Paul has answered a similar question with “Much in every way!” So what is going on? Well when we get to chapter 9 (several months ahead!) there will be several more advantages in addition to the one given in verse 2, but now Paul’s mind is engaged again with the sinfulness of all men, including Jews. This is the fundamental point that they need to grasp, it is the fundamental point we all need to grasp. We have sinned against God, we are sinful by nature, and we need to be saved (rescued) from this sin. In this respect Jews are in exactly the same boat as every other human being, all are under the power of sin. There is indeed no advantage in this respect.

3:10

We now embark on a series of quotes from the Old Testament, mostly from the Psalms. It is quite amazing really. When Jesus was on earth He was rejected by the Jewish leaders, they were confident in their own righteousness, confident in the Law to provide them with righteousness before God. Yet the Old Testament makes it clear that people are sinful. The bulk of the Old Testament is a record of Israel’s sinfulness, her history was a history of God’s judgement upon her. It is interesting that the Bible is much more concerned with the sins of God’s people than the sins of the world (this is most definitely not to say that the sins of the world do not matter, they most certainly do). It should have been obvious to Israel that her sin was the problem, yet she focused more on the sins of the Gentiles, considering herself superior. This is a very human trait and we need to beware of it in ourselves.

Romans 3:5-8 - Let us do evil?

3:5-8

Paul continues the hypothetical argument, and at the end of verse 5 makes it clear that he is just addressing a possible argument. The argument is, well if our unrighteousness, ie our sin, highlights God’s righteousness all the more, why does He bring His wrath upon us. This is similar in some ways to the “argument” that it is God’s job to forgive sins. This illustrates the problem in taking part of the truth and treating it as if it was the whole truth. Yes, the end result of human sin is that God’s righteousness will be seen all the more clearly, but that in no way excuses or justifies the sin. Indeed, God’s righteousness could not then be highlighted, for part of the way in which His righteousness is shown is in His judging of sin. We need to appreciate that a fundamental aspect of God’s character and glory is His judging of sin. The argument boils down to saying let us do evil so that good might result. Such arguments are not worth giving the time of day. Paul has little time for such ridiculous arguments, and there are times when we should adopt a similar approach.

Romans 3:3,4 - Let God be true

3:3

Now the Old Testament does not just contain “laws” and commandments, it also contains a multitude of promises, especially God’s commitment to Israel. What has happened to all these, are they done away, no longer applicable? This is a question that Paul will return to in Chapters 9-11 looking more at the positive side of things, ie how God’s promises will be fulfilled. Here he is focusing on the negative side. How do Israel’s sin and God’s promises interact with each other. Can the unfaithfulness of some Jews nullify the promises of God, God’s faithfulness? This question is still relevant, not just in the context of Israel, but of all who are saved. For there are all of us are unfaithful to some degree at some time.

3:4

“Not at all!” Certainly not is Paul’s reply. “Let God be true and every man a liar”.We have a tremendous tendency to build a theology on half a truth. Calvinism and Arminianism could be take as examples of this (so I am bound to have upset someone here!). If we make God’s righteousness or His faithfulness the only thing that matters, then the significance of human sin loses its importance. If we make human responsibility of overriding significance then the faithfulness and graciousness of God lose their importance. God’s faithfulness is absolute, but human responsibility matters as well, and both are equally Biblical. So if men are unfaithful the final outcome is that God’s righteousness is shown to be all the greater, it enhances God’s righteousness. We see this supremely in the cross, as will be demonstrates a little later.

Romans 3:1,2 - The advantage of being Jewish

3:1

Throughout the first few chapters of Romans Paul interacts with an imagined interlocutor, someone who is raising questions and objections to the gospel. Paul has just made it abundantly clear that the Jew is in exactly the same boat as the Gentile when it comes to judgement, all of us will stand before God and be judged by what we have done. Being Jewish or non-Jewish will offer no advantage, having or not having the Law will make no difference. So this raises the question of whether there is any advantage at all in being Jewish. Does circumcision have any value at all? Now these are not mere intellectual questions. Imagine that you are a Jew, then you know that there is value in being Jewish, you know that circumcision does matter. So is your whole world about to crumble, have you been deceived all these years? Or is there something deeper, is your Jewishness actually of far greater value than you ever imagined?

3:2
Paul does then start to give the advantages of being Jewish but does not get beyond the first item before returning to the reality of the situation the Jews are in. He does, arguably, return to the list in Chapter 9! We do well to remember that letters, even the magnificent Romans, is not an academic treatise. They were written with passion, about matters that were deep in Paul’s heart, and affected the lives of real people. The one item he does manage to mention is that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. God gave them His word, He spoke to them in a way that He did not speak to any other nation. But having received the word they needed to obey the word. It is the same today if God gives you a prophecy, or you get some insight from reading the Bible. The insight in itself does not make you special, we only benefit from it if we believe it and obey it. Most of all remember that in saying the Jews have the oracles of God he is referring above all to the Old Testament. As Christians we need to appreciate just how blessed we are to have the Bible. All of it is God breathed. In the right sense we need to be proud of the Bible, we also need to remember, that like the Jews, it is of no value to us unless we believe it and truly live by it.

Romans 2:28,29 - Inward change

These closing verses of the chapter (though they weren't closing verses when Paul wrote it because there weren't any chapter or verse numbers at that time!) sum up the heart of the argument, and that is to do with the heart. The Jews focused on the outward appearance, indeed Jesus criticised the Pharisees and scribes for this (Matt 23:25-28). As we have mentioned while commentating on previous verses, in the Old Testament it is clear that God is concerned with the heart of man, with what we are really like, and what we actually do with our lives. We need to look at our own hearts. If you are feeling self-confident, sure of your own self-righteousness, then the thing to do is to take a long hard look at yourself. Don’t look at other people, don’t compare yourself to others, just look at your heart and the attitudes within. Then if we have any honesty at all we will acknowledge our need of a saviour, our need of forgiveness, and our need of transformation. It is only the Holy Spirit that can bring about the inward change that is needed.

The closing sentence is crucial as well. Who are we trying to please? Whose opinion, whose judgement, do we value above all? Is it the judgement of men, or of God? The Pharisees were concerned with outward appearance, with receiving praise and recognition from men. It is God’s praise that really counts.

Romans 2:26,27 - Circumcision

2:26

So the circumcised Jew who did not obey the Law might as well not be circumcised. The converse was also true. If a Gentile obeyed the Law, followed its requirements, then he would be treated as if he was circumcised. So we see the difference in thought between that of the “Jew” and that of Paul. The Jew regarded circumcision as valuable in its own right, Paul saw it as a reflection of what was in a man’s heart, so it was only of value if the person was good. Which is the more Biblical? The answer is clearly Paul. From a very early stage God made “circumcision of the heart” the crucial matter (Deut 10:16, 30:6; Lev 26:41; Jer 4:4). There is a human tendency, to which we are all subject, to focus on the outward rather than the inner man. Even as Christians we need to be very careful of this.

2:27

So Paul goes on to say that the Gentile who keeps the Law will condemn the circumcised law-breaker. Now he is not implying that this would actually happen, for no one keeps the Law perfectly, rather he is emphasising that actual obedience is the crucial matter. Note how offensive this would be to the Jew. They considered themselves superior to the Gentiles, so being told the Gentile would condemn them as morally inferior would be a shock to them. Yet, Jesus said the same sort of thing on a number of occasions in the gospels (Matt 11:22-24, 8:5-13).

Romans 2:23-25 - Dishonouring God

2:23,24

So the Jew who was so proud of the Law was actually dishonouring God by breaking the Law. The fact is that we are all sinners, no one can boast before God. Moreover, the Old Testament said the very same thing, repeatedly. Paul quotes from Isaiah 52:5 (Septuagint version) , and Ezek 36:20, 22 says the same thing. As an aside, the Septuagint, or Greek version, of the Old Testament was the one most widely used in New Testament times which is why many of the OT quotes we find in the New Testament come from that version.

So the message is that the Law does not actually give the Jew any grounds for boasting or assurance, rather it condemns him because he too is a sinner, a law breaker.

2:25

If you read the New Testament letters, and Acts, it becomes obvious that circumcision was a big issue in the early church. The Jews saw it as central to their faith. Now it was a commandment in the Old Testament that Jews had to be circumcised, indeed Moses was nearly killed by God for not circumcising one of his sons. Conversely, Roman society tended to look down on circumcision. However, even in the Old Testament there are numerous references to being circumcised in the heart, ie a deep and effective inward attitude, not just an outward sign. Paul is reminding his hypothetical Jew that circumcision was only of value if a person obeyed the Law, if you did not keep the Law then circumcision had no value, indeed you were effectively uncircumcised.

Romans 2:21.22 - Do you not teach yourself?

We now come to the key question, “you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?”. This is a question that all of us who preach and teach should ask ourselves. God is far more interested in what we do and what we are than what we know (or think we know, because if we do not do it we really do not know anything).

Paul gives several examples and this is where we really need to bear in mind that he is using a rhetorical style with exaggeration to emphasise the point. For most Jews did not actually commit adultery nor rob temples, at least in a surface level understanding of the terms. So part of the purpose is just to get the man to look at himself. You notice this is in most arguments with atheists or other sceptics. They will argue about generalities, rarely will the issue focus on them as individuals. Conversely, the Lord wants to turn the focus on us as individuals. The first step in meeting the Lord is to realise our own guilt, our own weakness our own need. Then we are in a position to receive the free gift of salvation. For instance someone may raise the issue “what about Mother Theresa?”, or some other “good” person. But the first question for you and me is not Mother Theresa, it is about you and me. God gets personal.

Then there are the words of Jesus about whoever looks at a woman lustfully, or whoever hates his brother, is guilty of adultery and murder. The condition of our hearts is crucial. Moreover, if the Jew did not give to God properly then he was indeed robbing God, robbing temples (Mal 3:8).

Romans 2:18-20 - If you are ....

2:18,19

The Jews were proud of the Law. They knew God’s will. Why did they know it? Because God had told them! They had a knowledge and some understanding of what was really true, so they were able to tell what was “excellent” or “superior”, or so they thought. They saw themselves as a light for the blind. They had better knowledge than the pagan nations around them, and so could teach these peoples a better way, and would avoid their inferior practices.

Soon Paul is going to go on the attack and severely criticise them, but there is something we can learn here first. With our current mindsets we would join in criticising the Jews here, but our problem is that we are not confident enough in the Bible, in what God has revealed to us. We do have light that the world does not have, and we need to shine the light upon the world. In fact the Old Testament tells us to be a light to which the nations will come (Is 60:1-3), and Jesus tells us to do the same (Matt 5:14-16).

2:20

The Law has the embodiment of knowledge and truth. Now since Paul is speaking rhetorically here this could be said in a mocking manner since he is criticising the Jew. However, knowing what we do of Paul and his attitude to the Law this cannot be so. Moreover, it is the hypothetical Jew’s attitude to himself and his own righteousness that is under attack here, not the Law itself. The Law does actually contain knowledge and truth, the problem was that the Jews misunderstood it. They thought the Law was it, they thought the Law was the means by which men would become righteous. In fact, the Law was pointing towards the means of salvation, towards Christ. Paul will say something about this later in Romans, and expounded most clearly on this point in Galatians chapters 3 and 4.

We need to recognise the high place that the Law has. Jesus said He did not come to do away with the Law but to fulfil it. So how are we to treat the Law. Well, as a rough guide we can consider it as moral, social and ceremonial. The sacrificial system and other ceremonial aspects do not apply to us. They are still important though, and their importance lies in their pointing towards Jesus, towards His sacrificial death upon the cross. The moral law still applies and has always applied, and if you look carefully at the Law you will be amazed how “liberal” it is. Some things, like the food laws, do not apply and were given to distinguish Israel from other nations.

Living as Sons - A sermon on Romans 8:12-18

Here is a sermon of mine on Romans 8:12-18, focuses on living as sons and daughters of God.

Romans 2:16,17 - Call yourself a Jew

2:16

Men make many arguments and claims, but on the day of judgement everything will be made clear. God will judge everyone through Jesus Christ, and this will include the secret thoughts of all. Ie there will be no hiding, no deceiving, no obfuscation. The judgement will be based on all truth and done in all righteousness. It will be perfectly just. People often try to win debates by clever arguments, but on that day all that matters will be the truth.

Notice two important points here. Judgement will be carried out through Jesus Christ. People often think that Jesus and judgement are somehow opposed to each other, nothing could be further from the truth. Secondly, judgement is part of the gospel. Indeed, the cross makes no sense at all if there is no judgement. Popular conceptions of what the gospel is and what Jesus is about are usually misconceptions.

2:17

There are some who say it is only at this point that Paul turns specifically to the Jews, but I side with those who see the first part of the chapter being directed towards Jews, but applicable in its principles to the moral person as well.

We need to remember that Paul is employing a rhetorical style here, dealing with a hypothetical “opponent”. This was a style that commonly employed exaggeration for effect, or hyperbole. Such elements of the argument were meant to be taken as true in principle, but exaggerating the details to highlight the point. They were not meant to be taken literally, this is particularly important when we come to verse 22.

So Paul is addressing the hypothetical person who calls himself a Jew, claims to rely on the Law and boast in God. Remember what Paul’s past was, he knew how these people thought, what went on in their minds.

The Message - The good, the bad and the ugly

Those of you who have heard me preach are well aware of my, what shall we say, somewhat low opinion of the Message Bible.

Here I would like to use Romans 8:12-15, which is part of the passage I preached on this morning. This will perhaps demonstrate the reasons for my views.

Anyway, let's look at Romans 8:12-15. First in the NIV it says:

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation – but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.

13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry,‘Abba, Father.’

Now let's look at what the Message says:

12-14 So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

15 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?”

So let's look at the good, the bad and the ugly:

The Good

The Message makes it clear that what Paul is saying in v12 is not simply "do not sin", but "stop trying to live a better life by relying on your own strength". So here is actually brings out a key point of the original.

The Bad

In v14 it speaks of us being children of God (the Greek actually says sons of God). The Message makes no mention whatsoever of this!

The Ugly

In v 15 it talks of us crying "Abba Father", the Message's "What's next Papa?" is downright ugly. More seriously it strips the text of most of its depth of meaning, turning it into sentimental mush.

Anyway, there you have it. Now you know I have the views I have on the Message. I actually do not object to anyone using the Message, but I would strongly advise you not to use it as the only version you use. It can sometimes bring out the meaning more clearly, but at other times it will obscure the meaning, and at other obliterate it altogether. In fact it is best to treat the Message in same way as should treat a sermon, ie go and read the Bible see if the Message or sermon is actually consistent with what the Bible says.

Romans 2:14,15 - A law unto themselves

NIV and ESV have these two verses in brackets, indicating that they are an aside. However, there are no brackets in the original and it is perfectly possible to see these verses as part of the main argument. Paul’s central thesis is that Jews and Gentiles are all in the same boat. He has just been showing that under the Law it is obeying the Law, not merely “having” the Law, that matters and that will be the focus of judgement under the Law. He has also said “first for the Jew, then for the Greek” (2:9,10). The Jew may then object that the Gentiles (synonymous with Greek) does not have the Law so he cannot be judged, so the Jew actually is better off because he has the Law. This is the objection that Paul is answering here. So Jews are in the same boat, Gentiles are in the same boat. Everyone has some sense of right and wrong, and this shows that the Gentiles are indeed in the same boat. They do not have the Law, but they do have a sense of right and wrong, imperfect though this may be.

Conscience is a largely Greek concept, rather than a Jewish one. Our conscience is not perfect, but everyone has one and we do well to listen to it. However, it is not perfect. If the word of God is clear on something and our conscience is saying do the opposite we should obey the word of God. If our conscience is making us feel guilty about something about which there is actually no prohibition in the Bible, then we should allow the word to train our conscience.

People often object that people who have not heard the word of God will be judged unfairly, but this is not so. If God judges a person purely by what they know to be right and wrong they would still be found guilty. We should also remember that through persistent doing of evil it is possible for our conscience to become numbed, to no longer function properly. The Bible is our ultimate guide, and we should use it to train our consciences.

Romans 2:13 - Those who obey

The Jews thought they were special because they had received the Law, because God had given it to them. But being righteous by the Law required one to obey the Law, all of it. This was the fundamental error of the Jews, something they were completely blind to. Yet within the Law man’s sin was central, that is why they had all the sacrificial laws. So they thought that the blood of lambs or bulls would take away their sin. The writer to the Hebrews points out the foolishness of this. How could the blood of an animal take away a man’s sin?

“It is those who obey the Law who will be declared righteous”. This verse illustrates why it is so important to understand Scripture in its context, to see a phrase or a sentence within the context of the whole argument. Taken on its own one might think that Paul is saying it is possible to be saved by obeying the Law, or that some will be saved by obeying the Law. But, as we have pointed out, if we look at the whole argument that Paul is making, and the part of that argument that he is stressing in this chapter, we see that that is not the case. Paul is telling the Jew how the principle of Law works, and how the Jew’s understanding of the Law was fundamentally flawed. If a Jew wanted to be saved by the Law then he had to be able to stand before God and prove that he had obeyed all of the Law, something no one, except Christ, could hope to do.

Romans 2:12 - All who sin

The Jews thought that because they had the Law there were special, privileged. In a sense they were, as Paul will point out later, but not in the sense that they thought they were. They thought that it meant they had special favour with God, that at the last day they would be OK, they would get through the final judgement. On the other hand, they thought the Gentiles had had it. Paul says that all will be judged and will perish. The Gentiles without the Law will still be judged and found wanting, the Jews will be judged and also found wanting.

The central tenet of Paul’s argument in this part of Romans is that the Jews and the Gentiles are in exactly the same boat. This is fundamental to our understanding of God’s dealings with Israel in the Old Testament. Israel is, in a way, a microcosm of the whole world. We see in Israel what is true of the whole world. In that sense Israel is not special. In Israel we see a study in sin. It would not be unfair to call the Old Testament a record of the sins of Israel. We see in it depicted the depths of sin. This same sin is found in every human being. Yet that is not all that the Old Testament is, it is also pointing forward to Christ, pointing forward to salvation. Furthermore, it was always God’s plan that this salvation would go out to all the world. Now all this does not mean that Israel will not receive salvation on a large scale at the end, there will be a massive turning to Christ, a final realisation. Paul talks about this in Chapters 9-11.

Romans 2:9-11 - God does not show favouritism

These verses sum up how the judgement will work. The Jew would accept that everyone who does evil will receive tribulation from God. What he tended to forget was that this would apply first of all to the Jews, then the Gentiles (Greeks being used a synonym for Gentiles). There is a key lesson here to understanding the grace of God. God had shown His grace to Israel in choosing them, but this did not absolve them from responsibility. If anything it increased it. The reality of this can be seen throughout Israel's history where she repeatedly experienced God's wrath because of her sins. Yet the Jews failed to see this. We need to be wary of making the same mistake. Peter says that judgement begins with the church (1 Peter 4:7). Likewise we should not presume that the grace of God shown to us in Christ means we can sin with impunity for He will forgives us. To have such an attitude is a grave mistake.

Conversely there will be glory for those who do good. Again, this applies to the Jews and the Gentiles, Verse 11 indicates what the point of all this is. Paul's thrust is that God shows no partiality, no favouritism. All of us are subject to the same judgement. So, as he will go on to say later, all of us are in need of the same saviour.

Romans 2:7,8 - Persistence in doing good

2:7

So is Paul talking about a real person, ie are there some people who will be given eternal life because they are persistent in doing good, or is he explaining how God's judgement, based on merit, works? I think it is clearly the latter. Paul is addressing the self-righteous Jew, showing how living by the Law ultimately means wrath for all of us. What does it mean to seek "glory, honour and immortality"? We sometimes think it is wrong to seek these things, but the Bible does not actually say that. What matters is how we seek these things. Under the Law it is by "persistently doing good", persistently seeking God's ways. For if you look at the Bible you will see that God gives glory, honour and immortality to the faithful.

2:8

So the seeking of glory and honour is not the problem, rather the method is the problem. Man's way is to be self-seeking and to reject the truth, to follow evil ways. We see this in many spheres of life. In politics it would be considered naive to adopt any other course! In business we too often see the same, but we also see it on a small scale in our own lives too. The end result of this will be wrath and anger from God. Paul is seeking to get the self righteous man to look at his own heart. If you had to stand before God on your own merits how do you think you would fare?

Romans 2:5,6 - God will repay

2:5

What does the self-righteous person that Paul is addressing think when he condemns the "sinners" of chapter 1? He feels better about himself, thinking he is alright with God because he does not do these evil things. This reminds us of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). In condemning others he thinks he is emphasising his own righteousness. In reality he is storing up wrath for himself when God's judgement is revealed. What Paul is saying, and what is entirely consistent with Jesus' teaching, is that it is the condition of our own hearts that we need to look at. It is a repentant heart that God honours (Psalm 51:17). Remember that the overarching narrative in these early chapters of Romans is that all have sinned and are in equal need of salvation.

2:6

We now embark on what is in some ways a difficult passage to interpret, and the reason for the difficulty is that at one level it seems to be teaching a salvation by works, or the possibility of being righteous by our works. Two ways of looking at this are as follows:

On the one hand this could all be part of the rhetorical argument. He is addressing the self-righeous Jew (and much applies to any self-righteous person as well), and showing him the inconsistency of his own arguments. The Jew would readily agree that God will judge "according to his works".

On the other hand it could be looking ahead to the last day when it is those who have faith in Christ who will be righteous.

Both these approaches to the passage have merit and are true. One of the key arguments of Paul is that the Law is good, but no one can be made righteous by the Law. For under the Law everyone is under judgement and so destined for God's wrath. At the same time, he argues that those who live by faith are the ones who actually fulfil the Law. This happens in two ways. On the one hand the blood of Jesus justifies us, it perfectly atones for our sins. On the other hand, the work of the Spirit in our lives transforms us into the people we are meant to be, and this work will be brought to completion at the last day. So on the last day God will have a people who are truly righteous, and these people will be those who live by faith, not by the Law.

So there is merit in looking at this passage from both perspectives.

Romans 2:4 - Kindness leads to repentance

Jer 17:9 says the heart above all things is deceitful, and we do well to heed this warning. It is so easy to start off following God and then to move subtly to presuming upon God, thinking we have some privileged position, some special  favour with God, and that all His laws and judgements apply to others and not to us. We look at our lives and think we are doing OK and God hasn't sent down any thunderbolts recently has He? If we do this we are presuming on the marcy of God. We so easily do this, even as Christians. We can start to take pride in our church or denomination.Proud of being charismatic, proud of being reformed, or baptist, or whatever. Or, as here, proud of being Jewish. Now, of course, there is a sense in which a Jew should be proud of being Jewish, ie being grateful for all that God has done for the nation of Israel, and we should all be grateful for the good things that God has done in our churches. But we must not be presumptuous. The whole of God's dealing with Israel were designed to lead to them repentance, then they could come to Christ and receive new life. The same is true of all of us. And it is still true, there are still many areas of my life where things need to be put right.

Romans 2:2,3 - Judging others

2:2

So how can this "moral" person be guilty? Paul now proceeds to present his case. The starting point is God, as it should be with all things. Indeed, this is the prime failing of all human wisdom, it starts with man, not with God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The Jew would readily accept this, nod his head in eager agreement that God's judgement is based on truth. So whatever God says is bound to be right. God's judgement is based on truth. Now truth is not just an abstract philosophical concept. Jesus said "I am the truth", Jesus is truth.

2:3

The term "O man" appears again. Paul draws attention to a logical conclusion from our judging others, but before we do that we need to consider a common misunderstanding about judging. In debates, particularly relating to sexual morality, we often hear people say "do not judge others", usually quoting the words of Jesus to the woman caught in adultery, Jesus' words on not judging others. But look at what Paul is saying here and what he is not saying. He is most definitely not saying that the various things mentioned in chapter 1 are not wrong. It is absolutely fundamental to his argument that they are wrong. What he is saying is that the man is in no position to claim that he is better than these people. We need to apply the same principle. When something is clearly against Biblical standards we need to say so clearly, but we must not consider that we are superior to people who do these things. The gospel is that all have sinned , and that all includes you and me, and all can be saved through faith in the blood of Jesus, and that includes the people who do the evil acts.

The man is judging the actions and lives of others, saying they are against God's laws, and this is definitely true. However, the corollary of this is that the man himself can expect to be judged by God as well. The question we like to ask is "what will God think of them", the question we all need to ask, and to focus most clearly on, is "what will God think of us?" This, of course, reminds us of Jesus' teaching on taking the plank out of our own eye before we try to take motes out of other people's eyes (Matt 7:5). Indeed it is interesting how well Paul's teaching ties in with what we find in the gospels. Some people are keen on saying that Paul introduced a different gospel, teaching things that Jesus never said and were at odds with Jesus' own teaching. Such ideas are simply nonsense.

Romans 2:1 - No excuse

This chapter has several difficulties in seeking to interpret it. One is where Paul starts speaking specifically about the Jews, the other main difficulty is how we are to take the things like verse 7 which seem to imply salvation on merit. We will deal with the latter problem when we come to it. With regard to the former two options are that the first sixteen verses are directed to generally "moral" people" and then from verse 17 specifically to the Jews. The second option is that all of it is directed primarily to the Jews, but with it also having several sentiments that are applicable to all people who consider themselves "moral". The latter alternative seems preferable. The Jews did often consider themselves to be morally superior to the Gentiles and Jews are specifically mentioned as early as verse 9.

The NIV has "you who pass judgement ...", the ESV has "O man, every one of you ..." The latter is more accurate. This is an example where the desire to use gender inclusive language leads to a loss in translation. I am pragmatically in favour of using gender specific language where the original text does. Some people get very excited about this, sometimes too strongly so. Often where the Bible refers to "brothers" or "sons" we know that it includes females as well and in reading such a passage, or preaching on it I will often say that it includes women as well as men. However, if we change the text itself we may lose something, as here. "O man " is a rhetorical term and Paul is seeking to address an imaginary opponent who after hearing the stuff in chapter 1 is nodding sagely, smugly considering himself to be better than that.  Remember Jesus did the same in one of the gospels. So Paul is writing here in a rhetorical style. This may have relevance when we come to interpret verse 7 etc. There is a difference in how precisely language should be interpreted between a rhetorical speech and an academic paper.

The basic thesis is that the one who is condemning the sinners of chapter 1, enjoying considering himself better than them is actually guilty of doing the very same things. How can this be? If this is indeed directed primarily at Jews then they knew God existed, and they certainly did not indulge in homosexual acts. And the same could be said of the "moral" person. So does Paul have in mind the words of Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount that if we have lustful thoughts we are guilty of adultery, and if we have hateful thoughts we are guilty of murder? Now on those words we do need to say something. Jesus was not saying that thinking evil things is the same as doing evil things. I would much rather you just had bad thoughts towards me than actually murdered me! And a marriage where adultery has actually taken place is far harder to heal than one where the husband looks at another woman with lustful thoughts. What Jesus is saying is that the condition of the heart in both cases is equally serious, and something needs to be done. And that is Paul's central argument in Romans. All have sinned and need the cross in equal measure.

Romans 1:29-32 - Every kind of wickedness

Just in case anyone thinks Paul particularly had it in for homosexuals he now gives an indictment against all sorts of wickedness. The consequence of rejecting God, and so being rejected by God, is that we become full of evil, greed and depravity. This is the expanded to include envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. This in turn is followed by another list. It was common practice in literature of the time to give lists of vices or virtues when talking about such things. Now our reaction might be to think that Paul is being somewhat on the harsh side, but a little thought shows that he is not far off the mark at all. See how widespread malice and deceit is, both in public and private life. There are certainly many who are god-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful. The breakdown of relationships between parents and children is endemic in society. Fidelity, love and mercy are so often not found in relationships. Now at the same time we need to realise that Paul is not saying that no one does any good at all, this is a rhetorical list. Ie he is emphasising the role and extent of evil in individuals and in society.

Romans 1:28 - God gave them over

Paul then continues the description of man’s fallen condition, and the consequences of denying God. Men chose to deny the knowledge of God, to reject the knowledge of God. There is research which shows that children have an innate belief in God. Not surprisingly this research is contested and others claim children have this belief because society inculcates it in them. In one sense it doesn’t matter, the case is that there is a tendency to believe in God, many then actively choose to reject this belief. The response of God is to give man what he wants! The word translated “depraved” means “that which has not stood the test” and was used of substandard coins. The mind, and everything that flows from it, that results when someone rejects God will not stand the test. At present we see utter confusion over sexuality and gender. This depraved mind leads us to do what should not be done. The actions of Planned Parenthood are a stark example of this. Paul will now go on to list various examples of the product of a depraved mind, a substandard mind.

Read the Word

I have just read an excellent blog by R T Kendall urging people to read the Bible more. There are many Bible reading plans available and a good list can be found here . I would like to suggest one more scheme, one I have used for many years. It works like this:

Split the Bible into three sections:

1. Genesis - Esther
2. Job - Malachi
3. New Testament

Put a book mark at the start of each section. The bookmarks can be physical bookmarks in a physical Bible (remember those!), or, as I do now, you can use bookmarks in YouVersion or some other electronic source.

Then read one chapter each day from each section, advancing the bookmarks one chapter.

When a bookmark reaches the end of a section, just put it back to the beginning.

I have used this for several years, starting with physical bookmarks, not using the digital version! There are several advantages to this scheme, including:

• You have a variety of types of reading each day, eg narrative, prophecy, gospel. This helps when you encounter the "boring" bits. I know we shouldn't find the Bible boring, but there are some parts which are easier to read than others. However, we should persist with the difficult bits, one day you will be surprised and find that a light suddenly dawns.
• You will get through the whole Bible in a little over a year. You can of course read two or even more chapters per section per day if you wish.
• If you read  from different parts of the Bible you will sometimes be amazed at the connections.
• The sections are not the same size, so you can keep using this plan forever and each time you go through it the different sections will be at different stages, so it will never repeat.

Here is some practical advice as well. The Bible is the greatest book there is and there are sometimes when we read it that we have the most amazing encounter with God, something really hits us. However, there are times when I read it and afterwards wonder, "what good did that do?" Most if the time it is somewhere inbetween the two, and most of the time I do feel edified, built up, by reading the Bible, but sometimes I don't. This is normal. When we encounter such times just press on. Even when we don't "feel" the word doing us any good it still builds us up, and days when we feel the benefit will arrive again.

Whether you follow this plan or one of the many others, read the Bible!

Romans 1:26,27(c) - Homosexuality : Some pastoral comments

So what if you do experience same-sex-attraction (SSA)? Where does all this leave you? Well, if this is you well done for sticking with this! Let me say a few things.

As I have said before, Paul is talking about homosexuality here as one example of sin. Later he will talk about salvation and that salvation is open to all, and all here does mean all. So what if you experience SSA, does that exclude you from the kingdom of God? In itself it does not, in the same way that feelings of hetersexual lust do not. What matters is what we do in response. If we indulge or entertain these thoughts, whether SSA or heterosexual lust we are heading for trouble, but having to resist temptation is, sadly, a normal part of the human condition.

What about “pray the gay away”, or being set free from homosexual feelings? Well with all sins we may be set free from them suddenly, either at conversion or after some special encounter with the Lord, but this does not happen with all sins, nor even with most sins. For the most part being “set free” is a gradual process and involves learning self-control. Sadly parts of the church have sometimes promoted the idea that all people who come to Christ who experience SSA will be miraculously “set free”, and if they aren’t there is something wrong. This doesn’t happen with any other sin, so why should homosexuality be any different?

Society seeks to define us by our sexuality. This is a lie, while sexuality is important, we are not defined by it. We are defined by the fact that God created us and by the fact that Jesus died on the cross and rose again for us.

What about counselling or psychological help? Well this might be helpful in some cases. There are moves in the US, and I think in the UK, to ban counselling of this nature. This seems very strange to me. If someone has SSA feelings and would rather not have them then counselling of some form might help, why deny it to them? Especially at a time when society is quite happy to promote pumping someone full of hormones and carrying out mutilatory surgery on parts of their body which are in perfect working order. Why one is OK and the other not is beyond me.

Finally, I have listened to people like Sam Allberry and other friends of his on Unbelieveable, and to Rossari Butterfield. These are all people who experienced SSA, the latter was a promoter of gay rights and a lesbian who then turned to Christ. What strikes me about them is the depth of commitment and love for Jesus that comes over, the joy in their salvation that comes over.

The gospel brings freedom for all people, and eventually we will get there!