Week 7 - Sunday

Everyone is Guilty

What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; (Romans 3:9)

Paul uses the words Gentiles and Greeks, frequently in Romans, both to refer to people who are not Jewish. The Greek language and culture were so prevalent, at this time in history, that all people who were not Jews were commonly called Greeks. Therefore when Paul says both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, he means that every person in the world is. From Paul's perspective, depending upon whether they had received Christ, every person is one of three things. Either they are an unbelieving Gentile, an unbelieving Jew, or they are a Christian. Paul has already shown us that the unbelieving, immoral Gentiles are guilty of sin and under God's wrath (Rom. 1:18-32). He has also demonstrated that the religious or moral Jews, are just as guilty and equally deserve to be condemned (Rom. 2:1-3:8). But what about Christians? Aren't they better than the unbelieving Jews and Greeks? People who are religious have a tendency to think they are better than other people. Even many Christians are guilty of this. After all, there must be a reason that they came to know Christ, when so many others never do. Maybe it's because they weren't quite as sinful as most people are. Or perhaps they made better choices in life. Are Christians really better than other people? Paul says, not at all. Before coming to Christ, every Christian was either an unbelieving Gentile or an unbelieving Jew. They were no better than any other unbeliever (Eph. 2:1-3). The reason they became a Christian is not because they were any better than any one else, but because they admitted their sin and came to Christ seeking to be saved.

An important Biblical truth is that man is naturally sinful. Every person, apart from Christ, is under the control of sin. This is not something that a lot of people like to believe. People like to think that they are basically good. By human standards some people are better than others. However the difference between us is really so small, that it's insignificant when we are judged by God. No person comes even close to meeting God's standard. God's standard for righteousness is absolute perfection. The following analogy might help describe what that's like. Think what would happen if God lined everyone up on the coast of California and said that anyone who can swim to Japan is good enough to go to heaven. Some people can't swim at all, some can swim fairly well, and others can swim for miles. On a smaller scale, the difference between the swimmers might seem to be great. Still there is no one, who can swim good enough to cover more than just a few of the thousands of miles it would take. Every person would drown, unless someone came to rescue them. Being sinful ourselves, we tend to view things on the smaller scale and think we are better swimmers than some people. God, being perfectly righteous, sees the bigger picture and He knows that none of us will make it. That's why Jesus came to save us. Every single person would have been lost if He hadn't. Take the time now to thank Jesus Christ for dying on the cross to save us from our sins.

Readings for today: 1 John 5:19; Mark 10:18; Rom. 3:23; Matt. 5:48