Week 8 - Sunday

Guilty as Charged

Now we know whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:19-20)

Paul has spent most of the first three chapters of Romans trying to show that all people are sinners and that they desperately need to be saved from the judgment of God. He has shown that all men, whether Jew or Gentile, have a basic knowledge of God and of His Law. Therefore everyone is accountable to God for whether or not they keep His Law. Paul concluded his presentation of man's sinfulness by listing 13 charges against man. To prove these charges, Paul called God as His witness (by quoting the Scriptures). Now that the charges and evidence have been heard there is only one possibly verdict for man, guilty as charged. The evidence against man is so compelling that every mouth is closed. No one has any defense because every person is guilty.

A day is coming when every person will be judged by God. On that day, no one will be justified by keeping the Law. Because everyone has sinned, everyone is guilty. It's a basic spiritual principle that a person cannot be saved by a law they haven't kept. Even though they know they have sinned, many people think that their sins will be forgiven by God because they kept other parts of the law. This doesn't make any sense though. If you were arrested and put on trial for robbing a bank, you wouldn't be able to excuse yourself by saying that there were other laws you have obeyed. If that kind of defense wouldn't hold up in a human court, why would anyone think that it would in God's. His standard for righteousness is much more demanding than any human laws are. If you have broken any part of God's Law, you are a lawbreaker. The only way a person could be justified by keeping God's law is to keep all of it. However that isn't possible because God's standard is absolute perfection. God standard is so far beyond human capabilities that people don't even realize many of the sins they commit. The Apostle Paul may have been the greatest Christian who ever lived. He wrote more of the New Testament than any other writer and dedicated his life to teaching the word of God to others. No single person has probably ever given more of themselves to knowing and doing God's will. But as faithful as Paul was to God, he still thought of himself as a wretched man (Rom. 7:24) and the worst of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). The reason Paul was so overwhelmed with his sinfulness was because he knew so much about God's Law. The more a person learns about God's Law, the more it reveals their sin to them. No one can be saved by obeying the Law because no one can do it. The purpose of the Law is not to save us, but to show us our sin and our need to be saved. Every person is guilty as charged by God. They have all broken God's Law and there is nothing they can say in their defense.

Readings for today: Eccl. 7:20; Rom. 3:23; Rom. 5:20; Gal. 3:22; Rom. 7:7; Gal. 3:24