All have Sinned
Study Scripture: ROMANS 1:16-20; 3:9-20
Lesson 1

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Key Verse

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 

Romans 3:10
 

INTRODUCTION 

Our lesson today, comes from a letter written by Paul to the Christian Church located in Rome, the capital city of the most powerful nation on earth at that time. 

There was a large Jewish community in Rome during the first century estimated to be about fifty thousand. Christians that had migrated to Rome had an active mission among these, as among the Gentile proselytes and God-fearers who attended the synagogue. They of course also worked among the Gentiles, many of whom were slaves. (See Galatians 2:9, 2 Corinthians 11:24, and sundry information in the book of Acts). This activity was largely without the knowledge and or supervision of the Jerusalem church, much like the situation in Antioch. 

Christianity had attracted many in the Jewish synagogues of Rome, as well as Gentiles and Paul had to address questions about Jewish and Christian relationships and identity. We know that in the Christian churches there was a wide spectrum of people from different backgrounds, cultural groups and social status.  Some of the churches would be mainly Jewish, some consisting of a substantial amount of God fearers, while others would have a strong Gentile presence. Rome was a very mixed community and would present peculiar problems. 

Paul’s letter sets out to fully explain the gospel and its practical implications for daily life and Christian relationships. It not only dealt with the immediate circumstances in Rome and gave the brethren apostolic guidance as they faced their many pressures and tensions but has a wider reach and gives us much-needed guidance. 

The traditional way of treating Romans, as an abstract and compete statement of Christian doctrine must be amended by our recognition, that the letter was addressed to people in particular circumstances and therefore there would necessarily be particular emphases because of those circumstances. 

Romans cannot be realistically viewed as a gospel in general, without looking at all of Paul’s life and work, that revolved around carrying a Jewish gospel to Gentiles. He had to explain to both Jews and Gentiles how they should handle the underlying tensions, with which the gospel would have to contend. 

Traditionally, many in the mainly Gentile church have treated Romans without looking at the Jewish context in which Paul was firmly fixed. They have started with a bias that Judaism was a bankrupt religion, one that had gone totally wrong, that looked at pleasing God by human achievement rather than understanding that men are saved by grace and should respond to God's initiative of extending divine grace, by following his law. Many nowadays are coming around to understand that early Judaism was a religion of grace, that stressed how God had chosen Israel and rescued them from slavery and had always called on them for repentance.  God had provided for their atonement and forgiven them their sins and had set up a system that would always remind them, that they should be grateful for His grace and be faithful to Him, because He had elected them. 

In Romans we must strive to avoid the traditional Gentile bias in looking at its issues and teaching, difficult as this may be; if only because the Apostle Paul has warned us not to be proud and rail again Jews.  The nation was certainly disobedient but they are the original olive tree into which called out Gentiles are grafted.  They should not be abused but regarded carefully and wisely with some sympathy and in every way helped to understand the truth about their Messiah. 

Paul starts by looking at the gospel of God, firmly fixing this gospel in the prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures, then focusing on Jesus, who is the son of David and the son of God, who was Jewish and who was promised to save Israel first and then the Gentiles. 

Paul then moved on to discuss the critically important event of Jesus' resurrection that marked the start of the essential final phase in the salvation of all men. 

He anchors his Apostleship and missionary outreach among the Gentiles, in the Lordship of Jesus.   

He then stressed that the believers in Rome were all called out by God, elected by him and beloved of Him. 

Paul presents the Jewish gospel as a gospel for all who believe, for this Jewish gospel goes beyond the Jewish people and includes all nations.  The character of the gospel is certainly Jewish but it is a gospel for all people, without distinction. 

Prejudice and inaccuracies, that abound among Jews, as well as among Gentiles are eradicated by this gospel. 

This is the gospel of God and concerns the righteousness of God.  He tells how God acted to save men. First by committing himself to chose and save Israel, always proving to be faithful to his promises to Israel and then moving from that situation to save Gentiles as originally he stated and had promised in Genesis 3 and restated in his promise to Abraham. 

As such Paul deals with this question of Jewish privilege, their boast of favored status and their reinterpretation of God's commandments to buttress that boast. 

Amazingly, despite the warnings of Scripture; Gentiles who are now in the majority among Christians, are preoccupied with boasting about their righteousness and their position in God. They ignore the universal depravity in human beings, exhibited in their appalling history with respect to following the Commandments of God and being holy as God is holy. 

This letter then is extremely important for both Jews and Gentiles.  It has had a remarkable effect on many, for it highlights the fact that the gospel is about Christ alone, that it is the grace of God alone that calls and saves men and that all those who believe on him are counted among the called of God, are beloved of God and forever secure in His arms. 

This book answers some very important questions, as well as giving us both good and bad news. 

First, it answers the frequently asked question; how can a loving God condemn people who have never heard about Jesus Christ to eternal torment? 

In doing so, it effectively disposes of the erroneous theory of evolution as it applies to religion. This theory teaches that at first religious ideas and practice was very primitive and limited and was basically pagan in origin. After a long period of growth and refinement, it became more complex and dignified. 

Paul however gives us a history of religion, showing clearly that at first religion was belief in one God.  When man sinned and thus turned away from God, he twisted and perverted this pure religion which many errors and foolishness.  This has been the constant practice among every nation. 

From the creation of man God had made man to understand certain things about himself but many refused to accept God in the way he had revealed himself. The problem then is not that God has not revealed himself and has withheld revelation that was necessary to save pagans and heathens.  One writer summarizes:

“ The pagan's problem is not a sparsity of revelation, but the suppression of it”.

Also:

“ If you have thought of the heathen as an idolater because he didn’t know any better, Paul insists that he is an idolater because he has refused to do better, suppressing God's self- revelation”. 

The bad news is now clear:

Every single person who has ever lived, is now living, and will live in future, has and will fail to meet God's requirement for righteousness, and therefore is under the divine condemnation.

The good news is that:

“although man cannot produce sufficient righteousness to please God, and that God has

provided a righteousness which is available to all men on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ. This is the good news of the gospel which Paul presents in the last half of chapter 3”.

THE TEXT

Verse 16.   After Paul stated that he was an Apostle and needed to produce fruits from his ministry, he declared himself ready to preach the gospel to everyone who is beloved of God and who are therefore saints.  He is under an obligation to preach the gospel to everyone, everywhere, including those at Rome.  He had in fact an intense desire to come to Rome, to give to them as well as to receive from them. 

Paul now raises an issue which has affected many Christians at different points in time.  This is really not a new problem or a rare problem.  We note that even Timothy struggled with this problem of being ashamed of the gospel. 

Whenever the truth is not popular, and becoming less and less so, people tend to be ashamed of it and are timid, trying to hide what they believe.  When confronted with worldly ideas and philosophies Christians have either kept silent or tried to integrate the philosophies of the world into the gospel, so that they will be viewed not as ‘foolish’ but acceptable to the mainstream school of thought.   

When Christians move around with sophisticated people and try to explain to these people that their sophistication does not impress God, that the things that they do are tainted with sin and that their best are like ‘filthy rags’, this rarely endears Christians to  sophisticated people. They actually find this type of thing offensive.  In addition, when people see the kind of people that frequent Christian churches and watch how they praise God and see the other things that they do, both good and bad, they hardly want to become Christians themselves. 

Paul unlike this model is bold and courageous about the faith and feels no shame.

He is eager to preach the gospel everywhere, because he notes that the gospel is not bad news, and does not involve wickedness, failure, or any bad thing.  It is not associated with anything that is embarrassing. 

It is not fantasy, but is beautiful and true.  It has power in itself, for God brings life to a dying world with its message.  The power of God works through the gospel to save men.

Note that the gospel is not just information or news.  It is that, but it has inherent power.

Note also that we do not give it power and we cannot effectively hinder its power for long.

The gospel is not just advice or a suggestion to people. It is power.

The realization of this should bring absolute confidence. It will and must work and do it task.

It will save everyone who hears and believes.  It is the power of God and God will not withhold salvation from anyone who believes. Those who are not saved are those who will not believe.  The gospel is a marvelous and fabulous announcement.  How then can anyone be ashamed of this gospel? 

This is the medicine and the only cure for both Jew and Gentile. The gospel was presented first to the Jew, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and then to the Gentile.  Both need the gospel for only the gospel has the power of God to salvation.   

Note that salvation means more than forgiveness of sin and deliverance from the penalty of sin.

It includes the idea that there is now restoration of the relationship with God that had been the ruined through sin, so that now there is a person in relationship with God. 

Belief in the gospel can never logically involve lawlessness, or a life of the flesh and carnal indulgence. Anyone in a personal relationship with God, can never enjoy or excuse themselves in violating the laws of God.  To do so means they will not continue to walk in the light with God. 

It is clear that all people irrespective of religion, sex, nationality, social status, education, appearance or anything else, are freely offered the salvation of God that comes with the gospel.  The offer is universal, Salvation however is limited to those who trust in Christ.

Verse 17.  Paul now tells us how this is so. He explains that the gospel saves, because it reveals the righteousness of God. Note that God’s righteousness involves his saving activity as expressed in the promise of his Son, the birth of his Son among men, the sacrifice of the Cross, the giving of the Spirit to believers and the exaltation of believers. 

It is apparent that what God does is righteous. He has gone to the greatest of length to provide a righteousness for men. All that God does to save men is done because of his righteous character.

This righteousness provided by God, is a righteousness that is obtained as a gift from God. It is not obtained by works. It can only come from faith in God. 

One writer states:

“Faith itself is the appointed way of receiving God’s righteousness. We prefer, therefore, to understand it thus: “The righteousness of God is in the gospel message, received (to be) from (or ‘by’) faith to (or ‘for’) faith, that is, in order to be by faith received.”

“The gospel way of “LIFE BY FAITH”, so far from disturbing, only continued and developed the ancient method.”

Those who are righteous by faith in God will live. 

Clearly, the Old Testament Scriptures is the foundation for this doctrine enunciated by the Apostle Paul about “the righteousness of God by faith”, and so Paul cites Habbakuk 2:4 to support his insistence that the gospel is appropriated only by faith.  With respect to all the expression in verse 17 “ from faith to faith” one writer explains.

“The expression “from faith to faith” has been variously interpreted throughout the history of the church:

1. From the faith of the OT saints to the faith of the NT saints
2. From an immature faith to a more mature faith
3. From a Law oriented faith to a gospel oriented faith
4. From the faith of the preacher to the faith of the hearers
5. From present faith to a future, deeper faith
6. From God’s faithfulness to man’s faith

We know that Habbakuk understood, and the Old Testament Jews understood, that it was “only by sheer faith” that one can understand the things that God does.  It is therefore hard that there is absolute faith in God, for that alone will save.

REMINDERS

Let us understand that we should not be ashamed of the Gospel.

This gospel is solely about Christ, He alone can save those who trust in him. 

This Gospel is the only thing that reveals the righteousness of God.

Finally, the Gospel of God is received by faith by alone.

Verse 18.   Let us now look at why carrying and delivering the gospel message is so embarrassing and makes us feel so peculiar, even though it is wonderful news. 

We know that all the descendants of Adam are in rebellion against God. The entire world is in denial and we are called on to tell them to stop being defensive and stop the denial. 

We also know that the rich and powerful, who are at the top, do not want to hear that everything that they have achieved is really worth nothing much.  The poor do not want to hear, because they really want what the rich and powerful have and others don't want to come out of their state of denial, because they aren't quite sure what they will discover about themselves.  That discovery can be quite terrifying. 

Men who are not justified by faith therefore face a great peril, which is, namely, the wrath of God.  This wrath of God is a logical response to man's continuing sin.  This has to be so, because God is absolutely righteous and holy and he cannot allow sin to persist.  We note that the wrath of God is completely righteous in nature and is not like human anger, for that is generally filled with selfishness and a desire for revenge. 

Let us remember that the wrath of God is not irrational but expresses his abiding hatred of sin.

Because the wrath of God must be considered righteous, it is quite therapeutic.  When God in his wrath gives over his people and they are ruined because of their sins, they often call out of him to save them and he does. 

When John the Baptist preached, the worst kind of people heard his message and repented.  When Jesus ministered, the worst kind of people were the first to come to Him.  On the other hand, those who lived moral lives, as far as the public thought, had no interest in Jesus' offer of salvation.   

The existence of God's wrath makes it absolutely necessary for men to hear and accept the good news of salvation. 

Instead men respond to God by ungodliness and unrighteousness.  They live without any reference to God and his wishes and do not care to show him the dignity that he deserves. They deviate in their lifestyle, in their heart and in their speech from anything that God values.  

Ungodliness has been defined as ‘offences against God’, while unrighteousness stresses man's offenses against men. It is to be noted that unrighteousness here refers to the sinful acts that are used by men to hold the truth from their sight.  They continually do these sinful things as a means to destroy the truth 

Paul makes clear what he understands by ‘human depravity’.  He teaches us about the nature of sin. Men are sinning because they reject what God has revealed. He states that men  “hold down”, “hinder” the truth that they already have. They stifle the light that remain in them. God gave men the truth from the beginning and they act to thwart its development and influence on their lives. We should never be deluded into believing that men do not know the truth. They hold the truth but restrain its effect on them, so that they express themselves in ungodliness. 

God has wrath against men because they suppress the truth about God.  They suppress the fact of God's power, authority and their accountability to him, since he is their Creator. This rejection of the facts inevitably leads to the replacement of the self- revelation of God with something else, and this is always corruption. 

Note that God is doing a work today, that is, revealing his wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men and we should not think of God's judgment as being only something future. 

Christians should not envy sinners and seek to enjoy the pleasures that we think are denied to us.  Remember that Eve thought that God was withholding something good from her and that led to troubles. 

The judgment of God involves giving men over to a depraved mind, to all kind of impurities and lusts and to unnatural desires.  This is judgment and the wrath of God, even though the depraved think that it is pleasure.  God is really allowing sin to increase, since this is what man wants, so that when they proper time comes, his future wrath will be just. 

Now his present wrath is graciously allowing sin to increase, to allow the pressure and stress to buildup, so that men will run to him for relief. God is not now giving up on men, but encouraging men to forsake their sin and be saved.  His present wrath is reversible but his future wrath is not.

Verse 19.  Man has always fought against and deliberately covered what God has taught them about himself.  God has made himself known to men. 

We call this natural revelation, but men have refused to accept God as revealed, refusing God as he is. Natural revelation is an extremely powerful revelation, because of it men have no excuse.  If any man wants God, he can find him. 

Note the emphasis that the revelation has been plain and man cannot rationally deny God’s existence, power, and divine nature.  To do so is to live with a deep, amazingly irrational deception. 

Note also that there is a personal aspect to this “ what can be known about God” or literally “ the knowledge of God”. It is personal knowledge and when it is suppressed, it invites the wrath of God, for men have no excuse. 

We often think that heathens do not have any revelation of God, but this is not so.  God has never withheld revelation essential to the salvation of heathens.  Their problem is that they suppress revelation, not that they do not have it. 

Verse 20.  Paul now explains in some detail what God has done to make all men personally aware that he is, and who he is. 

There is universal light and it is so clear that men cannot say that they have not seen it.  God and his power are invisible, but he has made himself known by the things which can be seen.  One writer states:

“ The workman is known by his work.  The variety, multitude, order, beauty, harmony, different nature, and excellent contrivance, of the things that are made, the direction of them to certain ends, and the concurrence of all the parts to the good and beauty of the whole, do abundantly prove a Creator and his eternal power and Godhead.  Thus did the light shine in the darkness….

The frame and structure of the human bodies, and especially the most excellent hours faculties, and capacities of human souls, do abundantly prove that there is a Creator, and that he is God.  As to the date of the discovery.  It is as old as the creation of the world.

These notices concerning God are not any modern discoveries, hit upon of late, but ancient truths, which were from the beginning.  The way of the acknowledgment of God is a good old way; it was from the beginning. Truth got the start of error.”

REMINDERS

God's wrath will certainly come when a person suppresses the plain and obvious truth about God’s eternal power and divine nature, for that inevitably leads to them to exchange the glory of God for idols. 

Those that reject God are given over to the desires for sin, so that they will become full of it and will encourage others to sin as well. 

They will then begin to engage in sexual perversion, all kinds of impurities and dishonoring of their bodies, worshiping the creation instead of the Creator.  Their dishonorable passions will lead to sins of every sort, especially gross sexual sins and they will receive the penalty for their sins.

ROMANS 3: 9-20

In this section of the lesson, Paul placed all men against the infinite holiness of God and deals with the fact that there is only one category of sinners and in this category are to be found the Jews and the Gentiles.  All men stand guilty and convicted as sinners before God. 

No one likes to deal with the fact that all are under sin and are justly under condemnation.  The Jews and the Gentiles did not like this at all.

Paul turned into the Old Testament to prove his case.  We point out the following quotations on which the verses are based:

Verses 10 to 12               Psalm 14:1-3; 53:1-4; Ecc. 7:20

Verse 13                          Psalm 5:9; 140:3

Verse 14                          Psalm 10:7

Verse 15-17                     Isaiah 59:7-15

Verse 18                           Psalm 36:1

Note that there are many other texts that Paul could have chosen to prove that Jews and Gentiles alike are under sin and worthy of divine judgment.  God treats sin impartially.  The Jews would've accepted Paul's condemnation of Gentiles as being dead on, but they would find it more difficult to deal with Paul's pointing out that they too were guilty of sin and desperately needed salvation.

Verse 9.   Here Paul continues his discussion on the question of superiority of one man or one nation over another. 

He had already stated that the Jews had many advantages as well as unique and yet to be fulfilled promises to their nation. Still, when they stood before God for judgment, their special privileges would not guarantee their acceptability to God.  They should have no false hopes in this regard, for before God, when it came to personal righteousness, He considered the Jews as sinners and under condemnation just as the Gentiles were sinners and under condemnation. 

The Jews might have obtained benefits through receiving the scriptures but that did not justify them before God, for the principle of sin described the human condition of all men.  Sin had captured all men and only Christ could free men from physical and eternal death. 

Paul brushed aside the thought that the Jew was better than the Gentiles as far as the principle of sin was concerned. Logically it made no sense for one condemned sinner to  compare himself with another condemned sinner and gain anything by showing that he was better than the other.  

The important thing was the judgment of God and God had said that all men, Jew and Gentile would be treated impartially and be condemned equally. 

This assessment would have rubbed the Jews the wrong way and it would also have rubbed the Greeks and the sophisticated Romans the wrong way.

Verse 10.  Note that Paul settles the argument, and silences every mouth by quoting the authoritative message of the word of God. 

We learn from this that we are to point out to people that they cannot challenge the plain word of God, defend themselves, find extenuating circumstances, try to excuse their disobedience to God's commands, by argument about ‘ancient’ cultural patterns and their irrelevance to modern life, or simply leave out of their consideration some passages of Scripture that they do not like.

All those things as signs of gross disobedience. God will reject those that continue to defy him. 

For Paul the Scriptures show precisely what is to be found in human experience.  The Scriptures, that were really the Old Testament Scriptures (the New Testament was inspired by the Holy Spirit and added later), show us precisely what we are. 

Paul drew from the Scriptures, which states that no one is righteous.  In other words, if we were to look at somebody's life in detail and all the hidden areas were exposed, it would become plain that no one is righteous. In the best of us there are all kinds of problems. Righteousness is not a principle that is born in us. Those that love God will always easily confess that they are conceived in sin, and need God for constant cleansing.

Note the emphasis ‘not one’, “ not even one”.

Verse 11-12.  The understanding of men is corrupted, plain and simple.  If men were very sensible they would see that the way of righteousness is better than what they have chosen but sinners are foolish, and do not understand.  They are not willing or able to see the purposes of God. 

Since they willingly suppressed the truth about God they have become corrupted and cannot accurately know things about God.  This is not a temporary, occasional condition, but a continuing, active, continual downhill slide. 

None has any regard for God or desire to really seek him, for they have an immense problem in appreciating or understanding God. So then how do we view those who spend a lot of time on religious searches, spending much time in quests for spiritual discovery, constantly chasing after new doctrines? 

Paul says that they really do not want to find God, for they know inside that it would be too painful for them.  They go through the motions, and constantly going through the motions is enough to satisfy them.  One writer states:

“ There are many who are outwardly religious and considered pious and devout, but they are not truly seeking God.  They are creating a god of their own making.  They worship the creature rather than the Creator. 

Note also that the carnal mind, though seemingly religious, is far from seeking after God and in reality is enmity against him.  Another writer gives the sad commentary that:

“ There is not so much as a word concerning man's goodness, or a hint of optimism concerning man's hope of improvement, or deliverance, due to his own efforts.”

Verse 12 summarizes the situation that we can't find a single life in a state that it ought to be in. When we put motives and personal expectations into the mix, we find that deeds that look wonderful are not really so good after all. 

This is simply an expression of our own violence and eagerness to shed blood, for we everywhere follow the principle of displaying man's inhumanity to man. 

Sinful men do not like the way of peace. 

People are always swift, moving forward rapidly to shed blood and commit acts of violence against others, justifying their behavior in many ways.

Of course, many of us will deny that we are like this, but when any emergency occurs and we feel threatened, the immediate response is violence, an exercise of superior power. 

Turning the other cheek is not to be obeyed.  Jesus might have done it but we cannot be expected to do it. 

Sinful men really does not know peace in their heart and in their relationships.  That is why there is so much abuse in the home, in the workplace, and outside.  

This happens because there is no proper respect or fear for God.  Samuel 36: 1 tells us that sinful men are not afraid of God.  They do not think often about the consequences of their actions, of the destruction and misery that they bring with them.  They have no peace in themselves, and do not know how to correct this, and therefore do not know how to make peace with others. 

They engage men to do all kinds of crime, and so they are no strangers to destruction and misery.  The centuries of wars tell us exactly how men are. 

One writer warns however:

“ Many people interpret these verses as stylized poetry or have an interest only in how Paul used the Old Testament.  They distance themselves from its message.  But it is very hard to hear this and agree with it totally without wanting to raise an objection:

 “ Wait a minute, no, that can't possibly be.  Don't say no one.  I mean some people do good things once in a while.  I myself have been a pretty good guy on numerous occasions”.

We immediately desire to bring up our good works and efforts: “ Guide seek God, I care about him, I read the Bible, and I’m brokenhearted when people get hurt.  I know I do things that aren’t right but I have a good side too.” 

Or we say, “ Yes, I am an absolutely miserable wretch, but it's not my fault.  A lot of people treat me badly and that's why I am the way I am.”

We may compare ourselves favorably with others:

“ Sure, everybody is in the same boat, but those people are in the cargo hold.  There are a lot worse than I am.”.

We have to claim extenuating circumstances. 

And made all this plea-bargaining we must reread Verse 19: 

“ Now we know that what ever the Law says (Law here means the Old Testament) it speaks to those who are under the law, (that is, who need to be judged by what God says), that every mouth may be closed and all the world become accountable to God.”

 Sin is the root problem.

Verse 19.  The law shows us the horrible description of man's sinfulness and shows that no flesh is justified by deeds of the Law. 

Paul is certainly addressing the Jews that they will accept that they are under the law. But he also states clearly that the law stops the mouth of the entire world, so that the entire world is guilty before God. 

Obviously, if works of the law cannot save the best of the world’s humanity, the Jews, then Gentiles certainly have no chance to keep the law successfully.  Both must be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. 

The law only gives us meaningful knowledge of our sin.  For mercy we must turn to God in faith, for he alone will save.

Verse 20.  We all are under indictment, and must be silent, not bringing up anything to justify ourselves.  God’s righteous standards with make us see the disease that we have. 

CONCLUSION

All this leads to the wonderful announcement that God will give us His righteousness as a gift.  There should be no pride, self-justification, excuses, boasting, and self -exaltation. 

No one is better than the other.  All have to follow the Scriptures faithfully, and YIELD completely to the leading of the Spirit.  

There must be a fear of God. 

No iniquity should be found in the people of God. We must avoid all of the many description of sinners listed in our text. 

We are under condemnation without Christ. We must focus on Jesus and not on the here- and- now, and achieving success on the terms of the world. 

Just recognize that we are the problem, I am the problem, and we are therefore accountable to God.  Let us therefore live as if we understand that, for this will make us glorify God and please him in everything that we do.