“What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’ ‘Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.’ ‘The venom of asps is under their lips.’ ‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’ Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:9-20
Devotional Thought For The Day
This is a rather long and dreary description of the human dilemma with sin. In the previous verses the apostle documented that “both Jews and Greeks are under sin,” and so he continues to denude every single human being of any hope in themselves or in their ability to gain justification and salvation “by works of the law.” He describes what is wrong with each of us, the inner dynamics of sin which have infected us. It is not only violence, lying, malice, curses, bitterness, and conflict, it is also a lack of understanding and absence of desire to seek and know God, an utter lack of the fear of God. The logical and truthful consequence of this reality is that “every mouth” should be stopped and the whole world understand that we are all “accountable to God,” under the condemnation of His law.
All of this is diametrically opposed by our sinful nature. We crave distinguishing ourselves from others, from the really grotesque sinners, white-washing our own sin and deceiving ourselves into thinking that we have tried harder to please God, to keep His rules, to honor and love Him, and that surely He will accept us on the basis of our efforts and deep devotion to Him. Not so, declares the apostle writing the Word of God to us: “by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” I have read these verses hundreds of times and to this day they sting, accuse, destroy, and kill what I so carefully construct in my mind and heart, and reduce me to utter begging and pleading with God for His gracious mercy and forgiveness. This is God’s intent in His law – to enable us to know sin, our own sin, and to know our accountability, and to throw ourselves totally upon His gracious mercy. In this way alone are we prepared to receive the gracious good news that we are justified by God’s grace, through the redemption He has provided for us in Christ Jesus, which is received by faith alone.
This does not mean that being justified by faith we no longer have any care for or consideration of God’s law. Paul also dealt with this perversion, the false deduction that because God is glorified by His gracious mercy we should sin all the more to increase God’s glory. No, the one who has been crushed by God’s law, but rescued and redeemed by God’s gracious love, has a growing sorrow over sin and a growing desire to honor God by doing what is right and pleasing to Him. But we have to be careful, for our sinful nature then wants this dynamic to commend us to God and to distinguish ourselves from others. Rather we must remember that it is “God who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure” [Phil. 2:13] and that “we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He has foreordained that we should be walking in them.” [Eph. 2:10] If there is to be any good within us, or any good coming from us, this is always the result of God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness, and the renewing power of His Word and His Spirit.
So we should not be afraid to hear the Word of God clearly and plainly, and to allow it to utterly crush us and denude us of our cherished “fairy tales” of personal virtue. It is painful, virtually like dying inwardly. But once naked and bereft of our self-righteous posturing we can rejoice in the assurances of God’s love, His gracious mercy and forgiveness. And this is what comes next in Paul’s recital of the facts: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.” [Rom. 3:23-25] This alone is our hope, and this alone is the message that we are privileged to bring to others – with the authority of God’s Word, the Holy Scripture. Thanks and praise be to God – Who is love – for His beautiful and wondrous grace and mercy!
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, forgive us for our dullness of heart and our easy acquiescence to the wickedness of our sinful nature which constantly compels us to find some degree of merit or worthiness within us. Enable us to abide in the truth, in Your Word, confessing our utter guilt and failure to keep Your law, but rejoicing in the justification You have provided for us by Your blood, which is by Your grace and as a gift. In this faith we pray that You will continue to repair our hearts and minds so that we grow in genuine love and goodness – to the praise of Your glorious grace. Amen.