Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Romans 3:1-17 comments: There is none righteous, no, not one

 


Romans 3:1 ¶  What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 2  Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. 3  For what if some did not  believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 4  God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. 5  But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) 6  God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? 7  For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? 8  And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just. 9  What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13  Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14  Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15  Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16  Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17  And the way of peace have they not known: 18  There is no fear of God before their eyes.

 

The Jews are a very important people in the history of God’s ministry of reconciling mankind to Himself. It was to them that the Law was given through Moses and God’s standard of righteousness was revealed and God’s plans. Everything from the Law, to Christ’s suffering and resurrection, and even the events of Revelation at the end of human history are foretold in the Old Testament as we have seen over and over again in the study you and I have completed in the Bible. The Law and the Prophets contain all of God’s ministry and His plans in pretty clear form if not laid out as straightly as in the New Testament. But, you and I have seen this in all of our studies.

 

As examples, the Law is given in the writings of Moses, Christ’s suffering and resurrection and even the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is told in Psalms and Isaiah, and Isaiah and Daniel are among those who speak of the end times with resurrection being the subject of verses in Job, Isaiah, and Daniel. The oracles of God were given to the Jews and 95% of the Bible is written directly to them. Bits of doctrine are also scattered throughout the minor prophets.

 

Paul goes on to point out that just because some did not believe God and many did not follow or obey Him that does not make God’s words of none effect or irrelevant. This indicates that God does not require robots but willing hearts.

 

We must remember that the wrongdoing of God’s men and women, the faithlessness of His chosen people, and even the failure of each and every one of us to follow Him do not mean that He is weak or flawed. Just because many Christians are hypocrites doesn’t mean that Christ is not Lord.

 

Isaiah 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

 

All, both Jew and Gentile, have sinned. The Jew who had the Law and the Gentile who was a law unto themselves by unconsciously following a conscience influenced by God’s standards both are sinners. And it gets worse. Consider those who hold the truth in unrighteousness, who reject what they should know to be true.

 

Psalm 14:1 ¶  «To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.» The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.    2  The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3  They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

 

Verse 13 cross-references to Psalm 5:9  For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.

 

The rejectors, atheists and the like, as well as the self-righteous hypocrites have tongues filled with the venom of poisonous serpents, as Paul says.

 

He alludes to other Old Testament references to underscore his point, as in verse 14 and onward.

 

Psalm10:7  His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

 

Proverbs  1:16  For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

 

Proverbs 6:18  An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

 

Isaiah 59:7  Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. 8  The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

 

Psalm 36:1 ¶  «To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD.» The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

 

All through the Old Testament, particularly in Psalms, we get not only a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ but of Satan and the Beast of Revelation. Consider these in type as you read these verses in the Old Testament.

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