UNSHAKEABLE: We, the entire human race, past and present, have been horribly infected with sin. Our genetic code is horribly corrupted with willful disobedience to the God who created us for intimacy with himself. Horribly infected! Horribly corrupted! Yet all is not hopeless. You see, one word changes that tragic equation, interrupts the inexorable plunge, and trumps our sin: “But…” Paul pens one word that delivers the death blow to sin, splits the wide road to destruction with an off-ramp to redemption, and throws a life-saver to a sinking human race so we can get out of the proverbial boat we’re all in: “But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him.” (Rom 3:21) Hallelujah!
Unshakeable Living // Romans 3:9-10
Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous — not even one.”
The problem with the whole human race — Jew and Gentile, religionist and pagan, you and me — is that we are all horribly infected with sin. Not hopelessly, mind you. I’ll come back to that in a moment.
Though it is not too popular to talk about sin these days — particularly personal sin — nonetheless, sin remains what is wrong with humanity. We are all in that same sin boat, headed for an eternal maelstrom of deserved destruction. At the core, sin has separated us from our loving and righteous Creator. He made us for himself — for a loving, intimate, unfettered moment-by-moment relationship between the Creator and the highest of his creation, mankind; a relationship where we would not only literally live in his presence, but we would truly know his person and personally experience his Divine power as our very own.
But we blew it! The father and mother of our race, Adam and Eve, deliberately chose to walk away from the deal of a lifetime in order to be like God, to be equal with God, to be their own god. And in that sad moment, the genetic code of humanity was horribly corrupted by sin. Not hopelessly. I’ll get to that in a moment.
Moreover, as a race, we willfully and inexorably plunged forward down that same road the proto couple chose, insisting on being like God, being equal to God, being our own god. And compounding our tragedy, we don’t seem to get it: “No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.” (Rom 1:11) Even worse, we do get it, and we still knowingly insist on doing our own thing:
All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. (Rom 3:12)
They have no fear of God at all. (Rom 1:18)
And it gets worse, according to verses 13-18: “Their talk is foul (v. 13) … their tongues are filled with lies…venom drips from their lips (v. 13) … their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness (v. 14) …they rush to commit murder (v. 15) …destruction and misery always follow them (v. 16) … they don’t know where to find peace (v. 17) … they have no fear of God at all” (v. 18).
But enough of the bad news — we’ve already dealt with that in Romans 1-2. Let’s just cut to the chase of what results from our insistence in going it alone without God, which Paul sums up in Romans 3:16-17:
Ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.
Yes, “they” is “we” and we have been horribly infected with sin. Our genetic code is horribly corrupted with willful disobedience to the God who created us for intimacy with him. Horribly infected! Horribly corrupted! Yet all is not hopeless.
One word changes that tragic equation, trumps our sin, and interrupts the inexorable plunge into a Christless eternity: “But…” Paul pens one word that delivers the death blow to sin, splits the wide road to destruction with an off-ramp to redemption, and throws a life-saver to a sinking human race so we can get out of the proverbial boat we’re all in: “But…”
Though it is not in our reading for today, take a look at the first word of the next section; venture a sneak peek at these grand verses, Romans 3:21-22, along with their cousin verses in Romans 3:23-26, and let your heart be lifted by the unstoppable power of our gospel. Take a moment to read these amazing verses in the horrible context of the first twenty verses of this chapter, and just let the deep, deep love of the Father who lavished it upon sinners like you and me wash over your being:
But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law … We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
Yes, the condition of humanity is horrible, “but” thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, it is not hopeless!
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