The Place of Sin

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The Advantage of the Jew

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Did the Jew have any advantage over the Gentile? Paul says yes, "Much in every way." To begin with, and most important, they were entrusted with the "Word of God". God's Word was a means of salvation, but, if the Jew could not be saved by the works of the Law, how could the Law be a means of salvation? Well, through the Laws revelation, God became known to man and that knowledge of God brought faith in God and faith always brings salvation.

Then why was there so little faith found amongst the Jews? Did their faithlessness nullify God's faithfulness? Paul says, "God forbid." The stubbornness of the Jew could not invalidate the Word of God as a means of salvation, nor did it lessen the truths contained concerning the Messiah. No, sin does not nullify God's faithfulness, rather it shows His love, justice, honor and mercy. Thus, by our sin, God is glorified.

Now, if that is true, if our sin serves to glorify God, why does God punish us for it? Carnal man might reason this way and find encouragement in his sin, but Paul says that this is thinking like a "human being". If sin could be justified on the basis that it glorifies God, then how could God judge the world for it? The answer, of course, lies in the fact that it is God who brings glory to Himself out of man's sin, no thanks is due man for that, therefore, no release from judgment.

To the believer, this line of thought seems silly, but there are still people, who because of their love of sin, have convinced themselves that they are justified in sinning on the basis that it fulfills prophecy and thus brings glory to God. There were those who charged Paul with this teaching because of his firm belief in Justification by Faith apart from works and because of his belief that where sin abounds, Grace much more abounds. But we know Paul did not believe nor teach this that there was any justification for sin. The judgment of God upon the sinner is just and deserving.

The Power of Sin

Thus Paul comes to this conclusion about all men, Jew and Gentile. "All men are under the power of sin." "Are the Jews any better off than the Gentiles? Paul says no, not at all. Now, does this answer conflict with his answer in verse two? No, for in verse 2, Paul was saying that the Jew had a definite advantage over the Gentile but here, he is saying that that advantage did not make the Jews any better off. So as the result of his examination of the Jew and the Gentile, he concludes that all men, Jew and Gentile, are under the power of sin.

As the result, two conditions exist:

1. We are under the power of something very devastating. It is the second greatest power on earth, backed by Satan and his angels, and so attractive to the human mind.
2. Thus, because of sin, we are under the judgment of God.

Paul has placed his charge against man and he backs it up with scripture. From the 14th. Psalm he quotes, "There is none righteous, no not one." If one righteous man had lived, God would have found him. God delays judgment in his search for righteousness even at Sodom and Gomorrah, God indicated He would withhold His judgment if 10 righteous people could have been found. God called two men righteous, Job and Noah, but as it turned out, they too were sinners. Not only are we un-righteous but David says in this 14th Psalm that we don't even try to seek the Lord.

This was the result of man corrupting God's creation for we were created with a mind of our own and the freedom to choose.

"All have gone astray, no one does good." Man, has by choice, chosen to do evil. He has, like a rebellious child, done contrary to that which God created him. Paul describes the results of this rebellious nature:

1. "Their throat is an open grave." Nothing is as dangerous as a hole in the ground. It set, waiting an opportunity, to swallow up some unsuspecting soul.
2. "They use their tongues to deceive." They prove, with their voice, that they are children of the Devil, deceiving and lying to one another.
3. "The vermin of asps is under their lips." The asp is the most poisonous of all snakes. Its bite is un-curable. With their lips they blast the good name of their neighbors.
4. "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." That doesn't need any further comment.
5. "Their feet are swift to shed blood, in their paths are ruin and misery." Wherever they go, destruction and misery go with them. They are always sowing the seeds of discontent.
6. "The way of peace, they do not know." They are strangers to satisfaction and contentment.
7. "There is no fear of God before their eyes." This is the fear of God that motivates people. It moves us toward salvation. It keeps us on the straight and narrow. The root of all the above sins is that the fear of God is no longer in them.

Then Paul concludes that what ever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under it, the Jews. The Law speaks and condemns. The Law convicts and demands repentance. The Law describes the penalty of sin. The Law did not fail, man did. That which was understandable by man, about God, was made clear to him. These Laws were made known that man would be held accountable to God and know of his lost state. "For no human being can be justified in God's sight by the works of the Law." The Law was a "yardstick" by which man could see his hopeless condition before God.

So the Gentiles are without excuse and the Jews are without excuse. The conclusion.... all men are under the power of sin, there is none righteous, no not one. This leaves us in a very hopeless situation, so Paul immediately goes to the solution, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God Cannot Look Upon Sin

Man by his very nature is sinful. God cannot look upon sin. This appears to be an unsolvable situation and it is with man, but God, in His infinite wisdom and love provided a solution. Sense God cannot look upon sin, and man is naturally sinful, man was in need of a "cover" for his sins. That "cover" was provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and is called "the Robe of Righteousness".

In verse 21, Paul declares that this "cover", the Robe of righteousness, is now available to everyone, through faith in Jesus Christ. Is Paul speaking only to the Jew? No, for he says, "There is no distinction", all have sinned, therefore all have the need of redemption, all have fallen short of what God intended, therefore all have need of justification.

So how do we get this justification? Paul says it is by God's Grace, a gift, an unmerited favor. Don't ever presume that your ability to stand before God is because of anything that you have ever done.

Paul establishes right from the start that salvation is a gift of God's Grace. He says in verse 24 that this gift was made possible by the redemption purchased by Christ on the Cross and in verse 25 he tells us that this gift is received by faith in Christ.

This plan of God was to do two things:

1. It was to show God's mercy. God created man to fellowship with Him. Man, by sin, separated himself from God. Then God, by this plan, stepped in and made man right in His sight by His own forbearance and mercy.
2. It was to show God's righteousness. God created a means by which man could, by faith, be justified in His sight.

From this we see that salvation is all of God, therefore man had no reason to boast. Before, the Jews boasted of their keeping the Law, like the rich young ruler, they boasted of keeping the Law sense their birth. But the keeping of the Law wasn't enough, God required faith, faith enough to allow a person to willingly sell all that he had and give it to the poor, for Paul says that a man is justified by faith apart from the Law.

Then Paul, in verse 29, reminds them of some of the truths that he had spoken of before, that God is not just the God of the Jews, He is God of the Gentiles also. Secondly, we are not doing away with the Law by our faith, to the contrary, we are upholding the Law. Though we say that the Law will not justify us, we do not say that it was given in vain. Though we cannot be saved by it, we own it and submit to it's teachings, in the spirit of Grace.

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