“THE
BOOK OF ROMANS” Part 3 of 8
Chapters
1 & 2 = All are sinners
Ch.
1 – The obvious ‘bad’ sinners
Man’s blatant, vile and sinful
mockery of God.
The universal and open ungodliness
& unrighteousness of all
In
the first sixteen verses, Paul introduces himself, confirming who Jesus
Christ
is, speaking of their well-known faith and his longing to be with them
to
preach the gospel. He then rebukes all
men, Gentile and Jew, who, in spite of knowing who God is and that
their
eternity is in hell, they obstinately, wilfully and publicly commit the
most
vile of sins. These are the sodomites and lesbians that flaunt
themselves in
Gay Pride marches.
Does
this include the Jew? Yes, a very brief look at the conduct of the
lives under
various kings will show this. Solomon for example, sacrificed and threw
babies
into the fire. All of the Northern kings were evil along with a lot of
the
Southern kings as well.
As
Paul states For the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
men, who
hold the truth in unrighteousness; Rom
1:18
Yes,
they know the truth but they don’t let it
affect their ungodly and unrighteous behaviour. Every day, they know
and
perceive that there is a God. In their nature they know there is a God,
so that
they are without excuse. Their lives becomes so dark, evil and sinful
that they
neither thank God or honour him. But they are like the men of Sodom
inflicting
blindness on themselves by committing worse evils without shame - going
from
idolatry to the most abominable sins of the sodomite and lesbian and
every vice
imaginable. Furthermore, they enjoy watching others do the same without
rebuking them.
Ch.
2 – The hidden ‘good’ sinners
Hypocrisy &
self-righteousness
All have judged - especially the
Jew
Now
the basic reader says to
himself “Phew! I’m glad I’m not as bad as those dreadful sinners in
chapter
one.” And this of course is man’s pitiful condition. As the scriptures
repeatedly say Every way of a man is
right in his own eyes: but the
LORD pondereth the hearts. Prov 21:2
In
this chapter, God tightens the noose and extends his rebuke to include
the
‘good’ people and the ‘secret’ and less obvious sinners, especially the
self-righteous. All those that judge others, those who are hypocrites
and those
who would lead an ‘open’ and ‘honest’ life by natural inclinations –
these are
the enemies of God’s law.
So
in Chapter one, God addresses the obvious and openly ‘bad’ sinners and
in
Chapter two, God drives his sword into the ‘good’ sinners.
The
latter are those that are ready to pass judgment on other people as is
the
manner of all hypocrites. In looking to present themselves in good
light so as
to esteem themselves pure, their hearts are full of greed, hatred,
pride and
all vileness.
As
Christ rebukes Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of
the
platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Matt 23:25
All
men are mentioned as ….There
is none righteous, no, not one: Rom
3:10.
Indeed,
the Jew is singled out for particular
mention along with the Gentile.
These
seemingly ‘good’ people are the very ones that
despise the goodness and righteousness of God and therefore heap up
wrath for
themselves because of their hard hearts toward God.
God
lets no-one escape. No-one is able to pass as a
sinless person.
God
has wrath toward those who would attempt to lead
a ‘good’ life by their ‘natural’ goodness, kind–heartedness, human
endeavour
and love of mankind.
God
does not let anyone escape his scorn and
derision and future wrath and he sees them as nothing more than hard
hearted
and unrepentant sinners.
He
ends up by saying that a true Jew is one that has
been spiritually circumcised of the heart and not just the flesh
(v28-29).
****
****
Harley
Hitchcock
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
”
Part 4 of 8
