Romans 3:13

Romans 3:13 says, Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: God's people, instead of proclaiming Him to the world, were filled with deceit in their words.  We must remember who the author of lies and deceit is, and that is Satan himself.  When we do not live by the truth of God, we live by the lies of Satan.  There is no neutral ground. We cannot proclaim deceitful words without being as poisonous as a serpent.  Verse fourteen adds, Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:  Now, we can interpret this to mean full of profanity, but I believe it is much more than that.  It is speaking against God or calling for Him to punish others while forgiving us.  This leads to a bitterness in life.  We are not to ask God's punishment on others out of hatred, but are to ask His forgiveness of them out of love.  The Jews in Paul's day had forgotten this, and they had started despising other people.  We must guard against the same attitude today.  Verse fifteen continues, Their feet are swift to shed blood:  Paul moved from their speech to their actions.  They were glad to see those that they felt superior to destroyed, even Jesus Himself.  We as followers of Christ today must not be quick to shed the blood of those we see as a threat to God or to ourselves.  God calls us to witness out of love that flows from Him.  Verse sixteen states, Destruction and misery are in their ways:  We are called not to destroy the world and all that is in it, but to work to preserve it.  We hear so many times today of people destroying property or even burning church buildings just for spite.  I believe that the misery is more theirs than that of those whose property they destroy.  As God's people, we are to live lives of joy in Him, no matter what evil goes on around us.  Verse seventeen adds, And the way of peace have they not known:  There is only one way to know true peace, and that is through acknowledging Christ as our Savior and Lord, so naturally those who deny Him can never know peace.  Verse eighteen continues, There is no fear of God before their eyes.  When people have no fear of, or respect for God, we cannot expect them to have any respect for anyone else.  It is the great responsibility that God gives us, to allow us to deny His very existence.

Romans 3:9

Romans 3:9 states, 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;  Paul said that of their own ability the Jew was no better than the Gentile.  He was speaking of those who professed to be God's people but who did not live under God's leadership.  We could make this same statement of those today who profess to believe in God but don't feel the need to live by His truth.  Paul said that the Jew was no better than the Gentile, because all had sinned.  Where we were born nor the family we were born into exempts us from the penalty of sin.  Matthew Henry points out that verses ten through twelve are taken from Psa 14:1-3, which are repeated as containing a very weighty truth found in Psa 53:1-3.  Paul did not come up with truth about God that opposed the Scriptures, but that fulfilled it instead.  We must do the same today.  God is not suddenly going to give us an insight that goes against His written Word.  Verse ten adds, As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:  The Jew in Paul's day, nor anyone who came before or after, could claim to be righteous by their own merit, except for Jesus Christ Himself.  When we are judged by the Law of God, which includes not only our actions but our thoughts as well, we are all guilty.  We are not judged by our comparison to other people, but by our comparison to Christ, and He alone is without sin.  Verse eleven continues, There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.  Paul was speaking to the Jews who relied on their own status in worldly understanding to bring them into the right status with God.  They did not understand or seek after God.  We today can never rely on our own abilities to save us but must seek after God in all things.  Verse twelve concludes, They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.   God's chosen people had become unprofitable to God, and Paul said that not one did good.  Until they accepted the Messiah, Jesus Christ, this would remain the case, as it was for all Gentiles.  Though I do not believe that it is possible to lose ones salvation, it is possible to become unprofitable to God by the way we live.  We must always remember that Christ is not only our Savior, but also our Lord.

Romans 3:5

Romans 3:5 says, But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance, (I speak as a man) I believe Paul here is addressing the concept that since our sins prove the righteousness of God, then God has no right to punish us for our sins.  The argument seemed to be if the unbelief of the Jew led to the gospel going to the Gentiles, then how could God be upset with the Jews.  We need to be wary of ever getting the idea that we, especially as followers of Christ, can sin because God has provided us with salvation and since that is true, He is glorified further by our future sins.  Our unrighteousness may point others to Christ, but this does not mean that God is unfair in punishing our sin.  Paul said even as a carnal man he recognized that the concept that our sin somehow ultimately glorifies God and is therefore acceptable is wrong.  We can never justify our sins, even if they lead to the glory of God ultimately.  Verse six adds, God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?  Paul again makes a strong declaration that God forbid such thinking.  If we believe that our sins are simply another way of bringing honor to God because He shows greater forgiveness, and this is true, then God really couldn't judge the world.  This leads to the idea that everyone is ultimately going to be saved, no matter what, because this proves the glory of God.  Paul stated very strongly that this was not the case.  We can never justify sin as being a way to show the glory of God.  Verse seven continues, For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?  Paul asks how he could be judged a sinner if his lies led to the truth of God.  Even if lies that we present about God ultimately lead to showing the truth of His forgiveness, we will still be held accountable for our sins.  Only through the truth of accepting Christ as our Savior and Lord can we find forgiveness.  Verse eight concludes this thought stating, 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. There may be people today who make false claims about what Christianity proclaims, but we need to be quick to point out the errors and stand firmly on the world of God.  We can never let it be said that we are free to sin so we can bring glory to God.

Romans 3:1

Romans 3:1 states, What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?  Paul was discussing the Jew versus the Gentile, and here was raising the question that many might have had based on what he had said.  If being identified as one of God's people made no difference, then what was the advantage in being a Jew?  Verse two adds, Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.  Paul said the chief advantage of the Jew was that God's Law, His oracles, were committed to them. Matthew Henry says that the Jews were the keepers of God's library for the Christians.  They were given the words of life to point people to God and the coming Messiah.  We, as the church today, have these same words of truth.  The Jews preserved the Old Testament for us, and it is our responsibility to preserve and share the Old and New Testament for the world today and for generations to come.  Verse three continues, For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?  Paul had been discussing the unbelieving Jew and the believing Gentile.  Here, Paul was stating that the unbelief of some, even the majority of the Jews, did not make belief in God be without effect.  The fact that some today profess to be Christians but fail to follow God's plan for salvation does not mean that God's plan is ineffective.  We, as followers of Christ, as the church, still are entrusted with the word of God, and those who are truly His, in word and deed, have every advantage.  We can never let the actions of others, even those who profess to belong to God but don't acknowledge His truth stand between us and God.  Verse four concludes, 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.  Here Paul was making a declaration of the eternal truth of God.  God's truth will never fail to be the truth, even if the whole world attempts to deny it.  The only way we are going to be able to overcome when we are judged is by accepting the truth of God.  Our lies may fool the world, but they will never fool God.

Romans 2:25

Romans 2:25 says, For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.  In these next few verses, Paul discusses circumcision of the Jew, the identifying mark that set them apart from the rest of the world.  It was not just to be a physical act, but was to be a sign of a spiritual relationship.  I am not sure exactly what we can equate this to today, but any sign that says to the world that we are followers of Christ while we are breaking his law is the same thing.  I guess wearing a cross or carrying a Bible, which those of the world might see as identifying us as Christians, while speaking badly of others, for example, would be similar.  It is not enough to live with outward signs of being a follower of Christ without a change of our heart toward our relationship with God and the lost of the world. Verse twenty-six adds, Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?  Here I believe that Paul was talking about earthly signs identifying Jews as God's people.  He was warning them that the uncircumcised, those the Jews considered as lost, had a better claim to belonging to God if they kept the law than did the Jew if they didn't.  We today may feel that professing to belong to Christ makes us better than the rest of the world, but if the lost live more by the laws of God than we do, then I believe Paul was saying that their actions would counted as more than our profession without obedience.  We must remember, of course, that the Law cannot save. I think we can apply this to those who have never heard the gospel, but who attempt to live Godly lives.  They are more justified than those who profess Christ without a change in nature.  Verse twenty-seven continues, And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?  Paul, I believe, is still speaking of real obedience to God as opposed to simply following rituals without any real dedication to God that they represent.  It is a warning to us today as well.  Verse twenty-eight states, For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:  Verse twenty-nine adds, But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.  Paul was distinguishing between outward, physical signs of obedience to God and the real inward change of the heart that is necessary to belong to God.  Worldly signs of obedience to God can come from self-pride, but true obedience comes from humility.  Only through Christ can we have salvation, and that can never lead us to feeling more worthy of God's love than anyone else.

Romans 2:21

Romans 2:21 says, Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?  After reminding the Jews that they were to teach others about the will of God, here he made it personal to them.  When they taught others, did they not also believe that these teachings applied to themselves.  Paul used the example of stealing, but we could apply it to any sin.  As followers of Christ, if we teach that it is wrong to hate, for example, do we yet hate others?  We must not teach one thing when reaching out to the lost and live as though those teachings do not apply to us.  We must always apply the teachings to our own lives first.  Verse twenty-two adds, Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?  Paul cited two more examples here of where the Jews, God's chosen people, might be teaching one thing and doing another.  It is sometimes easier to expect others to live by God's law than it is for us to live by His law ourselves, but we cannot be effective by doing that.  This was what Paul was telling those in his day and what applies to us today.  We are to be the example, not just by what we say but by how we live.  We cannot condemn the sins of others while excusing our own sins.  Verse twenty-three continues, Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?  Paul was warning the Jews about boasting about the law to others while breaking it themselves.  For us today, as followers of Christ for example, it is not enough to boast about and display the Ten Commandments without following them.  That includes all of them, plus Christ's commandment that we love one another.  Verse twenty-four concludes, For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.  Paul told the Jews that their actions caused the name of God to be blasphemed among the Gentiles, the lost people of the world.  We must be very careful that our actions today do not do the same thing.  Until we put God first in all aspects of our lives, we are in danger of bringing dishonor to His name.

Romans 2:17

Romans 2:17 says, Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,  Paul was pointing out that those that called themselves Jews were proud of the fact.  They boasted about God, but that was not what they were called to do.  God did not chose them because they were special, but they were special because God chose them.  We as followers of Christ have no reason to think that we by nature are any better than anyone else.  Matthew Henry says of this, "A believing, humble, thankful glorying in God, is the root and summary of all religion, Psa 34:2; Isa 45:15; Co1 1:31. But a proud vainglorious boasting in God, and in the outward profession of his name, is the root and summary of all hypocrisy. Spiritual pride is of all kinds of pride the most dangerous."  The Jews then and we as followers of Christ today are called to a humble glorifying of God, not a proud and self-righteous outward profession of a belief in God. Verse eighteen adds, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;  Those who profess to know God should know His will.  It is not enough to know the truth of God without knowing the will of God.  Many people today know about Christ, some even accept Him as a historical figure, but they do not acknowledge the will of God for Christ to be their Redeemer.  Paul was speaking to God's chosen people in these verses, so it is safe to say that many professed themselves to be Jews without acknowledging the will of God.  There are likewise those today who profess themselves to be followers of Christ who do not acknowledge the will of God.  We can know every verse of the Bible and attend every worship service, but still not acknowledge God's will for our lives.  We are called to humbly serve God and share the gospel, and not to stand in pride condemning others.  Verse nineteen continues, And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,  We, as followers of Christ, are called on to be a guide to salvation to those who are lost, just as the Jews were in Paul's day.  They were failing in their calling, and we must be careful that we do not do the same.  Verse twenty concludes, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.  Paul continued his statement as to what the Jews were to be, and this also tells us what we are to be.  We teach those who do not believe, the foolish, about God. We are to teach them the truth of God, and not just some form of that truth.  We can never rely on anything less than a true relationship with God if we are to teach others about Him.  We cannot proclaim a form of the gospel based on our own goodness or ability but must rely on our relationship with God to guide us.