Eternity Daily Bible Study: No. 512 Romans 1-8 - A Righteousness That Is By Faith Verses: Romans 3:10-18 Topic: A World Full Of Sinners Date: 22nd September 2005 Romans 3:10-18 HCSB as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one; (11) there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. (12) All have turned away, together they have become useless; there is no one who does good, there is not even one. (13) Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers' venom is under their lips. (14) Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. (15) Their feet are swift to shed blood; (16) ruin and wretchedness are in their paths, (17) and the path of peace they have not known. (18) There is no fear of God before their eyes. These pessimistic words are a quote from various Old Testament Psalms (Psalm 14 particularly plus Psalms 5, 10, 36, 53 and 140, ) and Isaiah (esp. chapter 59) and indicate a state of national depravity prior to God's judgment. Paul quotes these verses to s ow that the Jews could go just as badly astray as the Gentiles and that there were times in Jewish history when not a single moral person could be found. However these verses are not to be taken as permanently descriptive of all mankind - otherwise there would be no hope since "there are none righteous" would apply to everyone everywhere - including Christians. The plain fact of the matter is that millions of people are seeking after God, particularly during times and places of revival. I frequently get emails from people who plainly are seeking after God with great intensity and earnestness. If no-one anywhere, was seeking after God, then Jesus commands about "seek and ye shall find" would be empty rhetoric. Thus the point of these quotes are to prove that "both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin". Everyone agreed that the Gentiles were under sin, so only Paul needed to prove that the Jews were under sin and that the Law did not make them immune from going astray. These verses indicate that despite having the Law, there were times when the Jewish nation disobeyed it flagrantly and completely and were "just as sinful" as anyone else - and that is what these quotes prove so eloquently. These verse prove that there is no race, no nation, no group that is free from sin. But they do not support a generalized and total depravity for all mankind. While all people are fallen some are quite lovable and trustworthy. There are people like Mary and Martha and Lazarus and Peter, James and John. There are indeed good-hearted folk that wait for God and desire to know Him. For every Judas there are eleven disciples. When Jesus came to earth he came to God-fearing parents in Joseph and Mary. In fact Joseph is described as a "righteous man" - so how can there be "none righteous"? My answer is that at certain places and periods of history there are indeed none righteous - such as Sodom and before the Flood. These verses warn of us of the depravity that human nature can enter into unless grace intervenes. But they are not an accurate general theological description of all people in all places all the time. Now indeed no one has attained God's level of righteousness and all have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) but the world has had 2000 years of the gospel and grace of God and today there are many, many people doing good deeds and seeking after God. On the other hand as a missionary I have been in places where the gospel has had minimal impact - and these verses are indeed true of such spots. Treachery, violence, hatred and gossip are all "normal" in such places. Where radical Islam holds sway "Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and wretchedness are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known." seems to be the condition of the entire population. We live on islands of grace in a world full of sinners but the spread of the gospel is steadily enlarging these islands of grace. Yet we also need to remember that all is not rosy. There are many dangerous and harmful people with "tongues like asps" in the big, bad world and we need to be aware of them. As Jesus said to his apostles "beware of men.." (Matthew 10:17) What these verses do tell us is that mankind is capable of going grievously and totally wrong. It can reach the point where there are no (or very few) good people left and judgment falls just as it did during the time of the Flood (See Genesis 6 & 7) or on Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18 & 19). Mankind without the gospel can become totally and hopelessly lost. Don Richardson in his book "Peace Child", writes of the Sawi tribe of Irian Jaya a province of Indonesia next to Papua New Guinea) and this tribe had so descended into darkness that it saw treachery as the highest virtue and when they were taught the Gospel story - they thought Judas was the hero! Mankind though made in the image of God, can lose all trace of virtue, and as Solomon wrote: Ecclesiastes 7:29 HCSB Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes." How then do we look at people? Are they all violent and full of cursing? Or are they all God-seekers? Do we guard ourselves at every turn and become suspicious of all? Or do we trust everyone and "believe the best" even when we are dealing with a psychopath? Plainly we need to be able to discern the difference between saints and psychopaths and between those we should trust and those we should not trust. Jesus gives us one simple guideline - "by their fruit you shall know them". Look at their inner nature, their decisions, their actual output, their deeds, and their lives - especially how they treat others, including the poor and those in their power. To see the world as totally dark and depraved misses much of what God has done and is doing. On other hand to ignore our sinfulness and our potential to go wrong can be very costly naivety. Let's put Paul's words in context -as proving a point about how bad we can get and that even people who have the Law can go terribly (and completely) astray. Blessings, John Edmiston (johned@aibi.ph) REFER OTHERS: If this devotional is a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving this daily bible study. 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