Romans 3:1-20
God's Faithfulness
1What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
3What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? 4Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:
"So that you may be proved right when you speak
and prevail when you judge."
5But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" 8Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.
No One is Righteous
9What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
13"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."
"The poison of vipers is on their lips."
14"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
15"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16ruin and misery mark their ways,
17and the way of peace they do not know."
18"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
God is faithful...He sent Jesus, His Son, for us as a sign of His faithfulness...Our unrighteousness and our lack of faith in Him, does not make Him unfaithful...Some of Paul's opposition said that Paul wanted people not to obey the Law of Moses, just to prove that God would forgive them...This is not what St. Paul taught...God is not unjust...God is just...He will be the perfect judge...
If we are to be judged, isn't it best we be judged by God...Would you rather be judged by a man or woman at the end of your days?...One should think about this...Only the Father and Son know every thought in your head for your entire life...Because of this, who else can really be your judge?...At the end of times, I think once we are judged, we may not like it, but we will know it is fair...
Jews and Gentiles are alike in the sense of righteousness...No one is righteous...There is not even one...There is no one who does good... Only God is good...Every one of us needs God's grace and His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ...We cannot be saved by ourselves through studying, reading, by our deeds...It is forever futile to think that our good deeds get us to heaven...It is our vanity that thinks, we might (make it to heaven, on our own-with our deeds and our ways)...Our very nature is to do what we want, we enjoy (our) free will so we can do our will, and not His...We, therefore, cannot have salvation on our own...Salvation must come to us...God sent it (salvation through His Son) to us, because not one of us is righteous...It is the only way...We need the Holy Spirit...
We still do not know the way of peace...We are not righteous, but Jesus is...We have a model, a mentor...We have a Savior for our salvation...
The Law does not make us righteous...What the Law does is make us conscious of our sins...It makes us aware of our unrighteous...We are sinners...The whole world will be accountable to God, not just the Jewish people...God would be limited, if the whole world was not accountable to Him...This makes sense because, God is infinite...How could He just be judge over a certain amount or group of people... God is God of everyone...He is God of everything...
God expects us to follow His moral laws...He expects us to be good...We must be good...We want to be good...God also wants us to be faithful...We must be faithful...We know there are times, maybe many times, we are neither good nor faithful...God understands this...He knows we sin...That is why He sent His Son to us...He is our Savior...