God is faithful even when we aren’t.
Both Jews and Gentiles can be saved.
All of mankind is total depravity – there is no one who does good!
No one can boast in themselves.
We are reconciled\justified to God through faith in Christ Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
Summary:
Paul begins in verse one by addressing the importance of the Jewish religion. Paul saw value in the nation of Israel because of the fact that the Jews were the first nation to observe God’s law, or as verse 2 says “be entrusted with the oracles of God”. However, while some Jews were unfaithful (i.e. rebuking Jesus as the Messiah), Paul was carful to point out that this did not change the faithfulness of God. Paul’s point in the following verses (5-8) shows that the depravity of the world does not impact the goodness of God. Verses 9-18 and 23 show the total depravity of man apart of our Creator. Since no one in righteous, no one can save themselves from sin – only by the grace of God are we saved (24). Verse 20 points out that no human can be saved by works. In the remaining verses (27-32) Paul makes it clear that NO man can boast in their doings, because even the good we do is simply the grace of God working though us. God is not only the God of the Jews, he is the God of those who find their righteous through faith in Christ Jesus (people of any race or ethnicity, or the Bible would call it, the Gentiles). God justifies to Himself those who understand that they are total depraved and in need of a Saviour. Through the death of Christ God can welcome us into Heaven and wipe out our past sins from his mind. Without the blood of Christ, this would not be possible. Therefore, no one can boast in their own goodness, because no one is good.
Discussion Questions:
What does Total Depravity mean?
When we speak of man's depravity we mean man's natural condition apart from God’s grace to restrain himself from doing evil/sinning. But even if a man does decide not to sin (i.e. goes into a store, decides not to steal) and his reason for not doing so is not based on God’s law and grace, then he is still evil in God’s sight since goodness only comes from God.
John Piper says, “There is no doubt that man could perform more evil acts toward his fellow man than he does. But if he is restrained from performing more evil acts by motives that are not owing to his glad submission to God, then even his "virtue" is evil in the sight of God.” (I.e. if a person does something “good”, like not steal at a store, and his reason for not stealing does not flow out of a knowledge and love for God and His grace, then he is still evil in God’s sight because all good comes from faith in Christ Jesus.) The reason for this is told in Romans 14:23, which says, "Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin."
The bottom line is we can’t measure the goodness of a person in relation to other men, because other men are evil. Instead our comparison of good and evil can only come from God. Only God is good, therefore anyone who does not live by God’s grace is not good.
Are there any exceptions? Are all men totally depraved?
Yes. All of mankind is totally depraved. Here are some supporting verses:
Romans 3:9-12
Mark 10:18/Luke 18:19
1 John 1:8,10
Mark 7:21-23
Psalm 5:9
Jeremiah 17:9
Genesis 6:5 & 8:21
What is the punishment we deserve because of our rebellion and total depravity?
Our rebellion is totally deserving of eternal punishment. Total depravity means that our rebellion against God is total, everything we do in this rebellion is sin, our inability to submit to God or reform ourselves is total, and we are therefore totally deserving of eternal punishment.
However, the only saving grace comes from God, who loved us so much that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment