Friday

Romans 3:9-18
What 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. As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."
"The poison of vipers is on their lips."
"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know."

"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

This passage is a healthy reminder that none of us on our own are righteous, "not even one."

It was written by Paul to the Roman church, which was made up of Gentiles. He is telling them that neither Jews nor Gentiles are righteous on their own. He then goes on to quote many passages from the Psalms to illustrate how no one is righteous.

Following this passage, he states that what makes a person righteous is faith is Jesus (3:23). I am reminded of the Philip Yancey quote from What's So Amazing About Grace: "There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less."

On our own we are not righteous, but our righteousness comes from faith in Jesus.

Questions for reflection:
1. Are there times that I have felt better (3:9) than others, or been boastful (3:27) because of things I’ve done?

2. Do I know in my mind (intellectually) and heart (emotionally) that my righteousness comes from faith in Christ?

RJ