**Ending with chapter 2, Paul is trying to get his point across: There is no point in outwardly appearing to do right (practice the Law), when inwardly in your heart and in secret you are not living by it. You are not saved by your actions but your faith in the Messiah. 1 Then what advantage has the Jew? What is the value of being circumcised? 2 Much in every way! In the first place, the Jews were entrusted with the very words of God. 3 If some of them were unfaithful, so what? Does their faithlessness cancel Gods faithfulness? 4 Heaven forbid! God would be true even if everyone were a liar! - as the Tanakh says, so that you, God, may be proved right in your words and win the verdict when you are put on trial. **This is why I am so glad to learn and understand our faith through Judaism- There is benefit to learning how to keep the law and understanding the truth of the gospel through the whole bible. The Jews are entrusted with the very utterances of God. And although some people do not believe, does that make the truth of the faithfulness and judgment of God any less? Absolutely not. You may not believe in gravity but it is reality and you will see the evidence of it regardless if you believe or not. 5 Now if our unrighteousness highlights Gods righteousness, what should we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict his anger on us? (I am speaking here the way people commonly do.) 6 Heaven forbid! Else, how could God judge the world? 7 But, you say, if, through my lie, Gods truth is enhanced and brings him greater glory, why am I still judged merely for being a sinner? 8 Indeed! Why not say (as some people slander us by claiming we do say), Let us do evil, so that good may come of it? Against them the judgment is a just one! 9 So are we Jews better off? Not entirely; for I have already made the charge that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, are controlled by sin. 10 As the Tanakh puts it, There is no one righteous, not even one! No one understands, 11 no one seeks God, 12 all have turned away and at the same time become useless; there is no one who shows kindness, not a single one! **How many people say God is unfair to allow bad things to happen? That He is wrong to do so which would mean God is unrighteous? They might also say He knows we are all sinners so why direct his judgment and wrath on us when that is our nature. Sadly, Gods judgment is right when the intents of our heart and actions are held up to the light of the Torah/Law. This is our guideline- not mans standard of right or wrong which varies person to person. And all people are sinful. “No one understands, no one seeks God.” That really ought to wake us up, even those who seem like they have it together. Shouldnt this tell you that no matter how mature in the faith you are, there is still areas to work on? So we shouldnt act like we have it together. Humbleness is a beautiful quality. And in the previous chapters, it had been talking about hypocrisy and although there are mature believers in the faith who do not struggle with condemning others when they themselves have their own issues, realistically, that is a huge problem in the church today. 13 Their throats are open graves, they use their tongues to deceive. Vipers venom is under their lips. 14 Their mouths are full of curses and bitterness. 15 Their feet rush to shed blood, 16 in their ways are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of shalom they do not know. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. **Verse 13 is stout. A grave is sealed to hide the sight and smell of the decaying body. An unsealed grave allows those who pass to see and smell whats inside. And their throats being like an open grave likens to the foul words that come from a decayed heart. Good gracious, how many people who claim to be believers and yet slander and hurt people. Who go out during the week on their jobs, in businesses, or with their families and spew venom. I know I have been guilty and also see it myself on the job especially! Customers come in and have their Christian bumper stickers and music playing and are the worst type of people to deal with at times. And although I can look at people and see the best in them, this other side just reinforces what the Word is saying here about how there is none righteous. 19 Moreover, we know that whatever the Torah says, it says to those living within the framework of the Torah, in order that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world be shown to deserve Gods adverse judgment. 20 For in his sight no one alive will be considered righteousn on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, because what Torah really does is show people how sinful they are. 21 But now, quite apart from Torah, Gods way of making people righteous in his sight has been made clear - although the Torah and the Prophets give their witness to it as well - 22 and it is a righteousness that comes from God, through the faithfulness of Yeshua the Messiah, to all who continue trusting. For it makes no difference whether one is a Jew or a Gentile, 23 since all have sinned and come short of earning Gods praise. 24 By Gods grace, without earning it, all are granted the status of being considered righteous before him, through the act redeeming us from our enslavement to sin that was accomplished by the Messiah Yeshua. 25 God put Yeshua forward as the kapparah for sin through his faithfulness in respect to his bloody sacrificial death. This vindicated Gods righteousness; because, in his forbearance, he had passed over [with neither punishment nor remission] the sins people had committed in the past; 26 and it vindicates his righteousness in the present age by showing that he is righteous himself and is also the one who makes people righteous on the ground of Yeshuas faithfulness. **People who truly seek the Lord must look at themselves in the light of the Word and of the Torah/Law. It allows you to see yourself for what you really are. And not so you can just feel condemned- because we can have grace salvation through faith in the Messiah, Jesus. However, it shows you that you NEED saving to begin with! You cannot be saved through following a set of rules of right or wrong- although trying to do right is important. God made it very clear long ago through the Law and the Prophets when they told of Gods plan of salvation. Salvation not only means salvation from Hell, but salvation from the powerlessness of sin. Sins grip on your life is impossible to escape without the power that faith in Jesus gives! Go back up and read verse 24 again! That verse and the way He puts it just gives me so much joy, knowing the person God has freed me from- my old self! I tried to change for years in my own power. Until I surrendered to Him, I always went back. Only God gets the glory. 27 So what room is left for boasting? None at all! What kind of Torah excludes it? One that has to do with legalistic observance of rules? No, rather, a Torah that has to do with trusting. 28 Therefore, we hold the view that a person comes to be considered righteous by God on the ground of trusting, which has nothing to do with legalistic observance of Torah commands. 29 Or is God the God of the Jews only? Isnt he also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, he is indeed the God of the Gentiles; 30 because, as you will admit, God is one. Therefore, he will consider righteous the circumcised on the ground of trusting and the uncircumcised through that same trusting. 31 Does it follow that we abolish Torah by this trusting? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, we confirm Torah. **So who has a right to brag about what they have done? No one. You cant serve enough, give enough, be kind enough to save yourself. Only through faith. Thank God for that because we wouldnt have a chance! God isnt one way for Jews and one way for Gentiles. Faith in the Messiah saves the Jews, and faith in the Messiah saves the Gentiles. And the icing on the cake is the Law is still applicable. Is the Law done away with because of faith? No, it is just not a requirement for righteousness anymore. Instead, is it established/confirmed; which the root word here means to stand; to be kept in tact. As you grow in your faith, your desire will be to please Him and draw closer to Him. You do this by changing your life and trying to do right. Not that doing right saves you, but your hearts desire will be to please God!
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 02:36:36 +0000
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