OUR FATHER WHO SEARCH FOR THOSE WHO SEEK HIM

In Roman chapter 3 verses 10 - 20, the Apostle Paul presents Psalm 14 to establish the benchmark of the human condition where all humans, without exception, are in a state of corruption and have become unusable for their intended purpose.

9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

1O As it is written:

“There i none righteous, no, not one;

11 There is none who understands;

There is none who seeks after God.

12 They have all turned aside;

They have together become unprofitable;

There is none who does good, no, not one.”

13 “Their throat is an open tomb;

With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;

“The poison of asps is under their lips”;

14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;

17 And the way of peace they have not known.”

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 2O Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Paul strongly asserts that there cannot be justification by following the law because the law is mere a tool that provides a metric for our sinfulness by simply having knowledge of it and finding that we have no capacity to fulfill it.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE WORD OUTWEIGHS THE WORD OF ALL HUMANITY

In the book of Romans chapter 3 verses 1 -  8, Paul continues his analysis of the false  legalistic doctrines that are being introduced to the believers in Rome.

With all the controversy around the validity circumcision, Paul rhetorically asks if there was ever any value to the Jewish rite at all. He answers affirmatively by indicating that the word of God was entrusted to the Jewish people and part of this privilege carried the responsibility to embody the physical symbols of the underlying spiritual laws such as circumcision which, in being a physical separation of the body, represented the requirement of a spiritual separation from the things of the flesh.

Paul then asks if the Jews, having been privileged to carry the word of God, were unfaithful, would that not show that Godˋs Himself was unfaithful because He couldnˋt keep those were His people. Paulˋs answer was that all mankind, Jewish and otherwise, were subject to the same fall and the same corruption and were thus equally given to sinfulness and were equally liable for their conduct.

1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.

3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written:

“So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

5 But 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.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8 Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!

Paul wrote that one could then ask that if humanity was prone to sinfuless, is Godˋs judgement on us not unfair and unjust?

Paul responds to this by pointing out that if that were truly the case, God would not be able to judge the world but the fact that humans break the law is a reflection of their corrupt nature and not the unfairness of the law. The law merely makes evident what defects exist in mankind due to the fall and as such, mankind can be rightly judged under the law.

The application of the law to expose the fallen nature of mankind does indeed glorify God because it shows how holy and righteous He is but this does not mean that humans should continue to sin so as to glorify God. Humans, having been made in the image and likeness of God and having been shown by the law that they are corrupted, must be shown by God the pth of life by which they may return from corruption to restoration.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO REQUIRES THAT WE LIVE BY THE SPIRIT

The Apostle Paul, in chapter 2 verses 25 - 29 of his letter to the Romans, continues with his deconstruction of the claims of those who taught that believers had to adhere to the laws of Moses.

Paul makes the case that to outwardly follow the law is fruitless because doing so is a function of the flesh underwhich it will fail and be condemned. 

Paul informs his readers that the external circumcision is merely a pointer towards the internal circumcision  of the flesh which is by the Spirit and which is what gains the approval of God.

 25 Circumcision has value if you  observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER IS DISHONORED WHEN PEOPLE CLAIM HIS LAW BUT YET BREAK IT

The book of Romans Chapter 2 verses 17 - 24 says this;

17 Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, 18 and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. 21 You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.

In this passage, the Apostle Paul focuses on those who had pursued the law as the path to rghteousness and who had claimed title to the knowledge of God and His will.

Amen.

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