CHART 63: ROMANS: GOD’S SALVATION FOR
SINNERS

The concluding paragraph of 1:28-32
presents the dark picture of man after the
threefold “giving up” of God. The climax of
this picture is seen in the statement of verse
32, that those guilty of these crimes commit
them with the full knowledge of the penalty
of death that they deserve. Worst of all, they
rejoice in others, and encourage others who
practice the same sins.
This dark and painful picture of


the pagan world … is a picture of
the
degradation
into
which
mankind ever sinks when turning
from the truth of God and no
longer restrained by his grace. It
was given as the reason why Paul
gloried in the gospel and desired to
have it proclaimed in Rome. It
should arouse all Christian readers
to-day to hasten the preaching of
this gospel as the only hope of the
human race.3

The pagan world is condemned in the
sight of God not because of ignorance of
God but because their reaction to the light
given them concerning God is one of
rejection,
unthankfulness,
vanity,
presumption, and evil deeds. They are all
without excuse.
2 . The self-righteous condemned (2:1-16).
The self-righteous moralist of this passage is


a legalist who believes that the life
acceptable to God is the zealous
performance of that which he considers to
be morally right. But the only source of
infallible judgment is God Himself, who is
absolutely righteous, fair, and good. And
God applies His standard and declares the
self-righteous moralist to be guilty for his
sin.
3. The Jew condemned (2:17—3:8). The sin
of the Jew exposed here is that of outward
religion devoid of inner spirit. These
religionists
nd their haven in formal
religion and are willing to pay any price of
outward worship.
4 . The whole world condemned (3:9-20).

After writing that all have sinned (3:9-12)
and that such sin is totally cancerous and
God defying (3:13-18), Paul clearly records
the verdict “Guilty before God” (3:19).


In these last verses he not only
pronounces God’s nal verdict upon sinners,
but declares every man to be helpless and
hopeless as well. It is clear at this point in
Paul’s epistle that God’s law — whether it is
the law written in the heart (2:15), or the
law written on tablets of stone — cannot
save a man. If such a one is to be justi ed
there must be some other way than through
such law. Paul presents that other way in
the next two and a half chapters (3:21—
5:21). The diagnosis of man’s fatal disease
has been ascribed: the heart cannot do good
(3:12). It is not righteous, nor does it have
the power to attain righteousness. In the
next chapters the prescription of cure is
written, telling how sinful man can be given
a heart of righteousness. No diagnosis
without an o er of cure — such is the
method of the holy and gracious God.