Bourland Family Blog

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:9-18

No single person (outside of our Lord Jesus Christ) can stand and say that they have done enough to get to heaven. Being better than the person standing next to you is not going to make the bar. Paul’s whole message is that there is no way to a Hope in Heaven that we can do by our own means. We all, through the fall of Adam and Eve have inherited a sinful heart and before we can even reason to do right, we have already sinned to the extent that we deserve to be punished for it. Paul goes into excruciating detail on all the ways we have all stepped in to the state of guilt before a Holy and Pure God.

Just look in the world we live in today. Our news is full of it, our TV is infested with it, and no matter where you go on Social Media, it is rampant. Our only hope is a faith in the One Who already paid the ultimate price….a sacrifice of perfect man Who has no sin, so that He could be made sin for us. Experiencing the separation from God that we all deserve. BUT, the Father raised Him on the 3rd day, setting Him on the throne to not only rule Heaven today, but also the be the Judge on that fateful day.

APPLICATION

I deserve what I was destined to receive before I met my Savior. It is only by God’s grace through His Son alone that I have an eternal hope. Spiritual death for me has been conquered by Jesus Christ and His righteousness has been credited to me. For this! I am forever grateful and serve Him with all that I am, and all that I can do. Thank you, Jesus, for rescuing me from the pit!

5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just. Romans 3:5-8

This whole aside is Paul anticipating and answering the objection that his teaching actually calls into question the very holiness and purity of God’s character.

I like how John MacArthur talks about this broken rationale that the Lord is somehow made more righteous when we sin all the more. They would say that it is like a jeweler setting a diamond on black velvet to make the stone appear even more beautiful. When Paul says he “talks in a human way”, he is just paraphrasing the weak logic of his opponents. They simply have unregenerate minds that are simple in natural rationale rather than seeing the supernatural truth of God’s gift; yet also fruit of repentance and the transformed heart that produces a desire for righteousness, where the power of the Gospel helps one stay on the path to pursuing it.

Looking to the judgement, Paul’s argument continues in that if God condoned sin, He would have no position or righteous basis for passing judgement.

Finally, the most awful thing is that Paul’s message of the gospel that is Salvation by grace through faith alone had been so perverted by his critics, who argued it provided not only a license to sin, but outright encouragement to sin.

APPLICATION

One of the things that the Lord has solidified in me since becoming a believer, Christ follower, and devoted disciple of Jesus, is the simple truth that you better check the genuineness of your Salvation if you are not becoming more and more like Christ everyday…not only that but desiring to do so out of the sheer gratitude of the price He paid on YOUR behalf….sins you should be punished for…for all eternity. This love of Jesus drives us not to earn our spot in heaven…no, He has already secured that for us…it drives us to want to glorify Him and honor Him with the lives He has graciously allowed us to live here on earth before He returns or takes us home.

1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,

“That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged.” 

Romans 3:1-4

Paul figured that the Jewish readers would disagree with his assertions that God has not guaranteed to fulfil His promises to every physical descendent of Abraham.

The Jews had knowledge that the Gentiles did not have. They had been raised with the teaching of the Old Testament, what Paul calls ‘The Oracles of God’. The Greek word used here, “logion”, is a diminutive form of the common New Testament form “logos”. Which is normally translated “word”. These ‘logion’ are important sayings or messages, most importantly supernatural ones. So, the Jews had received the very words of the True God.

Before any Jew, regardless of the purity and understanding of their lineage, can receive the promises, that person must come to repentance and faith.

⁶ But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷ and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring.

Romans 9:6-7

God WILL fulfil all the promises He made to the nation of Israel, even if individual Jews are not able to receive them because of their unbelief. I love how John MacArthur talks about this, “Even if all of mankind were to agree that God had been unfaithful to His promises, it would only prove that all are liars and God is True.” This is the meaning behind the ‘As it is written’ reference to Psalms 51:4 in the passage.

APPLICATION

How grateful I am to have God’s Word in my hands. What a gift I have in being able to read, discern, and have the Holy Spirit speak to me in a supernatural way in my life; guiding me on my journey to become more like King Jesus Himself. I am also going to be held to a responsibility of reading and understanding His Word. I must ask myself everyday whether I am just reading/hearing the Word or am I also putting that received understanding and truth to my own life, every day. I am a citizen of the Nation of Israel, and one that will receive all the promises of the True God because of my belief in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. 28 I. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. Romans 2:25-29

For the Jews, circumcision was a sacred sign of the covenant God made with Abraham (Genesis 17:10–14). It was traditionally performed on boys when they were eight days old, marking them as set apart for God and identifying them as members of His covenant people.

However, Paul explains that this outward sign only has value if it is matched by obedience to God’s law. If a Jew is circumcised yet continually breaks God’s commands, the covenant sign loses its meaning—spiritually, it is as if he were uncircumcised. The physical mark cannot save or preserve the covenant relationship when the heart is far from God.

Conversely, Paul says that if someone who is not circumcised—such as a Gentile—lives in obedience to God’s Word, that person is regarded by God as though they were circumcised. In other words, true covenant membership is not about the external ritual but about the inward reality.

Paul concludes with a striking statement:

“For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” Romans 2:28-29

This “circumcision of the heart” is the Spirit’s work—transforming a person’s inner life so that they love, trust, and obey God. Outward rituals can point to this reality, but they cannot replace it.

APPLICATION

Just saying I am a Christian or ‘Follower of Jesus’ does not make me one. I must know, believe, and trust in Who He says He is. Doing this means I fully understand and embrace what He did for me on the cross. That heart condition (a transformed heart) is one that produces ‘fruits of the Spirit’ and contributes to an ever-growing sanctification of my life.

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure 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 children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Romans 2:17-24

This passage is a very strong rebuke to the Jews for having an arrogance about their heritage, knowledge of the Word, believing they understand the will of God, and that they are to be a light to the world. If they have this and then do what is contrary to this swagger they carry, that is BAD news. The way Paul wraps this section up, says it all.

“The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

Romans 2:24

Sometimes I look at how Paul reinforces his points with being exhaustive about the various questions he asks and wonder why he spends so much time calling out the items he chooses…it’s because he knows his audience. I am sure he has been plagued with the “what about this” and “what about that’s” of the churches and believers living in this period of persecution and culture. He essentially “idiot proofs” his messages (letters).

APPLICATION

Sadly, we in our day need this too. The best takeaway I have found from reading scripture is to take a hermeneutical approach to reading and study. In almost all cases, what Paul has had to say can be directly applied to the world and situations I am in today. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God is never wrong in how something is communicated in His Word…it is me who needs to get my understanding straight in terms of what the Lord means for us.

the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality. Romans 2:10b-11

Shorter post today because I want to cover something I didn’t call out in yesterday’s devotional post.

It has always saddened my heart when I hear unbelievers consumed with this world refer to ‘christians’ as bigots or racists. What I am not going to say is that there are no bigots or racists who call themselves christians. What I will say is that if a person is genuinely converted, the evidence of their life shows that they have a relationship with Jesus, and they obey what God calls them to do through His Word, they cannot be a bigot/racist and at the same time call themselves a Christ Follower. God is very clear here through the writer Paul, that God shows not partiality….period.

APPLICATION

I need to keep a constant check on my fleshly heart. Just as the Lord sees all peoples as His children and His Word talks about all of the ‘Nations’ who will be represented in Heaven, I need to be sure that my unconscious self is kept in check…asking the Holy Spirit to convict me when I am thinking in way that is counter to His instruction. I also need to ask for a heart that loves every person even though I am saddened by their sin. I just want to be more like His Son!

6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality. Romans 2:6-11

This is a passage that a lot of people that profess salvation is ‘works based’ will turn to as a support for that stance. Although Scripture everywhere teaches that salvation is not on the basis of works, it consistently teaches that God’s judgement is always on the basis of a person’s deeds. Paul describes the deeds of two distinct groups: the redeemed and the unredeemed.

The deeds of the redeemed are not on the basis of their salvation but the evidence of it. They are not perfect and prone to sin, but there is undeniable evidence of righteousness in their lives. The unredeemed religious person will assert that their salvation is because they ‘do good’ and when they fall, they confess to a priest, ritualistically walk through some atonement exercise, and then go about their way…never having experienced the soul saving action of putting all of their trust in Jesus Christ as their sin bearer. The other type of unredeemed is scarier, this is a person who believes they have ‘believed’ in the Lord Jesus, but their heart was never transformed, and they show very little to no fruit of salvation in their lives following. Even the demons know and believe who Jesus is, but what they don’t do is surrender and put their trust in Him. This is just like the second unredeemed person I just described.

APPLICATION

Discipleship is so important. The evil one would like nothing more than to see everyone have this ‘unredeemed’ version of response to the gospel. Discipleship is an opportunity to connect with and guide people to see that what maybe they thought they have, they don’t have. I love how Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 13:5.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. Romans 2:3-5

In verse three here, I just can’t help re-reading this in a way I might say what Paul said.

You dummy, do you really think you can draw conclusions on other people relative to their sin and drum up an angle on God that has Him turn a blind eye to your own sinfulness?

To a pure and Holy God, all sin, no matter what kind, separates us from Him…not only that, any and all sin requires punishment. As Paul said, no one will escape God’s judgement…including believers. So, as a believer, if I take this same stance in ignoring the impact of my own sin, I will have to answer for it when the books are open at the Judgement seat. When Paul says, “do you presume on the riches and kindness”, the Greek word for ‘presume’ means “to think down on”. In other words, be careful how you see the restrained hand of God in terms of His kindness, forbearance, and patience with you…These things are not a release of God’s wrath upon you, but a merciful pause to lead you to seeing how grievous you should be with your behavior in relation to what Jesus has done for you. In other words, that grace should lead you to repentance.

Oh but then the great hammer of Paul’s words falls – because you are so calloused and your heart has become so hard, you are literally storing up heaps of God’s wrath that will soon catch up with you when God’s judgement for that sin, which has not been confessed and repented of, is read in front of the throngs, and you are charged for it. This is super scary!

APPLICATION

As a believer in Christ, I am not immune from the consequences of sin…BUT, when I am humble and recognize my sin, confess it before it before the Lord, and then turn a 180-degree pivot from that sin for the rest of my life, I receive forgiveness and am able to enter back into a close relationship with the Father because the Blood of Christ has washed it away. Woe to those who are not transformed by the power of the Gospel!

1 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Romans 2:1-2

This should be a convicting passage for all of us! If I think I am exempt from God’s judgement because I have not indulged in the immoral excess described here, then I am strongly mistaken. Here is the thing, I have more knowledge of who God is, His grace/mercy, and what His Son did for me and therefore I have a greater accountability.

I have the knowledge of God’s commands and therefore the sufficient knowledge to judge others, then I have to condemn myself for my own sin (all sin is in equal defiance of a pure and holy God). I essentially have the knowledge to evaluate my own condition, so I have no business looking down on and judging those in the end of chapter 1. In the condemnation of others, I run the risk of excusing and overlooking my own sin.

John MacArthur says that the Judging Person’s self-righteousness exists because of two deadly errors:

1. Minimizing God’s moral standard usually by emphasizing externals.
2. Underestimating the depth of one’s own sinfulness.

Those of who have been redeemed must live in a constant state of understanding who we were when God redeemed us from our ‘Old Self’ and now gives us an avenue of grace when in our flesh stumble. We remember that we have been saved from what we rightly deserve, and we now live in a state (in this earthly carcass) where we are reminded every day that we can’t rise above what we deserve. We live in a humility of knowing we deserve exactly what that practicing pagan across the street deserves.

The last thing I’ll say here is what my title of this post talks about -> Whatever God does is by nature RIGHT. So, when His judgement falls, it is what is supposed to/must happen.

APPLICATION

This goes right back to supporting what I was saying yesterday…I have a tendency to judge the person, when I am just as guilty of what I have judged that person of. I can’t just call out specific sins, calling them worse than anything I have done, because when I have committed ANY sin, I have sowed the deserving seed of wrath for my own works.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. Romans 1:28-32

I am waaayyyy behind on the posts of my quiet times. Sorry for the delay but you will see a post coming per day but will not send emails on the others I am catching up on. You can just hit up the Home Page to look down at what you have missed if you are interested.

Today we are on the 3rd “God gave them up…” statements Paul makes about these people who, although they know in their hearts there is a God, have turned away and forsaken Him for the things of this world and their own prideful desires.

The first 2 were based off an exchanging of the glory of the immortal God for idols…here in the third one it is because “they did not see fit to acknowledge God”. God gave them up to do all the things that are against His plan, His creation order, and His best for them. Paul is exhaustive in the list of things they become full of. In my MacArthur Study Bible this whole section is titled “God’s wrath on the unrighteous”. God’s wrath in this sense is to let these people incur all of the consequences of ungodly behavior and things they fill their minds with. They have become FULL of all the horrible definitions of an evil debased mind.

These people’s allegiance moves away from God’s righteous pronouncement that their sin and guilt are deserving of death and instead not only do all of these things, but they also seek to promote and approve others who practice them. It is a cult making mindset that almost literally has them living hell on earth.

APPLICATION:

Once again, I am pained to see the despair and absolute hopelessness of the situation of these poor souls. I literally recoil from the behavior and platforms these people operate from. I all honesty, my response to these people and their behave can drive me to unbiblical anger which can lead to detesting the person over abhorrence of the sin. I struggle sometimes to separate the two…but then I only have to look at myself and where I was before the Lord got ahold of my life. I too lived a life of sin against my God. Being raised in a Christian home, I made deliberate decisions to follow my fleshly heart rather than submit a Savior being graciously and mercifully offered to me. Lord God help me to cleave onto You and give me a heart like yours to love the person and hate the sin.