Romans 3:9-20

What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving, The poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.^[1]

One of the annoying frustrations for many believers is the necessity of defending their faith from the damage done to it by other believers. Far too many Christians have been guilty of using their faith as a cover for sin as if somehow they are above it. In many ways this mentality is reminiscent of the gnostic heresy that threatened the church in the early centuries of its existence. Gnosticism “espoused a dualism regarding spirit and matter. Gnostics asserted that matter was inherently evil and spirit good. As a result of this presupposition, Gnostics believed anything done in the body, even the grossest sin, had no meaning because real life exists in the spirit realm only.” This re-emerging heresy poses no less of a threat today as it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish those who truly believe from those who do not. Those who live in the realm of faith (who walk or live by faith and not by sight) realize and take seriously the horrific affects of sin.

The Apostle Paul tells his readers that everyone is condemned because of sin. Many of us are guilty of refusing to take responsibility for our actions. When caught in sin we love to blame outside forces or other people while we continue to live as we please, all the while laying claim to living by faith. We spiritualize our sin by maintaining that “it’s all good” because “love covers a multitude of sin.” Our faith no more covers us from sin than the Law did for the Jews. Only Christ and His shed blood can do that. We are lost without Christ, and if we cannot or will not see our sin we will not see Christ. Living in the realm of faith sees the horrific affects of sin and seeks to continually be cleansed of it. Let us confess our sin today and be cleansed from it.

Dear Lord, we are sinners sold unto sin. Like Paul would say to the Romans, we often do the very things we have no desire to do and struggle to do the good we want to do. Forgive us for the times we have played the blame game, blaming our backgrounds, our environments, our conditions and circumstances, or even blaming You instead of taking responsibility ourselves. Like King David, create in us today clean hearts and renew a right spirit in us that we might live in the realm of faith with true integrity. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ro 3:9–20.