Romans 3:9-20
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.
As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
“Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“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 ways;
And the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
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. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
We see two key topics in this section of scripture – All have sinned, and what purpose is the law. Since we will spend significant time later in Romans on the topic of sin especially, I want to jump right to the question – what use is the Law now?
So, what use is it? It is a bunch of rules that are part of the ‘old Covenant’ (even as mentioned by our use of ‘old’ and ‘new’ Testament in the Bible). And also as mentioned in vs 20, no one is going to be justified by the law. BUT, the key to the law is this – it is the knowledge if sin.
We could also go through that the Law is our spiritual heritage, and that through the Israelites and the Law came Jesus – but all of the Law and the prophets up until Jesus gave us one key message – the knowledge of sin.
Why is this important? Where does it fit it? I am sure some of you have heard of the ladder of knowledge – The first step is ignorance – ‘I don’t know that I don’t know’ – The second is revelation – ‘I know that I don’t know’ – the third is knowledge – ‘I understand what I know’.
So the law is then revelation to us. For without the knowledge of sin, how are we to deal with it? If someone doesn’t tell me that to steal is wrong – and it is not written upon my heart – how am I to know that it is wrong? If someone doesn’t teach me, I have no path to get past ignorance – I am in sin and don’t even know it. The Law provides revelation – it teaches us what is sin, and gives us the ability to move forward. At that point we are then without excuse – as we now know right from wrong, we now know what is sin and what is not – and we are then given the choice whether we want to do something about that.
So in our times, the Law is what leads us to Jesus – we start in a position of ignorance, the Law brings revelation – and we can then choose to find out what we can, or indeed need to do about the sin in our lives. We are all sinners – that is without question – so what can we do about this sin?
The simple answer – Jesus. Whilst there are hundreds of scriptures we can choose (including the ‘Roman Road’ that many people use for it’s completeness), I think Peter gives an excellent summary here.
Acts 2:38-39
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
If you don’t know Jesus, or you don’t know what you can do about your sin – it’s simple, pray. Recognize you have sinned, repent of those sins (repent means literally ‘turn away’), and ask for forgiveness of those sins. Then find someone Godly to talk about it, and you are on free already. That simple. Really.
Lord Jesus, thank you for your work on the cross for our sins. Thank you for the Law that leads us to you. Thank you for the revelation of you in all Creation, that we might know who you are. Thank you for those that witnessed and passed down your words to us through the scriptures. I pray you will continue to reveal them to us and guide us in your way. Amen.
What use is the Law? Romans 3:9-20