One of the most important chapters in Romans, especially for the GLBT community!! For many of us, all our lives we have heard and we’ve been taught that homosexuality is a sin, and because of this sin, gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and the transgendered are not welcome at God’s table. You know, when something is told to you often enough and by so many, you develop a tendency to believe it–even if you don’t want to believe it–even if it doesn’t feel right, you buy into it.
In the first chapter of Romans we saw that what Paul was condemning was idolatry, not homosexuality. “That’s all well and good,” you say, “But what if you’re wrong? What if Paul really did mean to say that homosexuality is a sin? What if they’re right and you’re wrong?”
Chapter 3 answers these questions. In this chapter we will see that every human being is a sinner. Homosexuals are no different from anyone else. Every human being is a “Law breaker.” It is humanly impossible to uphold the Law completely. But we don’t have to. God created for us a way to be in relationship with God which doesn’t have to do with the Law. It is the way of faith.
Most churches teach, “Repent and be saved!” I teach, and I believe chapter 3 teaches, “Be saved, and repent!” What I mean is this: Chapter 3 calls us to accept the fact that we are all sinners. Paul, indeed all of New Testament scripture, teaches that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Chapter 3 says, if we would be saved, all we have to do is accept it. We accept it when we accept Jesus Christ as our savior. That’s the “Be saved” part. (The “Repent” part comes later, but it will come, trust me.)
If the above is true, this means that “Even if,” even if homosexuality is a sin–it isn’t–but even if it was, homosexuals can say, “So what? Who is sinless to cast the first stone? No one! We’re all equal in God’s sight. And we can all be saved, by accepting our sinful nature and accepting Jesus as our Savior.” Does Romans chapter 3 really say all these things? Come with me and we shall see!
Romans 3:1-8
What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every human a liar. As it is written:
“So that you may be proved right in your words and prevail in your judging.” (Psalm 51:4)
But if our unrighteousness brings out God more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing God’s wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases God’s glory, what am I still condemned as a sinner?” Why not say–as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say–“Let us do evil that good may result?’ Their condemnation is deserved.
When I was in high school I found a couplet that angered me. I’ve always had a special fondness for Jewish people–perhaps a kinship with and for other oppressed people. The poem read, “How odd of God, to choose the Jews.” A couple of years went by before I found the answer: “Yet not so odd as those who choose, a Jewish God, yet spurn the Jews.” It is incomprehensible to me how any people who call themselves Christian could ever be anti-Semitic. We worship the God of the Jews. Christianity began as a sect of Judaism. Our religion embraces the history and teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures. Christianity cannot stand separate and apart from Judaism.
Paul points this out in the beginning of chapter 3. He writes, trying to think of the questions and objections that might be raised by what he wrote in chapter 2.
Argument 1: “If anyone can be accepted by God without having to follow the Jewish law, then what’s so special about being a Jew?” Paul’s answer reminds them of their heritage. “God chose us and entrusted to us the Ten Commandments–the very words of God.”
Argument 2: “What if some of us didn’t have faith? (God promised Abraham and Sarah that their descendants would be God’s “chosen” people.) Will their unfaithfulness make God break that promise?” Paul says “No! Don’t be ridiculous! A child of God is still a child of God. But if we children do wrong, is God then wrong for punishing our wrong? Of course not, otherwise, how could God judge the world? But even if you do wrong, you’re still God’s child, no matter what.”
Argument 3: “Well then, if I don wrong and yet God still accepts me, why are you saying I’m a sinner? Seems to me that the fact that God still accepts me even when I do wrong, God’s acceptance of me shows how good God is. Consequently my wrong actually is a good thing.” Paul responds: “Don’t you dare say that! That’s slanderous! And if God condemns you for saying that–you deserve it!”
Romans 3:9-20
What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one, there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless, there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalms 14:1-3, 53:1-3; Eccles.7:20)
“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” (Ps. 5:9)
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.” (Ps. 140:3)
“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” (Ps. 10:7)
“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” (Is. 59:7,8)
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Ps. 36:1)
Now we know that whatever the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the Law; rather, through the Law we become conscious of sin.
Paul writes,” Is one person better than another? Not at all! We have already made the accusations that Jews and Gentiles alike are guilty of sin.” Just like any good preacher today, Paul refers to scripture to make his point and quotes various authors–those of Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and Isaiah–proving his point that everyone is a sinner.
I want us to take a look at this word sin. In the original language, it is derived from the Greek word Hamartano. It’s an archery term and means, “To miss the mark (and so not share in the prize).” When I was growing up, the idea of sin was rather horrifying to me. To sin was to be evil and wicked and depraved. When I sinned I believed I was beyond contempt. I believed God hated me and wanted to punish me in the worst way possible. Surely, I’d be sent to Hell.
How different is my childish concept of sin from the Biblical definition! A sinner is someone who makes mistakes–who’s not always on target–who “Misses the mark,” someone who fails to achieve all that God has planned for that person. To be sure, there are sins that are more grievous than others–some that are truly evil, wicked and depraved. I’m not trying to whitewash the concept of sin as something to be ignored. But just because we are sinners doesn’t make us contemptible and hated by God.
Paul is saying that everyone is a sinner–no one has a right to talk–i.e. to “cast the first stone,” because we’re all in the same boat. You’re not going to be able to consider yourself a righteous person by observing the Law (in other words, get off the self-righteous bandwagon!) The job of the Law is to make you conscious of your sin–to make us all aware that we’re sinners.
Romans 3:21-26
But now a righteousness, from God, apart from the Law, has been made know, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by God’s grace though the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. God did this to demonstrate God’s justice, because in God’s forbearance, God had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished–God did it to demonstrate God’s justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.
Here it is, folks, what I promised you in the overview. Paul says you can receive a righteousness from God apart from the Law. God can consider you a righteous person even though you don’t follow the Law. As a matter of fact, Hebrew Scripture (the Law and the prophets) even verifies this, Paul says. How do you get it? Through faith in Jesus Christ. Who can get it? All who believe. Paul says no one is any better that any other person. Everyone has “Missed the mark.” Everyone falls short of who God is (perfection). Of course, we have. That’s the mark of a human being, that we are less than God–that we fall short of God’s glory. We are justified freely, (God is happy to consider us “innocent” of the accusations of our sin).
This is an especially important point for homosexuals. How many times have you heard that homosexuality is a sin, and because of this sin, God condemns you. Anyone who says that is ignoring this scripture. At this point, the argument of whether or not homosexuality is a sin has no bearing on whether or not a homosexual is condemned. Even if it were a sin, even a grievous one, don’t get nervous, it isn’t, but even if it were, God is happy to declare us innocent of ALL of our sins, regardless of what they are, when we accept Jesus as our savior.
How does this happen? Jesus’ crucifixion was the sacrifice. From as early as the story of Cain and Able, the Bible demonstrates the ritual of sacrifice, which was performed for many reasons–a most important one was as atonement for sin. A bull was dilled as an offering to God for sins. When the ritual of the offering was complete, the person was considered forgiven.
Jesus became the final sacrifice for all of humanity. Paul says that God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement. To atone is to pay the price for. Jesus became the sacrifice that paid the price for all our sins, once and for all. Note this wonderful word “at-one-ment.” It means to bring us to God–to make us “At one” with God. When Jesus died he made us eligible to be declared innocent of all our sins. God’s grace is the means by which we are pardoned. Grace is defined as unmerited divine assistance. And grace is a gift from God freely given to all who ask for it. Through Jesus’ death we have been redeemed (The price has been paid). We are saved. We are eligible to receive it, but we must ask for and accept it. That is what faith is all about.
So, the next time someone says to you, “Homosexuality is a sin. Leviticus says you shall not lie down with man as with woman. It’s an abomination.” You don’t even have to try to convince them that they’re wrong. You can respond, “Well, I see that you’ve recently had a haircut, and it looks like you shaved this morning. Leviticus 19:27 says, ‘Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.’ So it looks like we’re both sinners together. Thank God we’re both saved by the blood of Jesus Christ!”
Romans 3:27-31
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the Law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from observing the Law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is God not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the Law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the Law.
If, then, we’re all in the same boat as far as being sinners is concerned, then no one had the right to lord anything over anyone else–no one can claim a right or privilege to accuse another of being a sinner. As Jesus commanded the accusers of the woman who had been caught in adultery, only the one without sin has the right to cast a stone. Since, as Paul so recently demonstrated, there is “no one righteous, not even one,” there can be no stones cast.
Paul now establishes one of the most important principles of the Christian faith. The old covenant law as interpreted by the Israelites had provided rules, which, if followed perfectly, would earn a right relationship with God. Unfortunately, Paul says, no one ever succeeded. Human nature, being what it is, is not amenable to following all of the Law. The best that we can hope for is that the Law makes us aware of sin.
So God created a new covenant for us. We can be righteous in God’s eyes without regard to the Law. This righteousness is ours when we choose to turn to Jesus Christ. When we decide to put our faith and trust in Jesus to save us–then we are saved.
It makes no difference who we are or what we have done–We’re all equal in that we are all sinners. No matter how great we think we are, we still lack what it takes–we fall short–we don’t measure up. The wonderful thing, Paul says, is that we don’t have to.
Paul says that if we choose to follow Jesus then God’s gong to be merciful to and compassionate with us. God will pardon us freely for any wrong thing we’ve done–declare us innocent, even.
God understands our natures, and God wants to demonstrate God’s version of justice, which is very different from human or natural justice. Human interpretation of the old covenant taught “eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” and really, this was a step up from ancient ways. In primitive culture, if you hurt me, then I would retaliate by wiping out your whole family. The old covenant established a limitation for vengeance. It taught tit-for-tat: If you hurt me, then I hurt you only to the extent of how you hurt me.
But this new covenant is the turn-the-other-cheek covenant. It says if you hurt God, God will forgive you if you have faith in Jesus. God will forgive you, declare you innocent, and bring you into relationship with God. And all of this will be given to you freely because you have put your faith in Jesus to make all this happen.
So, if you can’t earn a right relationship with God by following the Law, then you have nothing to boast about, In other words, you can’t earn your way to heaven. No one can earn their way to heaven. The way to heaven is not by earning brownie points for following the Law. This new covenant leaves no room for self-righteousness, and demonstrates the principle Jesus taught that none of us should judge one another. God does not require us to live up to the standards of others–only God’s standards. We are under God’s justice, not human justice. Only God can condemn us, and only God can declare us innocent. And Paul says, God will declare us innocent when we have faith in Jesus.
You might have thought I said something rather strange a couple of paragraphs ago when I said, “If you hurt God, God will forgive you…” Have you ever considered that your actions could actually cause pain to God? When one loves, one becomes vulnerable to be hurt by those they love. The basis of the new covenant is God’s love for us. This new relationship God calls us to, is not a relationship of dictator and subject, of rules and their consequences. It is, instead a relationship of parent and child–of lover and beloved. And regardless of any of the shortcomings of your own earthly parents, God is the perfect parent, full of love, compassion and forgiveness. And God delights in you.
God gave us the gift of free will, but God also knows that free will can be a two-edged sword. Temptations by the enemy are constant. God can understand your human problems and struggles to do things right. But, it is God’s intention that no one get left out in the cold, so God provided a way that all might have the opportunity to succeed. The old law demanded the impossible. God, on the other hand, doesn’t require much–just everything you have–however little that may be.
You get to heaven by recognizing your own shortcomings. That’s what the Law teaches. Notice that the way of living that Jesus taught is really the way you need to go, and by embarking on the path and trying to follow the directions for living that He taught–this is the path of faith. Paul maintains that this is the way to salvation, not by trying to follow the Law.
Paul reminds the Jews of their most important law and principle: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” If there is only one God, then God must be the God of both the Jews and the Gentiles. Since the Gentiles didn’t have the Law, God must have had a way for them to be righteous without it. The way for both the Jew and Gentile is the way of faith.
Since we’re justified by faith and not by the Law, does this mean then that the Law was no good and we can do away with it? Paul says, “No, not at all. As a matter of fact, faith proves the value of the Law.” And Paul turns to Jewish history to make his point.