Gift of Grace #6 - The Universal Verdict

Description

In this week's message from Romans 3:1-20, Dr. Kurt Bjorklund explores why Scripture serves as both a map for living and a mirror revealing our need for a savior. Discover how the universal verdict that no one is righteous apart from grace can transform your relationship with God and fuel bold, humble faith.

The Universal Verdict: Why Everyone Needs Grace

"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald's makes you a hamburger." It's a familiar quip, and as Kurt pointed out this weekend, it raises a question that cuts right to the heart of religious life: if church attendance doesn't guarantee genuine spiritual life, then what's the point of showing up at all? It's a fair question—and one the Apostle Paul tackled head-on nearly two thousand years ago in his letter to the Romans.

In Romans 3:1–20, Paul asks the same question twice and gives two seemingly contradictory answers. "What advantage is there in being a Jew?" he asks first. His answer: "Much in every way." Then he asks again: "Do we have any advantage?" This time: "Not at all." Rather than contradicting himself, Paul is illuminating two different sides of the same truth—and together they form the foundation for understanding grace.

The Word of God as a Map

In answering "much in every way" (Romans 3:1–8), Paul's essential point is that the Jewish people had been entrusted with the very words of God. Kurt compared this advantage to having a map. Before GPS, if you wanted to get somewhere, you unfolded a paper map and plotted your course. Scripture functions in much the same way—it shows us the direction to go in life.

As Kurt explained, "The Bible gives us an advantage because the more we read it, the more we know how we should live. What we should do when we're in conflict, how we should love, how we should treat people, how we should care for our bodies, how we should use our resources. There's a way that is laid out for us that makes life better when we follow it."

The benefits aren't just spiritual in a narrow sense. Kurt cited research showing that regular church attenders live five to seven years longer on average and that students who attend church regularly tend to perform better academically. These aren't magic results—they're the natural fruit of following the map, of living according to the wisdom embedded in Scripture. The advantage of engaging in Christian community and studying God's Word is that you gain a guide for how to navigate life well.

The Word of God as a Mirror

But the map has a second function. Beginning in Romans 3:9, Paul shifts gears and delivers what John Calvin called "nothing but a long description of original sin." When Paul asks again whether religious people have any advantage, the answer is sobering: "Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin" (Romans 3:9).

Paul then strings together a series of Old Testament quotations to build an airtight case. "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God" (Romans 3:10–11). He moves from our hearts to our mouths—"Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit" (Romans 3:13)—and then to our actions: "Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways" (Romans 3:15–16). The whole portrait culminates in a devastating summary: "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Romans 3:18).

As Kurt put it, the Word of God "not only shows us the direction to go, but it also shows us our own shortcomings." The more honestly we look into Scripture, the more clearly we see the gap between who we are and who God calls us to be. This is the mirror function of the Bible.

Greek scholar William Mounce offered a helpful reminder about this passage: even people who seem to live exemplary lives apart from faith are "benefactors of a civilization deeply influenced by the pervasive Judeo-Christian ethic." The map has shaped the culture itself, but the mirror still reveals what lies beneath the surface.

The Universal Verdict and the Need for Grace

Paul's conclusion in Romans 3:19–20 is sweeping: "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin." The law—whether it's the Torah, a personal moral code, or a cultural standard of decency—cannot save us. It can only show us that we need saving.

Kurt used a vivid illustration to drive this home. He referenced a recent Netflix special in which a man free-climbed a skyscraper without ropes. Most of us couldn't make it past a couple of stories. But even that extraordinary climber would fail if the building were infinitely tall. "At some point, we all come short of the standard. That is the point that is being made clearly in this section."

This is the universal verdict of Romans 3. Sin impacts every part of us—our minds, hearts, mouths, and actions—and it impacts every person without exception. And that leads to the most important reorientation of all. As Kurt summarized, "Coming to Jesus isn't as much a matter of doing things right so that we're worthy of Jesus as much as it is a matter of recognizing that we've done things wrong and that we need Jesus."

Questions for Reflection

1. When you read Scripture, do you tend to treat it more as a map (guidance for how to live) or a mirror (revealing where you fall short)? How might holding both functions together change the way you approach God's Word this week?

2. Kurt said that recognizing our need for Jesus is actually "way more humble" than claiming our own moral code is enough. Is there an area of your life where you've been relying on your own standards rather than God's grace—and what would it look like to bring that area before Him honestly?

• References

  William Mounce (Scholar of New Testament Greek)

  "Paul's portrayal of the unrighteous person may seem overly pessimistic to many contemporaries. After all, do we not all know certain individuals who live rather exemplary lives apart from Christ? Certainly they do not fit the description just laid out. Although it may be true that many of our acquaintances are not as outwardly wicked as this litany would suggest, we must remember that they are also benefactors of a civilization deeply influenced by the pervasive Judeo-Christian ethic. Take away the beneficent influence of Christian social ethics and their social behavior would be considerably different."

• Transcript

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  It's great to be together. Let's pray. God, as we are gathered, I ask, as we ask most weekends, that you would speak to each of us. God, would you let my words reflect your word in content and in tone and in emphasis. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

  I've heard it said that going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald's makes you a hamburger. It's not a bad statement. In fact, I would say that that is generally a true way to think about religious experience. But simply participating in the religious experience does not equate to genuine spiritual life. Now, that statement is a little wonky in that our definition of Christian may not always even equate to genuine spiritual life because we may talk about people who are cultural or Christian in name only or that kind of thing.

  But the question that raises—at least one of the questions—if it's true that being part of a Christian community at church doesn't necessarily equate to genuine spiritual life, then what advantage is there to being part of a Christian community? In fact, there are a lot of people who would say, "I don't need the church to be spiritual. I can do spirituality on my own. Why should I mess with church?"

  Well, in a way, when we come to Romans chapter 3, verses 1 through 20—what we're looking at today—that is a question that the Apostle Paul asks. Now, he asked it in a way that isn't necessarily obvious to us right away because he says, "What advantage is there then in being a Jew?" And Jewishness was part of the equation of the letter of Romans because in chapter two, which we looked at some last week, he talks about the following of the law. He talks about circumcision, these things that are religious activities of the Jew. And so it isn't a perfect equation to our church participation today, but certainly religious practice is at its core.

  Now, in order to understand Romans 3, verses 1 through 20, it's significant for us, at least in part, to understand kind of the argument—what's going on. So the way that the first few chapters of Romans sets up is it starts with an introduction, Romans 1 through about verse 17, chapter 1, verse 1 through about verse 17. And at the end of that section, verse 16-17, Paul makes the statement. He says it's the righteousness of God that brings about basically our spiritual life. And it is from faith to faith. He says, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel. It's the righteousness of God for the salvation of those who believe."

  And so what he's doing is he's saying that our standing is based on what God gives us. And it's all about faith. It's not about our practice. And then in chapter one, verse 18 through 32, he talks about people who live basically without God in their lives, whether that be very functionally or very formally. He goes through a litany of what it's like. And then in chapter two, he addresses those who think that their standing with God is satisfied or good or significant because compared to the people in chapter one, they feel good about themselves because of their religious practice.

  And so now he comes and he says, "Well then, what advantage is it?" And what comes right after the section we're looking at today is Romans chapter 3, verse 21 through the end of the chapter. But verse 21 says this, and this is how this ties together: "But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify."

  So chapter one, verse 16-17 talks about the righteousness of God. "For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel. It's the power of God to bring salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Gentiles. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. A righteousness that's by faith, from first to last."

  Chapter three, verse 21 again: "But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known." So what is this all about? He's saying the righteousness of God is on display. It's for the Jews and the Gentiles. And so now the question becomes that people started to ask: "Well then, what advantage is there of being a Jew?" Or what's the advantage in our context of religious practice?

  And in chapter three, verses one through 20, I believe that there are two main sections and they both really deal with this question, "What is the advantage?"

  In chapter three, verses one through eight, it is, "What is the advantage?" And then he says, "Much in every way." And then in chapter three, verse nine through 20, it says, "Do we have any advantage?" This is the NIV. Some translations say, "Are we any better?" It's a slightly different word in the original language, but here the NIV translates it the same way, "What's our advantage?" And he says, "None at all."

  So he's answering basically the same question two different ways. "What advantage do we have of being a Jew?" "Much in every way." "What advantage then do we have of being a Jew?" "None at all."

  Well, which is it, Paul? Pick a lane, right? Like, what are you talking about? Except that by answering the question in two different ways, what he's doing is he's pointing out two different aspects of the same thing. And so what we're going to do today is look at those two answers and talk about really, what advantage then is there to you or to me to engage in Christian religious practices in our day and age?

  So the first question is, "What advantage?" He says, "Much in every way." And then he says because we have—because you, talking about the Jews at that time, had the very word of God. And here's what he's saying. He's saying you have the advantage of actually knowing what God says the more you engage in religious practice.

  So I'm going to say that the first section of Romans 3, verses 1 through 8, speaks of the advantage. And I'm going to say it says that our religious practice, the word of God, is like a map.

  So I had to actually dig through a drawer to find a map. I'm not even sure why I still have this, other than one day, probably in my past, I had actually paid some money for this because it's the laminated version of Pennsylvania. And I probably didn't want to throw it out, but I don't really need it anymore because of the GPS in my hand. Other than this—and this is a total aside—but I get frustrated with the GPS on my phone when I can't see the big picture because it's like, "Oh, where am I headed?" And you try to zoom out and you can't see it. At least here I have some idea where I'm going.

  Now, the reason I say a map—this is a map of Pennsylvania—is this helps you to know where you're going. And for those of you who have only grown up in the era of the GPS, it used to be that if you wanted to go somewhere, you actually looked at one of these. And instead of just following the little blue line on your phone and saying, "Turn right, turn left, wherever you go," you'd actually plot out your course. And it was difficult to know where to get to if you didn't actually have a map.

  And here's my point. I think what the Apostle Paul is saying is the advantage of the law—now, the law, Torah, Moses' law, and even here in chapter three, some of the way he uses the word can be maybe broader at points—but the Bible, if you want, for those of us living in the era in which we live, circumcision was the religious practice that they had to identify with where they were. So if you were to say our religious practice, our study of the Bible, church attendance, any of that kind of thing, he's saying that you actually get a map that starts to show you the direction to go in life. That's one of the advantages of it.

  Now, in some of the statistics that you see, there are some things that people who regularly attend church have that are true of them that are not true of people who don't, or vice versa. For example, I think I saw a statistic just this last week that said church attenders on average live five to seven years longer than people who don't attend church regularly. And it can be assumed, or at least a plausible assumption, that part of that is because the map says, "Don't do this, do do this." And the more you do what the map tells you, the more you're going to be in health in all areas of your life.

  Another statistic that I read recently shows that there's a direct correlation between students who attend church or regular church and their academic performance. Now, this could be for a variety of reasons. It could be that there's just some intentionality in church families that is given that just creates a pathway for academic success. It could be part of the map that says, "Value wisdom, value learning, value these things."

  But my point is simply this: that there is an advantage to the law, and that is that you have a map. You have something that says, "Here's where you're going." In fact, I would argue that the advantage of Christianity over and against even some of the other world religions and philosophies is that we actually have a map. We have something that helps us to know where to go in life.

  The Bible gives us an advantage because the more we read it, the more we know how we should live. What we should do when we're in conflict, how we should love, how we should treat people, how we should care for our bodies, how we should use our resources. There's a way that is laid out for us that makes life better when we follow it.

  Now, in the verses that we're looking at today, verses 1 through 8, Paul doesn't go through all of that. He simply makes the statement that there is an advantage, and the advantage is you have the very word of God. And then he goes through and answers a few objections that people would have raised to that. But I won't spend a lot of time on those objections other than to say that sometimes we have objections because we don't really like what the map says.

  We say, "Well, if God's going to be faithful anyway, why does it matter?" Or, "If my unfaithfulness demonstrates God's faithfulness, isn't that a good thing?" And Paul's point is simply, "No, don't go there. The advantage is the map. Follow the map."

  But then he comes to the second question in verse 9, and he says, "What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage?" And the answer is, "Not at all." And then he says, "For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin."

  And here's what he's saying. He's saying that the advantage of having the map also means that you have something else. And that is, you have a mirror. The word of God not only shows us the direction to go, but it also shows us our own shortcomings.

  In fact, as he goes through verses 10 through 18, what he does is he takes a series of Old Testament quotations, and he strings them together to make this case. And what he's showing is that in the very law that they had, in the very Old Testament scriptures that they prized, there is actually a mirror that shows them their own sinfulness.

  And so he starts in verse 10. He says, "As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.'" And what he's doing here is he's quoting from the Psalms and from other places in the Old Testament to show that the very scriptures that they held dear were actually showing them that they weren't measuring up.

  Verse 11: "There's no one who seeks God." Verse 12: "All have turned away and together have become worthless." He's talking about our hearts, that our hearts are not naturally bent toward God because our hearts are naturally bent toward ourselves, toward doing things that please us and make us satisfied rather than pleasing God.

  Verses 13-14 talk about our mouths. "Their throats are open graves. Their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." In other words, our way of speaking reveals something about us. Do you ever say something, and after you say it, you're like, "I want to grab the words and pull them back"? Because as they're leaving your mouth, you're like, "Ah, that's not great." Do you know what that is? That's the realization that all of us fall short of God's standard.

  And then we see that our actions are subject to this. Verses 15-17: "Their feet are swift to shed blood. Ruin and misery mark their ways; the way of peace they do not know." And then this great summary statement, verse 18: "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

  John Calvin said that this whole third chapter is nothing but a long description of original sin. Now, this doesn't mean that we're as bad as we can be. In fact, the more we have the map, the more we will start to follow in the ways of God. But it means the more we look in the mirror, the more we'll see places where we are not up to the standard of God.

  William Mounce, who is a Greek scholar, says this about this section. He says, "Paul's portrayal of the unrighteous person may seem overly pessimistic to many contemporaries. After all, do we not all know certain individuals who live rather exemplary lives apart from Christ? Certainly they do not fit the description just laid out. Although it may be true that many of our acquaintances are not as outwardly wicked as this litany would suggest, we must remember that they are also benefactors of a civilization deeply influenced by the pervasive Judeo-Christian ethic. Take away the beneficent influence of Christian social ethics and their social behavior would be considerably different."

  What he's saying is that even just living in our society, the influence of the map has been so helpful that many people start to live more exemplary lives. Even though down deep, if they had the mirror, they would say, "I'm still not where I should be."

  And here's the big point: sin impacts all of us, like all parts of us. Our mind, our hearts, our mouths, our actions. And it impacts every person, all people. That's what Romans 3 is pointing at.

  And as a result, what we see is this. And that is, coming to Jesus is not so much a matter of doing things right so we can come to Jesus, but recognizing that we do things wrong and that we desperately need Jesus. Let me say that again. Coming to Jesus isn't as much a matter of doing things right so that we're worthy of Jesus as much as it is a matter of recognizing that we've done things wrong and that we need Jesus.

  If you're sick and you go to a doctor and they tell you you're well, it doesn't help you. You actually need the diagnosis to say, "What is the medicine to help me get better?"

  I don't know if you saw a couple weeks ago there was a Netflix special called Skyscraper. Did any of you see this? On my Netflix feed, it came up for a while. It's like, "Live. This guy's going to attempt to climb a skyscraper. No ropes." I was hooked. I don't know why. I expected he would climb it, but there was something about watching that live as this guy scaled the skyscraper. Like, could he fall?

  And people have different ethical considerations of it. But here's the point. He climbed that. I could not have climbed that. I would have fallen probably two stories in. And no matter how fit you are, most of us could have climbed maybe a little ways, but no way that far. But even for him, if that building were twice as high, three times as high, infinitely high, he would not be able to climb it. And so at some point, we all come short of the standard. That is the point that is being made clearly in this section.

  So verse 19: "Now we know that whatever the law says"—again here, the law, maybe Torah, maybe Old Testament, might be a little more—"it says to those who are under the law." And then here's his takeaway: "So that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God."

  Why does this matter? Because he says, "I want you all to be silent with your own sense of self-righteousness that says, 'I don't need Jesus Christ,' and I want you to know that you're held accountable."

  Verse 20: "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law." So he doubles back down. Your religion—and I've said this throughout this Romans series—you don't have to be religious for you to have a religion, a law. Your law may be your own self-governed sense of, "Here's my morality, here's what drives me." In fact, I think a lot of times people outside of church have a stronger sense of their own kind of internal morality than people inside church because they say, "I live by my rules, my standards. That's what determines how I live life."

  And he's saying, "No one, no one will be declared righteous—right before God—because they've done certain things." And then he says this: "But rather through the law, we become conscious of our sin," or we recognize the depth or the significance of our sin.

  Okay, so what? I'll give you four application thoughts and I'll start with the letter C to make it easy.

  First one: Come to Jesus if you haven't. And what I mean by that is, come and acknowledge that you're sinful and you need a savior and that Jesus Christ alone has paid the way. Your morality, your version of the law, will only one day prove to you that you don't measure up.

  Secondly, I would say celebrate Jesus. If you're a person who's acknowledged this reality that no one is made righteous apart from—or through—the law, then celebrate who Jesus is routinely. And the more that you hold the mirror up and you see the shortcomings, let it just convince you of the greatness of Jesus Christ and of God, the worthiness of His worship, of how He deserves worship.

  Third, I would say communicate this boldly to people in your life. Because if this is true, it is not loving to say to somebody in your web of relationships, "You're good with whatever morality, whatever law, whatever religion you practice." What Paul is doing is saying nobody, nobody is justified by the law. Which, by the way, some people say is exclusive and arrogant. It is actually way more humble because it's not saying you are wrong and I'm right. It's saying all of us need a savior.

  And then fourth, I would just say course correct wherever the mirror reveals something that isn't right and the map points you in a direction that it can be. Instead of simply saying, "I trust the grace and the beauty of Jesus," course correct so that you align your life with the very words of God.

  Because what advantage is there of having law and a religious practice? It's that you have the very words of God. Why would we not course correct to what it is that God has given us?

  God, we ask that you would help us to learn and internalize the lesson of Romans 3, that our practice is a map and a mirror. Your word is that to us. And that it would spur us to either come to you, to celebrate you, to communicate about you, or to course correct. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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