"There Is No Difference"
(No. 2608)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1899.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 28, 1883.
"The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto ail and
upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:22,23.
THE Apostle here says that "there is no difference," yet he does not
mean that all men are alike in all respects. There are very many and
important variations among men. It would be quite untrue and unjust to
say that there are no differences of character even among unregenerate
men, for there certainly are many varieties and gradations of sinners.
There are some who have, as it were, sold themselves to work iniquity,
and there are others who have, apparently, kept the Commandments of God
from their youth up. There are some who delight in all manner of evil
and there are others who, though they are not converted, hate the very
mention of all the grosser vices and steer clear of such impurity.
There are some people, not yet on the Lord's side, who are like that
rich young man of whom it is said that when Christ looked upon him, He
loved him, for He saw much in him that was admirable. But, on the other
hand, there are some who are manifestly sons of perdition, like Judas,
of whom our Lord said that he was a devil. All men are not demons, or
demoniacal. All are not equally hardened in heart. All do not go to the
same excess of evil. So when Paul said, "There is no difference," he
did not mean that there are no differences of outward character.
Let us not be carried away with the idea that it does not matter what
our outward character is–it matters a great deal! It shall be found,
at the last, that the greatly guilty shall be greatly punished. "That
servant who knew his lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did
according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that
knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with
few stripes." God is not unjust! Even in taking vengeance upon His
adversaries, He strictly observes justice at all times. It is for your
good and for the good of those about you that you should be moral,
temperate, chaste and honest–and God grant that you may be all that!
There are, then, differences of character among men, and there are, no
doubt, differences of disposition which show themselves very early.
Some children appear from the very first to be tender and docile, while
others manifest a passionate and rebellious disposition. All of us
probably know some friends who are not yet converted, but they are
amiable, loving, considerate, kind–they have almost everything we
could wish except the one thing necessary–God grant that they may soon
have that, also! Though as yet they are not brought to Christ's feet,
they seem to have had a religious tendency from their very childhood
and they delight to be found in the House of God and, at least
externally, in the ways of God. even if their hearts are not, at
present, renewed by Grace. There are, alas, others whose dispositions
are the very reverse of all this–they seem disposed to everything that
is bad. We have met with cases in godly families where young men, from
the first moment in which they could have their liberty, have delighted
to do that which at last broke their parents' hearts. They have seemed
to be, from the very first, fickle, vain, fond of pleasure, proud,
willful and wicked. Beyond all question, there are differences of
disposition in different persons. And when Paul says, "There is no
difference," he does not refer either to character or to disposition.
There are also in men who, as yet, are not saved, differences as to
their readiness to receive the Word of God. There are some who are like
the "honest and good ground" which is already plowed and harrowed–all
that is needed is the handful of good Seed–and as soon as it is sown,
they will take it in and, in due time, yield a harvest in return.
Others are like the stony-ground hearers–apparently ready and prepared
for the good Seed. They seem to receive the Word with joy, but, as the
hard rock underneath has never been broken up and there has been no
subsoil plowing, nothing permanent results from their hearing the
Gospel message. There are others, again, who are like the hard-trodden
highway– you may sow upon them as much seed as you like, but the only
result will be to feed the birds. The fowls of the air will devour
whatever is scattered upon them. May none of us be hearers of that
sort!
So you see, dear Friends, that there are great differences among men in
certain respects. The Apostle is speaking in this passage about one
thing–and you must not stretch his meaning beyond that. There is one
point in which there is no difference and that is that, "all have
sinned." All have forfeited every claim to personal righteousness! All
must be made righteous by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ
to them–and all who would have that righteousness must believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, for there is one way of salvation, and only one–and
whatever other differences there may be, there is no difference about
this matter! If we are saved at all, we must all be saved in one way.
My discourse is to run upon these lines. First, let us enlarge upon the
doctrine that, in the matter of the Gospel and of salvation, "There is
no difference." Secondly, let us show its practical bearing upon
ourselves. And then, thirdly, let us rejoice in the doctrine–let our
hearts sing over it–for there is the raw material of many a holy song
and Psalm within these few words, "There is no difference."
I. First, then, LET US ENLARGE UPON THIS DOCTRINE and, in so doing, we
will make four observations.
The first is this–there is no difference as to the message of
salvation which is to be delivered to men. It may be my privilege, at
one time, to speak to a convocation of highly-intelligent well-educated
men. If so, I am to preach to them the Gospel of salvation by faith in
the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, it has
often been a great joy to me to preach to assemblies which certainly
were not composed of the learned and great, but were gathered from the
lowest classes of the people. How glad I have been to preach to them!
And I had exactly the same message to deliver to them as to the other
congregation–"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believes not shall be damned." If the true preacher of Christ were
called to preach before a pit full of kings–as Napoleon once said to a
noted singer, "If you will come to me, you shall sing before a pit full
of kings"–if it were the preacher's business to address such an
audience as that, he must preach nothing but, "Believe and live!" And
if he were called to speak before an assembly of murderers about to
die–the very scum of the earth–he could have no more suitable or
appropriate message than this, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you shall be saved." Go where you may, my dear Brothers, you need not
puzzle your head about the sort of Gospel you are bound to preach. To
the jailor at Philippi, to the Areopagites on Mars' Hill, to the
Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, to Nero at Rome, to barbarian, Scythian, bond,
or free–to the very chief of sinners, to the greatest or the least of
mankind, you have to deliver but one message–"God has set forth His
Son, Jesus Christ, to be the propitiation for sin, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish, but should have everlasting life."
This is the essence of the one message we have to deliver to all men!
"There is no difference."
And, next, there is no difference as to man's need of this Gospel.
There are some, as we have already admitted, who have been preserved
from gross vice, whose lives have been moral and upright, yet they have
as much need of the Gospel as those who are confined in our jails, or
those who flaunt their unchastity in our public streets. The Gospel
comes to deal with sin–and if a man has but one sin, he cannot get rid
of that one sin apart from the Atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. But
all men have not merely one sin, but many sins–they may not all be
equally clear and manifest–some of them may be secret sins, but the
secrecy of sin does not render it less sinful in the sight of God.
There are no secrets from Him, He sees everything. And whether sin is
open or covert, whether it is less or more than that of other men, it
needs the atoning Sacrifice of Christ to remove it! The putting away of
the sin of the most moral person who ever lived requires the
propitiation of the Son of God. There is no bath that can take away a
single stain of guilt except that–
"Fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins."
All men have evil hearts, albeit their hearts may not all be equally
inclined to the coarser vices in which some indulge, yet there is in
every sinner the black spot of alienation from God, forgetfulness of
God, love of sin and dislike to God when He is thoroughly known. And,
to get this out of the heart requires a Divine operation in every case.
No man can make his own heart clean. If it were possible for a man to
change his arm or his foot, yet it would be clearly impossible for him
to change his heart–that is so vital to himself that there cannot be a
change there unless He that made all hearts should make that heart
anew! To change the heart of the most amiable maiden requires the work
of the Spirit of God as truly as to change the heart of the most
debauched wretch that lives! It is no more possible for the honest man
than for the practiced thief to make his heart right in the sight of
God–it is equally impossible to either of them. Both cases are beyond
human power and, therefore, the need of the work of the Spirit of God
is the same. All of us, at this moment, either stand stripped naked
before God, without a rag to cover us, or else we are wrapped in the
glorious and resplendent righteousness of Jesus Christ. The need of the
Gospel is the same to every individual in the world! Those who are
elevated above their fellow creatures do not stand on high before
God–the Queen needs the Grace of God to save her just as much as the
poorest of her subjects. "There is no difference" as to the need of
salvation.
Next, this declaration is equally true as to the method of salvation.
The way in which men are saved is the same in every case. "There is no
difference." They do not all feel the same terrors, they do not all
experience, to the same extent, the common joys. Each path is peculiar
in some respects, yet there is but one road, and that is the narrow way
that leads to eternal life. The plan of salvation is this–that we
confess and acknowledge that our own righteousness is but filthy rags,
that there is nothing in us that can merit anything of God. And, next,
that we apprehend that the Lord has put His dear Son into our place,
has laid on Him our sin and struck Him with the strokes that ought to
have fallen upon us. He, on His part, willingly became our Surety and
Substitute. We must believe this if we would be saved. That being done,
we must accept what Christ has endured as being borne for us–and trust
in it with our whole hearts. We must, in fact, change places with
Christ–let Him stand, as He did stand, and be reckoned as the sinner,
that we might stand here and be looked upon by God as if we had been
like His Son–perfectly righteous and without sin. He clothes Himself
in our rags and He puts on us His royal robes! Faith appropriates to
itself the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ and so is clothed
with what is called in our text, "the righteousness of God."
God's plan of salvation is a grand one and there is no other that can
be of use to anybody in the whole world. This is the one way of
life–that you acknowledge yourself to be nothing and take Christ to be
your All-in-All–that you, with your sin and misery, by a simple act of
faith, take to yourself Christ to be your righteousness and your
strength–and, this being done, you are accepted in the Beloved, for
now is it true of you that the righteousness of God, which is by faith
in Jesus Christ, is unto you and upon you seeing that you have believed
in Him. "There is no difference," then, about the method of salvation.
Once more, there is no difference as to the efficacy of the plan of
salvation. This man believed in Jesus Christ and was saved. So shall
that other man be if he believes in Jesus Christ. All who believe in
Christ are justified from all things. All who trust in Christ have
eternal life and shall never perish. The blood of Jesus was never yet
applied to a conscience without giving it peace. A persecutor is washed
and his crimson stains are gone. A thief believes and he is, that day,
with Christ in Paradise! Mary Magdalene believes and seven devils are
cast out of her. A rough Philippian jailor believes and that night he
is baptized, rejoicing in God with all his house. Never sinner yet did
try this blessed remedy and find it fail! And none ever shall, for
"there is no difference."
II. Now, in the second place, I want to TURN THIS TRUTH TO PRACTICAL
ACCOUNT by showing its bearing upon us.
My first observation is what a leveler this doctrine is for pride!There
is self-righteousness up there as a crown upon your forehead–it will
have to come down, my Friend. You are covered with the beautiful
garments of your own good deeds–take them off, Brothers and
Sisters–take them off! They are all without merit in the sight of God
until you have trusted His Son. All that you have done and all that you
think you have done are only as so many cobwebs that must be swept
away. There stands the gate through which the most fallen may
enter–and you must go through the same gate. There is no private path
made for a gentleman like you. There is no royal road to Heaven save
only that one royal road which is opened for the very chief of sinners.
Down, Mr. Pride! Here is a man who is born of Christian parents and,
perhaps, he has listened to the lying logic of the present age which
says, "Children born of godly parents do not need conversion–there is
something good in them by nature." I tell you, Sirs, that I begin to
tremble for the children of pious parents, for I think that they are
more likely to be deceived than any others! They often fancy that they
are converted when they are not and they get admitted into churches
while they are unconverted. They are not like those who can see a great
change in themselves through being taken right out of gross sin–they
are very apt to be deceived and have need to be very careful lest they
should make a fatal and eternal mistake. Instead of boasting of their
godly ancestry, high privilege as it is, let them remember that
regeneration is not of blood, nor of birth, nor of the will of man, but
of God. And to them, as to all others, Christ's words apply, "You must
be born again."
There are some who imagine that they can get to Heaven by some special
staircase because they are people of rank. Oh, believe me, Sir John,
you will have to be saved in the same way as your groom, or not at all!
Ah, my lord, everybody bows to you, but you must bow to Christ! You
must be saved in the same way as the carpenter, the blacksmith and the
chimney-sweep, or not at all. There are no two ways to Heaven! Jesus
says, "I am the Way." There is no other way for your lordship, or your
ladyship, in spite of your rank. There is a wealthy man who thinks that
everything is to be bought, if he can find the price–but you cannot
buy Heaven, Sir. The very stones of the street are of pure gold–you
could not buy one of them, you have not enough money! Your wealth goes
for nothing in the matter of salvation. You must be saved in the same
way as the poorest of the poor. The pauper who was born in a workhouse
and has never left it, has the same way of salvation as you have, for,
"there is no difference" of any sort, whatever, with regard to birth,
or rank, or wealth.
But someone says, "I am a man of great abilities, a man of education,
culture and learning." I am very glad to hear of it, my dear Sir. But
do you expect the Lord is going to make a way of salvation by
competitive examination as when people enter the Civil Service? Is
there to be a special way of salvation for you Masters of Arts or
Doctors of Divinity? It is not so! The Lord knew that the great bulk of
people would be nothing of this sort, so He made a Gospel which is
adapted to the poor–but is just as suitable for all. Those who are
illiterate can, nevertheless, understand the way of salvation by faith
in Christ and so they are saved and, my dear Sir, you will have to be
saved in the same way, or else you will never get to Heaven. I have
heard of a king of Sweden who, when he lay dying, had a bishop to pray
with him. And when the bishop had finished his prayer, the king said,
"Somehow I have derived no comfort from that prayer. I remember once
hearing a shepherd pray in a hut when I had lost my way–will you send
for him?" They did so, and when the shepherd poured out his heart in
his own simple language, then the king saw the Light of God and died
rejoicing! "There is no difference"–the king and the shepherd need the
same Savior–and must go to Heaven by the same royal road. This
doctrine dethrones pride, but that is not all that it does.
Further, it is a great uplifter of those who are troubled with fears.
"Oh," says one, "I am such a great sinner! I feel that I am the
greatest sinner who ever lived." Ah, my dear Friend, but "there is no
difference." You will enter Heaven at the same gate through which great
saints go in if you do but trust the Lord Jesus Christ, for that is
what they have to do and so they are saved, and so shall you be! I
think that I hear another say, "But I find such evil in my very nature.
I have such a hard heart. I cannot feel, I cannot love the Lord as I
want to." Yes, I know all about it and I am very sorry for you, but, my
dear Friend, "there is no difference." You believe that there are some
Christians who are very tender of spirit, but the Lord had to make them
tender–and He can make you tender. The same Lord that saves little
children and that brought a young Josiah and an open-hearted Lydia to
His feet, can bring you, also, for there is really no difference. It
needed a Divine work in their case and it needs the same in yours. "I
am very poor," says one. Yes, but, "there is no difference," blessed be
God! You hardly know where you are going to sleep tonight, but I can
tell you where you may rest, not only tonight, but all your days–that
is, in Christ Jesus–if you come and put your trust in Him! He does not
look to see whether you have a suit of broadcloth or a suit of fustian!
"There is no difference" with regard to that matter.
"But I am so ignorant," says one, "I cannot even read." I am very sorry
for you and I think that you ought to try and learn. At the same time,
there is many a man who can read his title clear to a mansion in the
skies who does not know A from B! It does not need that you be a
scholar in the schools of men to become a scholar in the school of
Christ, but, just as you are, trust your soul in His hands and He will
teach you all that is essential to be known, for in this matter, "there
is no difference." I thought I heard someone say, very indistinctly,
"Ah, Sir, but I am so old!" Yes, yes, and I think I hear a little boy
or girl over yonder say, "But, Sir, I am so young!" Well, come along,
both of you! Give me your hand, old Friend, and give me yours, dear
child, for "there is no difference" between the oldest and the youngest
as to this way of salvation! The child believes and is saved! And the
old man believes with a childlike faith and is saved, too!
My text also has a practical bearing in another direction, it helps to
meet singularity of disposition. There are many persons in the world
who believe that they are different from everybody else. I always
sympathize very heartily with them because I know that I am, myself, a
very odd body, a lot out of all catalogs, I often say, and so are you.
You think there never was another like you! Perhaps you think it is a
pity that there should be and very likely that is true. You are all by
yourself, you say. Well, just listen to me, for my text can set you
right–God grant that it may! After all, "there is no difference."
Come, you strange Jack–you singular Mary–you that seem to be the odd
bird in the nest–there is, after all, no difference! Your heart is
evil, your life has been sinful–so has my life been, and so is it with
all those round about you! And there is only one way of salvation for
you odd people and for all you even people as well! There is not
anybody that is so cut on the cross, so strange and so altogether out
of harmony with the rest of mankind that he may say, "God left me out
of His calculations." No, there is really no difference whatever
between you and others in this matter of salvation!
I must make yet one more practical use of my text and that is, to
encourage you who labor for Christ. Where are you going to serve the
Master, my Brother? "Oh," you reply, "I have a very tough bit of ground
to till. I teach in a Ragged School on Stint Street and I visit the
lodging houses." Another says, "I am trying to do something for Christ
in Bethnal Green." Well, Friend, I reckon that I have about as hard a
field of labor as you have. "Oh," you say, "but these look like very
respectable people." Yes, they look so, but if you could read their
hearts, you would see that they are uncommonly like those people on
Stint Street and Bethnal Green among whom you are working. "As in
water, face answers to face, so the heart of man to man." We all belong
to the same race. There is but one blood in all of us. There is the
same tendency to sin and the same need of a Savior for these
respectable-looking folk as there is for the very roughest and the very
dirtiest of mankind!
I think I hear another say, "I am going to Africa as a missionary and I
am sometimes afraid as to how I shall get on with the unenlightened
people there." Another says, "I am going to India and I do not know how
I shall succeed with those learned Brahmins." Another says, "I am going
to China. I cannot hope to see many converted among those who are so
devoted to Confucianism." Why not? "There is no difference." After all,
it is the same sort of soil which we all have to plow either at home or
abroad. There may be a slight contrast on the surface, but it all needs
the same kind of plowing, the same sort of sowing and the same Divine
power to cause the seed to grow! The gate of salvation is just as
widely open to men in China as it is to you who have long been sitting
under the sound of the Word. At bottom, "there is no difference"
between man and man–they are all sinners, they are all depraved. "They
are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;
there is none that does good, no, not one." I believe that it takes as
much Grace to save an Englishman as it does to save a Hottentot. The
Grace operates, too, in much the same way. The experience of the two
men, when it is related, may sound different because of the varying
measure of knowledge of the parties concerned, yet the essential items
of all true Christian experience will be found to be the same in every
case. Do not, therefore, say, dear Brother, "I shall not go to that
place! It is such a difficult place." I have a notion that such a spot
as that is the very best place to which anyone can go. "But there are
such crowds of people there." All the better! It is good fishing where
there are plenty of fish. "But, oh, they are so wild!" Just so. But if
I were ever to go hunting, I would not hunt poor timid hares, I would
like to go after lions, tigers, bears and wolves–there is excitement
in such sport as that!
And if you go in for soul-winning, do not be picking and choosing which
souls you will try to win. The worse the region is, the more it needs
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I think that if I were a lamp and I could
have my choice as to where I would be hung, I should not wish to be in
one of the fine streets where there were plenty of other lamps, but I
should like to go down some wretched court where there was no lamp at
all, where the people break one another's heads and steal one another's
goods in the dark, for I should be of more use there! So, dear Friends,
be willing to go where you can be of most use! And wherever your sphere
of service is, do not be discouraged, for over all men there hangs this
motto, "There is no difference." They have all to be saved in the same
way and the Omnipotence that can save one will abundantly suffice for
the salvation of another!
III. Now, in closing my discourse, I want to spend a minute or two in
bidding you REJOICE OVER THIS GREAT
TRUTH.
I rejoice over the fact that there is no difference, in the matters of
which I have been speaking, concerning the whole human race. I saw a
picture of the Tower of Babel by an eminent painter. All the various
races of mankind were represented as going off in different directions,
some to the North, others to the South, to the West, or to the East,
all being scattered over the face of the whole earth. It was a painful
sight to see the great family broken up, never, as far as we could see,
to be reunited again. But, dear Friends, hear how this text collects
the whole family of mankind into one and gathers all these scattered
ears of corn and makes one sheaf of them–"There is no difference." All
men are fallen through sin, but whoever, out of them all, believes in
Jesus Christ, shall have eternal life! There is one blessed bath of
salvation in which all may be washed whiter than snow! There is one
remedy, and only one, for the disease of sin–and all who apply to the
great Physician are healed forever. I love to see the human race thus
reunited.
But there is something better than that. What glory it is to the Lord
Jesus Christ that He should be the only Savior and that faith in Him
should be the only way of salvation! I feel sure that we do not wish
the Lord Jesus Christ to be put into competition with someone else in
His work as our Savior. No, we want our Lord to have the monopoly in
this matter and He has it! None can be saved except by faith in Him, by
the application of His precious blood, glory be to His holy name! I
feel a very peculiar joy over this Truth of God. I was thinking, as I
came along to this service, "Suppose I had to preach a different gospel
for every man?" There is a little book entitled, Every man his own
lawyer. Well, nowadays, according to some people, it seems as if every
man is to be his own savior! But if I had, say, a dozen gospels, and I
had to sort them out and give the right gospel to the right man, what a
fix I would be in! I believe that, oftentimes, I should be giving your
gospel to someone else and someone else's gospel to you–and what a
muddle it would all be! But now we have one universal cure! We have a
Divine catholicon. The blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ will
save every man who trusts Him, for "there is no difference."
Wherever Christ is received, there shall be salvation. This makes it
easy work for the preacher and what a blessing it is to you who are
Believers, for, suppose you had to say, "Well, I have believed in
such-and-such a salvation," but somebody might say, "That will not save
you! You are a No. 2 man and you need No. 2 gospel, not No. 1." Suppose
you should lay hold of that and one of these days your conscience
should say to you, "No. 2 is not the medicine that you need, you ought
to have No. 6." Suppose that it ran up to No. 14, No. 17, or No. 20?
Why, when you lay dying, you might say, "I have taken the remedy No. 1,
but I am afraid that I am a No.20 man. I took this one and it did give
me some kind of relief, but I am afraid that I took the wrong
medicine." But now it is one medicine for every disease–one Christ for
every sinner–one blood with which to wash us–one salvation with which
to rescue us–one righteousness with which to cover us! Therefore, such
doubts as I have just mentioned can never come into the minds of those
who believe in Jesus–blessed be God for that!
And so to you, dear Hearers, who are seeking after Christ, is it not a
great mercy that there is but one name whereby you can be saved?
Otherwise the same awkward occurrence might happen to you and you would
be saying, "At which door am I to go in?" You might get to the wrong
entrance and the man in charge of it might say, "This is not the door
for you. You have come to the wrong one, you must go to No. 6, or 7, or
8." How puzzled we are when we go to Clap-ham Junction, or some such
railway station, to know which staircase we are to go up–and a poor
sinner would be much in the same kind of worry to know which way he was
to be saved. But when it is just this, "Believe and be saved; look and
live; trust yourself to Christ, rest in His atoning Sacrifice and you
are saved"–all can understand it!
When God gives us, by His Spirit, a simple faith in Jesus, we at once
receive eternal life–and every soul that believes in Jesus Christ has
that life. I pray God to bless this message to you who are still
unsaved. Quarrel not with your only hope of salvation! Accept what God
provides! Yield yourselves to the Divine decree, for God has decreed
that no soul shall enter Heaven but by His Son, "the Way, the Truth and
the Life." This name–this one name–you must rely on if you would be
saved! This way–this one way–you must run in if you would enter
Heaven! God help you to enter it at once, for our Lord Jesus Christ's
sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ROMANS3.
Verses 1, 2. What advantage, then, has the Jew? Or what profit is there
in circumcision? Much every way; chief, because that unto them were
committed the oracles of God. If it is so that, after all, no outward
rite or birth privileges can bestow Grace, what advantage did the Jews
possess? "Why," says Paul, "they had this very great privilege, 'that
unto them were committed the oracles of God!'" It is no small blessing
to have a Revelation from Jehovah and to have the means of knowing what
that Revelation really is.
3. For what if some did not believe?Many of the seed of Israel did not
believe the Revelation that was made to them. Yet the privilege of
hearing it was just as great, even though they slighted it.
3-5. Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God
forbid! Yes, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written,
That You might be justified in Your sayings, and might overcome when
You are judged. But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness
of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who takes vengeance?
Vengeance on a sin which is nevertheless made to turn to His glory?
5-7. (I speak as a man) God forbid: for then how shall God judge the
world? For if the Truth of God has more abounded through my lie unto
His glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner?Yet I shall be. If God
shall overrule my sin to His own glory, that will mate no difference to
my responsibility. If I have lied, if I have done wrong in any way, I
must be judged and condemned on that account, whatever may be the
ultimate result of my sin.
8. And not rather, (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm
that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? Whose damnation is
just. If any man dares to say that, "Since God turns even evil into
good, and by the forgiveness of sin brings glory to Himself, 'Let us do
evil that good may come,'" he is twisting the Truth of God to his own
destruction–and his "damnation is just."
9. What then? Are we better than they? Are Jews better than Gentiles?
Or, are Gentiles better than Jews?
9. No, in no way, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles,
that they are all under sin. Nobody can read the first chapter of the
Epistle to the Romans and follow it by reading the second, without
seeing how completely Paul has proved "that they are all under sin."
10. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is
not, and there never has been, one of the human race, save our Lord,
who also is God, who ever continued to live a righteous life! Adam
began righteously, but how soon he fell! And all his descendants have
both began and continued to be sinners. "There is none righteous, no,
not one."
11. There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God.
That is, none do so by nature–those who seek after God are ledto do so
by a work of Grace upon their hearts. Otherwise, men are blind. They do
not see the right path. They are willful and do not seek after God.
12. They are all gone out of the way, they are all together become
unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one. This is God's
verdict upon the whole human race! He has the best opportunity of
seeing them and He has the best capacity for judging them. And this is
what He says of all men as they are by nature, "There is none that does
good, no, not one."
13. Their throat is an open sepulcher. A reeking mass of corruption!
13. With their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is
under their lips. They are pleased to say a bad word about their
neighbor. They are eager to repeat any slander that they hear and they
are not unwilling, even, to invent it, themselves!
14, 15. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are
swift to shed blood. And when, by fear of the laws of the land, they
are prevented from carrying out their evil purposes, yet their anger
is, itself, murder in intent– and into what human heart has not that
sin glanced?
16-19. Destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace
have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we
know that whatever the Law says, it says to them who are under the Law.
All these passages, which Paul has put together in this dreadful
mosaic, are taken from the Old Testament, so they apply to the Jews.
And he had already proven, in the first Chapter, the intolerable vice
of the Gentiles, so that now he has shown that both Jews and Gentiles
are guilty.
19. That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. The 19th Century world, as well as the world of the
1st Century–all the world, in all time, has "become guilty before
God."
20. Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shallno flesh be justified
in His sight. Talk not, therefore, of righteousness by your own works!
Dream not of meriting eternal life by any attempt to keep the Law of
God, for this is the declaration of God's Holy Spirit, "By the deeds of
the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight."
20. For by the Law is the knowledge of sin. The Law is a mirror–you
see your spots as you gaze into it. But no man ever washed his face in
a mirror–it shows the spots, but it cannot remove them! The Law of God
is the indicator and the revealer of sin, but it has no power whatever
to put away sin.
21-24. But now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets; even the righteousness of
God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe: for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come
short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His Grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That is a very wonderful verse,
every word of it is full of meaning. "Justified"–that is, accounted
just, made to be righteous in the sight of God. "Justified
freely"–without any merit or purchase money. "Freely by His
Grace"–not an act of justice, but an act of mercy has made sinners
just in the sight of God! "Through the redemption"–there is the
foundation of it all–we are redeemed by precious blood. "Through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus.'"
25-27. Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His
blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time
His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him
which believes in Jesus. Where is boasting, then?Boasting is sure to be
somewhere handy, ready to creep in if it can, for we are all prone to
it–it is the common sin of our race! "Where is boasting, then?"
27. It is excluded. By what law?t is shut out! But by what law is it
shut out?
27. Of works?No, for whenever we think that we have been performing any
good works, we at once begin to boast.
27. No, but by the law of faith. For if we are saved by believing, if
we are justified freely by God's Grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, then there is no room for boasting.
28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the
deeds of the Law. "We conclude"–we are shut up to this belief, "that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law."
29. Is He the God of the Jews only?Is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes,
of the Gentiles also. He saved Abraham by faith, and he saves us by
faith. The same saving principle is applicable to all parts of the
human race.
30. 31. Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by
faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the Law
through faith?Some will be sure to say so, but it is not true.
31. God forbid! Yes, we establish the Law. There is no one who so much
loves the Law of God and delights in it after the inward man, as the
one who is justified by faith! There is nothing that so honors the Law
of God as "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ." It
establishes forever the Law, even as Christ said to His disciples,
"Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the Prophets: I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till Heaven
and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the
Law, till all is fulfilled."