“The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:2–3, NASB95)
But others will say that is a “glass half-empty” perspective. People are constantly doing good things as well: Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, protecting the environment, fighting for justice, and on and on. Certainly this is just as true.
So which is it? Are people basically good or basically bad? Fortunately, the Bible provides the clear and complete answer. And there is no better place to look for that answer than the first four chapters of the book of Romans.
Romans is one of Paul’s early letters, though not the earliest. But, it is listed first among Paul’s letters and even among all the letters of the New Testament—probably because it is considered Paul’s “magnum opus”. “The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge regarded Romans as ‘the most profound book in existence,’ and the commentator Godet called it ‘the cathedral of the Christian faith.’ Because of its majestic declaration of the divine plan of salvation, Martin Luther wrote: ‘This epistle is the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest gospel.…It can never be read or pondered too much, and the more it is dealt with the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes.’”*
Chapters 1-11 help us understand the true gospel of Jesus Christ. The remaining chapters, 12-16, help us understand the expected response from those who believe it. These first four chapters are the foundation of everything that follows, and there are three basic parts to this section:
- The greeting and introduction (1:1-17). The key phrase here is “I am not ashamed of the gospel.”
- The bad news section (1:18-3:20). The key phrase here is “There is none righteous.”
- The great news section (3:21-4:25): The key phrase here is “Man is justified by faith.”
[ Want to read the rest of my post about Romans 1-4? Go to patreon.com/shaunlepage ]
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