Romans 3:9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;
Are we better than those who condemn us for saying, “If through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory.” Why are we judged as sinners? It’s because of our lack of righteousness as well as our evil deeds. Verses 10-18 give God’s judgment of mankind in general and with some detail. We will look at those verses in the days to come. Today, let’s focus on the truth in this verse and it’s impact on our living to love with Jesus. We are all sinners.
According to these verses every human being is under the power and curse of sin. There is only one exception: Jesus Christ of Nazareth. There is a growing cult of progressive unbelievers who reject this narrative, as they call it. They reject the Holy Spirit’s word through the Scriptures and the apostle Paul here in Romans. One of the leaders in the progressive movement, when being interviewed by The Christian Post, said that he struggles with "the idea that humanity has become detestable to God and that it's only the people who become Christians that God can truly love, that their being loved by God through just being God's creatures is somehow destroyed by original sin.”
His error in understanding stands out in his statement when he said that God can only truly love those who become Christians. His mistake is in thinking that if a person becomes a Christian, then God can love them. The truth is this: Christians are people who were loved while they were still enemies, hostile to God, and alienated from Him due to their sinfulness. They are Christians because they have seen that God loved them even when they were unlovely. In experiencing His forgiveness through faith in Jesus’ death on the cross, they experienced His love and trusted in Him. They became Christians because they were loved, not loved because they became Christians.
This is important. We love much because we were forgiven much. We live to love with Jesus because He lives to love through us, as a sign to us and to others, that God is love. We testify that God loves sinners before they were changed. He forgave us before we did anything. Therefore, nothing can separate us from His love. If God is for us, no one and nothing can be against us.
Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com
