In the concluding verses of the last chapter, Paul tells his Jewish readers that they, like all other men, are sinners in the sight of God. He reminds them that what they need is not the outward expression of religion, but an inward work of grace that converts the soul and makes the sinner right with God. These verses are a logical continuation of the thoughts mentioned in chapter 2. We must remember that Paul was a traveling evangelist-missionary. In nearly every city he visited, he went to the Jewish synagogue and shared the message of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. In doing so, Paul surely must have encountered many arguments to his message. It would seem that these verses which we have read this evening give us four of those arguments. Paul is asking and answering questions that the Jews, themselves, were asking. They were raising objections to the message of salvation "by grace through faith", and these objections needed to be answered.
