There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

A Sunday school teacher was testing the children in her kindergarten class to see if they understood the concept of getting into heaven. She asked them, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into heaven?”   

“No!” the children answered. “If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into heaven?” Again, the answer was, “No!”   

“Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my husband, would that get me into heaven?” she asked. Again, they all answered, “No!”    

Well,” she continued, “then how can I get into heaven?” A five-year-old boy shouted out, “You gotta be dead!”    

I got a chuckle from that, but do you know that many people in our culture think like that? Most people think that when they die, they will go to heaven. Theologian R. C. Sproul was thought to have said many believe that the requirement for entry into heaven is no longer justification by faith but rather justification by death.

You might remember it was Paul’s desire to present a doctrinal presentation of what to believe according to the Scriptures as means of introducing himself to the Roman Church prior to his visiting them hopefully sometime in the future. He begins by looking at the pagans who are without the understanding of the scriptures or teachings about God. When they stand before God as their judge, they will use the excuse “We didn’t know” or “Everyone else is doing it.” God does make himself known even in a limited way by some of His eternal qualities through creation and through inner moral conscience.

Ben Stein participated in a 2008 documentary, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." It exposed how much of the scientific academia excluded instructors who believed in intelligent design. It showed persecution of scientists who challenged the theories of evolution; Stein says, "It's not just the scientists who are in on it. The media is in on it, the courts, the educational system, everyone is after them."

An ad for the movie reported that scientists who deny Intelligent Design are being intellectually dishonest by ignoring important facts in our world and in man. Many Darwinists were interviewed, and the results surprised us. It provided interesting controversy among our society that works at rejecting God.

Romans 1 explains very clearly that people invent other systems, idols, and religions to put themselves on the throne and displace God from his rightful position.

The Jews might be saying, “Preach it, Paul!” "Amen!" "Give it to them! Pagans are without excuse!" Then Chapter 2 begins his argument that Jews are no better off - thinking they are better. Their excuse might be “I’m not so bad. I am a member of the special Jewish race. God came to us. We have the law and Moses and are God’s special people. "; “I’m not so bad. I am not like they are.”

Paul begins to take that law and shows them how they don’t practice what they preach. There is nothing that aroused Jesus' anger more than hypocrites who judge others while they themselves are full of sin and evil and pretend they are self-righteous.

The latter part of Chapter 2 might include those like the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and with pride says, “I’ve kept all these laws since I was a youth on up.” I’ve kept the commandments. I tithe. I go to synagogue. I give to the poor. I pray.  I memorize the Bible. I go through the religious rituals and requirements regularly."  In other words, “I’m good. I will get into heaven." Paul reveals again what is in the heart is evil and no one can claim to be good.

I am not interested in what others say. I am interested in what God says about this fact of "being righteous" before God.

In this chapter, we want to look at this theme as Paul anticipates more excuses. The doctrine of the Atonement is significant to understanding God’s mercy and our salvation.

Application:   Keep looking to God's word for TRUTH.  

Prayer:   Father, I pray as we meditate on these teachings this week that you would give us a spirt of wisdom and revelation to know You better.  

Dale