Romans 3.12-The Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Charges in a Thirteen Count Indictment Against Mankind
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday October 21, 2007
Romans: Romans 3:12-The Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Charges in a Thirteen Count Indictment Against Mankind
Lesson # 84
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 3:10.
We are currently engaged in a study of the third part of the second major section of the book of Romans, which can be divided into four parts: (1) The Arraignment: The entire human race is brought before the Supreme Court of Heaven to answer to the divine indictment (Romans 3:9). (2) The Indictment: The entire human race faces the charges of crimes against a holy God (Romans 3:10-17). (3) Motive: The motive for man’s crimes against God (Romans 3:18). (4) The Verdict: The entire human race stands condemned before a holy God (Romans 3:19-20).
Thus far, we have studied the arraignment of the entire human race in the court of heaven, which is contained in Romans 3:9.
In Romans 3:9, Paul states that both Jew and Gentile are under the power of the old Adamic sin nature and thus under eternal condemnation.
Last Sunday, we began a study of the thirteen count indictment brought against the entire human race by God, which is contained in Romans 3:10-17.
In Romans 3:10-17, the apostle Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit employs six Psalms and Isaiah 59:7-8 to present a thirteen count indictment against the entire human race, which demonstrates that they are enslaved to the old Adamic sin nature and thus totally depraved and in need of salvation in the eyes of a holy God.
Last Sunday, we studied Romans 3:10, in which Paul lists the first of these thirteen charges, which states emphatically that there is absolutely no one in the human race that is righteous in the eyes of God.
Tuesday, we noted Romans 3:11, which contains the second and third charges in this thirteen count indictment against mankind.
The second charge states that there is absolutely no one in the entire human race who comprehends God’s character and nature, His will or His ways and the third charge states that there is none who seeks diligently to learn about God’s character and nature, His will and His ways.
Wednesday evening we studied that even though there is absolutely no one in the entire human race who seeks after God, God takes the initiative and seeks after man.
This morning we will study Romans 3:12, in which Paul presents the fourth, fifth and sixth charges in a thirteen count indictment against the entire human race.
Romans 3:10-11, “As it is written, ‘THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE. THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD.’”
Romans 3:12, “ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.’”
In Romans 3:12, Paul is quoting Psalm 14:3.
Psalm 14:3, “All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
“ALL” is the adjective pas (pa$), which is used in a distributive sense referring to “each and every” member of the human race without exception, both Jew and Gentile who are physically alive yet spiritually dead having absolutely no capacity whatsoever to obey God and thus have a relationship with Him.
“HAVE TURNED ASIDE” is the verb ekklino (e)kklivnw) (ek-klee-no), which means, “to turn aside, to deviate” from the way of living that God designed for mankind by disobeying His commands and prohibitions that appear in His Word resulting in living independently of Him, which constitutes evil and rebellion.
“The way of the Lord” refers to the way or manner in which the Lord does things, which is based upon His character and nature and is expressed by His acts of righteousness and justice towards both men and angels.
“The way of the Lord” is righteousness, which is revealed in His commands and prohibitions and that can be summarized as loving God with one’s entire being and one’s neighbor as oneself, or treating others as you would have them treat you.
The believer lives in the way of the Lord or in the manner in which He prescribes by obeying the Word of God and in particular obeying the commands to love God with one’s entire being and one’s neighbor as oneself, which summarizes the Scriptures.
Matthew 7:12, “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
The Lord Jesus Christ called Himself “the Way” and Christianity in its infancy was called “the Way.”
John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
The fact that the entire human race has rejected God’s way of righteousness is spoken of throughout the Scriptures.
Isaiah 53:6, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Isaiah 59:8, “The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.”
Ecclesiastes 7:29, “God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.’”
Israel was commanded to keep the way of righteousness and warned what would happen to them if they forsook it (Deuteronomy 6; 26:16-17; 28:9; 1 Kings 2:3-4).
Deuteronomy 8:6, “Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.”
Israel rejected the way of the Lord through their practice of unrighteousness (Ezekiel 18; 33:12-20).
Isaiah 65:2, “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts.”
The way of the righteous and the way of the wicked are spoken of throughout the Old Testament.
Psalm 1:6, “For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
Proverbs 15:9, “The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but He loves one who pursues righteousness.”
Proverbs 10:29, “The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the upright, but ruin to the workers of iniquity.”
The Psalmist speaks of learning and observing the ways of God.
Psalm 143:8, “Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.”
Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you.”
Psalm 25:12, “Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.”
Psalm 25:8, “Good and upright is the LORD; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.”
Romans 3:12, “ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
“THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS” is the verb achreioo (a)xreiovw) (akh-ri-o-o), which is composed of the alpha prefix, “without” and the noun chreia, “use, need, necessity,” thus the word literally means, “to render useless, unserviceable.”
In Romans 3:12, the verb achreioo means that as a result of the entire human race deviating from the way of God’s righteousness by rejecting the Word of God, they have become “useless” in fulfilling the Creator’s purpose for them, which is to love and serve and worship Him.
To love God is to obey Him.
John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
However, mankind has no capacity to love or obey God because of the old Adamic sin nature, which produces mental, verbal and overt acts of sins through the function of the volition.
Therefore, since mankind has no capacity to love or obey God, they have no capacity to worship and serve Him, which is based upon obedience to Him as an expression of love for Him.
Mankind was also created to rule over creation (Genesis 1:26; Psalm 8).
Genesis 1:26, “Next, God decreed let Us model man in Our image, according to Our likeness. Consequently, they will rule over the fish in the various bodies of water and over the birds in the earth’s atmosphere and over the animal kingdom and over the entire earth and over each and every creeper-crawler, those which crawl upon the earth.”
The rulership of the creation was lost by Adam and the Woman in the Garden of Eden when they disobeyed the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3).
Mankind has no capacity to fulfill God’s purpose to rule over the creation because of personal sin, which is the production of the old Adamic sin nature through the function of the volition.
Satan usurped the rulership of the first Adam over the earth when he deceived the woman into disobeying the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and getting Adam to do so as well.
However, the Last Adam, the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ has regained that rulership over the earth with His obedience to the Father’s will in going to the Cross in order to die a substitutionary spiritual death in the place of all of sinful humanity (Hebrews 2:6-9).
Romans 3:12, “ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
“GOOD” is the noun chrestotes (xrhstovth$) (kray-sto-tace), which is used with reference to unregenerate humanity and describes having a tender, compassionate concern for others, which is reflected in a desire to treat them with compassion.
Therefore, in Romans 3:12, Paul teaches that there is absolutely no one in the entire human race that practices tender, compassionate concern for others as reflected in a desire to treat them with compassion.
Now, of course, members of the human race practice kindness or compassion towards other human beings but not according to God’s perfect, holy standards since God exercises tender, compassionate concern for His enemies whereas unregenerate humanity does not do so.
Human beings will show compassion towards family members and those who are attractive to them or to those they desire something from such as love but it is not in man’s sinful nature to practice compassion towards those who are antagonistic towards him.
On the other hand, God lets the sun shine on both those who are antagonistic towards Him and those who are obedient to Him.
Matthew 5:43-48, “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
God exercised kindness or compassion towards His enemies, i.e. unregenerate humanity in that He sent His Son to the Cross to die for them as their Substitute while they were yet His enemies!
Romans 5:6-8, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
God’s compassionate concern for His enemies was manifested again when He raised and seated with Christ those who placed their faith in His Son Jesus Christ and yet were formerly His enemies.
Ephesians 2:1-7, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”