[AI translation] In the next section of the Epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul makes statements about man that can only be understood and accepted by looking at man in his relationship to God. The apostle wants to show that all men are equal before God. There is only one place in this world where we can speak of the full equality of all men: before the living God. Here then there is truly no difference between one man and another. There is no difference, not only between rich and poor, not only between educated and uneducated, not only between coloured and white, not only between man and woman - but in a much deeper sense! Thus says the apostle: "For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". There is only one reality by which all men can be brought together: the reality of sin! All men are equally sinful before God! Before God there is only sinful man!But it must be emphasized here that before God! For man can be measured by other standards! Not according to the judgment of a just God, but also according to the judgment of man, and then we see that there are very great differences between men. There is good and bad, likeable and unlikeable, virtuous and vicious, kind and hateful, moral and immoral, even believing and unbelieving - but before God these differences also disappear, and only one remains: sinner! Kindly or hatefully sinful, virtuously or viciously sinful, morally or immorally sinful - even: believingly or unbelievingly sinful!
That is why it is so ridiculous to be haughty. If one man despises another, whoever he may be. If a so-called good man, a moral, virtuous man, looks down on the corrupt, the immoral - it is as if on death row one condemned man looked down on another condemned man. But is there a difference between a lesser and a greater sinner, between an ugly and a less ugly sin? Of course there is, if we look at it from below! Seen from the ground, there is a great difference between the mountain and the valley, but try to look at it from the moon, for example, and what is left? Just a speck! From there, there is no difference. And if you look at it from God, what remains between the so-called good and the bad, between the small and the big sin? Only one spot: and a very bad spot: sin!
Somehow, I imagine that for a very beautiful and precious lead crystal bell, it makes no difference if it has a barely visible hairline crack or if it is completely broken to pieces. In both cases, it is no longer what it was, and especially, and most importantly, it no longer produces the sound it used to. The point of human life, too, should be to make a sound in which the glory of God on this earth rings out. And whether it has a hair-thin crack or a chip in it, it can no longer give the voice it was made to give. Something like Paul's statement: 'there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God'. Sure, a cracked crystal bell may still be nicer than a cracked one, a man with many good qualities may be more sympathetic than a corrupt one, but that does not change the deepest essence of man. No difference before God: he is a sinner!
There is the prophet Isaiah, for example. He was a man of good family, a man of serious mind, a man of great learning, a man of great honor, and yet, at the moment when he was brought before the throne of God in a visionary rapture, he almost cried out, "Woe is me, I am lost, for I am of unclean lips, and dwell among a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" (Isa 6:5) - Or there is the publican in the temple, for example. He was not a depraved man at heart, he must have loved his family, he may have been a good husband and father, yet standing before God all he could say was, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner"! (Lk 18,14) - Or Peter, the brave fisherman, on the morning of the miraculous catch of fish, when he felt the nearness of the reality of the living God in the person of Jesus, cries out, "Depart from me, for I am a sinner, Lord!"
Well, that is the one thing in which there is no difference between man and man, however great the differences between them may be. Jews and Greeks, that is, those who know the law of God and those who do not, those who want to serve God and those who do not, those who believe in God and those who do not, those who seek to do good and those who do not: we are all under sin, there is not one righteous, there is not one who understands, there is not one who seeks God, we are all deviated, we are all made useless together, there is not one who does good, there is not one! (cf. Rm 3,9-12) And if God's Word says that there is no difference in this respect, then you are no exception, and neither am I. But it makes a big difference whether one has come to this realization or not. I read in a newspaper the other day that there is a little girl somewhere who has a very strange illness: she feels no pain. You would think how good it is for her - but she is a tragic case, because she can, for example, take a hot iron in her hand and suffer fatal burns without being hurt. His sense of pain is not an indication of danger. He is in constant danger of his life. Such is the man who is not hurt by sin. It is a tragic condition. His faith, his conscience, does not indicate that he is in mortal danger. It does not hurt him that he is a sinner! He does not sense it. Well, sin is indeed something that we do not perceive on our own, unless we stand before God.
But once a person truly comes before God in spirit, then he perceives nothing but that he is a sinner! Once, years ago, at a communion preparation service here in the church, we read the most concise summary of the law of God, the Ten Commandments, with a series of probing questions after each passage, to which each person had to give his own answer. One of our most respected elder brothers, when we left the church, was quite devastated and said. Of course it is, it can't be anything else. To this the apostle says that the knowledge of sin is by the law. Try once thus to let the light of the holiness of a just God shine on you through his law: you will find, with ever-increasing astonishment, that you could not fulfil this, this also condemns you, that also condemns you, that also falls upon you as an accusation, all merit is stripped from you, and you are left naked, without excuse before God, as a sinner! And thus seeing thyself, say, what would thou deserve if God judged thee justly? Can any of us show forth such deeds of our lives, that we can say: Now look, Lord, this has been in accordance with Your law, this is in full accord with Your glory and Your holiness. In view of this, perhaps I deserve a little mercy. Or could any man in difficulty plead: Look, Lord, I have suffered for my salvation, though I have had sin, I have paid it all, I have earned by my suffering the reward of eternal life! Whoever feels he has anything to claim as merit before God has never truly stood before God in spirit! Verily, the truth is, we have a lost cause before God for all of us, without exception, if God judges righteously! And God judges justly. Not by turning a blind eye to sin, for that would be contrary to His own holiness. But yes, by judging the sinner, by condemning the sinner, by judging the sinner without excuse and without mercy!
But! This punitive sentence is executed on Someone else, on the One Who, as the only just man, voluntarily suffers the deserved punishment, the death of damnation, in the place and on behalf of all sinners. This is what happened at Calvary. This is how Jesus obtained for us the righteousness before God that we could not, with our best efforts, obtain or earn. This is why Paul tells us the great liberating gospel: though we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God, yet we are justified "freely by his grace through redemption in Christ Jesus"! This is the gracious justice of God, that He executes on Himself, Jesus, this punitive judgment which you and I would have deserved, and on this basis He has acquitted us. And thus a whole new basis for man's relation to himself on the basis of grace! We no longer need to strive to earn something to merit God's love, goodness, help, salvation, because it is all ours by virtue of Jesus' merit! We no longer have to earn God's grace, but simply accept what Jesus has already earned for us! Simply to accept: by faith. So believe, simply believe, that God has already done everything for you, so that there is no gap, no obstacle between you and Him, so that you can look upon Him as your loving Father, in spite of all that you are, that is, that you are a sinner. There is nothing left for you but to give thanks to Him. Thank you! What can a beggar do when he has been given a handout? He says: thank you! That is faith! To this the apostle says, "A man is justified by faith without works of the law."
"Where then is the boasting?" asks the apostle. Who can boast that God has had mercy on him? Here again, there is no difference. No one has anything to boast about. Can a drowning man boast that someone has saved him from death? I cannot even boast that I believe in Jesus. That is not merit, but a privilege, a gift, a grace! For our faith is not built on what we have done, good or bad, but on what Jesus has done and is doing for us.
But finally: if the apostle says that we are justified by faith alone in Jesus, that is, we can stand before God without the works of the law - then we do not need to strive for what is good, since it is not our works that count before God, but our faith? But yes! Only now the motivation, the spring of our actions, is quite different. We can do nothing to earn salvation, but we must do everything to repay the salvation Jesus has already earned for us. So let us strive to live according to God's commandments not so that we can become children of God, but because we are children of God! Let us not seek to fulfil the law of love so that we may receive forgiveness of sins, but because we have already received forgiveness of sins! Let us not seek to do good so that we may earn God's grace, but because we have received God's grace undeservedly!
I used to say that grace does not bind us like a law or a commandment, but does more than that: it binds us! Whoever has acknowledged and accepted that God has forgiven him out of free grace, on the merits of Jesus, and made him His child, has become eternally indebted to God. Not to accumulate merit for himself, but to express his gratitude to God. This is where Christian faith, true faith, begins! Would that with such faith each one could now pray the words of our song:
I trust in you with strong faith, That you will do all things,
What you promise in your holy Word, That you will return to me with mercy,
And forgive my sins, and give me eternal life.
This great good I thank thee for, which I have to do,
To Jesus, for whom I have communicated grace,
To keep him the keeper of my soul, To love him and obey his word.
(Canto 231 verses 2-3)
Amen
Date: 15 June 1969.
Lesson
Róm 3,1-31