Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be guilty before God.
Truth to Learn
None of us can live without breaking the rules, not even one.
Behind the Words
The word translated “guilty” is hupodikos, a compound word made up of hupo (hypo), meaning “under” and a form of dike, which means “judgment.” Hence, it means “under judgment, guilty, or condemned.”
Meaning Explained
Paul is talking to the Jewish Christians in Rome who were proud of the fact that they were descendants of Abraham and proud of the fact that the Law and the Prophets (the Old Testament) had been entrusted to the Jews. They were believers in Christ, but they still believed they needed to obey the Law.
Paul has just completed a number of quotations from their Scriptures which clearly show that all men are sinners; no one is righteous in God’s sight. The logical argument from a devout Jew would be that they are righteous because they obey the Law. Paul understood that attitude; he felt the same way before his conversion. Here’s what he said about himself:
I am indeed a Jew, having been born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been taught according to the exactness of the law of our fathers, being a zealous one of God as all you are today. (Acts 22:3)
Gamaliel was a Pharisee, one of the ruling Sanhedrin, a Doctor of the Law, and honored by all the people as one of the greatest teachers of his time. So you can see that Paul was well aware of the attitude that would pervade those devout Jews even after they became Christians.
Therefore, he now shows them why their reliance on obedience to the Law is pointless. Those things that are delineated by the Law are spoken to those who try to obey the Law for one reason,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be guilty before God.
In other words, Paul is saying that the purpose of the Law is to condemn all those who try to keep the Law. “But that doesn’t make sense,” you may say. “Why would God give the Law to mankind knowing that no one could keep the Law?” Paul will answer that question in the next few verses.
For now I want us all to recognize that none of us is righteous by keeping all the regulations and requirements of whatever church we belong to. Churches today have become very much like the Pharisees of Christ’s time. They imply that you have to obey all the rules and requirements of The Church, become a member, get baptized a certain way, say the right kind of prayers, or worship the proper way, and God will usher you into heaven because you’ve done the right things.
Paul says that’s baloney!
Application
Are you relying on following all the rules of your church or keeping the Ten Commandments in order to get to Heaven? If so, Paul says you’re in for a big shock when you stand before God on the Day of Judgment.
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2017 Will Krause. All rights reserved