All Have Sinned

Romans 2:12-16

Romans 2:12-13 "For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified."

As we've already seen, the first three chapters of Romans portray that all men have sinned. Although this is surely obvious throughout all of scripture, Paul spends three entire chapters explaining it, so I think its important. After explaining first in chapter one how the Gentiles are sinners, and then in the first part of chapter 2 how the Jews are sinners as well, he combines the two. He explain how "all who have sinned without the law" (the Gentiles) will "perish without the law," and how "all who have sinned under the law" (the Jews) will be "judged by the law." What is Paul trying to say here? He is showing that all men are sinners. The Gentiles are sinners because they do not have the (Jewish) law, and therefore will perish in their own sin because they do not have the (Jewish) law to guide them. Although they do have the law written on their hearts (verse 15), they are powerless to follow that law perfectly, and therefore God will judge the "secrets" of their hearts (verse 16) and find them guilty. Furthermore, the Jews are sinners because they were given the laws of God, not only on their hearts but as well from the very mouth of the Lord, yet even though they had it, they failed to obey it. There are only two types of men: the Jew and the Gentile, and both are sinners.

What does this mean for us? What is Paul trying to say here? How can reading this letter 2,000 years after it was written help us? The answer...in the very same way that it helped the Jews and Gentiles in the church of Rome. Paul takes almost three entire chapters of a 16 chapter book to show that all men are sinners (by the way..."all men" includes you and me as well), ultimately that we can truly see how much we need God. Both the Jews and the Gentiles are sinners in need of a Savior, and that is what Paul is trying to get at here. Therefore, as you read these verses in Romans, delight in the fact that you are a wretched sinner in need of a glorious Savior.