Were We Who Became Christians Better
Than Those Who Did’t? (Pt. 1)
Romans 3:9-10
Have you ever been accused of thinking you were better than others because you were a Christian? My guess would be that most of us who are trying to live out our faith in Christ have been accused of thinking we are better than others who have not placed faith in Christ. This is especially if you have ever shared the Gospel with unbelievers it doesn’t take long before someone makes the claim that you think you are better than they are because you think they are going to go to hell for their sins when they die.
Christians are oftentimes accused of thinking they are better than others because we proclaim a very narrow Gospel that says accept Jesus Christ or else. Furthermore, Christians have always been accused of thinking they were better than others simply because they believed their sins were forgiven and thus they were confident that they were going to heaven. It is this very issue that Paul brings up in Romans 3:9.
After making his argument in Romans 3:1-8 that in spite of all they had going for them, even the most religious and God-fearing Jews will be condemned to hell for their sins—Paul then asks a great question that was just begging to be asked by someone. Here is the question Paul asks:
In light of the fact that the Jews, whom God had chosen to be His covenant people in the Old Testament and whom He had entrusted with His very Word, are going to be condemned to hell for their sins in the final day of judgment—are Christians then, who will not be condemned to hell for their sins on that day, better than the Jews or anyone else for that matter who will be condemned?
Paul then answers this question in the rest of verse 9 on down through verse 18. And as we deal with this question and Paul’s answer we will see the truth that:
No one, in and of themselves, is anymore worthy of eternal life than anyone else and that everyone who is given eternal life is given it on the basis of Christ’s merits and works—not their own.
So—with this introduction let’s read our text for today. Turn with me to Romans 3:9-18. And let’s deal first with Paul’s question in verse 9.
1. The Question (9)
“What then? Are we better than they?”
The “what then?” is referring us back to the conclusion Paul just stated at the end of verse 8, which was that the condemnation of the Jews whose sins were not forgiven by God in Christ was just and indeed fair. So, with that statement in mind, Paul now turns his attention to another group of people only referred to in our verse by the personal pronoun “we”. And he essentially asks, “In light of the fact that unbelieving Jews are going to be condemned and that their condemnation is just—are “we” any better than they?” Now, it would behoove us to figure out who the “we” is referring to. To do so, let’s follow the use of this pronoun backwards as well as forwards in our text to see who it is used of.
The first thing we see is in the verse itself. Paul uses the pronoun a second time in saying, “for “we” have already charged that both Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.” Now here it is clear that whoever the “we” is, Paul belongs to them. He is one of them. And they have entered into his argument that all peoples, whether Jew or Gentile are condemned before God. If you start moving backwards into verse 8, you’ll see the “we” showing up and referring to those who with Paul are “slanderously reported and as some claim “we” say—‘Let us do evil that good may come.’ Now, this “we” is referring to Paul and those other people who were preaching the Gospel so correctly that the people who heard it thought they were preaching a “loose-living” brand of Christianity that emphasized God’s grace to an unrealistic level. And keep in mind if you are truly preaching the Gospel—this is exactly what people will think you are meaning—because in salvation God’s grace is exactly what we emphasize. But our point here is that the “we” is referring to Paul and his fellow Christians who were preaching the Gospel.
Now let’s look ahead of verse 9 and trace our little personal pronoun. It shows up in verses 19, in which Paul again includes himself seemingly with his readers as those who with him know that all the world is accountable to God. Then it shows up in verse 28, where again Paul includes himself with his readers as those who maintain and agree that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law. And if you keep tracing the pronoun “we” you’ll find it identifying who it is representing in Romans 5:1—those who have peace with God through our lord Jesus Christ who have been justified by faith.
In other words, the personal pronoun “we” that Paul uses in Romans 3:9 in his question—“Are we better than they?” is referring to Christians and thus the question can be rendered—
“Given the fact that the Jews will be condemned for their sins—were we who became Christians and thus are saved from the wrath of God, somehow intrinsically and by nature better than the Jews and everyone else who will be condemned?
Put another way—Were we who became Christians simply not as bad as those who do not become Christians and thus more savable than they, in and of ourselves? And before getting into his detailed answer of verses 10-18, Paul emphatically declares—“Not at all” or “No Way”.
Now it is important to understand that the word that we have rendered as “better” in the phrase “better than they” actually has the idea of “one’s basic nature being more acceptable” than someone else’s. So again, the question Paul is really driving at is simply this—Were those who have been justified by God so as to be saved from His wrath more acceptable to Him in their basic nature than those who are not justified and will be condemned to hell? And again as I already stated—Paul says emphatically “No Way!”
Then in the second part of verse 9 through verse 18, he tells us why this is not so by telling us that we who have been justified by God through faith in Christ were absolutely no different in our basic constitution or nature than the person who will be condemned for their sins. And Paul does this by using the Old Testament Scriptures to show us that we were just like them in what captivated us (9b) as well as in our character (10-11), our conduct (12), our conversation (13-14), our contempt for others (15-17), and our conceitedness (18).
2. The Answer (9b-18)
A. We were just like the condemned unbeliever in our captivation to and by sin. (9b)
The second part of verse 9 makes the point that all people in their unsaved and unconverted state are all “under” sin in the sense that sin is the ruling principle in their lives so that they are under sin’s power, authority, and control. Thus, there was a day when all of us who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ so that we have been set free from our bondage to sin and made into new creations in Christ were “under” the power, control, and authority of sin just as any unbeliever is today. We too, were just as captivated by sin and living a life apart from God and independent of God as any unbeliever is today. We too, were just as engrossed in pursuing our sinful lusts as any unbeliever is today. And we too were just as much an enemy of God because of our loyalty to our sin and our sinful passions as any unbeliever is today.
So—“NO”—we were not any better than the man or woman who is still in bondage to sin and unsaved and on their way to a Christless eternity in hell. And not only were we just as captivated by sin as any unbeliever, we will see in the next point that we were no different in our basic character either.
B. We were just like the condemned unbeliever in our character. (10-11)
Now whereas, most people will not argue with you regarding the general captivation man has with living his life apart from God and thus in sin—they will argue with you when you begin to tell them that there are absolutely no people in this world who are good enough to earn a place in heaven—and in fact—that from God’s perspective there simply is no such thing as a good and righteous person--Or that there is absolutely no one who has ever sought after God of their own accord. Thus, before making these very dogmatic and absolute statements—Paul very wisely appeals to the Scriptures to make his point regarding the spiritually bankrupt and morally destitute condition of all people without exception. He writes in the beginning of verse 10—“As it is written”. Thus, if you disagree with this assessment of the spiritual condition of all people without exception—your argument is with the Scriptures.
Verses 10-11 present three ways in which the Scriptures prove that those who are believers were no different and certainly no better in their basic nature and spiritually bankrupt character than those people who have not accepted Christ. In these two verses, Paul makes the point that all people in their fallen and unsaved nature lack the desire and the ability in their innermost nature and character to
• measure up to God’s standard of righteousness
• to understand God and spiritual truths
• to seek and pursue a relationship with God
For the time being, we will only have time to deal with the first of these points.
In our unsaved condition and character we were just like everyone else in that we did not and in fact could not measure up to God’s standard of righteousness. (10b)
The word “righteous” as used here is referring to man’s innermost being and what Paul is saying is that there is absolutely no one whose innermost character is righteous in the sense of being right before God. Certainly, it is not hard to appear “right” before other people but Paul’s point is that there is no one who can make the claim of being right as God is right and pure as God is pure and since God, not other people is the standard of what is righteous—there simply is no one whose innermost character is righteous.
In other words, if you are not as good as God—you are not acceptable to God and since no one—no not one—has ever been as good as God—all people, even those who become Christians were all in the same state—a state of being condemned before God.
So, in answer to the question—were we who became Christians and thus will not be condemned for our sins better or more righteous in God’s eyes than those who will be condemned for their sins—Paul states, loosely quoting from Psalm 14 and Psalm 53—that, other than Christ, there never has been even one righteous person—not even one. Thus, to argue that some were more righteous than others is an argument in futility because as far as God was and is concerned their simply are no comparisons to make as there simply is no such thing as a righteous person. And for this reason—we should never find ourselves becoming enamored and impressed with the testimonies of those people who have been saved from the very pit of hell as though they were any worse off than we were—as if it took more to save them than us. Again, “There is none righteous, NO-NOT-ONE!
So its not a question of being better—it’s a question of being perfect! How righteous does a person need to be to be found acceptable by God and thus allowed to enter heaven? The Bible teaches that you’d have to be as righteous as God if you are going to be allowed entrance into heaven.
Jesus Himself said it. Look at Matthew 5:20. Now, the Pharisees and the scribes spent their lives trying to be more righteous and better people than every one else.
The problem was that according to Romans 10:3, they did not subject themselves to God’s righteous standards but rather established their own. And thus Jesus’ statement that if you want to enter heaven your righteousness will have to exceed that of the Pharisees and Scribes who created their own standards of what was right and thus acceptable to God. Then Jesus, after giving several examples of how far short this man-made righteousness fell from God’s perfect righteousness, tells us that if we want to go to Heaven we will have to be perfect just as our Heavenly Father is perfect.
Look at Matthew 5:48, if you don’t believe me.
So, if no one has this kind of righteousness how in the world does anyone get to Heaven? God gives it to those people who ask for it.
That’s right—you see, when you ran to Christ for refuge from your sins so as to be saved and embraced Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior—God not only forgave you all of your sins—He also gave you Christ’s righteousness—so that you are now, in God’s sight, as righteous as He is.
Look at Philippians 3:7-9. The only righteousness that can save you is the righteousness that God gives you on the basis of faith in Christ. Any kind of personal righteousness you think you have or that you think you can derive from keeping the Law is not good enough to get you into Heaven and thus keep you out of hell.
Now go to 2 Corinthians 5:21. While Jesus Christ was on the cross of Calvary—God the Father placed all of our sin upon Christ and judged it in Christ so that He could forgive us—since now our sin had been paid for.
But in addition to that, God applied all of Christ’s righteousness to our account so that not only were we forgiven of our sin—we were given the very righteousness of Christ so as to be just as righteous as God Himself—thus enabling God to accept us and allow us into Heaven.
Now go to Romans 9:30-33 to see how all this works. It is through faith in Christ.
Thus, to answer Paul’s question—the reason we are not condemned as Christians has nothing to do with us being any better than anyone else—but it does have everything to do with faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior. So no, its not that we who are Christians were somehow better than those who did not become Christians. We were as condemned as anyone was—the only difference between us who are going to heaven and those who are not is that God forgave us for our sins and gave us the very righteousness of Christ when we by faith turned away from our sins to follow Christ as our Lord and Savior.
And of course, if there really was no difference between us who have come to Christ and those who have not in terms of any kind of righteousness on our part—where did the desire to come to Christ—which would be a righteous desire and in fact the most righteous of desires—come from? We’ll talk much more about this next week, but suffice it to say for the time being—sinners who are without any righteousness at all will have no desire to embrace the Gospel and come to Christ—without being given a heart to do so by God Himself.
You see, we have no power to do anything God requires of us apart from Christ and His cross, and that includes believing the gospel. As J.I. Packer once said, “Sinners cannot obey the gospel, any more than the law, without renewal of heart." And how does anyone know if God has given them this new heart to believe the Gospel and trust in Christ for salvation—-will call upon the Name of the Lord and be saved.
CONCLUSION
As we close let me remind you of the story our Lord told in Luke 18:9-14 about two men—one of whom went to heaven and the other who went to hell.
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." (ESV)
Both of these men were sinners but only one realized it.
Both of these men were completely unrighteous and unacceptable to God but only one realized it.
Both of these men called upon the Lord—one to brag about his righteousness and the other to be saved from his unrighteousness.
Both of these men prayed but only one got through to God—the one who because he realized he was a sinner and unable to measure up to God’s standard of righteousness and perfection begged for mercy.
This man went away justified and when he died went to heaven. The other went to hell.
Which man are you?
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