ADDRESSES ON ROMANS
And now let us take one more glance at our chart, noting the three main topics of this first division of the book: ( 1 ) The Gentile guilty, 1:18-2:16; (2) the Jew guilty, 2:17-3:18; (3) the final verdict, a guilty world, 3: 19, 20. A COURT SCENE The Gospel is always distasteful to human nature in its unregenerated state, because it reveals the fact of sin, the naked, horrible fact of sin. 1£ we are ever going to know the blessedness of God's remedy for this world, we must realize something about sin and something about God's hatred of it. That is why the first part of Romans, from 1:18 to 3:20, is a court scene. The whole world is declared to be guilty before God, for man has failed to meet God's requirements. The gross unrighteousness of the Gentile is first depicted in 1: 18-32. Then in 2: 1-16 the Gentile moralist is brought before the judgment bar of God, where all his self-righteous- ness is seen "as filthy rags" in His sight. Next the Jew is brought into this court scene, as described in 2: 17-3:8. And the verdict is: The whole world is guilty before God (3: 9-20); "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (3:23 ). THE WHOLE WORLD GUILTY BEFORE GOD 1: 18-20 Let us look now at the proofs of the unrighteousness of the Gentiles. Paul shows that they are destitute of righteous- ness. They have failed to measure up to God's standard. Now we know that God requires righteousness, and He tries man according to His requirements. But before Paul begins to arraign the guilty world, he first reveals God's attitude toward sin. 1. Goo's HATRED OF SIN. In verse 18 two manifesta- tions of sin are mentioned, upon which the wrath of God has fallen, and upon which His wrath will fall again when the Lord returns in glory. These two forms of sin which God Page 24)
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