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NASB | Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 3:23 since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God, |
Bible Question:
1.) Using both New, and Old Test. understandings, How were the Gentiles, deemed to be sinners? 2.) Were not the Jews' as a people, no different than the gentiles, until they received the law by Moses? Romans 7:7-9 7.) What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 8.) But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 9.) For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. The Jews' having been called out by God to be separate unto Him, gave unto them the law. 3.) So then by what law were the gentiles held to be sinners? Was it only by the law of sin, and death, having been passed down from Adam? Vintage68 |
Bible Answer: Dear Vintage, The area of theology that deals with sin is called hamartiology. Wayne Grudem articulates a very good definition: Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature. The first three chapters of Romans deals with the universality of sin. In a nutshell: the first chapter deals with the common man (Gentiles), the second deals with the moral man, and the third deals with the Jew. Sin is not simply a matter of imputation. I recall Jonathan Edwards saying something to the effect that the sin nature is like an infinite black plane (in a geometric sense). It covers everything, but has no thickness. As we deviate from the divine standard, we add thickness to the plane. It becomes infinitely heavy. Sin involves the law, certainly -- you can see that in the use of the word lawlessness. However, there are many other words that are used to describe sin. The word sin itself means to have missed the mark. Look, for example, at the words wickedness, iniquity, transgressions, uncleaness, errors, crookedness, etc. It is true that an aspect of sin is a forensic matter. However, it is also a matter of relationship, self worship, rebellious independence, etc. Since you are unwilling to read a book on sound hermeneutics, perhaps I can recommend to you the following site: http://www.faithbibleonline.net/BasicChristianDoctrine/TOC.htm In the context of your current question, see chapter 24 (Sin). One last thing, please note that the sin of the Jew is not lessened because he has the Law, rather it worsens his lot -- the point that Paul was making in the passage you cited. "Every crime or fault deserves a greater or less punishment, in proportion as the crime itself is greater or less. The faulty nature of anything is the formal ground and reason of its desert of punishment; and therefore the more anything hath of this nature, the more punishment it deserves. And therefore the terribleness of the degree of punishment, let it be never so terrible, is no argument against the justice of it, if the proportion does but hold. ... A crime is more or less heinous, according as we are under greater or less obligations to the contrary. So the faultiness of one being hating another, is in proportion to his obligation to love him. And therefore if there be any Being that we are under infinite obligations to love, and honour, and obey, the contrary to wards Him must be infinitely faulty. Our obligation to love, honour, and obey any being, is in proportion to his loveliness, honourableness, and authority; for that is the very meaning of the words. When we say anyone is very lovely, it is the same as to say, that he is one very much to be loved." --Jonathan Edwards In Him, Doc |