Throughout my life with Jesus so far, a particular passage in scripture has really captured my attention. I always find myself coming back to it, never really diving deeply into it--not attempting to exegetically or hermeneutically disassemble it and make sense of it--I have more so just observed it from afar, as I would a potentially dangerous animal I'm unfamiliar with.
It wasn't until a week ago that I made any progress with this particular passage--nothing groundbreaking, you'll learn exponentially more from Doug Moo's commentary, but regardless, it struck me.
Romans 3:10-18: None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
I've always taken this passage and held it up as my mirror to look into, frightened by my reflection. That's the thorough description of Erik Most's depravity. It wasn't until I took my eyes off myself, looked through a broader scope, and realized that this is also the depravity of humanity as a whole...including the one writing the epistle, Paul.
It seems as if Paul wants to make his point here very clear. He's not saying "you guys are pretty bad, but I'm alright." In the first 2 verses, 11 and 12, Paul uses words to reference the complete failure of all people 8 times. Surely he knows he's lumping himself into this group.
Why would Paul say such a thing about himself?! How could he! Especially in a culture that held the law in the highest regard! How could Paul say that in the midst of a culture that endlessly perpetuated the notion that righteousness is humanly resourced?
Well, If we keep reading through Romans 3, it is evidently clear that Paul has full confidence in an external righteousness. An alien righteousness. Paul can own his depravity with full confidence! "Yep! That's me! I'm the chief of sinners!" He can do this because he's insanely secure in the righteousness of Christ. To the degree that he expounds on his depravity, is to the degree that he is fully relying on the redemption that is in Christ, despite his depravity.
In the same way, lets not kid ourselves. We are not the people who our idolatrous, sinful hearts project us to be. We don't have it together. We're not sweet theologians. We're not awesome super Christians. In thinking we are and we do these things, we unknowingly shackle ourselves to our own agenda and forfeit the reckless freedom we have in Christ.
So lets own Romans 3:11-18, because in doing so, we then cast ourselves on the resplendent majesty of Christ's righteousness. We are freed, like Paul, to stop trying to earn, deserve, and project. Were freed to living with reckless abandonment knowing we are secure in the righteousness of another, Jesus.
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