Paul isn't preaching Law. He's writing a letter which is a pastoral letter and he is pointing to what he teaches among the gentiles and the Jews so that his Roman readers (many being Jews) know what to expect from him when he eventually arrives in their city. He uses broad categories in Romans 3:1-20. He uses the broad categories to say why Jews and Greeks (gentiles) are in need of a saviour. What he says is aimed towards removing any claim to innocence regarding sins. Jews sin by breaking the law that Moses gave to them and Greeks sin by means of the things he discussed in chapters 1 and 2.
Well, we can agree to disagree. Paul goes into chapter 4 contrasting Law & Gospel; works of the Law vs. Faith in Christ. Then Paul continues in chapter 5, contrasting or comparing Adam & Christ; the first Adam with the Last Adam; condemnation & Justification; Death & Life; One act of Disobedience & One Act of Obedience.
How do sinners know they need a Savior? To be saved from what? What does Paul mean in Romans 8:
3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Why did Christ have to come in the flesh? Why did Christ have to kill sin in the flesh? Why was Christ born under the Law? Why did Christ fulfill the Law, and not abolish it?
The Gentile do not have an excuse because God did not give them His Law on Stone tablets, like He did with Israel. Read Romans 2:
14 For when Gentiles,
who do not have the law,
by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even
though they do not have the law. 15They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts,
while their conscience also bears witness, and
their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16on that day when,
according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
There is no escape from God's Law that judges men and women. This is Law preaching, to let sinners know their evil condition be a Holy God! That under the Law their evil secrets will be exposed. This Law preaching is to let them know, why they need a Savior, a Redeemer, a Rescuer from this curse of the Law! Does this mean that the Law is Sin? Paul anticipates this question in Romans 7:
7What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
8But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
9I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.
10The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.
11For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
12So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
After his argument that everybody needs a saviour Paul goes on to discuss how God saves.
- Romans 3:21-31 21 God's saving justice was witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, but now it has been revealed altogether apart from law: 22 God's saving justice given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. 23 No distinction is made: all have sinned and lack God's glory, 24 and all are justified by the free gift of his grace through being set free in Christ Jesus. 25 God appointed him as a sacrifice for reconciliation, through faith, by the shedding of his blood, and so showed his justness; first for the past, when sins went unpunished because he held his hand; 26 and now again for the present age, to show how he is just and justifies everyone who has faith in Jesus. 27 So what becomes of our boasts? There is no room for them. On what principle- that only actions count? No; that faith is what counts, 28 since, as we see it, a person is justified by faith and not by doing what the Law tells him to do. 29 Do you think God is the God only of the Jews, and not of gentiles too? Most certainly of gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God; he will justify the circumcised by their faith, and he will justify the uncircumcised through their faith. 31 Are we saying that the Law has been made pointless by faith? Out of the question; we are placing the Law on its true footing.
Considering what you wrote how do you deal with Paul saying "all have sinned" and also "all are justified" if the first all means each and every individual among the Jews and the Greeks sins then does the second all mean that each and every individual among the Jews and Greeks is justified? It looks as though the approach you're recommending to me means that everyone is justified. It looks like you're going to be forced to explain away the second all so that it does not mean what it says while at the same time you want to keep the first all as meaning everyone. Then verse 24 would say "each and every Jew and Greek is justified by the free gift of God's grace through being set free in Christ Jesus" if verse 23 means to say "No distinction is made: each and every Jew and Greek has sinned and lacks God's glory".
Well, as I said before, Paul is preaching Law & Gospel here. But to the Jews the Cross became a stumbling block. They believed that their Salvation lied in the Law. Romans 10:
2For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God,
but not according to knowledge. 3For, being ignorant
of the righteousness of God, and
seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Christ is the end of Law for righteousness! What does this mean to you?
Now addressing your point in Romans 5. In Reformed Theology we teach & believe that the Gospel is message is preach to everyone. And that the Redemption in Christ was not exclusive to the Jews only, but it extents to every nation, people, and tribe! (Everyone). I am paraphrasing, I will provide information a bit later. I am dealing with health issues. So please bear with me.
Hope this helps???
God Bless!
