Romans 3:22

Romans 3:22

Paul here, in his grand way, triumphs and rises above all these small differences between man and man, more pure or less pure, Jew or Gentile, wise or foolish, and avers that in regard of the deepest and most important things "there is no difference." And so his gospel is a gospel for the world, because it deals with all men on the same level.

I. There is no difference between men in the fact of sin. The gospel does not assert that there is no difference in the degrees of sin. At the same time, do not let us forget that if you take the two extremes, and suppose it possible that there is a best man in all the world and a worst man in all the world, the difference between these two is not perhaps so great as at first sight it looks. For we have to remember that motives make actions, and that you cannot judge of these by considering those, that "as a man thinketh in his heart," and not as a man does with his hands, so is he. "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

II. There is no difference in the fact of God's love to us. God does not love men because of what they are, therefore He does not cease to love them because of what they are. His love to the sons of men is not drawn out by their goodness, their morality, their obedience; but it wells up from the depths of His own heart. A man can as soon pass out of the atmosphere in which he breathes as he can pass out of the love of God. "there is no difference" in the fact that all men, unthankful and evil as they are, are grasped and held in the love of God.

III. There is no difference in the purpose and power of Christ's Cross for us all. "He died for all." The area over which the purpose and power of Christ's death extends is precisely conterminous with the area over which the power of sin extends. The power of Christ's sacrifice makes possible the forgiveness of all the sins of all the world, past, present, and to come. The worth of that sacrifice, which was made by the willing surrender of the Incarnate Son of God to the death of the Cross, is sufficient for the ransom price for all the sins of all men.

IV. There is no difference in the way which we must take for salvation. The only thing that unites men to Jesus Christ is faith. You must trust Him, you must trust the power of His sacrifice, you must trust the might of His living love. Let there be no difference in our faith, or there will be a difference, deep as the difference between them that believe and them that believe not, which will darken and widen into the difference between them that are saved and them that perish.

A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth,May 21st, 1885.

References: Romans 3:22. E. H. Gifford, The Glory of God,p. 1; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines,p. 373.Romans 3:22. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 83.Romans 3:23. Preacher's Monthly,vol. ii., p. 98; J. Natt, Posthumous Sermons,p. 63; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines,p. 23; Church of England Pulpit,vol. xvii., p. 229; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iv., p. 84; Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxv., p. 184; vol. xxxi., p. 147. Romans 3:23. J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,9th series, p. 160. Romans 3:24. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. iii., No. 126. Romans 3:24; Romans 3:25. Ibid.,vol. vii., No. 373.Romans 3:24. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 282.Romans 3:26. Ibid.,vol. i., p. 165; Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. v., No. 255; Ibid., Morning by Morning,p. 269. Romans 3:27. Ibid., Sermons,vol. viii., No. 429.