Romans 3:9 So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in ident...

3:9 MSG

逐节对照

The Message - So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it: There’s nobody living right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. They’ve all taken the wrong turn; they’ve all wandered down blind alleys. No one’s living right; I can’t find a single one. Their throats are gaping graves, their tongues slick as mudslides. Every word they speak is tinged with poison. They open their mouths and pollute the air. They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year, litter the land with heartbreak and ruin, Don’t know the first thing about living with others. They never give God the time of day. This makes it clear, doesn’t it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.
新标点和合本 - 这却怎么样呢？我们比他们强吗？决不是的！因我们已经证明：犹太人和希腊人都在罪恶之下。
和合本2010（上帝版-简体） - 那又怎么样呢？我们比他们强吗？绝不是！因我们已经指证：犹太人和希腊人都在罪恶之下。
和合本2010（神版-简体） - 那又怎么样呢？我们比他们强吗？绝不是！因我们已经指证：犹太人和希腊人都在罪恶之下。
当代译本 - 那么，我们犹太人比别人优越吗？绝对不是！我们已经说过，无论是犹太人还是希腊人，所有的人都在罪的权势之下。
圣经新译本 - 那又怎么样呢？我们比他们强吗？绝不是的。因为我们已经控诉过，无论是犹太人或是希腊人，都在罪恶之下，
中文标准译本 - 那么怎么样呢？我们犹太人比别人好吗？当然不是！我们已经指出：犹太人和外邦人都在罪孽之下。
现代标点和合本 - 这却怎么样呢？我们比他们强吗？决不是的！因我们已经证明：犹太人和希腊人都在罪恶之下。
和合本（拼音版） - 这却怎么样呢？我们比他们强吗？决不是的！因我们已经证明：犹太人和希腊人都在罪恶之下。
New International Version - What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.
New International Reader's Version - What should we say then? Do we Jews have any advantage? Not at all! We have already claimed that Jews and Gentiles are sinners. Everyone is under the power of sin.
English Standard Version - What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
New Living Translation - Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin.
Christian Standard Bible - What then? Are we any better off? Not at all! For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin,
New American Standard Bible - What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;
New King James Version - What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
Amplified Bible - Well then, are we [Jews] better off than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles) are under the control of sin and subject to its power.
American Standard Version - What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin;
King James Version - What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
New English Translation - What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin,
World English Bible - What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
新標點和合本 - 這卻怎麼樣呢？我們比他們強嗎？決不是的！因我們已經證明：猶太人和希臘人都在罪惡之下。
和合本2010（上帝版-繁體） - 那又怎麼樣呢？我們比他們強嗎？絕不是！因我們已經指證：猶太人和希臘人都在罪惡之下。
和合本2010（神版-繁體） - 那又怎麼樣呢？我們比他們強嗎？絕不是！因我們已經指證：猶太人和希臘人都在罪惡之下。
當代譯本 - 那麼，我們猶太人比別人優越嗎？絕對不是！我們已經說過，無論是猶太人還是希臘人，所有的人都在罪的權勢之下。
聖經新譯本 - 那又怎麼樣呢？我們比他們強嗎？絕不是的。因為我們已經控訴過，無論是猶太人或是希臘人，都在罪惡之下，
呂振中譯本 - 這卻怎麼樣呢？我們猶太人比他們外國人強麼？完全不是。我們已經起訴：萬人都在罪之下，不但希利尼人，猶太人也在內；
中文標準譯本 - 那麼怎麼樣呢？我們猶太人比別人好嗎？當然不是！我們已經指出：猶太人和外邦人都在罪孽之下。
現代標點和合本 - 這卻怎麼樣呢？我們比他們強嗎？決不是的！因我們已經證明：猶太人和希臘人都在罪惡之下。
文理和合譯本 - 然則何歟、我儕愈於彼乎、曰、否、不然、我曾證猶太人、希利尼人、咸在罪下、
文理委辦譯本 - 曰、是何歟、我儕有勝乎、曰、無、我曾明言猶太希利尼人、咸服罪、
施約瑟淺文理新舊約聖經 - 然則何歟、我儕猶太人有所、勝乎、無有、我已明證猶太人、希拉人、皆服罪、
吳經熊文理聖詠與新經全集 - 然則吾人視他族果無所勝乎？實無所勝也！蓋無論猶太人與希臘人、其為罪人則一也。此為吾儕向所主張者；
Nueva Versión Internacional - ¿A qué conclusión llegamos? ¿Acaso los judíos somos mejores? ¡De ninguna manera! Ya hemos demostrado que tanto los judíos como los gentiles están bajo el pecado.
현대인의 성경 - 그러면 우리가 이방인보다 낫단 말입니까? 전혀 그렇지 않습니다. 우리가 이미 선언한 것처럼 유대인이나 이방인이나 다 같은 죄인입니다.
Новый Русский Перевод - Так что же? В лучшем ли мы, иудеи, положении, чем другие? Нет! Мы уже говорили о том, что как иудеи, так и язычники – все оказались под властью греха.
Восточный перевод - Так что же? В лучшем ли мы, иудеи, положении, чем другие? Нет! Я уже говорил о том, что как иудеи, так и люди из других народов – все оказались под властью греха.
Восточный перевод, версия с «Аллахом» - Так что же? В лучшем ли мы, иудеи, положении, чем другие? Нет! Я уже говорил о том, что как иудеи, так и люди из других народов – все оказались под властью греха.
Восточный перевод, версия для Таджикистана - Так что же? В лучшем ли мы, иудеи, положении, чем другие? Нет! Я уже говорил о том, что как иудеи, так и люди из других народов – все оказались под властью греха.
La Bible du Semeur 2015 - Que faut-il donc conclure ? Nous les Juifs, sommes-nous en meilleure position que les autres hommes ? Pas à tous égards. Nous avons, en effet, déjà démontré que tous les hommes, Juifs et non-Juifs, sont également coupables.
リビングバイブル - それでは、私たちユダヤ人は、ほかの人々よりすぐれているのでしょうか。決してそんなことはありません。すでに指摘したように、ユダヤ人であろうと外国人であろうと、みな同様に罪人です。
Nestle Aland 28 - Τί οὖν; προεχόμεθα; οὐ πάντως· προῃτιασάμεθα γὰρ Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ Ἕλληνας πάντας ὑφ’ ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι,
unfoldingWord® Greek New Testament - τί οὖν? προεχόμεθα? οὐ πάντως; προῃτιασάμεθα γὰρ, Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ Ἕλληνας, πάντας ὑφ’ ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι.
Nova Versão Internacional - Que concluiremos então? Estamos em posição de vantagem ? Não! Já demonstramos que tanto judeus quanto gentios estão debaixo do pecado.
Hoffnung für alle - Haben wir Juden nun irgendeinen Vorzug vor den anderen Menschen? Ich sage: Nein, ganz und gar nicht! Denn eben habe ich bewiesen, dass alle Menschen – ob Juden oder Nichtjuden – unter der Herrschaft der Sünde leben.
Kinh Thánh Hiện Đại - Vậy người Do Thái có lương thiện hơn các dân tộc khác không? Hẳn là không, vì như chúng ta vừa trình bày, người Do Thái và Dân Ngoại đều ở dưới quyền lực của tội.
พระคริสตธรรมคัมภีร์ไทย ฉบับอมตธรรมร่วมสมัย - เช่นนี้แล้วเราจะสรุปว่าอย่างไร? พวกเราชาวยิวดี กว่าคนอื่นหรือ? ไม่เลย! เราชี้ให้เห็นแล้วว่า ทั้งคนยิวและคนต่างชาติล้วนอยู่ภายใต้บาปเหมือนกันหมด
พระคัมภีร์ ฉบับแปลใหม่ - ถ้าเช่นนั้นจะเป็นอย่างไร พวกเราชาวยิวดีกว่าพวกเขาหรือ เปล่าเลย เราได้ชี้แจงให้เห็นแล้วว่า ทั้งชาวยิวและชาวกรีกล้วนอยู่ใต้อำนาจบาปทั้งนั้น

交叉引用

Philippians 1:18 - So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on! And I’m going to keep that celebration going because I know how it’s going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a platform! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his prize. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.
Romans 1:18 - But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.
Romans 1:24 - So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!
Romans 1:26 - Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn’t know how to be human either—women didn’t know how to be women, men didn’t know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.
Romans 1:28 - Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!
1 Corinthians 4:7 - For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing? You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle. Without bringing either Apollos or me into it, you’re sitting on top of the world—at least God’s world—and we’re right there, sitting alongside you!
Romans 11:7 - And then what happened? Well, when Israel tried to be right with God on her own, pursuing her own self-interest, she didn’t succeed. The chosen ones of God were those who let God pursue his interest in them, and as a result received his stamp of legitimacy. The “self-interest Israel” became thick-skinned toward God. Moses and Isaiah both commented on this: Fed up with their quarrelsome, self-centered ways, God blurred their eyes and dulled their ears, Shut them in on themselves in a hall of mirrors, and they’re there to this day. David was upset about the same thing: I hope they get sick eating self-serving meals, break a leg walking their self-serving ways. I hope they go blind staring in their mirrors, get ulcers from playing at god.
1 Corinthians 10:19 - Do you see the difference? Sacrifices offered to idols are offered to nothing, for what’s the idol but a nothing? Or worse than nothing, a minus, a demon! I don’t want you to become part of something that reduces you to less than yourself. And you can’t have it both ways, banqueting with the Master one day and slumming with demons the next. Besides, the Master won’t put up with it. He wants us—all or nothing. Do you think you can get off with anything less?
Luke 18:9 - He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’
Luke 18:13 - “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”
Luke 18:14 - Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.” * * *
Romans 6:15 - So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!

逐节对照

交叉引用

The Message - So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it: There’s nobody living right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. They’ve all taken the wrong turn; they’ve all wandered down blind alleys. No one’s living right; I can’t find a single one. Their throats are gaping graves, their tongues slick as mudslides. Every word they speak is tinged with poison. They open their mouths and pollute the air. They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year, litter the land with heartbreak and ruin, Don’t know the first thing about living with others. They never give God the time of day. This makes it clear, doesn’t it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.
新标点和合本 - 这却怎么样呢？我们比他们强吗？决不是的！因我们已经证明：犹太人和希腊人都在罪恶之下。
和合本2010（上帝版-简体） - 那又怎么样呢？我们比他们强吗？绝不是！因我们已经指证：犹太人和希腊人都在罪恶之下。
和合本2010（神版-简体） - 那又怎么样呢？我们比他们强吗？绝不是！因我们已经指证：犹太人和希腊人都在罪恶之下。
当代译本 - 那么，我们犹太人比别人优越吗？绝对不是！我们已经说过，无论是犹太人还是希腊人，所有的人都在罪的权势之下。
圣经新译本 - 那又怎么样呢？我们比他们强吗？绝不是的。因为我们已经控诉过，无论是犹太人或是希腊人，都在罪恶之下，
中文标准译本 - 那么怎么样呢？我们犹太人比别人好吗？当然不是！我们已经指出：犹太人和外邦人都在罪孽之下。
现代标点和合本 - 这却怎么样呢？我们比他们强吗？决不是的！因我们已经证明：犹太人和希腊人都在罪恶之下。
和合本（拼音版） - 这却怎么样呢？我们比他们强吗？决不是的！因我们已经证明：犹太人和希腊人都在罪恶之下。
New International Version - What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.
New International Reader's Version - What should we say then? Do we Jews have any advantage? Not at all! We have already claimed that Jews and Gentiles are sinners. Everyone is under the power of sin.
English Standard Version - What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
New Living Translation - Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin.
Christian Standard Bible - What then? Are we any better off? Not at all! For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin,
New American Standard Bible - What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;
New King James Version - What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
Amplified Bible - Well then, are we [Jews] better off than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles) are under the control of sin and subject to its power.
American Standard Version - What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin;
King James Version - What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
New English Translation - What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin,
World English Bible - What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
新標點和合本 - 這卻怎麼樣呢？我們比他們強嗎？決不是的！因我們已經證明：猶太人和希臘人都在罪惡之下。
和合本2010（上帝版-繁體） - 那又怎麼樣呢？我們比他們強嗎？絕不是！因我們已經指證：猶太人和希臘人都在罪惡之下。
和合本2010（神版-繁體） - 那又怎麼樣呢？我們比他們強嗎？絕不是！因我們已經指證：猶太人和希臘人都在罪惡之下。
當代譯本 - 那麼，我們猶太人比別人優越嗎？絕對不是！我們已經說過，無論是猶太人還是希臘人，所有的人都在罪的權勢之下。
聖經新譯本 - 那又怎麼樣呢？我們比他們強嗎？絕不是的。因為我們已經控訴過，無論是猶太人或是希臘人，都在罪惡之下，
呂振中譯本 - 這卻怎麼樣呢？我們猶太人比他們外國人強麼？完全不是。我們已經起訴：萬人都在罪之下，不但希利尼人，猶太人也在內；
中文標準譯本 - 那麼怎麼樣呢？我們猶太人比別人好嗎？當然不是！我們已經指出：猶太人和外邦人都在罪孽之下。
現代標點和合本 - 這卻怎麼樣呢？我們比他們強嗎？決不是的！因我們已經證明：猶太人和希臘人都在罪惡之下。
文理和合譯本 - 然則何歟、我儕愈於彼乎、曰、否、不然、我曾證猶太人、希利尼人、咸在罪下、
文理委辦譯本 - 曰、是何歟、我儕有勝乎、曰、無、我曾明言猶太希利尼人、咸服罪、
施約瑟淺文理新舊約聖經 - 然則何歟、我儕猶太人有所、勝乎、無有、我已明證猶太人、希拉人、皆服罪、
吳經熊文理聖詠與新經全集 - 然則吾人視他族果無所勝乎？實無所勝也！蓋無論猶太人與希臘人、其為罪人則一也。此為吾儕向所主張者；
Nueva Versión Internacional - ¿A qué conclusión llegamos? ¿Acaso los judíos somos mejores? ¡De ninguna manera! Ya hemos demostrado que tanto los judíos como los gentiles están bajo el pecado.
현대인의 성경 - 그러면 우리가 이방인보다 낫단 말입니까? 전혀 그렇지 않습니다. 우리가 이미 선언한 것처럼 유대인이나 이방인이나 다 같은 죄인입니다.
Новый Русский Перевод - Так что же? В лучшем ли мы, иудеи, положении, чем другие? Нет! Мы уже говорили о том, что как иудеи, так и язычники – все оказались под властью греха.
Восточный перевод - Так что же? В лучшем ли мы, иудеи, положении, чем другие? Нет! Я уже говорил о том, что как иудеи, так и люди из других народов – все оказались под властью греха.
Восточный перевод, версия с «Аллахом» - Так что же? В лучшем ли мы, иудеи, положении, чем другие? Нет! Я уже говорил о том, что как иудеи, так и люди из других народов – все оказались под властью греха.
Восточный перевод, версия для Таджикистана - Так что же? В лучшем ли мы, иудеи, положении, чем другие? Нет! Я уже говорил о том, что как иудеи, так и люди из других народов – все оказались под властью греха.
La Bible du Semeur 2015 - Que faut-il donc conclure ? Nous les Juifs, sommes-nous en meilleure position que les autres hommes ? Pas à tous égards. Nous avons, en effet, déjà démontré que tous les hommes, Juifs et non-Juifs, sont également coupables.
リビングバイブル - それでは、私たちユダヤ人は、ほかの人々よりすぐれているのでしょうか。決してそんなことはありません。すでに指摘したように、ユダヤ人であろうと外国人であろうと、みな同様に罪人です。
Nestle Aland 28 - Τί οὖν; προεχόμεθα; οὐ πάντως· προῃτιασάμεθα γὰρ Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ Ἕλληνας πάντας ὑφ’ ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι,
unfoldingWord® Greek New Testament - τί οὖν? προεχόμεθα? οὐ πάντως; προῃτιασάμεθα γὰρ, Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ Ἕλληνας, πάντας ὑφ’ ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι.
Nova Versão Internacional - Que concluiremos então? Estamos em posição de vantagem ? Não! Já demonstramos que tanto judeus quanto gentios estão debaixo do pecado.
Hoffnung für alle - Haben wir Juden nun irgendeinen Vorzug vor den anderen Menschen? Ich sage: Nein, ganz und gar nicht! Denn eben habe ich bewiesen, dass alle Menschen – ob Juden oder Nichtjuden – unter der Herrschaft der Sünde leben.
Kinh Thánh Hiện Đại - Vậy người Do Thái có lương thiện hơn các dân tộc khác không? Hẳn là không, vì như chúng ta vừa trình bày, người Do Thái và Dân Ngoại đều ở dưới quyền lực của tội.
พระคริสตธรรมคัมภีร์ไทย ฉบับอมตธรรมร่วมสมัย - เช่นนี้แล้วเราจะสรุปว่าอย่างไร? พวกเราชาวยิวดี กว่าคนอื่นหรือ? ไม่เลย! เราชี้ให้เห็นแล้วว่า ทั้งคนยิวและคนต่างชาติล้วนอยู่ภายใต้บาปเหมือนกันหมด
พระคัมภีร์ ฉบับแปลใหม่ - ถ้าเช่นนั้นจะเป็นอย่างไร พวกเราชาวยิวดีกว่าพวกเขาหรือ เปล่าเลย เราได้ชี้แจงให้เห็นแล้วว่า ทั้งชาวยิวและชาวกรีกล้วนอยู่ใต้อำนาจบาปทั้งนั้น

Philippians 1:18 - So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on! And I’m going to keep that celebration going because I know how it’s going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a platform! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his prize. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.
Romans 1:18 - But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.
Romans 1:24 - So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!
Romans 1:26 - Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn’t know how to be human either—women didn’t know how to be women, men didn’t know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.
Romans 1:28 - Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!
1 Corinthians 4:7 - For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing? You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle. Without bringing either Apollos or me into it, you’re sitting on top of the world—at least God’s world—and we’re right there, sitting alongside you!
Romans 11:7 - And then what happened? Well, when Israel tried to be right with God on her own, pursuing her own self-interest, she didn’t succeed. The chosen ones of God were those who let God pursue his interest in them, and as a result received his stamp of legitimacy. The “self-interest Israel” became thick-skinned toward God. Moses and Isaiah both commented on this: Fed up with their quarrelsome, self-centered ways, God blurred their eyes and dulled their ears, Shut them in on themselves in a hall of mirrors, and they’re there to this day. David was upset about the same thing: I hope they get sick eating self-serving meals, break a leg walking their self-serving ways. I hope they go blind staring in their mirrors, get ulcers from playing at god.
1 Corinthians 10:19 - Do you see the difference? Sacrifices offered to idols are offered to nothing, for what’s the idol but a nothing? Or worse than nothing, a minus, a demon! I don’t want you to become part of something that reduces you to less than yourself. And you can’t have it both ways, banqueting with the Master one day and slumming with demons the next. Besides, the Master won’t put up with it. He wants us—all or nothing. Do you think you can get off with anything less?
Luke 18:9 - He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’
Luke 18:13 - “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”
Luke 18:14 - Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.” * * *
Romans 6:15 - So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!