Romans 3:29-30

After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.

The apostle Paul was Jewish and very proud of the fact. In this letter he goes to great lengths to show that Jews have a very important place in the plans of God, but he wants his Roman readers to understand that God’s love wasn’t in any sense confined to Jewish people alone. Indeed, God sent Jesus into the world for non-Jews (who he calls Gentiles) as well the Jews, because we all have an equal need for forgiveness. Jesus’ death on the cross was for every kind of person because we all fall short of God’s standards.

Earlier in this chapter, Paul asks whether Jews were in some sense better than other people, before flatly rejecting the idea. Just like every Gentile, they too are sinners in need of God’s grace.

It’s very important that we never gain a sense of arrogance about ourselves, as if we are somehow superior to other groups of people. You may have been brought up to live a good and moral life, and you may think that you have never caused intentional harm to another human being. If that is so, that’s splendid. I warmly congratulate you. But you are still a sinner.

If you visited a high security prison and heard some of the prisoner’s stories, no doubt you would be shocked by the lives that they had lived. I’ve found that prisoners are often very willing to go into detail about their crimes. You might well come away reflecting that they are very much worse than you. But Paul says that you would be wrong. You have both fallen short of God’s standards and are in need of his forgiveness.

As you meet people today, I would encourage you to remember that everyone is in the same place as you before God. We are all loved by God and are all in equal need of him.

Question – Do you ever feel superior to other people? If so, how could you get over that feeling?

Prayer – Loving God, thank you for the way in which you reach out in love to every kind of person. Amen