Nothing is more maligned today than the meaning of these few words!  All manner of confusion, deception, error and even heresy have been born from wrongly dividing these words of truth….The idea that salvation is a wonderful gift and yet cost us everything that we are remains a paradox but like God and country are not mutually exclusive concepts.

The law of faith is that divine constitution which makes faith, not works, the condition of acceptance.  John Wesley

Must guilty man remain under wrath?  Is the wound for ever incurable?  Matthew Henry

"And are justified — Pardoned and accepted.  Freely — Without any merit of their own.  By his grace — Not their own righteousness or works.  Through the redemption — The price Christ has paid.  Freely by his grace — One of these expressions might have served to convey the apostle's meaning; but he doubles his assertion, in order to give us the fullest conviction of the truth, and to impress us with a sense of its peculiar importance.  It is not possible to find words that should more absolutely exclude all consideration of our own works and obedience, or more emphatically ascribe the whole of our justification to free, unmerited goodness."  John Wesley

"It is not possible to find words that should more absolutely exclude all consideration of our own works and obedience, or more emphatically ascribe the whole of our justification to free, unmerited goodness." (John Wesley)

"For all have sinned: - And consequently are equally helpless and guilty; and, as God is no respecter of persons, all human creatures being equally his offspring, and there being no reason why one should be preferred before another, therefore his endless mercy has embraced All."  (Dr. Adam Clarke)

Even the righteousness of God - That method of saving sinners which is not of works, but by faith in Christ Jesus; and it is not restrained to any particular people, as the law and its privileges were, but is unto all mankind in its intention and offer, and becomes effectual to them that believe; for God hath now made no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles. (Dr. Adam Clarke)

Νυνὶ δέ (Nuni de, "But now") could be understood as either (1) logical or (2) temporal in force, but most recent interpreters take it as temporal, referring to a new phase in salvation history. (NET Bible Notes)

"It is in vain to seek for justification by the works of the law. All must plead guilty. Guilty before God, is a dreadful word; but no man can be justified by a law which condemns him for breaking it. The corruption in our nature, will for ever stop any justification by our own works." Matthew Henry Concise Commentary

THE SINNER IS UNQUESTIONABLY GUILTY. It is not merely that he has infirmities or that he is not as good as he ought to be: he has set at nought God’s authority, violated His commandments, trodden His Laws under foot.  And this is true not only of a certain class of offenders, but “all the world” is “guilty before God” Arthur W. Pink, Doctrine of Justification

"There is no fear of God before their eyes - This completes their bad character; they are downright atheists, at least practically such. They fear not God’s judgments, although his eye is upon them in their evil ways." Dr Adam Clarke

And the way of peace have they not known - They neither have peace in themselves, nor do they suffer others to live in quiet: they are brooders and fomenters of discord.  Dr. Adam Clarke

Destruction and misery are in their ways - destruction is their work, and Misery to themselves and to the objects of their malice is the consequence of their impious and murderous conduct. (Dr. Adam Clarke)

"Their feet are swift to shed blood - They make use of every means in their power to destroy the reputation and lives of the innocent." (Dr. Adam Clarke)

Cursing - Against God. Bitterness - Against their neighbour. Psaalm 10:7. (John Wesley)

"Their throat - Is noisome and dangerous as an open sepulchre.  Observe the progress of evil discourse, proceeding out of the heart, through the throat, tongue, lips, till the whole mouth is filled therewith.  The poison of asps - Infectious, deadly backbiting, tale - bearing, evil - speaking, is under (for honey is on) their lips. An asp is a venomous kind of serpent." John Wesley

They have all turned aside - From the good way.  They are become unprofitable - Helpless impotent, unable to profit either themselves or others. (John Wesley)

This becomes the logical result of having a reprobate mind. We cannot know or understand the depth of our own depravity. We cannot seek after God because we are still His enemy. Every fiber of our being is diametrically opposed to the Will of God.

All the BRASSO in the world won't make this one shine!

The dominion of sin consists in being willingly slaves thereto, not in being harassed by it as a hated power, struggling for victory.

"In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you, they would have not been at all." St. Augustine

Brevity: Shortness; conciseness; contraction into few words; applied to discourses or writings.

"I like the word protest; it is the good old root from which came our good old title of Protestant. But our forefathers protested against error and darkness ; your protest bears against truth and light." Earnest Christianity Illustrated, the Rev. James Caughey

Krino - To judge, to form and express a judgment or opinion as to any person or thing, more commonly unfavorable.

The object of Salvation rails against the benafactor!

God's truth is a place of rest for those who belong to Jesus Christ. It is a place of judgement for those who reject His Gospel.

Is unbelief a nullification of the faithfulness of God?

Does the Bible teach that we are to forgive under all circumstances?  I answer categorically, vigorously, ardently, insistently that it DOES NOT!

The Bible remains the best seller and least read! Blessed insurance, State Farm is mine, oh what a joy from actuarial divine. Heir of deductible, all is at rest, I keep my adjuster's name in my vest.

What value is there in the Excellency of the Christian faith? There must be value since Noah Webster wrote a book entitled, "Value of the Bible and Excellence of the Christian Religion."

"How strikingly this also brings out what so breaks everywhere through the doctrine of this epistle that everything is according to its reality before God, God being revealed through Christ and the cross.  All must take its true character and result according to what He was. Note moreover that the terms suppose gospel knowledge — 'seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility.' These are known by Christianity."  Dr. John Darby

"This he knows is the way to bring all religion to a mere lifeless formality, and effectually shut out the power of godliness, and every thing which is spiritual, and to have all true Christianity turned out of doors" Dr. Jonathan Edwards

"If the Gentile be found to act according to the spirit and design of the law, his acting thus uprightly, according to the light which God has afforded him, will be reckoned to him as if he were circumcised and walked agreeably to the law." Dr. Adam Clarke

The rite of circumcision was the emblem by which the Jews relationship with Abrahamic covenant was recognized. However, to wear the emblem does not necessarily make you an heir to the promise!

 The soul must solemnly remind itself of Who it is that is to be approached, even the Most High, before whom the very seraphim veil their faces (Isaiah 6:2).  Though Divine grace has made the Christian a son, nevertheles

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I would suggest that the same is true with regard to much of what is called modern Christianity.

Or are we clinging to the notion that we have some kind of claim to prerogatives and perquisites?

If we look toward history we will find that Adultery was a most common crime in Israel.

How often do we tell others how to live their lives while standing in the same ditch?

By profession I am a soldier and take pride in that fact, but I am prouder to be a father.  General Douglas MacArthur

Our hope is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that sets us free lest we too become the hypocrites of the faith putting the Bible under our arm to use as a seven-day deodorant pad.

Like the Jew, we too let our opinion of ourselves wax great!

Ignorance of the law is no excuse!

We can see here that Paul argues that the very privileges that the Jews boast of will hold them to a stricter standard. If we extend this to all of God's people we could say that those who have grown up in Christian families may have learned what God's word says. However, if our lives to not reflect this we are no better than the heathen.

The secrets of men. The majority of our human lives lies hidden from our fellow-men, but when the judgment comes every secret shall be made known to all.

Medical science finds in our chromosomes various codes that sometimes bring with it a weakness toward specific diseases, maladies or the like.

I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.  Dr. Benjamin Franklin, at the Continental Congress

So even though the Gentiles were not the possessors of the law (didn't have a God's written word) they knew in their innermost being its very precepts.

Bless to us our extraordinary mercies; if the day come when these must be taken, brace us to play the man under affliction.  Robert Louis Stevenson - Vailima Prayers and Sabbath Morn

I suspect that we, like Israel, become fooled into thinking that because we own a Bible, read it, and perhaps even study it, that we have somehow become something!

The sea around us, which this rain recruits, teems with the race of fish; teach us, Lord, the meaning of the fishes.  Let us see ourselves for what we are, one out of the countless number of the clans of thy handiwork.  Robert Louis Stevenson-Vailima Prayers and Sabbath Morn

This verse becomes the logical extension of the previous verse referring to God's impartiality. There is much debate by the Biblical scholars as to the exact intention of the word "law."

There is every consolation and encouragement from belonging to Christ! One is that we married men have a new heart!  It is composed of half of Jesus' heart and half of my beloved wife's heart.

What a stark contrast to the previous verse. From affliction and distress to blessing. Peace as opposed to tribulation. Approbation to honor.

"Aid us, if it be thy will, in our concerns.  Have mercy on this land and innocent people."  Robert Louis Stevenson - Vailima Prayers and Sabbath Morn

The recompense for sin is clearly given upon everyone. Sin has and effect that cannot be thwarted just like gravity. We might think we have eluded its effects but nevertheless it holds us fast. The first instance of the Jew mentioned in this chapter heads the list since they were blessed with greater privileges by knowing God's law having abused greater mercies.

For our absent loved ones we implore thy loving-kindness.  Keep them in life, keep them in growing honor; and for us, grant that we remain worthy of their love....Robert Louis Stevenson—Vailima Prayers and Sabbath Morn

“These mercies were kept back from them in order to humble them, and to bring them to a sense of their sins, and an acknowledgement of them.”  Dr. John Gill

Before we show how that possibility may be realized, let us solemnly ponder what brought that poor soul into such a sorry plight a plight into which both writer and reader will certainly fall unless we are ever on our prayerful guard.  Arthur W. Pink, Practical Christianity

And now, when the clouds gather and the rain impends over the forest and our house, permit us not to be cast down; let us not lose the savour of past mercies and past pleasures; but, like the voice of a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memory survive in the hour of darkness....Robert Lewis Stevenson

Grant that we here before Thee may be set free from the fear of vicissitude and the fear of death, may finish what remains before us of our course without dishonor to ourselves or hurt to others, and, when the day comes, may die in peace....  Robert Lewis Stevenson

The day returns and brings us the petty round of irritating concerns and duties.  Help us to play the man, help us to perform them with laughter and kind faces, let cheerfulness abound with industry....Robert Lewis Stevenson—Vailima Prayers and Sabbath Morn

The word repentance occurs 24 times in the New Testament!  How many times does it appear in our hearts?

"Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do."  Andrew Murray

Don't do as I do, do as I say! Sound familiar?  Is this not the real grist of our fallen nature that began with Adam, "the woman you gave me made me do it."  We are quick to neener, neener, neener everyone else while hiding that secret deep in our heart that will one day be brought into the light for everyone to see.

Do we really believe that the judgment of God really falls upon us?  We tend to have a greater respect for gravity than for God Himself.  Is the law of gravity more real than the "Law of Sin and Death" because scientist can see demonstrations of its existence?  Yet the same God created both! The problem is we tend to ignore the evidence of the damage that our own sin brings into our lives. Yet Christ stands ready to mightily forgive! 

We as men are responsible for our marriage.  Even if its demise would be totally the wife's fault (we would remain responsible!). 

"The first Divine movement for the salvation of an individual, after the prayer of intercession by the Spirit, is illumination by the Spirit." (Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, Satan)

The child of God was saved from the guilt and penalty of sin when he believed!

THIS IS A VERY HUMBLING, and at the same time, a very blessed word to the true disciple.  It was very humbling to the disciples to be told that they had not chosen Christ.  Your wants were so many, your hearts were so hard, that ye have not chosen me. And yet it was exceedingly comforting to the disciples to be told that he had chosen them: 'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you'.  This showed them that his love was first with them — that he had a love for them when they were dead. And then he showed them that it was love that would make them holy: 'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.'

It is the nature of our fleshly heart to be inventors of evil! A hard truth but nevertheless true.  The more we deny it the harder our walk!  Why?  Because when we deny the truth of Scripture, we call the God who wrote it a liar!  I suspect that is why the Apostle John mentions this in his epistle.  Thankfully we have the Holy Spirit to guide us in learning to agree with God so that we may step into the light of His Grace and find not only forgiveness but the renewing of our mind!

Gospel Light OR Gospel-lite Our understanding is totally dependent upon the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit NOT intellectual prowess. Therefore, we are without excuse and misunderstanding is no longer an option.

A poisonous morsel in her teeth she chewed,
And gorged the flesh of vipers for her food.

What is the Gospel?  How can I be saved?

Receiving in themselves that recompense, etc. - Both the women and men, by their unnatural prostitutions, enervated their bodies, so that barrenness prevailed, and those disorders which are necessarily attendant on prostitution and sodomitical practices.  Dr. Adam Clarke

"Don't talk don't fool don't try to mess around I'll make a monkey outta you You sign your name right on that dotted line boy I'll be damned" AC DC

There is much more here that meets the eye. A quick look at the history of the day gives us the impression that what really is happening in Rome is that the women have become the men!

There are a great many in this world who possess a faith which is so similar to a genuine saving faith that they themselves are deceived.

Changed the truth of God into a lie - In the place of the true worship of God, they established idolatry.  In various places of Scripture idols are termed lies. Isa 44:20; Jer 10:14; Jer 13:25.  The true God was known among the primitive inhabitants of the earth, those who first became idolaters literally changed the truth of God into a lie: they did know the true God, but they put idols in his place.  Dr Adam Clarke

Gave them up — This divine abandonment of men is here strikingly traced in three successive stages, at each of which the same word is used (Rom 1:24, Rom 1:26; and Rom 1:28, where the word is rendered “gave over”). “As they deserted God, God in turn deserted them; not giving them divine (that is, supernatural) laws, and suffering them to corrupt those which were human; not sending them prophets, and allowing the philosophers to run into absurdities. He let them do what they pleased, even what was in the last degree vile, that those who had not honored God, might dishonor themselves” [Grotius] as cited in A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown.

Here is a place in Holy Scripture that gives exacting refutation to the idea that man climbed out of the tree and began worshiping a stick and then worked his way up to worshiping God. We did not evolve but rather declined or degenerated.  What kind of "Sonlight" do we seek?  Do we wish to bask in the glorious glow of the incorruptible God or would we rather recline in the tanning booth? According to this writ we are prone to the latter. Is this really our "free will" choice or rather the choice of the depraved?

 Another reason for lack of assurance is that we tend to trust our feelings rather than the Word of God.

Professing themselves to be wise - This was the common boast of the philosophers of antiquity.  The very word by which they chose to be called, “philosophers,” means literally “lovers of wisdom.” (Barnes)  This is also our boast of today.  How many of us think that we know?  A short walk through the halls of our institutions of national government reveal 565 opposing opinions.  The reality is that as humankind we don't care much about right, we just want to win the argument.  This boasting about our wisdom is not a new thing!

Even the words of “Marcus Tullius Cicero,” the Roman philosopher and politician in the waning years of the Roman Republic, (de Natura Deorum, lib. ii. c. 6) will show that they had the knowledge of one God. “There is something in the nature of things, which the mind of man, which reason, which human power cannot effect; and certainly what produces this must be better than man. What can this be called but “God?...What can be so plain and manifest, when we look at heaven, and contemplate heavenly things, as that there is some divinity of most excellent mind, by which these things are governed?”

You do not see God, and yet you acknowledge him as God by his works; Cicero.

For the invisible things of him - The expression “his invisible things” refers to those things which cannot be perceived by the senses.  It does not imply that there are any things pertaining to the divine character which may be seen by the eye; but that there are things which may be known of him, though not discoverable by the eye.  We judge of the objects around us by the senses, the sight, the touch, the ear, etc.  Paul affirms, that though we cannot judge thus of God, yet there is a way by which we may come to the knowledge of him.  What he means by the invisible things of God he specifies at the close of the verse, “his eternal power and Godhead. ” The affirmation extends only to that; and the argument implies that that was enough to leave them without any excuse for their sins.  Dr.  Albert Barnes