“But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means!” – Romans 3:5-6a
As Paul explores in extraordinary detail, we’re all unrighteous in ourselves. We may well aspire to be “good people” or even imagine we are. But we are also, at times, selfish and self-centered. We set our goals, preferences, desires, and ambitions above God’s standards, above ethical concerns, above the law and above the well-being of others. We all sin and fall short at times – whether it’s in what we think, what we say, what we do, or what we fail to say and do in the face of unrighteousness and injustice.
One thing our unrighteousness does is highlight God’s pure, perfect, wonderful righteousness! He never cuts the corners we cut. He never uses or abuses people as we do. He never acts inconsistently with His character and values. God is holy, good, wise, kind, merciful, gracious, just, patient, and so much more. The more we recognize our unrighteousness, the more glorious, beautiful, and overwhelming we discover God’s righteousness to be.
Our unrighteousness and the way it highlights God’s beautiful righteousness is no excuse or rationalization for sin. We aren’t doing God a favor! In His righteousness, He is still absolutely just and right to condemn us for every one of our sins. Yes, we’re all sinful – that doesn’t let anyone off the hook. It simply means that we’re all naturally condemned and under God’s righteous wrath for our personal acts of rebellion and disobedience.
If we can begin to accept this truth, and telling ourselves and others, “Well, at least I’m better than that guy over there” then we can begin to realize we have a profound sin problem that we can’t possibly solve ourselves. We…need…a…Savior!