Today's Passage:  Romans 3

The argument had built through the years of the early church...we all need the gift of Christ, but who is the most worthy to receive this gift?  Were those that were called by God as his children in the Old Testament, the Jews, somehow more worthy to receive grace?  Are there classifications of Christians?

Paul brilliantly explains this argument in Chapter 3.  Is there an advantage to being a Jew?  Yes, because they knew the law, and the law was an aid in understanding the need for grace.  But when it comes to righteousness...worthiness..everyone is on the same level.  All of us...Jew or Greek, slave or free....all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  While some may have an easier path of understanding the need for this grace, there is no one more worthy to receive it...and no one who does not need it.

Verse 23 may be the most famous verse in Chapter 3, but don't forget what Paul says in 24:  we all may be sinners, but we are also all freely justified by His grace!  He came to save us all...the cross was for anyone and everyone who would believe.

We may look at people and think, "Wow, they are so far from God."  We may have had the advantages of being raised in a church home and knowing about sin from an early age.  Either way, all of us are sinners who can be saved by grace if we believe.  No one is more deserving or any further away from the free gift of God!