Bad News First
Scripture Reading: Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
Romans is a wonderful exposition of the gospel. In it, Paul gives a full-throated exposition of the death and resurrection of Jesus and the theological implications of that historical event. As you might know, the word “gospel” means “good news.” That it is. For some, though, it may not sound like good news. It doesn’t strike them as something to appreciate, love, or give much attention to.
While not always the case, this is often rooted in the fact that those people either haven’t heard or haven’t grasped the significance of the bad news. Have you ever had someone
ask something like, “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” In the case of the gospel good news, it only sounds like good news to those who have heard and understood the bad news first.
This is why Paul begins his gospel exposition in Romans by spending most of the first three chapters hammering the reader with bad news. That bad news is summed up in 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Unfortunately, we are too often like Charlie Brown in the Peanuts comic where Lucy asks Charlie, “You know what the whole trouble with you is, Charlie Brown?” Charlie answers, “No, and I don’t want to know! Leave me alone!” As he walks away, Lucy shouts at him, “The whole trouble with you is you won’t listen to what the whole trouble with you is.”
The good news becomes good news when we are willing to listen to what the whole trouble with us is. Once we hear and accept God’s verdict that we are sinners, the fact that Jesus came into the world to save sinners, becomes the best news ever.
